Renny Harlin

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Renny Harlin 2017

Renny Harlin ; Born Renny Lauri Mauritz Harjola (born March 15, 1959 in Riihimäki , Finland ) is a Finnish film director and film producer .

Life

Renny Harlin was introduced to the cinema from an early age by his mother . As a teenager he watched the filming of Don Siegel's agent film Telephone in Finland, which made him decide to pursue a career as a director. Against his parents' wishes, he began studying film studies .

From 1980 onwards, he made his first commercials and corporate films as a director . The following year he worked as a camera assistant for Janne Kuusi and as a cameraman for two short films . Together with screenwriter Markus Selin , he wrote his first feature film, Born American, about three Americans who accidentally crossed the border to the Soviet Union and were captured while on vacation in Finland . After filming 25 minutes, Harlin and Selin ran out of money. They were only able to continue shooting with the support of an American producer who had viewed the first material. They hired Mike Norris for the lead role . Although the film was initially on the index in Finland for glorifying violence in 1986, Harlin became known as a director through this film. He then moved to the United States and initially made low-budget films . He had his breakthrough with the horror film sequel Nightmare on Elm Street 4 , which grossed over 45 million US dollars on a budget of 13 million . 20th Century Fox then hired him for Ford Fairlane - Rock 'n' Roll Detective and shortly afterwards for Die Hard 2 . While the former flopped , Die Hard 2 was a box office hit.

Harlin was married to actress Geena Davis from 1993 to 1998 , who starred in two of his films: The Pirate Bride and Deadly Christmas . Neither film was a great success. According to the Guinness Book of Records , The Pirate Bride was considered the biggest commercial flop in the film business. With an estimated production cost of around $ 100 million, the flick only made about ten percent of the spending at just under $ 10 million. Another low point in his career came in 2001 with Driven , which was consistently panned by criticism , received six Golden Raspberry nominations and grossed just $ 32 million on a budget of 72 million.

In the fall of 2009, Harlin directed the Georgian-American co-production Georgia, about the 2008 Caucasus conflict . Another long-planned project, a biography of the Finnish President Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim , Harlin wants to realize in his Finnish homeland.

Harlin has lived and worked in China since 2014. His first Chinese film Skiptrace, starring Jackie Chan and Johnny Knoxville, premiered at the Shanghai International Film Festival in June 2016 .

Harlin's trademarks are subtle references to his Finnish homeland in his works, for example a paraglider with the design of the Finnish flag can be seen in Cliffhanger , a newspaper article about a Finnish Formula 1 driver in Deep Blue Sea and a Finnish vodka at the bar and in Die Hard 2 , the film music has a Finnish connection and a scene was filmed on a Finnish market square. In twelve rounds the Finnish flag can be seen on a wall in the accident at the beginning of the film, in "Deadly Christmas" vodka from a Finnish brand is also drunk and in Mindhunters it is a bobble-head figure with a Finnish shirt.

Filmography (selection)

As a director

As a producer

Awards

  • 1991: Golden Raspberry nomination for Ford Fairlane - Rock 'n' Roll Detective
  • 1994: Gold raspberry nomination for Cliffhanger - Only the strong survive
  • 1996: Golden raspberry nomination for The Pirate Bride
  • 2002: Golden Raspberry nomination for Driven
  • 2005: Golden Raspberry Nomination for Exorcist: The Beginning
  • 2015: Golden Raspberry nomination for The Legend of Hercules

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Blake Harris: HDTGM: A Conversation with Renny Harlin at slashfilm.com, accessed June 15, 2016
  2. ↑ IMDb Box office for Nightmare on Elm Street 4 (English)
  3. ↑ IMDb Box office for Die Piratenbraut (English)
  4. ↑ Driven at Rotten Tomatoes (English)
  5. ↑ IMDb Box office for Driven (English)
personal data
SURNAME Harlin, Renny
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Harjola, Renny Lauri Mauritz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Finnish film director and film producer
DATE OF BIRTH March 15, 1959
PLACE OF BIRTH Riihimäki , Finland