Today the name of Francis Lawrence is familiar to every movie fan - after all, he became the director of the famous saga "The Hunger Games". His filmography has a ton of iconic films, although there is only one Saturn nomination in 2014 for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.
The best films of the director are: "I Am Legend" (2007), "Constantine - Lord of Darkness" (2005), "Water for Elephants!" (2011), The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013), Britney Spears: Greatest Hits Are My Prerogative (2004). Best TV series: "Kings" (2009) and "Communication" (2012-2013).
Biography
The future famous director was born in the Austrian capital Vienna. When he was three years old, his parents moved to Los Angeles, so you can say that Francis grew up in the vicinity of the main dream factory. However, he never thought that he would become an actor or any other celebrity.
Just one day he received a video camera as a gift, and, like any boy, he began to shoot everything that he saw around him. One day he came to a basketball game where his friends were playing and recorded the whole game. The video turned out to be good, and the guys started sending it to each other - everyone liked the video.
And when Francis grew up, he began to tape parties, school events, sports team competitions, and even made clips of friends' cars.
The parents realized that their son had a talent for directing, and therefore did not mind when Francis entered the Loyola Merimont film school. Here he showed good results, and already in his second year helped to shoot the picture "Crank it to the fullest" (1990). Then the young filmmaker met some famous actors, including Christian Slater.
While studying at the film school, Francis also did independent work: he found little-known performers of popular songs and shot video clips for them. It was a kind of hobby, although it helped to get even better on the set and earn money. Scripts for these clips, as a rule, had to be written by him.
Lawrence realized that music videos were a very lucrative business, and after graduating from film school in 1990, he came to grips with this business. His family always supported him in his striving to become a director, so his parents gave him money for a personal film studio. His longtime acquaintance Mika Rosen also contributed - she co-founded the studio.
Film career
Young and active guys quickly became known as good specialists in creating videos for musicians, and such celebrities as Missy Eliot, Britney Spears and even the Aerosmith group and many other performers began to turn to them. Moreover, most of the scripts for the clips were written by Lawrence. This work helped him to become a respected director in a wide range of professionals.
The director remembers this time with a smile - he says that it was pleasant for him to see these clips on TV every day and to know that “you did it”. However, he always wanted something more, and that big for him was cinema.
It soon came true: in 2005, he began filming the feature film "Constantine: Lord of Darkness." And this was not a picture of a novice director - the film was a resounding success, the box office was huge.
The twisted storylines, great graphics, the famous Keanu Reeves in the title role and the exciting theme - all this merged into one sheer pleasure for the audience, who got a lot of drive. The film was also appreciated by critics: it was nominated for the Saturn Prize.
It got off to a great start, and this inspired Lawrence for his next work, I Am Legend (2007) starring Will Smith. The project was grandiose: at a cost of one hundred and fifty million dollars, the creators wanted not only to recoup it, but also to make a profit. However, what happened after the release of the picture exceeded the wildest expectations: the collection amounted to six hundred million dollars. Of course, in terms of money, one cannot appreciate the emotions and feelings of people, but the fact that the audience has been filling cinemas for several months suggests that the success was deserved.
In 2011, the director made another great film: Water for Elephants! This picture is completely different from the previous theme, atmosphere and presentation of the material, which speaks of the versatility of Lawrence as a director. The film stars Reese Witherspoon and Robert Patinson. They became a great couple in this film and showed a touching love story, when personal life and profession overlap so much that you no longer know where one is and where is another. And this creates real drama.
In between big projects, Lawrence made films about Britney Spears, Lady Gaga and other performers, and there are series in his portfolio. And Lady Gaga's video, directed by Lawrence, was recognized as the best video of the year at the VMA Awards.
Main project
However, to date, one of his most ambitious projects is the Hunger Games saga. Lawrence worked on The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, and it was an overwhelming success. In 2014 and 2015, two more parts of the sequel were released, which were also warmly received by the audience. When the director was asked why he took on this project, Francis replied that he wanted to warn young people about how easily they can be manipulated.
The last work that Russian viewers saw was the film "Red Sparrow" with Jennifer Lawrence in the title role. This is a story about a ballerina who, by the will of fate, has lost the ability to dance, and is forced to survive in a cruel world for her. The director is satisfied with his work, but Russian viewers believe that such things should not be shown during the period of aggravation of relations between Russia and the United States.
The famous director has several projects in mind, including writing a script for the sequel to The Hunger Games.
