John Harrison (director)


John Harrison is an American filmmaker, musician, and composer, best known for his collaborations with director George A. Romero and for writing-directing the miniseries adaptation of Dune.

Early life and career

Harrison was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Emerson College in Boston with a BS in Theater Arts. For several years after that, he performed on the road with his band Homebrew before moving back to Pittsburgh to take a master's degree in film and television from Carnegie Mellon University. At the same time, he joined blues guitarist Roy Buchanan, with whom he toured across the US and internationally for four years. He was also featured on several of Buchanan's albums, including That's What I'm Here For, Live Stock, and A Street Called Straight.
In 1973, Harrison and his friends, Dusty Nelson and Pasquale Buba, formed a film production company eventually named The Image Works to produce commercials and industrials in the Pittsburgh area. This partnership eventually led to the production of the film Effects, which Harrison produced and performed in as the character Lacey Bickle. In 1974, Harrison began a long collaboration and friendship with filmmaker George A. Romero. Harrison performed as Sir Pelinore in Romero's Knightriders, then became his 1st Assistant Director for both Romero films Creepshow and Day of the Dead.
Harrison also composed the scores for Creepshow and Day of the Dead. He also played the "Screwdriver Zombie" in Romero's classic Dawn of the Dead. The music that was composed for the score of Creepshow was also featured in the fake trailer for Thanksgiving in the film Grindhouse.
After Creepshow, Harrison moved to Los Angeles to continue his writing and directing career. He wrote, directed and composed the music for multiple episodes of the Tales from the Darkside TV show. He was then tapped by producer Richard P. Rubinstein to direct for Paramount, which won the Gran Prix du Festival at Avoriaz, France. Harrison's collaboration with Rubinstein culminated in the Emmy winning TV miniseries, Frank Herbert's Dune, which Harrison wrote and directed, and Frank Herbert's Children of Dune, which Harrison wrote and co-executive produced.
In 2001, Harrison receives a co-song writing credit, for the Gorillaz's track "M1 A1", from the album Gorillaz, which samples music, from the film Day of the Dead. Gorillaz used samples from the same film for another song, "Hip Albatross", a B-side on the international hit "19-2000".
In 2006, Harrison reunited with mentor Romero to co-produce Romero's film Diary of the Dead. His action suspense thriller, Blank Slate, for producer Dean Devlin, which Harrison wrote and directed, aired as a twenty episode mini-series on TNT in the fall of 2008. In 2009, Harrison completed his adaptation of acclaimed horror novelist Clive Barker's Book of Blood, which Harrison co-wrote and directed.
His paranormal thriller miniseries Residue, which he created and wrote, was released on Netflix in April 2015.

Filmography

Films

YearTitleRoleNotes
1978Dawn of the DeadScrewdriver ZombieUncredited
1981KnightridersPellinore
1988Jack's BackChooch
2005EffectsLacey BickelDirect-to-video film
2008Blank SlateThomas HaleTelevision film

Television series

Soundtracks