Matthew Leutwyler
Encyclopedia
Matthew Steven Leutwyler (born July 23, 1969) is an American writer, director, producer.

Life and career

Leutwyler studied film at The San Francisco Art Institute. His first feature film was the dark comedy/road picture Road Kill starring Jennifer Rubin, Erik Palladino
Erik Palladino
Erik Palladino is an American actor, best known for his portrayal of Dr. Dave Malucci in the NBC drama series ER. He was also a series regular on the critically praised FX Television series Over There.-Early life:...

, Brian Vander Ark
Brian Vander Ark
Brian Vander Ark is an American Singer-songwriter best known as lead singer for the band The Verve Pipe. Born in Holland, Michigan, Vander Ark began playing guitar at age 8. At age 18, he was married to then girlfriend Michelle Marthens and had a son named Joshua Vander Ark. Soon after he joined...

, Anthony Denison
Anthony Denison
Anthony John Sarrero , also known by his stage name Anthony Denison, is an American actor. The eldest of three, he was born and raised in New York City's Harlem. Before acting he worked for John Hancock Insurance as a life insurance agent in Poughkeepsie, New York...

, Jeffrey Dean Morgan
Jeffrey Dean Morgan
Jeffrey Dean Morgan is an American actor, best known to television and movie audiences as Denny Duquette on Grey's Anatomy, patriarch John Winchester on Supernatural, and as The Comedian in the 2009 superhero film Watchmen....

 and Jon Polito
Jon Polito
Jon Polito is an American actor and voice artist, who is known for working with the Coen Brothers, most notably in the major supporting role of Italian gangster Johnny Caspar in Miller's Crossing. He also appeared in the first two seasons of Homicide: Life on the Street and on the first season of...

. Made on a shoestring budget of $180,000, the film premiered at the 1999 Santa Barbara International Film Festival
Santa Barbara International Film Festival
The Santa Barbara International Film Festival is a film festival and non-profit organization, established in 1985, that showcases independent American and international films. The SBIFF line-up includes 20 world premieres and 11 U.S. premieres, with newly expanded 11-day festival...

 where it won the Audience Award for Best Feature Film. Leutwyler followed up with a romantic comedy
Romantic Comedy
Romantic Comedy can refer to* Romantic Comedy , a 1979 play written by Bernard Slade* Romantic Comedy , a 1983 film adapted from the play and starring Dudley Moore and Mary Steenburgen...

 / drama This Space Between Us which introduced him to a stable of actors he would find himself working with again in the future. Starring Jeremy Sisto
Jeremy Sisto
Jeremy Merton Sisto is an American actor. Sisto has had recurring roles as Billy Chenowith on the HBO series Six Feet Under and Detective Cyrus Lupo on Law & Order on television and also starred in the films Jesus, Clueless and Thirteen.-Early life:Sisto was born in Grass Valley, California, the...

, Poppy Montgomery
Poppy Montgomery
Poppy Montgomery , is an Australian actress. She is best known for her role as Samantha Spade on Without a Trace...

, Alex Kingston
Alex Kingston
Alexandra Elizabeth "Alex" Kingston is an English actress. She is most widely known for her roles as Dr. Elizabeth Corday on the NBC medical drama ER and as River Song in Doctor Who.-Early life and education:...

, Vanessa Marcil
Vanessa Marcil
Vanessa Marcil is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Brenda Barrett Corinthos on General Hospital, Gina Kincaid on Beverly Hills, 90210 and Sam Marquez on Las Vegas....

, Garry Marshall
Garry Marshall
Garry Kent Marshall is an American actor, director, writer and producer. His notable credits include creating Happy Days and The Odd Couple and directing Nothing In Common, Pretty Woman, Runaway Bride, Valentine's Day, and The Princess Diaries.-Early life:Marshall was born in the New York City...

, and Erik Palladino
Erik Palladino
Erik Palladino is an American actor, best known for his portrayal of Dr. Dave Malucci in the NBC drama series ER. He was also a series regular on the critically praised FX Television series Over There.-Early life:...

, the film premiered at The Seattle International Film Festival
Seattle International Film Festival
The Seattle International Film Festival , held annually in Seattle, Washington since 1976, is among the top film festivals in North America. Audiences have grown steadily; the 2006 festival had 160,000 attendees...

 and later went on to win the Moxie Award for best Comedy at the Santa Monica Film Festival.

In 2002 Leutwyler partnered with Miranda Bailey, Francey Grace, and Jun Tan to form the Los Angeles based production company Ambush Entertainment
Ambush Entertainment
Ambush Entertainment is a Los Angeles based, artist driven, independent film production company that, with its financing arm Cold Iron Pictures, is dedicated to producing provocative, diverse, and original feature films, television and web content aimed at appealing to a wide audience...

