Biography for
Walter Hill (I) More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

10 January 1942, Long Beach, California, USA

Birth Name

Walter Wesley Hill

Mini Biography

Hill was born in Long Beach, California and educated at Mexico City College and Michigan State University. He worked in oil drilling and construction in the 60s before becoming a 2nd assistant director in 1967. He has written and co-written screenplays, including several uncredited works. He has produced and directed films since 1975.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Melissa Portell <mportell@s-cwis.unomaha.edu>

Spouse

Hildy Gottlieb

(? - ?)

Trade Mark

At least one character in many of his films drives a Sky Blue Cadillac Convertible. e.g. 48 Hours, Brewster's Millions, Red Heat

Several of Hill's films have a bar called "Torchy's." In several of his films, characters utter a variation on Cody's (Streets of Fire) and The Driver's exhortation to "Go home!"

Frequently has a minor character named "Luther" in his films

Frequently works with character actors James Remar, David Patrick Kelly, Brion James, and Ed O'Ross. Frequently casts actors Bill Paxton and Stoney Jackson in minor roles (e.g. Streets of Fire (1984) and Trespass (1992)).

Has an affinity for the city of El Paso. El Paso has been mentioned in or has been the location of several Walter Hill movies.

In his films, heroes often shoot the villian multiple times in the final confrontation.

Trivia

He once said in an interview that he considers all of his films as a director westerns. If you look closely, you can see western touches, such as revolvers, Winchester rifles and cowboy hats in all of his work.

Biography in: John Wakeman, editor. "World Film Directors, Volume Two, 1945-1985." Pages 433-438. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1988.

Is a specialist of crime novels.

Is an avid fan of John Wayne. When The Duke saw Hard Times (1975), he wanted Hill to helm his last film, The Shootist (1976). But Hill refused because he didn't want to see his hero dying in a movie.

His favourites directors are John Ford, Howard Hawks, John Huston, Raoul Walsh, Sam Peckinpah, and Sergio Leone.

Was set to direct the remake of John Woo's The Killer (1989) (aka The Killer), with Richard Gere as the Yun-Fat Chow character and with Denzel Washington as the Danny Lee character. But due to creative conflicts, Hill left the project.

Was originally meant to direct Alien (1979).

His film Streets of Fire (1984) is said to have been an influence on the Japanese anime series Bubblegum Crisis.

Originally planned for his Streets of Fire (1984) to be the first in a trilogy of films centering on the character of Tom Cody, played by Michael Paré, but the film's box office failure put an end to that project.

Received the prestigious Joseph Plateau Award at the Flanders International Film Festival. The Joseph Plateau Life Time Achievement Award, considered the festival's highest honor, recognized Hill's achievement in filmmaking as a writer, director and producer, and was presented during the 34th edition of the festival in Ghent, Belgium (October 9th - 20th). [2007]

Born on the same day as Nelson Carvajal.

Stated on the DVD introduction for the Ultimate Director's Cut on The Warriors (1979) that he is against making special editions to his own films because he feels that movies should speak for themselves and do not demand as he describes "special explanations and long apologies".

Profiled in "American Classic Screen Interviews" (Scarecrow Press). [2010]

Credits his spare writing style to an enormous influence on him from Alexander Jacobs's script for Point Blank (1967), which he read while initially trying to enter the film industry.

Co-founder of "Brandywine Productions" with David Giler and Gordon Carroll, a film company most famously associated with the 'Alien' series of films.

Personal Quotes

[on working with Charles Bronson on Hard Times (1975)] Well, Charlie does things in terms of performance that are hard for a lot of other people to comprehend as being part of an actor's tool, and that is being visually interesting. There is a great poetry in Charlie's face. With just a look, he can suggest moods that are quite interesting. He's always on time, he always knows his lines, and he never misses a mark.

I very purposely -- more and more so every time I do a script -- give characters no back story. The way you find out about these characters is by watching what they do, the way they react to stress, the way they react to situations and confrontations. In that way, character is revealed through drama rather than being explained through dialogue.

[2002, Being asked on what he learned from the experience of making Supernova (2000)] Ah, what did I learn the most? Oh, I think there was a desperate political situation with a failing administration, and I foolishly got into helping a movie that I thought could turn into something, but I then discovered I didn't have as free a hand as I had been led to believe, and when I was taking the movie along the lines that I thought would make it a credible movie, they did not share that vision, so we had a rather angry breach, and the movie was re-cut by two or three directors. I won't say there's no recognition of what I did, but the ending's much different, and much of the setup is different. Mine was a much darker vision. I can honestly tell you that I have yet to have seen it, but it's on cable a lot and sometimes I'll be surfing about and I'll sit there and watch about 4 minutes just to see what they've fucked up, but James Spader's performance is still, I can see is quite interesting in it, I thought Jimmy did a good job.