Description:
New Zealand-born screenwriter-director Andrew Niccol began his career in London, successfully directing TV commercials before moving to Los Angeles in order to make films "longer than 60 seconds." He interested high-powered producer Scott Rudin in his The Truman Show (1998) script, but Rudin was not willing to gamble on a rookie director, particularly when Jim Carrey came aboard, swelling the budget to about $60 million. Peter Weir helmed instead, bringing a complementary vision which lightened the material somewhat, and the clever satire, which followed a cheerful insurance man (Carrey) as he slowly realizes that all the people in his life are just actors in a TV show, opened to critical raves. Since the deal for "Truman" came together slowly, Niccol actually made his screenwriting and directing debut with Gattaca (1997), a superb, well-acted sci-fi movie that raised issues of genetic engineering in a totalitarian environment.
Birthday
June 10, 1964
Born In
Paraparaumu, New Zealand
Alternative names
Andrew M. Niccol
Spouse/Ex-
Rachel Roberts May 11, 2002 - present (2 children),Susan Jennifer Sullivan 1991 - 2002 (divorced)
Children
Jack Niccol
Trivia
Directed television commercials for over 10 years prior to his
directing debut Gattaca (1997)
Quotes
"My biggest mistake, going back to The Truman Show (1998), was that I wrote my most expensive film, first. And you just shouldn't do that. I remember talking to the studio head at the time and she said, "There's no way
for a first film that we'll give you a budget of $80 million. But we would give you $20 million". So I went off and wrote Gattaca (1997) and made
sure it was $20 million. So they let me make it".
Trademarks
The plot of his films often revolve around artificial reality, such as gene manipulation in Gattaca (1997), the life of "Truman" in The Truman Show (1998), the computer-generated actress in S1m0ne (2002), the nature of aging in "In Time" and the MO of the antagonists of "The Host"
