David Gordon Green

David Gordon Green
Green at the 2018 San Diego Comic-Con
Born	(1975-04-09) April 9, 1975 Little Rock, Arkansas, United States
Alma mater	University of North Carolina School of the Arts
Occupation	Film director, film producer, television producer, screenwriter
Years active	1997–present

David Gordon Green (born April 9, 1975) is an American filmmaker. He has directed dramas such as George Washington (2000), All the Real Girls (2003), and Snow Angels (2007), as well as the thriller Undertow (2004), all of which he wrote or co-wrote. In 2008, he transitioned into comedy, directing the films Pineapple Express (2008), Your Highness and The Sitter (both 2011), as well as episodes of the HBO comedy Eastbound & Down (2009–13). In 2013, he returned to his more dramatic roots with the independent films Prince Avalanche and Joe. Since then, he has directed the films Manglehorn (2014), Our Brand Is Crisis (2015), Stronger (2017), and episodes of the television comedy-drama Red Oaks (2014–2017), on which he also serves as executive producer. Green directed the eleventh installment in the Halloween franchise, which he co-wrote with frequent collaborator Danny McBride, and which takes place forty years after the events of the original 1978 film.

Background

Green, one of four children, was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, and grew up in Richardson, Texas. His mother, Jean Ann (née Hunter), was a Lamaze instructor, and his father, Hubert Gordon Green, Jr., was a medical school dean. Green attended Richardson High School, the University of Texas at Austin, and the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, where he studied film directing. He currently lives in Charleston.

Career

Green's films, which are usually coming-of-age tales set in small rural towns, have been categorized as belonging to the Southern Gothic tradition. Green's dialog often has an obtuse, semi-poetic quality. While in university, he made the two short films, Pleasant Grove and Physical Pinball, at the North Carolina School of the Arts prior to his feature film debut in 2000, the critically acclaimed George Washington, which he both wrote and directed. He followed that with All the Real Girls in 2003 and Undertow in 2004.

In 2007, he directed Snow Angels, his first film of another author's screenplay, adapted from the Stewart O'Nan novel. The film debuted at Sundance in January and stars Sam Rockwell and Kate Beckinsale. It was released by Warner Independent Pictures. Green directed the Seth Rogen buddy comedy Pineapple Express in 2008, and the HBO series Eastbound & Down, for which he directed twelve episodes and served as a consulting producer. He is the creator of the animated series Good Vibes. He directed the comedy The Sitter, released in December 2011. Green also directed and co-wrote, Prince Avalanche in 2013.

Green directed the horror sequel Halloween (2018), produced by Jason Blum, executive produced by John Carpenter, and co-written by Green and Danny McBride.

Influences

Green's favorite films are, in order, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Gravy Train, The Bad News Bears, Deliverance, Nashville and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

It has been suggested, even by the director himself, that Green's films take a lot of influence from the works of fellow Texan Terrence Malick. Malick himself served as an executive producer of Green's 2004 film Undertow. Green has suggested that no other director had used voice-over narration so well, citing Malick's classic 1978 film Days of Heaven as the principal source of inspiration for Undertow.

In 2006 Green was the opening night guest at the CineYouth Festival – a film festival celebrating the work of youth filmmakers and presented by Cinema/Chicago also the presenting organization behind the Chicago International Film Festival.

Filmography

Year	Films	Director	Writer	Producer
2000	George Washington	Yes	Yes	Yes
2003	All the Real Girls	Yes	Yes	No
2004	Undertow	Yes	Yes	No
2007	Snow Angels	Yes	Yes	No
	Shotgun Stories	No	No	Yes
	Great World of Sound	No	No	Yes
2008	Pineapple Express	Yes	No	No
2011	Your Highness	Yes	No	No
	The Sitter	Yes	No	No
	The Catechism Cataclysm	No	No	Yes
2013	Prince Avalanche	Yes	Yes	Yes
	Joe	Yes	No	Yes
2014	Manglehorn	Yes	No	Yes
2015	Our Brand Is Crisis	Yes	No	No
	Hot Sugar's Cold World	No	No	Yes
2016	Goat	No	Yes	No
2017	Stronger	Yes	No	No
2018	Halloween	Yes	Yes	Executive

Executive producer only

• The Comedy (2012)
• Compliance (2012)
• Nature Calls (2012)
• See Girl Run (2012)
• Camp X-Ray (2014)
• Land Ho! (2014)
• Booger Red (2015)
• When Elephants Fight (2015)
• Donald Cried (2016)
• Flower (2017)
• Dayveon (2017)
• An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn (2018)
• The Legacy of a Whitetail Deer Hunter (2018)

Short films

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Producer
1997	Pleasant Grove	Yes	Yes	No
1998	Physical Pinball	Yes	Yes	No

Television

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Executive producer	Notes
2009–13	Eastbound & Down	Yes	No	Yes	Directed 12 episodes
2011	Good Vibes	No	Yes	Yes	Co-creator
2014	Chozen	No	No	Yes
2014–17	Red Oaks	Yes	No	Yes	Directed 6 episodes
2016–17	Vice Principals	Yes	No	Yes	Directed 8 episodes
2017	There's... Johnny!	Yes	No	Yes	Directed 2 episodes

External links

• David Gordon Green at the Internet Movie Database