Biography for
Chris Smith (II) More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

Trivia

Attended University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's Graduate Film Program in 1995, having just completed his film American Job. Chris met Mark Borchardt while editing American Job, and began filming a documentary about the making of Mark's psychological thriller Coven. Both films played at the Sundance Film Festival, and American Movie won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary. Sony bought the picture for $1 million.

Personal Quotes

On taking American Movie (1999) to the Sundance festival: "It was our film and Blair Witch that people were talking about by midweek. At one point the film's price went up half-a-million dollars in 10 minutes. It was insane."

I never meant to make documentaries. I went to Sundance in 1996 with the narrative American Job and sort of fell into that world of people saying: 'What's your next feature?' So I started writing something, and went to the Sundance writing lab. But at the same time, I felt, being 23, that a year was a long time to go between filming something. I was getting anxious. So I started this side project about a guy trying to make a horror film in Wisconsin.