. Ambush has produced the films The Oh in Ohio
The OH in Ohio
The Oh in Ohio is a 2006 comedy film directed byBilly Kent. It was screened at several US film festivals from March to May 2006 and was released theatrically by Cyan Pictures on July 14, 2006...

(starring Parker Posey
Parker Posey
Parker Christian Posey is an American actress. She became known during the 1990s after a series of roles in several well-received independent films. As a result, she has often been referred to as the "Queen of the Indies"....

, Mischa Barton
Mischa Barton
Mischa Anne Marsden Barton is a British-American fashion model, film, television, and stage actress, best known for her role as Marissa Cooper in the American television series The O.C..-Early life:...

, Paul Rudd
Paul Rudd
Paul Stephen Rudd is an American actor and screenwriter. He has primarily appeared in comedies, and is known for his roles in the films Clueless, Wet Hot American Summer, Anchorman, Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Dinner for Schmucks, The Object of My...

, and 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,...

), The Academy Award Nominated, The Squid and the Whale
The Squid and the Whale
The Squid and the Whale is a 2005 American drama film written and directed by Noah Baumbach and produced by Wes Anderson. It tells the semi-autobiographical story of two boys in Brooklyn dealing with their parents' divorce in the 1980s. The film is named after a giant squid and sperm whale diorama...

(starring Jeff Daniels
Jeff Daniels
Jeffrey Warren "Jeff" Daniels is an American actor, musician and playwright. He founded a non-profit theatre company, the Purple Rose Theatre Company, in his home state of Michigan...

 and Laura Linney
Laura Linney
Laura Leggett Linney is an American actress of film, television, and theatre. Linney has won three Emmy Awards, two Golden Globes, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. She has been nominated for three times for an Academy Award and once for a BAFTA Award...

), and Dead & Breakfast
Dead & Breakfast
Dead & Breakfast is a 2004 horror/comedy film directed by Matthew Leutwyler.-Plot:Six friends take a road trip to Galveston, Texas in an RV for the wedding of their friend, Kelly...

(directed by Leutwyler).

Dead & Breakfast
Dead & Breakfast
Dead & Breakfast is a 2004 horror/comedy film directed by Matthew Leutwyler.-Plot:Six friends take a road trip to Galveston, Texas in an RV for the wedding of their friend, Kelly...

(2005) marked Leutwyler's foray into the horror genre. A splatter-comedy in the vein of The Evil Dead series and the early Peter Jackson
Peter Jackson
Sir Peter Robert Jackson, KNZM is a New Zealand film director, producer, actor, and screenwriter, known for his The Lord of the Rings film trilogy , adapted from the novel by J. R. R...

 films Dead Alive and Bad Taste
Bad Taste
Bad Taste is a 1987 cult science fiction comedy horror film. Produced on a low budget, it is one of the first films directed by Peter Jackson. The film features Jackson and his friends taking a number of key roles, both on and off-screen...

. The film reteamed Leutwyler with Jeremy Sisto
Jeremy Sisto
Jeremy Merton Sisto is an American actor. Sisto has had recurring roles as Billy Chenowith on the HBO series Six Feet Under and Detective Cyrus Lupo on Law & Order on television and also starred in the films Jesus, Clueless and Thirteen.-Early life:Sisto was born in Grass Valley, California, the...

, Erik Palladino, Vincent Ventresca
Vincent Ventresca
Vincent Paul Gerard Ventresca is an American actor, best known for playing Darien Fawkes on SCI FI's The Invisible Man .-Early years:...

, Jeffrrey Dean Morgan, and Brian Vander Ark. The ensemble cast was rounded out by Ever Carradine
Ever Carradine
Ever Dawn Carradine is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Tiffany Porter on Once and Again and as Kelly Ludlow on Commander in Chief.-Early life:...

, Gina Philips
Gina Philips
Gina Philips is an American actress.Philips was born Gina Consolo in Miami Beach, Florida. She is known for her recurring roles on David E. Kelley's Ally McBeal as Sandy Hingle and Boston Public as Jenna Miller...

, Portia de Rossi
Portia de Rossi
Portia Lee James DeGeneres , known professionally as Portia de Rossi , is an Australian-American actress, best known for her roles as lawyer Nelle Porter on the television series Ally McBeal and Lindsay Bluth Fünke on the sitcom Arrested Development...

