Renny Harlin - Biography

Last Editor: vikkilizzi				Renny Harlin Biography -   Name : Renny Harlin Profession : Film director and producer Birth Details : born Lauri Mauritz Harjola on March 15, 1959 in Riihimäki, Finland Birth name : Renny Lauri Mauritz Harjola Height : 6' 4" (1.93 m) Personal quotes : "Soon, a hundred million dollars is going to be a normal budget for an action picture. That size picture is in the works at every studio." (Pr Salary : Die Hard 2 (1990) $750,000 A Nightmare On Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988) $100,000 Born American (1986) $10,000 Spouse : Geena Davis (18 September 1993 - 21 June 1998) (divorced) Trade mark : Includes references to Finland, his country of birth [finland]

Renny Harlin Trivia -

Worked on Alien³ (1992) for over a year and asked to leave the project after not being satisfied with any script and wanted to do something completely different, and the next day was offered The Adventures of Ford Fairlane (1990) by Joel Silver. When he was starting out in Hollywood, he would travel via the city bus system with reels of his work to show studio executives. Dating Sarah Thackray, a British journalist. [2001] Dated former Miss Finland Tarja Smura. Father of child born (in August 1997) to personal assistant, Tiffany Bowne who worked with the director on Cutthroat Island (1995) and The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996). Edited both his 1990 Fox films The Adventures of Ford Fairlane (1990) and Die Hard 2 (1990) at the same time. Had 2 films open one week apart in 1990: The Adventures of Ford Fairlane (1990) and Die Hard 2 (1990). Was perhaps the first mainstream, American-based filmmaker to use Toronto for big-budget locational and shooting purposes (something that has become very commonplace for American films nowadays) with his film The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996). In 2001, he bought an apartment from former Formula One driver Eddie Irvine. He is a friend of Sylvester Stallone. He got a medal ("Kultainen ansiomerkki") from Finnish WWII veterans in 2004. He helped to organize "Kiitoksen paikka" concert which collected money to secure treatment and help to the old war veterans. Harlin said that helping the defenders of Finland is much more important that his other achievements. Does a director's commentary for the DVDs of every single one of his movies.

Renny Harlin Detailed Biography -

Renny Harlin (born Lauri Mauritz Harjola on March 15, 1959 in Riihimäki, Finland) is a film director and producer mostly known for action movies. Harlin moved to the U.S. in the mid 1980s and initially started directing low-budget films. Harlin gained attention after directing A Nightmare on Elm Street 4, which proved to be a success. His next film, the Andrew Dice Clay film The Adventures of Ford Fairlane failed at the box office, but Harlin achieved financial success with Die Hard 2. He revived the career of Sylvester Stallone with the 1993 hit Cliffhanger but 1995's infamous Cutthroat Island proved to be such a box-office flop that the company that produced it, Carolco, went out of business soon afterwards. Harlin was set to direct the film Alien³ and worked on it for over a year but later backed out due to dissatisfaction with the script. Harlin married actress Geena Davis in 1993 and, interestingly, he cast her as the lead in some of his films, including Cutthroat Island and The Long Kiss Goodnight. They were later divorced in 1998 and in interviews Davis has been critical of the effect her relationship with Harlin had on her career (and the universally negative reviews on Cutthroat Island and The Long Kiss Goodnight lend credence to this). It was Stallone who helped Harlin out by giving him the film Driven but this proved to be only a mild success, basically because many critics thought Stallone's script was depressingly cliché-ridden and unrealistic. In 1993 Harlin directed the TV-show American Gladiators for finnish TV. Former pro-wrestler Tony Halme, stagenamed Ludvig Borga, starred as gladiator named Viikinki. (Viking in english) The film Exorcist: The Beginning, the prequel to the Exorcist film series, was initially directed by Paul Schrader. Reportedly, the studio was dissatisfied with the resulting film: a brooding and psychological look at exorcism that lacked the blatantly horrific scenes of the first movie. Schrader was fired and the film was totally re-shot by Harlin, ostensibly to create a version of the film closer to traditional horror movie expectations. Following fan pressure Schrader's film was released on DVD and received better fan critical response than Harlin's version. His style is fast-paced and rhytmically engaging. His better action films Long Kiss Goodnight, Cliffhanger and Die Hard 2: Die Harder showcase a visual and technical talent greatly above average Hollywood action directors. He is now attached to a number of movies including the comic book adaptations The Covenant and Full Moon Fever, the viking adventure The Northman and the action film Run.