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IMDbPro

Roger Avary

  • Writer
  • Producer
  • Director
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Home Video Trailer from Weinstein Co.
Play trailer2:13
Standing Still (2005)
  • More at IMDbPro
    • Contact info
    • Agent info
Award-winning filmmaker Roger Avary first began experimenting in Beta I video and 8mm film formats during the late 1970s. In 1983, his Super-8mm supernatural thriller The Worm Turns won Best Film from the Los Angeles Film Teachers Association Film Expo. He went on to attend the Pasadena Art Center College of Design's film program. Avary then worked in advertising at DMB&B and J. Walter Thompson.

In 1994, Avary was awarded an Academy Award for his work as a writer with Quentin Tarantino on their screenplay for Pulp Fiction. The screenplay for Pulp Fiction earned Avary and Tarantino additional accolades, including a BAFTA, the Boston Society of Film Critics Award, the Chicago Society of Film Critics Award, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award, the New York Film Critics Circle Award, and the Independent Spirit Award for Best Screenplay.

Also in 1994, Avary wrote and directed the French neonoir crime thriller Killing Zoe, which Roger Ebert hailed as 'Generation X's first Bank Caper Movie.' Killing Zoe is notable as the first feature film to utilize swing and tilt bellows lenses in its production. The film was honored with le Prix tres special a Cannes, the same year that Pulp Fiction took home the Palm d'Or. Killing Zoe continued to win awards worldwide on the festival circuit, including Best Film at Japan's Yubari International Film Festival and the Italian Mystfest. The film was also celebrated by the Cinemathique Francaise, who heralded Avary as the Antonin Artaud of cinema during their Cinema of Cruelty retrospective.

In 2002, Avary wrote and directed the filmed adaptation of the Bret Easton Ellis novel The Rules of Attraction, which he also executive-produced. The Rules of Attraction is notable as the first studio motion picture to prove reliable use of Apple's Final Cut Pro editing system. Roger Avary became an Apple spokesperson for Final Cut Pro 3, appearing in print and web ads worldwide. His film within the film, Glitterati (2004), used elements of Victor's European trip and was shot entirely on digital video with a crew of two (Avary and producer Greg Shapiro). In 2005, he purchased the rights to another Bret Easton Ellis novel, Glamorama, which is in development at Avary's company for him to direct.

In 2006, he penned the movie adaptation of the hit Konami video game Silent Hill for French director Christophe Gans. Silent Hill debuted as #1 at the U.S. box office and has been embraced by video game fans as one of the first game-to-film adaptations that is true to the imagery and spirit of its source material.

In 2007, novelist Neil Gaiman & Roger Avary wrote and produced an adaptation of Beowulf with director Robert Zemeckis for Paramount Pictures. Utilizing a complex process of digitally enhanced live action, the film tells the oldest English language story through the use of the most modern technology available.

In 2017 Avary directed a French language filmed adaptation of Jean Cocteau's one-woman play, La voix humaine, starring actress Elsa Zylberstein.

Also in 2017 Avary wrote and directed the comedic thriller, Lucky Day, for producer Don Carmody, and starring Luke Bracey, Nina Dobrev, Crispin Glover, David Hewlett, and Tomer Sisley.

Roger Avary divides his time between Los Angeles, Paris, and Toronto. He is represented by his attorney, Craig Emanuel of Paul Hastings LLP Los Angeles.
BornAugust 23, 1965
BornAugust 23, 1965
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  • Won 1 Oscar

Photos

Eric Stoltz, Roger Avary, and James Van Der Beek in The Rules of Attraction (2002)
Beowulf co-writers Roger Avary and Neil Gaiman
Roger Avary, Kate Bosworth, and Ian Somerhalder at an event for The Rules of Attraction (2002)
Roger Avary and Kip Pardue at an event for The Rules of Attraction (2002)

Known for

Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction (1994)
Pulp Fiction
8.9
  • Writer
  • 1994
Steve Buscemi, Harvey Keitel, Michael Madsen, Tim Roth, and Chris Penn in Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Reservoir Dogs
8.3
  • Writer
  • 1992
Julie Delpy, Eric Stoltz, and Jean-Hugues Anglade in Killing Zoe (1993)
Killing Zoe
6.5
  • Writer
  • 1993
Ray Winstone in Beowulf (2007)
Beowulf
6.3
  • Writer
  • 2007

