Brett Leonard
Encyclopedia
Brett Leonard is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 film director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...

, producer
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...

 and music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...

 director
Music video director
A music video director is driven by a given music track. These are called music videos and are then used as promotional tools for popular music singles...

 specializing in the science-fiction and horror genres. A few of his films such as The Lawnmower Man and Virtuosity
Virtuosity
Virtuosity is a 1995 techno-thriller film directed by Brett Leonard. The movie tells the story of a virtual villain's successful attempt to escape into the "real world". SID 6.7, the villain program portrayed by Russell Crowe, is eventually transplanted into an android body and escapes...

(1995) feature groundbreaking computer animation
Computer animation
Computer animation is the process used for generating animated images by using computer graphics. The more general term computer generated imagery encompasses both static scenes and dynamic images, while computer animation only refers to moving images....

 and visual effects. The Lawnmower Man is considered the first, seminal film to feature "Virtual Reality"
Virtual reality
Virtual reality , also known as virtuality, is a term that applies to computer-simulated environments that can simulate physical presence in places in the real world, as well as in imaginary worlds...

 as a cautionary tale becoming the number one commercially successful independent film of 1992, budgeted at just under $6 million and eventually earning over $150 million worldwide.

Virtuosity
Virtuosity
Virtuosity is a 1995 techno-thriller film directed by Brett Leonard. The movie tells the story of a virtual villain's successful attempt to escape into the "real world". SID 6.7, the villain program portrayed by Russell Crowe, is eventually transplanted into an android body and escapes...

 became the first major film to feature nanotechnology
Nanotechnology
Nanotechnology is the study of manipulating matter on an atomic and molecular scale. Generally, nanotechnology deals with developing materials, devices, or other structures possessing at least one dimension sized from 1 to 100 nanometres...

 set in a cyberpunk based future with Brett Leonard casting Russell Crowe
Russell Crowe
Russell Ira Crowe is a New Zealander Australian actor , film producer and musician. He came to international attention for his role as Roman General Maximus Decimus Meridius in the 2000 historical epic film Gladiator, directed by Ridley Scott, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Actor, a...

 and Denzel Washington
Denzel Washington
Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. is an American actor, screenwriter, director, and film producer. He first rose to prominence when he joined the cast of the medical drama, St. Elsewhere, playing Dr...

 together a full 12 years before they would again co-star and many Oscar nominations later in a 2007 project.

His work with the IMAX 3D process set him apart from most directors having gained early experience with this cutting-edge presentation medium directing T-Rex: Back to the Cretaceous
T-Rex: Back to the Cretaceous
T-Rex: Back to the Cretaceous is a 1998 edu-tainment feature filmed for the IMAX 3D format. The film is directed by Brett Leonard, renowned for his Computer-generated imagery special effects productions. Executive producer/co-writer Andrew Gellis and producers Antoine Compin and Charis Horton also...

 in IMAX 3D. The film became the first number one hit 3D movie to gross over $100 million worldwide (on IMAX screens alone).

He created a sensation when he took his “Swarm Cam-Fusion Station” onto The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and guest Billy Idol
Billy Idol
William Michael Albert Broad , better known by his stage name Billy Idol, is an English rock musician. A member of the Bromley Contingent of Sex Pistols fans, Idol first achieved fame in the punk rock era as a member of the band Generation X...

, and implemented one of the first live web-casts ever, from the House of Blues, LA.

Creative Artists Agency and Intel Corporation
Intel Corporation
Intel Corporation is an American multinational semiconductor chip maker corporation headquartered in Santa Clara, California, United States and the world's largest semiconductor chip maker, based on revenue. It is the inventor of the x86 series of microprocessors, the processors found in most...

 hired him to direct a state-of-the-art "interactive show" for the CAA/Intel Media Lab to introduce the Hollywood community to the "future of entertainment" digitizing actor Danny DeVito
Danny DeVito
Daniel Michael DeVito, Jr. , better known as Danny DeVito, is an American actor, comedian, director and producer. He first gained prominence for his portrayal of Louie De Palma on the ABC and NBC television series Taxi , for which he won a Golden Globe and an Emmy.DeVito and his wife, Rhea Perlman,...

, and using live performance animation
Motion capture
Motion capture, motion tracking, or mocap are terms used to describe the process of recording movement and translating that movement on to a digital model. It is used in military, entertainment, sports, and medical applications, and for validation of computer vision and robotics...

 to create the interactive animated character "Mr. Head", who guided the audience/participants through the experience.

In the music video genre Brett directed Peter Gabriel
Peter Gabriel
Peter Brian Gabriel is an English singer, musician, and songwriter who rose to fame as the lead vocalist and flautist of the progressive rock group Genesis. After leaving Genesis, Gabriel went on to a successful solo career...

