Jaume Collet-Serra is back in the director's chair this week as he teams up with Blake Lively for The Shallows.
The Shallows
The movie marks the first time that we have seen him in the director's chair since Run All Night - it is also the filmmaker's first collaboration with Lively.
The Shallows sees Collet-Serra return to the thriller genre and it is great to see him back. We take a look back over the director's career and the films that he has brought to the big screen.
- House of Wax (2005)
It is hard to believe that Collet-Serra has already enjoyed a directing career that has spanned over a decade. It was back in 2005 when he made his directorial debut with horror film House of Wax.
Written by Chad and Carey Hayes, House of Wax was a remake of the 1953 of the same name - itself was a remake of the 1933 film Mystery of the Wax Museum.
The director brought together a young and exciting cast as Elisha Cuthbert, Chad Michael Murray, Brian Van Holt, Paris Hilton, and Jared Padalecki all starred.
The movie followed a group of college students with car trouble, who find themselves stranded in the seemingly abandoned town of Athelston, Iowa. Unfortunately, there are still two people left - demented twin brothers who enjoy encasing their victims in hot wax, and setting them up as wax museum exhibits.
While House of Wax was a run of the mill teenage slasher flick, the director did deliver some jumpy moments as well as some unexpected humour.
Sadly, Collet-Serra's directorial debut was not a critical success upon release but it did go on to be a critical hit. By the end of its theatrical run, the movie had grossed $70 million, grossing back its $40 million budget.
House of Wax was Collet-Serra's first collaboration with producer Joel Silver and was the film that did kick off his directing career.
- Goal II: Living the Dream (2007)
Two years later, Collet-Serra was back as he directed sequel Goal II: Living the Dream. The movie was the second part of the Goal! trilogy and came two years after the success of the first film.
This was the first and only time that we have seen the filmmaker tackle the sports drama, which continued the story of Santiago Munez and his football career.
Kuno Becker reprised the role of Munez and was joined on the cast list by Stephen Dillane, Alessandro Nivola, Anna Friel, and Rutger Hauer. There were also some great cameo performances from David Beckham, Ronaldo, and Sergio Ramos.
When Newcastle United soccer star Santiago Munez is offered a spot with Real Madrid, he accepts, but the move - accompanied by big money and fame - tests his ties and loyalties to family, friends and business acquaintances.
Sadly, it was another critical misfire for Collet-Serra as he struggled to really land his first major hit as a filmmaker.
- Orphan (2009)
He returned to the horror genre in 2009 when he reunited with producer Joel Silver for Orphan, which was written by David Leslie Johnson.
This psychological horror mixed elements of horror and thriller and was one of the best films in this genre to hit the big screen that year.
Peter Sarsgaard and Vera Farmiga lead the cast list and we were introduced to the acting talents of Isabelle Fuhrman, who took on the role of Esther.
Tragedy seems to follow nine-year-old Esther. She was orphaned in her native Russia. Her last adoptive family perished in a fire Esther barely escaped. But now the Coleman family has adopted her, and life is good. Until a classmate takes a serious fall from a slide. Until an orphanage nun is battered to death. And until Esther's new mom wonders if that tragic fire was an accident.
From start to finish, Orphan is a hugely entertaining film that really will have you on the edge of your seat - not to mention there's a fantastic and unexpected twist.
Orphan received mixed reviews upon release but it went on to be a box office success. The film grossed over $78 million at the global box office - easily making back its $20 million budget.
- Unknown (2011)
Collet-Serra teamed up with Liam Neeson for the first time back in 2011 as the Irish actor lead the cast in Unknown.
Unknown is based on the 2003 French novel Out of My Head by Didier Van Cauwelaert and was adapted for the big screen by Oliver Butcher and Stephen Cornwell.
Neeson took on the central role of Dr. Martin Harris and was joined on the cast list by Diane Kruger, January Jones, Aidan Quinn, and Frank Langella - it really is an impressive and exciting line-up.
Dr. Martin Harris (Neeson) awakens after a car accident in Berlin to discover that his wife (Jones) suddenly doesn't recognize him and another man (Quinn) has assumed his identity. Ignored by disbelieving authorities and hunted by mysterious assassins, he finds himself alone, tired and on the run. Aided by an unlikely ally (Kruger), Martin plunges headlong into a deadly mystery that will force him to question his sanity, his identity, and just how far he's willing to go to uncover the truth.
Neeson has taken his career in a completely different direction in recent years and Unknown helped establish the actor as a big screen action hero.
The script does lack a little originality but Collet-Serra delivers elements that you would expect in this genre of film well. From start t to finish, Unknown is an action-packed and exciting movie that sees Neeson on top form.
The movie was a big box office success for the filmmaker, as it went on to gross over $136 million at the global box office.
- Non-Stop (2014)
Collet-Serra reunited with Neeson three years later as the pair returned to the action genre with Non-Stop. The movie also saw the filmmaker work with producer Joel Silver once again.
The director brought together another great cast list as Julianne Moore, Scoot McNairy, Michelle Dockery, Nate Parker, Corey Stoll, and Lupita Nyong'o all starred alongside Neeson.
Bill Marks (Neeson) is a burned-out veteran of the Air Marshals service. He views the assignment not as a life-saving duty, but as a desk job in the sky.
However, today's flight will be no routine trip. Shortly into the transatlantic journey from New York to London, he receives a series of mysterious text messages ordering him to have the government transfer $150 million into a secret account, or a passenger will die every 20 minutes.
Non-Stop is another exciting collaboration between Collet-Serra and Neeson in a movie that really is hugely entertaining. The director builds the intensity and the tension in such a small space - it works incredibly well.
Non-Stop was a big hit at the beginning of 2014 and grossed $222.8 million, which remains one of the filmmaker's biggest box office hits.
- Run All Night (2015)
A third collaboration came just a year later as Collet-Serra cast Neeson in Run All Night, which was the last time that we saw him in the director's chair.
The action crime thriller was written by Brad Ingelsby and saw Joel Kinnaman, Ed Harris, Common, Vincent D'Onofrio, and Boyd Holbrook joined Neeson on the cast list.
Gravedigger, has seen better days. Long-time best friend of mob boss Shawn Maguire (Harris), Jimmy, now 55, is haunted by the sins of his past as well as a dogged police detective (D'Onofrio) who's been one step behind Jimmy for 30 years. Lately, it seems Jimmy's only solace can be found at the bottom of a whiskey glass.
But when Jimmy's estranged son, Mike (Kinnaman), becomes a target, Jimmy must make a choice between the crime family he chose and the real family he abandoned long ago. With Mike on the run, Jimmy's only penance for his past mistakes may be to keep his son from the same fate Jimmy is certain he'll face himself... at the wrong end of a gun. Now, with nowhere safe to turn, Jimmy just has one night to figure out exactly where his loyalties lie and to see if he can finally make things right.
Neeson delivers a terrific performance as a man who will do anything to protect his son. This is a movie about honour and betrayal and the director explores these themes well.
While the film received solid reviews upon release, it did struggle at the box office and only just made back its $61 million budget.
The Shallows is released 12th August.
Tagged in Jaume Collet-Serra