Bryan Singer

Bryan Singer
Singer at WonderCon 2006
Born	Bryan Jay Singer September 17, 1965 (1965-09-17) New York, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Film director and producer

Bryan Singer (born September 17, 1965) is an American film director and film producer. Singer won critical acclaim for his work on The Usual Suspects, and is especially well-known among fans of the science fiction and superhero genres for his work on the X-Men films and Superman Returns.

Early life

Singer was born in New York City, and was adopted by Grace Singer (née Sinden), an environmental activist, and Norbert Dave Singer, a corporate executive. He grew up in a Jewish household in West Windsor Township, New Jersey. He attended West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South (formerly just West Windsor-Plainsboro High School), graduating in 1984. For college, Singer studied filmmaking for two years at New York's School of Visual Arts and later transferred to the USC School of Cinematic Arts in Los Angeles. Actors Lori and Marc Singer are his cousins. He is openly gay and has said that his life experiences of growing up as a minority influenced his movies. He was diagnosed with dyslexia.

Professional career

After graduating, Singer directed a short film called Lion's Den involving a number of friends, including actor Ethan Hawke whom he knew from his childhood in New Jersey and editor John Ottman who he had met while working on a friend's short film.

In mid-2004, Singer was in negotiations to direct X-Men: The Last Stand for Fox. Fox and Singer could not meet an agreement and, after an extended détente, Singer was offered the chance to direct the new Superman film, which was ready to go. On July 19, 2004, Variety reported that Singer had signed on to direct Superman Returns for Warner Bros. In retaliation, Fox terminated their production deal with Bad Hat Harry Productions, Singer's production company. Superman Returns was filmed in Australia in 2005, and was released on June 28, 2006. Singer claims that though he had not read the comics, he had always admired and identified with the character, citing the fact that he and Superman are both orphans. He instead based Returns on his love of the 1978 film made by Richard Donner.

Before embarking on the Superman sequel, Singer openly discussed helming a smaller project going back to the days of thrillers The Usual Suspects and Apt Pupil. In late 2006, screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie presented to Singer a story that took place in World War II, Valkyrie. In the following months, the two collaborated on the project, an original thriller that would be a multi-character ensemble piece. In March 2007, the duo brought the project directly to United Artists partners Paula Wagner and Tom Cruise, who immediately agreed to finance the film. The script is based on the actual events of German generals plotting to assassinate Adolf Hitler during World War II. Singer invited Tom Cruise to take the lead role, which Cruise accepted. Filming began on July 19, 2007 in Berlin, and the movie was released on December 25, 2008.

Upon finishing Valkyrie at the end of 2007, Singer was scheduled to jump directly into the upcoming Superman sequel, which was to begin filming around March 2008. Attending the 2007 Saturn Awards along with Superman Returns writers Michael Dougherty, Dan Harris and producer Gil Adler, Singer stated that the story had been locked down, and the first draft would be completed near the end of 2007. Plans for the sequel included more action sequences, an alien villain, and Singer's promise to "go all Wrath of Khan on it". Production has not begun and plans for the movie are unclear. In February 2009, Production Weekly listed it as "in development".

In August 2009, Universal Pictures announced that Singer would direct and produce a big screen reimagining of the Battlestar Galactica television series of the late-1970s, which would not draw any material from the Syfy Channel reimagined series.

On September 10, 2009, it was announced NBC has partnered with Bryan Singer and Bryan Fuller to adapt Augusten Burroughs's Sellevision into a series. The one-hour dramatic comedy, to be written by Fuller and directed by Singer, will focus on the inner workings of a fictional home shopping network, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

At the premiere of James Cameron's Avatar on December 16, 2009, Singer confirmed that he will be directing a film called Jack the Giant Killer for Warner Bros., and that he signed on to do X-Men: First Class, but conflicts between the two projects led to Singer being only a producer and co-screenwriter on First Class, with Matthew Vaughn taking over directorial duties.

Bryan produced the commercials for the ice cream Magnum Gold, which star Benicio del Toro.

Filmography

Feature films
Year	Title	Credited as			Notes
		Director	Producer	Writer
1988	Lion's Den	Yes			Short film
1993	Public Access	Yes	Yes	Yes
1995	The Usual Suspects	Yes	Yes
1998	Apt Pupil	Yes	Yes
	Burn		Yes
2000	X-Men	Yes		Yes
2003	X2	Yes	Yes	Yes
2006	Superman Returns	Yes	Yes	Yes
	Look, Up in the Sky! The Amazing Story of Superman		Yes		Documentary
2007	Color Me Olsen		Yes		Short film
2008	Valkyrie	Yes	Yes
2009	Trick 'r Treat		Yes
2011	X-Men: First Class		Yes	Yes
2012	Jack the Giant Killer	Yes	Yes		post production
TBA	X-Men: First Class sequel		Yes	Yes
Television
Year	Title	Credited as			Notes
		Director	Producer	Writer
2004– present	House	Yes (2004)	Yes		Directed 2 episodes.
2005	The Triangle		Yes	Yes	Miniseries
2006	The Science of Superman		Yes		TV documentary
2007	Football Wives	Yes	Yes		Pilot
2007–09	Dirty Sexy Money		Yes
2008	Valkyrie: The Plot to Kill Hitler		Yes		TV documentary

Actor

• Star Trek Nemesis (2002)
• X2 (2003)
• House (2004)

External links

• Bryan Singer at the Internet Movie Database
• Bad Hat Harry Productions at the Internet Movie Database
• Short The Movie Reporter video interview with Singer (2005)
• Tribute.ca Director Bio: Bryan Singer
• Bryan Singer at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)