Renny Harlin

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Renny Harlin
Born	Renny Lauri Mauritz Harjola March 15, 1959 (1959-03-15) (age 49) Riihimäki, Finland
Years active	1980-present
Spouse(s)	Geena Davis (1993–1998)
Official website
Awards won Other Awards Independent Spirit Awards 1991 Rambling Rose

Renny Harlin (born March 15, 1959) is a Finnish-born film director and producer, mostly known for action movies.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early life 1.2 Success in Hollywood 1.3 Later career in Hollywood 1.4 Future projects 1.5 Projects outside film industry 2 Filmography 3 References 4 External links

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Harlin was born Renny Lauri Mauritz Harjola in Riihimäki, Finland to a nurse mother and a physician father.^[1] His mother often took him to see films at the cinema as a child, particularly those of Alfred Hitchcock, and he became enamored with the movies often citing Sam Peckinpah’s The Wild Bunch (1969) as one of his favourites. Harlin had a video camera from a very early age and made his first short at the age of 12.^[2] At the age of 14 he decided to became a film director after he saw Don Siegel and Charles Bronson in Helsinki for the filming of Telefon (1977).^[3]

In 1980, Harlin was working as a commercial director for companies such as Shell Oil while he wrote and directed the 6-minute short Huostaanotto (a.k.a. Custody International) which received its belated premier on Finnish television on 4 November 1979.^[4].The following year, 1981, he was assistant cameraman on Läpimurto (a.k.a. The Breakthrough), directed by Janne Kuusi, and made a cameo appearance as a police officer.^[5] That same year he was also cinematographer on two short films; Posliinikissa directed by Kari Paljakka,^[6] and Jos minä olisin aikuinen directed by Per-Olof Strandberg.^[7] He then made the documentary short Hold On which won the Best Short Subject Award at the 1982 Finish Film Board Awards.^[8]

Harlin started working as a buyer for a Finnish film-distribution company and while on a business trip to L.A. he met up with aspiring film writer/producer Markus Selin. The two Finns would become long-term friends and collaborators. They quickly set to work on the script for their first film Born American (a.k.a. Arctic Heat).^[9] This was a feature length action movie about three Americans vacationing in Finland who cross the border into the Soviet Union. It was originally supposed to star Chuck Norris but he backed out when filming was delayed by funding problems and his son, Mike Norris, landed the lead instead. A U.S./Finnish co-production, this was at that time the most expensive film ever to have been made in Finland but it was initially banned in that country as it was feared it could do harm to their international relations.^[10] The pairing followed this in 1987 with Wild Force: S.O.P.H.I.A. (a.k.a. I want you to stay) but failed to secure a distributor.^[11] Nonetheless the moderate international success of their first film allowed Harlin to get his foot in the door in Hollywood.^[3]

[edit] Success in Hollywood

Harlin quickly moved to the U.S. where he was initially put to work directing low-budget horror movies but commercial success was soon to follow. In 1988, Irwin Yablans of Empire Pictures hired him to direct Viggo Mortensen, Chelsea Field and Lane Smith in the low-budget horror film Prison filmed at a former state prison in Rawlins, Wyoming.^[12] That same year Robert Shaye of New Line Cinema, after some initial doubts, hired him to direct another low-budget horror film, A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master, which became the highest grossing independent film at that time by earning $49 million in the US. Harlin cameos in the film as a student while a publicity poster for Prison can be seen in the background of a scene in a movie theatre.^[13]

Following this success 20th Century Fox approached Harlin with sci-fi/horror sequel Alien³. After working on the trouble-prone project for a year, he left in 1990 claiming not to be satisfied with any of the multiple scripts that had been drafted and stating that he wanted to do something completely different.^[14] The next day the studio offered him rock-and-roll comedy The Adventures of Ford Fairlane starring stand-up comic Andrew Dice Clay.^[15] Studio executives were so impressed by the dailies on this film that they offered Harlin action sequel Die Hard 2 staring Bruce Willis, which he set to work on immediately.^[16] The two films were edited simultaneously and were released just one-month apart after being shipped to the theaters as "wet prints". The former flopped but the latter was another commercial success for the director. He achieved critical acclaim the following year, 1991, when he produced Rambling Rose, through his own recently formed Midnight Sun Pictures, for director Martha Coolidge which won him the Best Feature award at the 1992 Independent Spirit Awards and got his star and then partner Laura Dern a Best Actress Oscar nomination at the 1992 Academy Awards.

1993 was a big year for Harlin, Mario Kassar of Carolco Pictures who had worked with him on Rambling Rose offered him Gale Force a film about hurricanes with Sylvester Stallone attached to star. Harlin initially turned down the offer due to the scripts similarities to Die Hard 2 but Kassar kept offering a bigger salary, changing the pay scale of Hollywood directors, until Harlin accepted. The films projected cost spiraled and eventually the plug was pulled but the project went on to evolve into Cliffhanger. This film was another commercial success and is credited with reviving Stallone’s flagging career. The actor became good friends with his director, Harlin.^[17] This same year Harlin married American actress Geena Davis and also found time to return to his homeland to write and direct the TV series Gladiaattorit (the Finnish version of American Gladiators) with old friend and collaborator Markus Selin.^[18]

[edit] Later career in Hollywood

Returning to Hollywood, Harlin and his new wife formed a production company known as The Forge. Through this company Harlin produced comedy film Speechless for director Ron Underwood which got star Davis a 1995 Golden Globe nomination.^[19]