's: Kiss That Frog, the first all computer graphic (CGI)
Computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...

 music video / motion simulator ride film
Motion simulator
A motion simulator or motion platform is a mechanism that encapsulates occupants and creates the effect/feelings of being in a moving vehicle...

 to tour the world becoming the wildly popular themed entertainment attraction to win him a 1994 MTV Music Video Award
MTV Video Music Awards
An MTV Video Music Award , is an award presented by the cable channel MTV to honor the best in music videos...

. Brett's latest project is the documentary Hole in the Head
Hole in the Head
"Hole in the Head" is a dance-pop song performed by Sugababes, released in October 2003 as the lead single from their third studio album Three...

.

Film

  • The Dead Pit
    The Dead Pit
    The Dead Pit is a 1989 United States horror film. It was co-written and directed by Brett Leonard.-Plot:The Dead Pit opens with Dr. Ramzi , a deviant who enjoys torturing his patients, being killed and buried in the basement of a mental health facility. Twenty years later, the hospital is running...

     1989
  • The Lawnmower Man 1992
  • Hideaway
    Hideaway (film)
    Hideaway is a 1995 horror film directed by Brett Leonard and based on the novel of the same name by Dean Koontz. It stars Jeff Goldblum, Alicia Silverstone, Christine Lahti, and Jeremy Sisto. In the movie Goldblum plays a man who dies in a car accident, only to be revived two hours later. After...

     1995
  • Virtuosity
    Virtuosity
    Virtuosity is a 1995 techno-thriller film directed by Brett Leonard. The movie tells the story of a virtual villain's successful attempt to escape into the "real world". SID 6.7, the villain program portrayed by Russell Crowe, is eventually transplanted into an android body and escapes...

     1995
  • T-Rex: Back to the Cretaceous
    T-Rex: Back to the Cretaceous
    T-Rex: Back to the Cretaceous is a 1998 edu-tainment feature filmed for the IMAX 3D format. The film is directed by Brett Leonard, renowned for his Computer-generated imagery special effects productions. Executive producer/co-writer Andrew Gellis and producers Antoine Compin and Charis Horton also...

     (3D IMAX) 1998
  • Siegfried & Roy
    Siegfried & Roy
    Siegfried & Roy are two German-American former entertainers who became known for their appearances with white lions and white tigers....

    : The Magic Box (3D IMAX) 1999
  • Texas: Documentary with Russell Crowe
    Russell Crowe
    Russell Ira Crowe is a New Zealander Australian actor , film producer and musician. He came to international attention for his role as Roman General Maximus Decimus Meridius in the 2000 historical epic film Gladiator, directed by Ridley Scott, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Actor, a...

     (DVD) 2002 (as Producer)
  • Man-Thing
    Man-Thing (film)
    Man-Thing is a 2005 straight to video then telefilm, directed by Brett Leonard and featuring the Marvel Comics creature created by Stan Lee, Roy Thomas and Gerry Conway. The plot is based loosely on a storyline by Steve Gerber, who wrote the most well-known series of Man-Thing comics.Agents of an...

     (DVD box title) 2005
  • Feed
    Feed (film)
    Feed is a 2005 Australian thriller film directed by Brett Leonard. The plot involves a police investigation of the sexual fetish of feederism, where the 'feeder' will feed 'gainers' . The film explores themes of dominance, submission, love, and power...

     2005
  • Highlander: The Source
    Highlander: The Source
    Highlander: The Source is the fifth installment of the Highlander film series, directed by Brett Leonard, and was intended to be the first film of a planned trilogy on SciFi Channel though no further direct sequels are currently planned. Adrian Paul reprises his role as Duncan MacLeod from the...

     2007
  • Hole in the Head
    Hole in the Head
    "Hole in the Head" is a dance-pop song performed by Sugababes, released in October 2003 as the lead single from their third studio album Three...

     2009

Music videos

  • MC Twist: "Step Off" 1990
  • Peter Gabriel
    Peter Gabriel
    Peter Brian Gabriel is an English singer, musician, and songwriter who rose to fame as the lead vocalist and flautist of the progressive rock group Genesis. After leaving Genesis, Gabriel went on to a successful solo career...

    : "Kiss That Frog" 1993
  • Billy Idol
    Billy Idol
    William Michael Albert Broad , better known by his stage name Billy Idol, is an English rock musician. A member of the Bromley Contingent of Sex Pistols fans, Idol first achieved fame in the punk rock era as a member of the band Generation X...

    : "Shock To The System
    Shock to the System (Billy Idol song)
    "Shock to the System" is single by Billy Idol, released to promote his 1993 album Cyberpunk.-Conception:Idol explained for MTV News, he had originally created the song with an entirely different set of lyrics, but upon witnessing the Los Angeles riots of 1992 on television, he immediately rewrote...

    " 1993
  • Billy Idol: "Heroin
    Heroin (Billy Idol song)
    "Heroin" is single by Billy Idol, released to promote his 1993 album Cyberpunk. The song is a cover of a song by The Velvet Underground, originally released on their 1967 debut album. Early incarnations of "Heroin" used acoustic instruments or other mainstream conventions of rock music...

    " 1993
  • Peter Gabriel: "Play" 2004

External links

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