Who is Rupert Sanders? And How Did He Get $70 Million to Direct Snow White and the Huntsman?

Charlize Theron as perhaps the hottest evil queen ever.

By Late Night
Unlike most of the directors featured on Visionary or Hack, not much is known about first-time director Rupert Sanders. He is one of the latest television commercial specialists to make the crossover into features, and his debut film, Snow White and the Huntsman, is a dark, action version of the famous fairy tale. Kristen Stewart and Chris Hemsworth star in the title roles, backed-up by Academy Award-winner Charlize Theron as Ravenna, the Evil Queen. Snow White opens wide on June 1st.

Rupert Sanders, in a photo taken by Gage Skidmore

According to the data on IMDB, Sanders was nominated for a DGA award in 2009 for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in commercials, for spots promoting Monster, Travelers Insurance and Brand Jordan. Okay then, if the Director’s Guild of America likes him, perhaps we should take a look:
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Long Live the New Flesh

David Cronenberg

1983 – there was no cell phone, no DVD or Blu-ray, and no Internet.

1983 was also the year of David Cronenberg’s first fully realized masterpiece, the prophetic Videodrome.

This is part two of a four-part series on the oeuvre of visionary filmmaker David Cronenberg.

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Superhero movie versus 3D game: which is more spectacular?

By Late Night
All of the spectacular action sequences we’ll enjoy this summer at the movies are made possible by the same computerized image manipulation that make the most popular videogames possible. Check out this mix of 3D game action versus feature film super hero action, served up by trailer-slicer supreme Crispafull (the “live action” stuff starts about halfway through, featuring clips from The Avengers, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter and many, many more):

Is it possible we may be witnessing the birth of a new artform?

VOH Filmmaker of the Week – Brad Bird

Brad Bird

Before he directed Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, which was recently released on video, acclaimed director Brad Bird made his name in the world of animation by directing award-winning films such as The Iron Giant (1999), The Incredibles (2004) and Ratatouille (2007).  Is Bird deserving of a place in  VOH’s Hall of Visionaries?

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Why is master of the macabre Tim Burton in the VoH Lobby?

By most accounts, Tim Burton is one of the most accomplished directors working in Hollywood today. And this weekend, he releases his latest, Dark Shadows, an adaptation of the 1970’s gothic television soap opera. Starring Burton’s ace in the hole, Johnny Depp, as the patriarchal vampire Barnabas Collins, and featuring sexpot Eva Green as the witch who done him wrong, this film can’t help but be entertaining.


But will it qualify Burton as a visionary?

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