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IMDbPro

Colin Strause

  • Visual Effects
  • Director
  • Producer
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Colin Strause
A group of friends fight to survive as a mysterious light source causes people to vanish into the air.
Play trailer1:35
Skyline (2010)
1 Video
11 Photos
Since moving to Hollywood as teens in the mid-90s, Colin and his brother, Greg have charted a meteoric rise from self-taught artists working on local cable commercials in the suburbs of Chicago, to renowned visual effects gurus. Their careers began on the original run of The X-Files television show before working their way onto early CG-driven features, The Nutty Professor, Volcano, and the iceberg sequence of James Cameron's Titanic. Founding their own VFX house, Hydraulx in 2002, the brothers have worked on visionary sequences for over ninety feature films including Avatar, The Avengers, Skyfall, 300, Captain America, 2012, Iron Man 2, Battle: Los Angeles and The Day After Tomorrow. Their work on the latter brought Greg a BAFTA for Best Achievement in Special Visual Effects.

In 2000, Colin won a MTV Video Music Award for Best Art Direction for the Red Hot Chili Pepper's video, "Californication." This led to Greg and Colin stepping behind the camera the following year, crafting an instantly recognizable aesthetic on some of the decade's most imaginative music videos. Including Linkin Park's multiple VMA nominated Crawling, A Perfect Circle's Weak and Powerless, 50 Cent's Get Up and Usher's Love in this Club, also a VMA nominee. Their storytelling talents quickly garnered attention in the ad world where they directed campaigns for Toyota, Universal Studios, PlayStation, Gatorade, Coca-Cola, Ford, Pennzoil and Shell.

In 2007, Colin and Greg co-directed their first feature for 20th Century Fox, Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem which went on to gross over $156 million worldwide. For their directorial follow up, the Brothers produced Skyline independently under their Hydraulx Entertainment banner. It was acquired by Relativity Media at Cannes Film Festival and distributed by Universal Studios. The $10 million indie went on to gross over $80 million worldwide theatrically. Colin and Greg recently produced the even more ambitious sequel Beyond Skyline, starring Frank Grillo and Iko Uwais set to premiere later this year.

In 2015, Colin served as the lead Visual Effects Supervisor, overseeing over eleven hundred visual effect shots for Brad Peyton's, San Andreas. The Dwayne Johnson earthquake blockbuster went on to gross over $470 million worldwide while earning four nominations from the Visual Effects Society Awards. The following year Colin supervised Adam Wingard's Death Note and reunited with Dwayne Johnson, co-supervising on the upcoming comedy Baywatch for Paramount Pictures. Colin is currently serving as the lead supervisor Brad Peyton's epic monster mash Rampage, marking the third Johnson collaboration in as many years.

Recently Hydraulx worked on X-Men: Apocalypse, The Conjuring 2, Midnight Special, X-Men: Days of Future Past, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, and Into the Storm. They served as the lead vendor on Rian Johnson's Looper, created the opening set piece for Marvel's The Avengers and completed more than a third of the revolutionary age-altering shots in the Academy Award®-winning feature The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Colin and Greg executive produced The Bay, directed by Barry Levinson and the critically acclaimed Cannes Film Festival-winner Take Shelter, starring Michael Shannon and directed by Jeff Nichols. Future producing projects include The Mighty 8th co-written by Kurt Johnstad and Alien Ark with Ratpac and Warner Brothers.
BornNovember 8, 1976
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BornNovember 8, 1976
IMDbProStarmeter
See rank
  • View contact info at IMDbPro
  • Awards

Photos11

Colin Strause and Greg Strause in Skyline (2010)
Eric Balfour, Colin Strause, Greg Strause, and Scottie Thompson in Skyline (2010)
Colin Strause, Greg Strause, and Francis Lawrence
Colin Strause, Greg Strause, and Francis Lawrence
Colin Strause
Colin Strause and Greg Strause in Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (2007)
Colin Strause
Eric Balfour, Colin Strause, and Greg Strause
Eric Balfour, Donald Faison, Colin Strause, and Greg Strause
Eric Balfour, Colin Strause, and Greg Strause at an event for Skyline (2010)

Known for

Eric Balfour and Donald Faison in Skyline (2010)
Skyline
4.5
  • Visual Effects
  • 2010
Dwayne Johnson in San Andreas (2015)
San Andreas
6.1
  • Visual Effects
  • 2015
Tom Woodruff Jr. and Ian Whyte in Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (2007)
Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem
4.6
  • Visual Effects
  • 2007
Michael Shannon, Jessica Chastain, and Tova Stewart in Take Shelter (2011)
Take Shelter
7.3
  • Producer
  • 2011

Credits

Edit
IMDbPro

Visual Effects

  • Billy Burke, Diane Farr, Jules Latimer, Kevin Alejandro, Max Thieriot, Jordan Calloway, and Stephanie Arcila in Fire Country (2022)
    Fire Country
  • Colin Ford in Daybreak (2019)
    Daybreak
  • Marley Shelton, Malin Akerman, P.J. Byrne, Matt Gerald, Naomie Harris, Dwayne Johnson, Joe Manganiello, Demetrius Grosse, Allyssa Brooke, Urijah Faber, Breanne Hill, Jake Lacy, Jack Quaid, Bruce Blackshear, and Laura Distin in Rampage (2018)
    Rampage
  • Talitha Eliana Bateman in Geostorm (2017)
    Geostorm
  • Nat Wolff in Death Note (2017)
    Death Note
  • Dwayne Johnson, Alexandra Daddario, Zac Efron, Ilfenesh Hadera, Jon Bass, and Kelly Rohrbach in Baywatch (2017)
    Baywatch
  • Rampage: President Down (2016)
    Rampage: President Down
  • League of Gods (2016)
    League of Gods
  • Bonnie Aarons in The Conjuring 2 (2016)
    The Conjuring 2
  • Nicholas Hoult, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Oscar Isaac, Evan Peters, Olivia Munn, Jennifer Lawrence, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Alexandra Shipp, Sophie Turner, Tye Sheridan, and Ben Hardy in X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)
    X-Men: Apocalypse
  • Jaeden Martell in Midnight Special (2016)
    Midnight Special
  • Hardcore Henry (2015)
    Hardcore Henry
  • Dwayne Johnson in San Andreas (2015)
    San Andreas
  • Into the Storm (2014)
    Into the Storm
  • Halle Berry, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Nicholas Hoult, Hugh Jackman, James McAvoy, Elliot Page, Michael Fassbender, Daniel Cudmore, Bingbing Fan, and Jennifer Lawrence in X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)
    X-Men: Days of Future Past

Director

  • Eric Balfour and Donald Faison in Skyline (2010)
    Skyline
    • (as The Brothers Strause)
  • Usher: Love in This Club (2008)
    Usher: Love in This Club
  • 50 Cent: Get Up (2008)
    50 Cent: Get Up
  • Usher: Moving Mountains (2008)
    Usher: Moving Mountains
    • (as Brothers Strause)
  • Tom Woodruff Jr. and Ian Whyte in Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (2007)
    Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem
    • (as The Brothers Strause)
  • The Ultimate Video Collection (2007)
    The Ultimate Video Collection
  • A Perfect Circle: Passive (2005)
    A Perfect Circle: Passive
  • Photo Album: The Videos (2005)
    Photo Album: The Videos
  • 16mm Mystery
    • (as The Brothers Strause)
  • Mute (2003)
    Mute
  • Download It: Behind the Scenes Video
  • Nickelback: The Videos (2003)
    Nickelback: The Videos
    • (video How You Remind Me, as The Brothers Strause)
  • Disturbed: Prayer (2002)
    Disturbed: Prayer
  • Godsmack: I Stand Alone (2002)
    Godsmack: I Stand Alone
    • (as The Brothers Strause)
  • Nickelback: How You Remind Me (2001)
    Nickelback: How You Remind Me
    • (as Brothers Strause)

Producer

  • Daniel Bernhardt, Jeremy Fitzgerald, Jonathan Howard, and Lindsey Morgan in Skylines (2020)
    Skylines
  • Frank Grillo, Bojana Novakovic, Iko Uwais, and Yayan Ruhian in Beyond Skyline (2017)
    Beyond Skyline
    • (produced by)
  • The Bay (2012)
    The Bay
  • Michael Shannon, Jessica Chastain, and Tova Stewart in Take Shelter (2011)
    Take Shelter
  • Eric Balfour and Donald Faison in Skyline (2010)
    Skyline
    • (as The Brothers Strause)
  • Badass Thieves (2010)
    Badass Thieves
  • Chimera
  • In-development projects at IMDbPro

Videos1

Skyline
Trailer 1:35
Skyline

Personal details

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  • Official sites
    • Official Site
    • Tight Films
    • November 8, 1976
    • Waukegan, Illinois, USA
  • Other works
    Co-directed commercial "Moths" for Black Magic. (2004)
  • Publicity listings
    • 1 Interview

Did you know

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  • Trivia
    Co-directs with his brother Greg Strause.

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