Curtis Hanson, famous Hollywood director, passes away
Q. Who was the Oscar winning writer and director of LA Confidential?- Published on 23 Sep 16a. Wayne Hanson
b. Wayne Curtis
c. Curtis Hanson
d. None of the above
ANSWER: Curtis Hanson
Oscar winning writer and director of LA Confidential, Curtis Hanson died at the age of 71 on 22nd Sept 2016. He had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease
- He is known for acclaimed films such as Wonder Boys and 8 Mile
- His adaptation of Jame Ellroy noir novel also won him accolades
- Hanson went on to direct the 1994 movie The River Wild with Meryl Streep and Kevin Bacon which won him success
- But it was LA Confidential which had Oscar winner Kim Basinger along Guy Pearce, Russell Crowe and Kevin Spacey that won him critical acclaim
- Hanson won the Oscar for screenplay with Brian Helgeland
- Hanson drew inspiration from films by Stanley Kubrick, Robert Aldrich and Nicholas Ray in which LA played a key role. Ray’s 150 film In a Lonely Place also inspired Hanson
- LA Confidential introduced Russell Crowe and Guy Pearce into American Cinema
- LA Confidential was one of 24 pictures registered by the Library of Congress in 2015 as worthy of preservation in the National Film Industry
- Hanson started small, with a horror film called “The Arousers” in the early 1970s. In 1983, his film “Losin’ It” gave Tom Cruise his first lead role.
- “The Hand That Rocks the Cradle,” a thriller about a revenge-seeking nanny starring Annabella Sciorra and Rebecca De Mornay, was Mr. Hanson’s breakout hit, released in 1992.
- In 1999, Mr. Hanson became the first chairman of the U.C.L.A. Film & Television Archive, granting him easy access to decades of his favourite films.