, Diedrich Bader
Diedrich Bader
Karl Diedrich Bader , better known as Diedrich Bader, is an American actor, voice artist and comedian. Many know him for his roles as Oswald Lee Harvey on The Drew Carey Show, Lawrence from the film Office Space, the Tae Kwon Do instructor Rex from Napoleon Dynamite, Tank "Shredder" Evans in Surf's...

, and David Carradine
David Carradine
David Carradine was an American actor and martial artist, best known for his role as a warrior monk, Kwai Chang Caine, in the 1970s television series, Kung Fu, which later had a 1990s sequel series, Kung Fu: The Legend Continues...

. The film became a cult favorite on the festival circuit after premiering at the South By Southwest Film Festival; earning Best Feature and Audience Awards at The Rhode Island International Horror Festival, Shriekfest
Shriekfest
Shriekfest Horror Film Festival is a film festival specializing in the horror genre. It is the longest running horror festival in Los Angeles.-History:...

 L.A., San Francisco Horror Fest, Weekend Of Fear (Nuremberg, Germany). The film was also nominated for a Saturn Award by the prestigious Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films.

Leutwyler's next project was another horror film, though this time more traditional. Unearthed starred Emmanuelle Vaugier
Emmanuelle Vaugier
Emmanuelle Vaugier is a Canadian film actress, singer, songwriter and television actress who has had recurring roles as Detective Jessica Angell on CSI: NY, Mia on Two and a Half Men, Dr. Helen Bryce on Smallville, and FBI Special Agent Emma Barnes on Human Target...

, Luke Goss
Luke Goss
Luke Damon Goss is an English singer and actor. Since 1994, he has been married to backing singer Shirley Lewis, , and has one stepdaughter, Carli. In January 2007, he and wife Shirley moved permanently to Los Angeles, but still maintain a residence in London...

, M.C. Gainey, Beau Garrett
Beau Garrett
Beau Jesse Garrett is an American actress and model.-Career:She was first hired by GUESS in the late 1990s. She is currently a spokesmodel for Revlon cosmetics, along with Halle Berry, Jessica Biel, Jennifer Connelly and Jessica Alba, and has also modeled for Double D Ranch and CosmoGirl...

 and Charlie Murphy
Charlie Murphy
Charles Quinton "Charlie" Murphy is an American actor, comedian, and writer notable as being a cast member and writer on the Comedy Central sketch-comedy series Chappelle's Show...

. It is a Sci-Fi Horror film in the vein of The Thing and Alien
Alien (film)
Alien is a 1979 science fiction horror film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt, Ian Holm and Yaphet Kotto. The film's title refers to its primary antagonist: a highly aggressive extraterrestrial creature which...

. It premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and was acquired by After Dark Films.

In recent years Leutwyler seems to be moving away from genre films in favor of smaller more indie fare.

Leutwyler's production company Ambush Entertainment has recently produced Lower Learning with Eva Longoria
Eva Longoria
Eva Jacqueline Longoria is an American actress, best known for portraying Gabrielle Solis on the ABC television series Desperate Housewives...

, Jason Biggs
Jason Biggs
Jason Matthew Biggs is an American actor who is best known for his role as Jim Levenstein in the American Pie series of teen comedy films.-Personal life:...

, and Rob Corddry
Rob Corddry
Robert William "Rob" Corddry is an American actor and comedian. He is known for his work as a former correspondent on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and for his starring role in the comedy film Hot Tub Time Machine...

; Wonderful World with Matthew Broderick
Matthew Broderick
Matthew Broderick is an American film and stage actor who, among other roles, played the title character in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Adult Simba in The Lion King film series, and Leo Bloom in the film and Broadway productions of The Producers.He has won two Tony Awards, one in 1983 for his...

, and Sanaa Lathan
Sanaa Lathan
Sanaa McCoy Lathan is an American actress and voice actress. She has starred in numerous movies, including the box-office hits Love & Basketball, Alien vs. Predator, Something New, and The Family That Preys. Lathan was nominated for a Tony Award for her performance on Broadway in A Raisin in the Sun...

 - Released by Magnolia Pictures; and The 2009 Sundance entry Against The Current starring Joseph Fiennes
Joseph Fiennes
Joseph Fiennes is an English film and stage actor. He is perhaps best known for his portrayals of William Shakespeare in Shakespeare in Love, Sir Robert Dudley in Elizabeth, Commisar Danilov in Enemy at the Gates, Martin Luther in Luther, Merlin in Camelot, and his portrayal of Mark Benford in the...

, Mary Tyler Moore
Mary Tyler Moore
Mary Tyler Moore is an American actress, primarily known for her roles in television sitcoms. Moore is best known for The Mary Tyler Moore Show , in which she starred as Mary Richards, a 30-something single woman who worked as a local news producer in Minneapolis, and for her earlier role as...

 and Elizabeth Reaser
Elizabeth Reaser
Elizabeth Ann Reaser is an American film, television, and stage actress. Her work includes the films Stay, The Family Stone, and The Twilight Saga and the TV series Saved, Grey's Anatomy and The Ex-List....

.

In 2009 he directed the adaptation of the acclaimed novel The River Why. Shot on location in Oregon, the film stars Zach Gilford
Zach Gilford
Zach Gilford is an American actor best known for his role as Matt Saracen on the NBC television drama series Friday Night Lights. Gilford starred alongside Terrell Owens in the 2008 NBA Celebrity All-Star game....

, William Hurt
William Hurt
William McGill Hurt is an American stage and film actor. He received his acting training at the Juilliard School, and began acting on stage in the 1970s. Hurt made his film debut as a troubled scientist in the science-fiction feature Altered States , for which he received a Golden Globe nomination...

, Amber Heard
Amber Heard
Amber Laura Heard is an American actress and model. She played the lead and title character in All the Boys Love Mandy Lane, which debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2006. Heard's first starring role came in 2007 on the CW television show Hidden Palms...

, Kathleen Quinlan
Kathleen Quinlan
Kathleen Denise Quinlan is an Academy Award and Golden Globe-nominated American actress, mostly seen on television and in motion pictures.-Personal life:...

.

Also in 2009 he produced Richard Levine's comedy drama Every Day starring Liev Schrieber, Helen Hunt
Helen Hunt
Helen Elizabeth Hunt is an American actress, film director, and screenwriter. She starred in the sitcom Mad About You for seven years, before being cast in the romantic comedy As Good as It Gets...

, Carla Gugino
Carla Gugino
Carla Gugino is an American actress known for her roles of Sally Jupiter in Watchmen, Dr. Vera Gorski in Sucker Punch, Lucille in Sin City, Amanda Daniels in seasons 3, 5 and 7 of Entourage, Ingrid Cortez in the Spy Kids film trilogy, and as the lead characters of the television series Karen Sisco...

 and Brian Dennehy
Brian Dennehy
Brian Mannion Dennehy is an American actor of film, stage and screen.-Early years:Dennehy was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, the son of Hannah and Edward Dennehy, who was a wire service editor for the Associated Press; he has two brothers, Michael and Edward. Dennehy is of Irish ancestry and was...

.

Other projects

Leutwyler co-created the television pilot Stuck with actors Erik Palladino and Vincent Ventresca. The partially improvised comedy also starred Maura Tierny, Eric McCormack, and Dean Cain.

He recently completed post production on the ensemble drama Answers to Nothing, which he is directing and co-wrote with Gillian Vigman
Gillian Vigman
Gillian Vigman is an American comic actress. Vigman is most notable for her membership in the recurring cast of comedians on sketch comedy series MADtv. She also starred in the ABC comedy, Sons & Daughters. Vigman plays a supporting role on The Defenders.-Biography:Vigman started her professional...

. The film stars Dane Cook
Dane Cook
Dane Jeffrey Cook is an American stand-up comedian and film actor. He has released five comedy albums: Harmful If Swallowed; Retaliation; Vicious Circle; Rough Around The Edges: Live From Madison Square Garden; and Isolated Incident. In 2006, Retaliation became the highest charting comedy album...

, Elizabeth Mitchell
Elizabeth Mitchell
Elizabeth Mitchell , is an American actress/modelwho is known for her roles as Dr. Juliet Burke on ABC's TV series Lost and as FBI agent Erica Evans on V. She has starred in such films as The Santa Clause 2, The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause, and Gia.-Early life:Mitchell was born Elizabeth...

, Julie Benz
Julie Benz
Julie M. Benz is an American actress, best known for her roles as Darla on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel and as Rita Bennett on Dexter, for which she won the 2006 Satellite Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television...

, Barbara Hershey
Barbara Hershey
Barbara Hershey , also known as Barbara Seagull, is an American actress. In a career spanning nearly 50 years, she has played a variety of roles on television and in cinema, in several genres including westerns and comedies...

, Zach Gilford
Zach Gilford
Zach Gilford is an American actor best known for his role as Matt Saracen on the NBC television drama series Friday Night Lights. Gilford starred alongside Terrell Owens in the 2008 NBA Celebrity All-Star game....

 and Erik Palladino
Erik Palladino
Erik Palladino is an American actor, best known for his portrayal of Dr. Dave Malucci in the NBC drama series ER. He was also a series regular on the critically praised FX Television series Over There.-Early life:...

. The film will be released through Roadside Attractions
Roadside Attractions
Roadside Attractions is a US film distributor based in Los Angeles, California, founded in 2003, specializing largely in independent films.Lionsgate bought a partial stake in Roadside in 2007.-List of films released by Roadside Attractions:...

 in late 2011.

He Executive Produced the comedy Super starring Rainn Wilson
Rainn Wilson
Rainn Dietrich Wilson is an American actor and comedian. He is primarily known for his role as the egomaniacal Dwight Schrute on the American version of the television comedy The Office...

, Ellen Page
Ellen Page
Ellen Philpotts-Page , known professionally as Ellen Page, is a Canadian actress. Page received both Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations for Best Actress for her role as the title character in the film Juno...

, Liv Tyler
Liv Tyler
Liv Rundgren Tyler is an American actress and model. She is the daughter of Aerosmith's lead singer, Steven Tyler, and Bebe Buell, model and singer. Tyler began a career in modeling at the age of 14, but after less than a year she decided to focus on acting. She made her film debut in the 1994...

, and Kevin Bacon
Kevin Bacon
Kevin Norwood Bacon is an American film and theater actor whose notable roles include Animal House, Diner, Footloose, Flatliners, Wild Things, A Few Good Men, JFK, Apollo 13, Mystic River, The Woodsman, Trapped, Friday the 13th, Hollow Man, Tremors, Death Sentence, Frost/Nixon, Crazy, Stupid, Love....

 currently in theaters.

May 6, 2011 Deadline Hollywood announced that he will be producing the Catherine Hardwike (Twilight)-directed drama The Bitch Posse. He will be producing alongside his Ambush Entertainment partner Miranda Bailey and Title IX partners Virginia Madsen and Karly Meola.

Filmography

  • Road Kill (1999) Writer / Director
  • This Space Between Us (2000) Writer / Director
  • Undressed
    Undressed (TV series)
    Undressed is an American anthology series that aired on MTV from July 26, 1999 to September 5, 2002. The series was created and executive produced by British director Roland Joffé.-Synopsis:...

    (2001) (TV series) Director
  • Dead & Breakfast
    Dead & Breakfast
    Dead & Breakfast is a 2004 horror/comedy film directed by Matthew Leutwyler.-Plot:Six friends take a road trip to Galveston, Texas in an RV for the wedding of their friend, Kelly...

    (2004) Writer / Director
  • The Oh in Ohio
    The OH in Ohio
    The Oh in Ohio is a 2006 comedy film directed byBilly Kent. It was screened at several US film festivals from March to May 2006 and was released theatrically by Cyan Pictures on July 14, 2006...

    (2006) Executive Producer
  • Unearthed
    Unearthed (film)
    Unearthed is a 2006 horror film, directed by Matthew Leutwyler and starring Emmanuelle Vaugier . This monster movie opened sometime on November 9, 2007 as one of the "8 Films to Die For" in the After Dark Films Horrorfest....

    (2006) Director
  • Lower Learning
    Lower Learning
    Lower Learning is a 2008 comedy film starring Jason Biggs, Eva Longoria, Rob Corddry, Ryan Newman, Monica Potter, and Andy Pessoa. It was directed by Mark Lafferty and written by Lafferty and Shahin Chandrasoma...

    (2008) Producer
  • Wonderful World
    Wonderful World (film)
    Wonderful World is a 2009 drama film directed and written by Joshua Goldin, who in this movie makes his directorial debut. The film stars Matthew Broderick, Sanaa Lathan, Michael K. Williams and Jodelle Ferland....

    (2008) Producer
  • Against the Current (2009) Executive Producer
  • The River Why (2010) Director / Editor
  • Every Day
    Every Day (film)
    Every Day is a 2010 comedy-drama film written and directed by Richard Levine and starring Liev Schreiber and Helen Hunt.-Cast:* Liev Schreiber as Ned* Helen Hunt as Jeannie* Ezra Miller as Jonah* Carla Gugino as Robin* Eddie Izzard as Garrett...

    (2010) Producer
  • Answers to Nothing (film)
    Answers to Nothing (film)
    Answers to Nothing is an upcoming drama mystery film written and directed by Matthew Leutwyler. The film stars Elizabeth Mitchell, Dane Cook, Julie Benz, and Barbara Hershey....

    (2011) Director / Editor / Writer
  • Super (2010 US film) (2011) Executive Producer
  • The Bitch Posse (film) (2012) Producer

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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