Doug Liman Biography

Doug Liman (born 1965) is a Jewish-American film director and producer.

Liman began making short films while still in junior high and studied at NYC's International Center of Photography. While attending Brown University, he helped to co-found the student-run cable television station and served as its first station manager. Liman attended the graduate program at USC where he was tapped to helm his first project, the comedy thriller Getting In/Student Body (1993).
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Liman became attached to direct Swingers when its screenwriter Jon Favreau turned down offers from studios who wanted to cast established actors. The director agreed to cast Favreau and his friends (Vince Vaughn, Ron Livingston and Patrick Van Horne) in this comedy about struggling actors amid the L.A. club milieu. The result was a $250,000 dialogue propeled film filled with energy and charm that captivated audiences and critics and not only established a cult following, but also jump-started the careers of the featured actors, most notably Vaughn.

Artful, smart and exhilarating, Liman's rapid-paced next effort "Go" (1999) more than lived up to the legacy of the acclaimed Swingers. Liman showed a rare filmmaker's economy, bringing in this elaborate and energetic ride at well under two hours. Doing double duty as cinematographer, Liman created a look for the film that stylistically captured both the John August script's vivid spirit and somewhat dark subject matter. The director shot some especially visually arresting scenes, including an Ecstasy-fueled hallucination set in a supermarket, a terrifying neon lit Las Vegas strip car chase and a hazy rave dance floor scene. The film received overwhelmingly positive reviews but box office returns were comparably lackluster.

Liman enjoyed his most potent commercial and creative success when he helmed the top-notch, cleverly assembled action thriller The Bourne Identity (2002), an adaptation of author Robert Ludlum's potboiler. Building on his success, he served as an executive producer and directed the pilot episode of the smash hit Fox melodrama The O.C. (2003 - ).

Liman's momentum continued when he directed Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005), a crackerjack comedic thriller about an increasingly distant married couple who discover they're each secretly high-caliber assassins when they're assigned to kill one another, which reignites their ardor. In addition to Liman's characteristically innovative action staging, the film benefitted greatly from the chemistry between stars Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, who developed a controversial, high-profile relationship off-screen while making the film. In 2005 he signed on the direct the pilot episode of "Heist," about a season-long attempt to rob three jewelry stores on Beverly Hills' swanky Rodeo Drive, for NBC. His next film is an adaptation of the popular science fiction novel Jumper (2007) by Steven Gould.

DOUG LIMAN PICTURES

DOUG LIMAN BIOGRAPHY