In 1995, Harlin set to work on a pirate movie called Cutthroat Island with Michael Douglas attached to star. Harlin convinced producer Mario Kassar that, despite being known for light-weight comedy roles, Davis was perfect for the female love interest in this action blockbuster. After Kassar agreed Harlin set about beefing up Davis’ role until Douglas left the production giving her the lead. The $92 million production, in which Harlin cameos as a pirate, went on to be a major critical and commercial failure entering the Guinness Book of World Records as the biggest loss of money for a studio ever. That studio, Carolco Pictures, went bankrupt as a result.^[20] Undeterred Harlin returned to New Line Cinema in 1996 for his next production and action/thriller called The Long Kiss Goodnight staring Davis and Samuel L. Jackson.^[21] This was another commercial failure that effectively ended Davis' movie career.^[22] The couple went on to executive produce the HBO TV movie Mistrial but the marriage was effectively over.^[23]

Harlin and Davis were finally divorced in 1998. That same year, looking for a summer blockbuster for 1999, Warner Bros. re-teamed Harlin with Jackson for the shark movie Deep Blue Sea. The film, in which Harlin cameos, was mistakenly thought to be a comedy by some and was not the box office hit the studio had wanted.^[24] Harlin went on to produce comedy Blast from the Past through both The Forge and Midnight Sun Pictures for director Hugh Wilson.^[25] The following year, 2000, he returned to TV appearing in a couple of episodes of old friend Markus Selin's Finnish series Susi rajalla^[26] and directing the pilot episode for Fox Television's T.R.A.X. which was not picked-up.^[27]. At this relative low point in his career, in 2001, it was old friend Sylvester Stallone, who helped Harlin out by bringing him on board as producer and director of race-car movie Driven in which he also cameos, however the final product was a yet another critical and commercial failure.^[28]

Harlin's next project was to be a movie adaptation of Ray Bradbury short story A Sound of Thunder but he passed the directors chair to Peter Hyams, staying on as executive producer through The Forge, and instead returned to his roots with a couple of low budget horror movies.

Harlin picked up the reigns on slasher movie Mindhunters when original director Peter Howitt dropped out and spent a long time editing and re-editing this thriller but the release was delayed by studio conflicts. He then went on to re-shoot a more traditional horror version of Exorcist: The Beginning when the studio were unhappy with the psychological drama cut from director Paul Schrader.^[29] Due to the delays with Mindhunters both films ended up being released in 2004 and both were moderate successes.

In 2006, Harlin re-teamed with old friend and collaborator Markus Selin to direct a biopic of Finnish President Gustaf Mannerheim, but the budget projection spiraled and the project was put on hold. Instead Harlin made yet another foray into low-budget horror with The Covenant, which was another moderate commercial success. In 2007 the Mannerheim film project moved on, and Harlin returned to Finland. Production is set to begin during 2008 with Mikko Nousiainen starring as Mannerheim. The film will premiere in 2009.

Despite Harlin's string of failures since the mid-1990s, he is still ranked as one of the highest-grossing directors of all time.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Future projects

Harlin currently has two films in production or pre-production; an adaption of the comic-book seriesBrodie's Law, and a Finnish film project Mannerheim.

[edit] Projects outside film industry

Harlin has been involved in few projects outside film industry. In the 1990's Harlin was starting the Planet Hollywood restaurant in Helsinki. At the same time he was one of the new owners of the Planet FunFun indoor amusement park in Kerava (previously known as Fanfaari). Both of these ventures were short-lived and in few years time both the restaurant and amusement park were closed.

[edit] Filmography

• Huostaanotto (a.k.a. Custody) (1980)
• Hold On (1982)
• Born American (a.k.a. Arctic Heat) (1986)
• Prison (1988)
• A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988)
• The Adventures of Ford Fairlane (1990)
• Die Hard 2 (1990)
• Cliffhanger (1993)
• Cutthroat Island (1995)
• The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996)
• Deep Blue Sea (1999)
• Driven (2001)
• Mindhunters (2004)
• Exorcist: The Beginning (2004)
• The Covenant (2006)
• Cleaner (2007)
• 12 Rounds (2009)
• Brodie's Law (film) (TBA)
• Mannerheim (TBA)

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official site
• Renny Harlin at the Internet Movie Database
• Renny Harlin at the TCM Movie Database

v • d • e Feature films directed by Renny Harlin 1980s: Born American • Prison • A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master 1990s: The Adventures of Ford Fairlane • Die Hard 2 • Cliffhanger • Cutthroat Island • The Long Kiss Goodnight • Deep Blue Sea 2000s: Driven • Mindhunters • Exorcist: The Beginning • The Covenant • Cleaner

v • d • e Cinema of Finland Actors • Directors • Films A-Z • Films by year • Cinematographers • Editors • Producers • Score composers • Screenwriters

v • d • e Die Hard series Die Hard • Die Hard 2 • Die Hard with a Vengeance • Live Free or Die Hard Video games Die Hard • Arcade • Trilogy • Trilogy 2: Viva Las Vegas • Nakatomi Plaza • Vendetta Related articles John McClane • Fox Plaza • Nothing Lasts Forever • Val Verde

Persondata
NAME	Harlin, Renny
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Harjola, Lauri Mauritz
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Finnish film director and film producer
DATE OF BIRTH	15 March 1959
PLACE OF BIRTH	Riihimäki, Finland
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH