Jaume Collet-Serra


Jaume Collet-Serra is a Spanish-American film director and producer. He is known for directing the horror remake House of Wax, Disney soccer movie , the psychological horror Orphan, the Liam Neeson action-thrillers Unknown, Non-Stop, Run All Night and The Commuter, and the survival thriller The Shallows.

Early life

Collet-Serra was born in Sant Iscle de Vallalta, Catalonia, Spain. Soon after graduating, he began his career as an editor before moving on to direct music videos and television commercials for companies such as Sony, Budweiser, and Verizon.

Career

2005–2010: ''House of Wax'' and ''Orphan''

In 2005, Collet-Serra was given an opportunity to direct his first feature film by producer Joel Silver. The film, House of Wax, was a remake of the 1953 original of the same name. Despite reviewers giving the film a negative critical reception, it was a financial success, and starred Elisha Cuthbert and Chad Michael Murray and featuring Paris Hilton. Two years later, Collet-Serra directed . The film, the sequel to Goal!, finds star European soccer player Santiago Muñez bumped by is agent from England's Newcastle United team to Real Madrid's Galácticos. He reunited with producer Silver for the third film of his career, Orphan, a 2009 American psychological horror film starring Vera Farmiga, Peter Sarsgaard, and Isabelle Fuhrman. The film centres on a couple who, after the death of their unborn child, adopt a mysterious nine-year-old girl. Orphan was produced by Joel Silver and Susan Downey of Dark Castle Entertainment and Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Davisson Killoran of Appian Way Productions. The film received mixed critical reviews but was a box office success.

2011–2015: ''Unknown'', ''The River'', ''Non-Stop'' and ''Mindscape''

Collet-Serra then directed Unknown, a 2011 action thriller starring Liam Neeson, Diane Kruger, January Jones, Aidan Quinn, Bruno Ganz, and Frank Langella. The film is based on the 2003 French novel published in English as Out of My Head, by Didier Van Cauwelaert. Collet-Serra made his television directing debut with the ABC pilot The River, a horror drama from Paranormal Activity writer-director Oren Peli. The show was met with generally favourable reviews. In December 2012, he began filming for his next film Non-Stop, which starred Liam Neeson and Julianne Moore.
Collet-Serra formed his own production house Ombra Films. With money from StudioCanal, the small company set out to make low-budget English-language horror films, with an eye toward launching the careers of up-and-coming Spanish filmmakers. Juan Sola, Collet-Serra's producing partner, told Deadline Hollywood, "We've seen how many talented directors are coming out of Spain, but there hasn't really been a platform for them to find work in films. They look up to Jaume as a guy they want to become and we thought, how about a company that creates a bridge between Spain and the U.S., similar to what Luc Besson provided in France? Already, we are being bombarded, and we feel directors will find Ombra a fantastic platform. Jaume loves mentoring new talent." The venture's first film was Mindscape, a psychological thriller about a man with the ability to enter people's memories, starring Taissa Farmiga, Mark Strong, and Brian Cox. Collet-Serra executive produced the found footage comedy-horror film Hooked Up, which was directed by Pablo Larcuen and was shot on an iPhone.

2016–present: ''The Shallows'' and ''The Commuter''

Collet-Serra directed and executive produced The Shallows, a 2016 horror-thriller starring Blake Lively, from a script by Anthony Jaswinski, and The Commuter, an action-thriller starring Liam Neeson, which was released on January 12, 2018, and also features Vera Farmiga, Sam Neill, and Elizabeth McGovern.

Upcoming projects

Collet-Serra served as director for Jungle Cruise from The Walt Disney Company, starring Dwayne Johnson. The film is based on the concept of the ride of the same name at Disneyland.
In June of 2019, Collet-Serra signed on to direct Black Adam, written by Adam Sztykiel and starring Dwayne Johnson. Johnson will serve as a producer on the project alongside Hiram Garcia, Dany Garcia, Beau Flynn, and Scott Sheldon. Collet-Serra emerged as front-runner to direct after his work on Jungle Cruise. The film will be a co-production between Warner Bros. Pictures, New Line Cinema, Seven Bucks Productions, and FlynnPicturesCo. film studios. Production is scheduled to begin sometime in 2020.

Filmography

Film

Producer only
YearFilmNotes
2013Mindscape
2013Hooked UpExecutive producer
2015Eden
2015Extinction
2015Curve

Television