Andrew Davis (born November 21, 1946) is an American filmmaker, known for having directed several successful action and thriller films during the 1980's and '90s.[1] His best known works include Above the Law (1988), Under Siege (1992), The Fugitive (1993), Chain Reaction (1996), A Perfect Murder (1998), and Holes (2003). He was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Director and a Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Feature Film for The Fugitive.
Andrew Davis | |
|---|---|
 Davis in 2024 | |
| Born | November 21, 1946 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Alma mater | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (B.A., 1968) |
| Occupation(s) | Film director, producer, screenwriter, cinematographer |
| Years active | 1969–present |
| Father | Nathan Davis |
| Relatives | Richie Davis (brother) |
| Website | andrewdavisfilms |
Early life and education
editDavis was born on the south side of Chicago, Illinois, and has directed several films using Chicago as a backdrop. He is the son of actor Nathan Davis and Metta Davis, and the brother of musician Richard "Richie" Peter Davis (co-founder of the cover band Chicago Catz) and Jo Ellen Friedman. Davis had his father fill out many character roles throughout the years, notably as the grandfather to Shia LaBeouf's character in the Disney film Holes. Davis' paternal grandparents were Romanian Jewish immigrants.
After attending the Harand Camp of the Theater Arts summer camp program and Bowen High School, Davis went on to study journalism at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he was issued a degree in journalism in 1968.[2] It was not long before his interest in civil rights and anti-war issues converged with his growing interest in filmmaking.
Davis was mentored by cinematographer and director Haskell Wexler, with whom he worked on Medium Cool. Wexler and Davis reunited in 2014 to discuss the film before a screening at the Pollock Theater on the campus of the University of California, Santa Barbara.[3]
Career
editCinematographer
editDavis began his film career in earnest as a director of photography on blaxploitation films like Cool Breeze, Hit Man, and The Slams in the 1970's.[4] He shot two features for director Jonathan Kaplan, and one for Paul Bartel. He was a second unit cinematographer on Robert Downey Sr.'s 1980 film Up the Academy. He shot, co-wrote, and was an associate producer of the 1975 independent film Paco, directed by Robert Vincent O'Neil and starring José Ferrer and Allen Garfield.
Early films
editHis first feature film as a director was the 1978 semi-biographical picture Stony Island. The film had a theatrical release in 1978 and was eventually released on DVD on April 24, 2012.[5] Stony Island centered on young musicians forming a band in their impoverished south side neighborhood. The film stars veteran musicians like saxophone player Gene Barge and soul singer Ronnie Barron as well as relative newcomers like Dennis Franz, Edward "Stony" Robinson, Rae Dawn Chong, Susanna Hoffs and Davis brother Richie Davis. Roger Ebert describes the movie in a 2012 article, "The energy, I gather, came in large part from the performers themselves. The movie is more or less based on fact; the director and co-writer, Andy Davis, has a brother, Richie Davis who was the last white kid on the block down on Stony Island, and actually was involved in a band something like the one in the movie."[6]
In 1981, Davis directed a horror film titled The Final Terror, which was released in 1983. The film was produced by Joe Roth and features several early performances from stars like Rachel Ward, Daryl Hannah, and Joe Pantoliano, among others. Davis co-wrote a screenplay for a Harry Belafonte project Beat Street which was a rap musical featuring breakdancing and the street music culture of early eighties New York City. Mike Medavoy and Orion Pictures tapped Davis to direct the Chuck Norris vehicle, Code of Silence.
Davis co-wrote, produced and directed a film titled Above the Law for Warner Brothers in 1988. This film is most notable for being the feature film debut of Steven Seagal. Davis then went back to Orion with his project The Package, working with Gene Hackman and Tommy Lee Jones.
1990s
editDavis brought Jones with him to his next project, which was originally titled Dreadnaught but eventually carried the title Under Siege. In the picture Davis re-teamed with Seagal to create the top grossing fall film of 1992.
His 1993 film The Fugitive received seven Academy Award nominations including Best Picture, while Jones won for Best Supporting Actor, which is his only Oscar win to date. The Academy ultimately gave the 1993 Best Picture award to Schindler's List. That year Davis was also honored with a Golden Globe nomination for Best Director by the Hollywood Foreign Press. The Directors Guild of America nominated him for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Theatrical Direction.
Roger Ebert reviewed The Fugitive in 1993. He commented: "Andrew Davis' The Fugitive is one of the best entertainments of the year, a tense, taut and expert thriller that becomes something more than that, an allegory about an innocent man in a world prepared to crush him." Ebert observed that "Davis paints with bold visual strokes" and that he "transcends genre and shows an ability to marry action and artistry that deserves comparison with Hitchcock, yes, and also with David Lean and Carol Reed."[7]
Davis continued directing big budget adventures throughout the 1990s including Steal Big Steal Little, Chain Reaction, and A Perfect Murder.