Credits

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IMDbPro

Writer

  • Black Hole
    • Pre-production
  • Crispin Glover, Nina Dobrev, and Luke Bracey in Lucky Day (2019)
    Lucky Day
  • XIII: The Series (2011)
    XIII: The Series
  • Ray Winstone in Beowulf (2007)
    Beowulf
  • Radha Mitchell in Silent Hill (2006)
    Silent Hill
  • Glitterati (2004)
    Glitterati
  • James Van Der Beek, Jessica Biel, Kate Bosworth, Kip Pardue, Ian Somerhalder, and Shannyn Sossamon in The Rules of Attraction (2002)
    The Rules of Attraction
  • Odd Jobs (1997)
    Odd Jobs
  • RPM (1997)
    RPM
    • (original script, uncredited)
  • Mr. Stitch (1995)
    Mr. Stitch
  • Crying Freeman (1995)
    Crying Freeman
    • (uncredited)
  • Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction (1994)
    Pulp Fiction
  • Julie Delpy, Eric Stoltz, and Jean-Hugues Anglade in Killing Zoe (1993)
    Killing Zoe
  • Brad Pitt, Patricia Arquette, Gary Oldman, Christian Slater, Dennis Hopper, and Christopher Walken in True Romance (1993)
    True Romance
    • (uncredited)
  • Steve Buscemi, Harvey Keitel, Michael Madsen, Tim Roth, and Chris Penn in Reservoir Dogs (1992)
    Reservoir Dogs
  • The Worm Turns (1983)
    The Worm Turns

Producer

  • XIII: The Series (2011)
    XIII: The Series
  • Ray Winstone in Beowulf (2007)
    Beowulf
  • Glitterati (2004)
    Glitterati
  • James Van Der Beek, Jessica Biel, Kate Bosworth, Kip Pardue, Ian Somerhalder, and Shannyn Sossamon in The Rules of Attraction (2002)
    The Rules of Attraction
  • Jeri Ryan and David Arnott in The Last Man (2000)
    The Last Man
  • Boogie Boy (1998)
    Boogie Boy
  • Odd Jobs (1997)
    Odd Jobs
  • Mr. Stitch (1995)
    Mr. Stitch
  • Go-Go's: The Whole World Lost Its Head (1994)
    Go-Go's: The Whole World Lost Its Head
  • The Boys (1983)
    The Boys
  • The Worm Turns (1983)
    The Worm Turns

Director

  • Crispin Glover, Nina Dobrev, and Luke Bracey in Lucky Day (2019)
    Lucky Day
    • (directed by)
  • La voix humaine (2018)
    La voix humaine
  • Glitterati (2004)
    Glitterati
  • James Van Der Beek, Jessica Biel, Kate Bosworth, Kip Pardue, Ian Somerhalder, and Shannyn Sossamon in The Rules of Attraction (2002)
    The Rules of Attraction
  • Mr. Stitch (1995)
    Mr. Stitch
  • Go-Go's: The Whole World Lost Its Head (1994)
    Go-Go's: The Whole World Lost Its Head
  • Julie Delpy, Eric Stoltz, and Jean-Hugues Anglade in Killing Zoe (1993)
    Killing Zoe
  • The Worm Turns (1983)
    The Worm Turns
  • In-development projects at IMDbPro

Videos1

Standing Still
Trailer 2:13
Standing Still

Personal details

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    • Official Site
    • August 23, 1965
    • Flin Flon, Manitoba, Canada
    • (2 children)
  • Directed music video for The Go-Go's "The Whole World's Lost Its head" (1994).
  • Publicity listings
    • 2 Articles

Did you know

Edit
  • Trivia
    Met Quentin Tarantino at a video store called Video Archives where they both worked in the 1980s.
  • Quotes
    [on Quentin Tarantino] I've realized that I can't hang out with him. I talk with him, and he just sucks stuff from me.
    • Often shows silent films on TV in his films.

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