2000s
editIn the fall of 2001, Davis was set to release Warner Brother's Collateral Damage starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. However, the initial release date was pushed in an effort to be sensitive to the tragedies of 9/11, as the film's plot and content too closely echoed the tragedy. The film was finally released theatrically in 2002.[8]
In 2003, Davis developed Holes for the Walt Disney Company starring Shia LaBeouf, Sigourney Weaver, Patricia Arquette, Tim Blake Nelson, Jon Voight. Louis Sachar and Davis developed the script based on Sachar's children's novel of the same name. A.O. Scott's review in The New York Times (written in April) called it "the best film released by an American studio so far this year".[9]
Davis filmed the Disney/Touchstone feature film, The Guardian in 2006. The film focuses on the Rescue Swimmers of the U.S. Coast Guard and stars Kevin Costner and Ashton Kutcher. Costner plays a legendary rescue swimmer who returns to the training facility to bring up the next generation of swimmers, including a rescue swimmer played by Kutcher. Production was halted when the film's New Orleans location was ravaged by Hurricane Katrina. The real-life Coast Guard advisers on the film were immediately deployed to rescue victims of the storm.
2010s to present
editIn April 2024 in France at the Reims Polar Film Festival, Davis was the guest of honor with a career tribute ceremony. Stony Island was also featured at the 25th anniversary of Ebertfest in Champaign Illinois in April 2024 featuring a live performance by the films costar and Davis’ brother Richie Davis, and his band, The Chicago Catz.
In 2024, Davis published his first novel, Disturbing the Bones.[10]
Filmography
editFilm
edit| Year | Title | Director | Producer | Writer | Other notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1975 | Paco | No | Associate | Yes | Also cinematographer |
| 1978 | Stony Island | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| 1983 | The Final Terror | Yes | No | No | Also cinematographer |
| 1985 | Code of Silence | Yes | No | No | |
| 1988 | Above the Law | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| 1989 | The Package | Yes | Co-producer | No | |
| 1992 | Under Siege | Yes | No | No | |
| 1993 | The Fugitive | Yes | No | No | |
| 1995 | Steal Big Steal Little | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| 1996 | Chain Reaction | Yes | Yes | No | |
| 1998 | A Perfect Murder | Yes | No | No | |
| 2002 | Collateral Damage | Yes | No | No | |
| 2003 | Holes | Yes | Yes | No | |
| 2006 | The Guardian | Yes | No | No | |
| 2020 | Mentors - Tony & Santi | Yes | No | Yes | Documentary |
Cinematographer only
edit| Year | Title | Director | Other notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1972 | Cool Breeze | Barry Pollack | |
| Private Parts | Paul Bartel | ||
| Hit Man | George Armitage | ||
| 1973 | The Slams | Jonathan Kaplan | |
| 1975 | Lepke | Menahem Golan | |
| 1976 | Mansion of the Doomed | Michael Pataki | |
| The Stronger | Lee Grant | Short film | |
| 1977 | Crash! | Charles Band | |
| 1979 | Over the Edge | Jonathan Kaplan | |
| Hot Rod | George Armitage | ||
| 1980 | Up the Academy | Robert Downey Sr. | 2nd unit photography |
| 1984 | Angel | Robert Vincent O'Neil |
Awards and honors
edit| Institution | Year | Category | Work | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago Film Critics Association | 1994 | Best Director | The Fugitive | Nominated |
| Chicago International Film Festival | 1978 | Gold Hugo | Stony Island | Nominated |
| Directors Guild of America Awards | 1994 | Outstanding Directing – Feature Film | The Fugitive | Nominated |
| Golden Globe Awards | 1994 | Best Director | Nominated |
References
edit- ^ Weinraub, Bernard (October 26, 1992). "The Talk of Hollywood; Director Who Blends Action With a Bit of Art". The New York Times. Retrieved December 14, 2010.
- ^ Kagan, Jeremy (April 26, 2000). "Biography 1994". Directors Close Up. USA: Focal Press. p. 223. ISBN 0240804066 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ Flores, Gilberto (November 27, 2013). "'Medium Cool' Revisited". The Bottom Line. Associated Students of the University of California, Santa Barbara. Retrieved February 25, 2014.
- ^ Spence, D. (April 17, 2003). "An Interview with Andrew Davis" (Interview). IGN. Archived from the original on October 29, 2005. Retrieved March 24, 2007.
- ^ Bey, Lee (April 4, 2012). "Revisiting 'Stony Island': Soulful 1970s Chicago cult film hits the streets again". WBEZ91.5. Archived from the original on June 5, 2013. Retrieved May 3, 2013.
- ^ Ebert, Roger (November 24, 1978). "Stony Island". RogerEbert.com (Review). Retrieved February 25, 2014.
- ^ Ebert, Roger (August 6, 1993). "The Fugitive" (Review). RogerEbert.com. Retrieved March 14, 2018.
- ^ Ebert, Roger (February 8, 2002). "Collateral Damage". RogerEbert.com (Review). Retrieved February 26, 2014.
- ^ Scott, A. O. (April 18, 2003). "Holes (2003) Holes (2003) FILM REVIEW; Not Just for Children, a Suspenseful Allegory of Greed, Fate and Racism". The New York Times. Retrieved June 23, 2022.
- ^ "Disturbing the Bones by Andrew Davis, Jeff Biggers: 9781685891459 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books". PenguinRandomhouse.com. Retrieved August 2, 2024.