George Huang (director)

George Jay Huang is an American film director, writer, producer, and educator. He is best known for writing and directing the 1994 film Swimming with Sharks. In addition to working on his own films, he also contributes work to other independent filmmakers, including Robert Rodríguez.

George Huang
Born
George Jay Huang

(1956-12-01) December 1, 1956
California, United States
Alma mater
Occupations
  • Director
  • producer
  • screenwriter
  • educator
Years active1992–present
Notable workSwimming with Sharks

Early life

The son of Taiwanese immigrants, George Huang grew up with an avid love of motion pictures. After high school, he originally enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley to pursue a degree in business, but during this time he interned at Lucasfilm. After undergrad, he enrolled in a producing program at the University of Southern California.

Career

After graduating from USC, Huang began working from the bottom-up as an executive assistant at Columbia Pictures. In 1992, Columbia acquired the distribution rights to the film El Mariachi by Robert Rodríguez. As the film was being prepared for release, Rodriguez struck up a friendship with the young studio assistant with whom he shared a love of film. Rodriguez, a native and resident of Austin, Texas, stayed at Huang's apartment in Los Angeles.

Rodriguez – known for his money-saving and high-quality filmmaking techniques – was amazed by Huang's blasé attitude toward the way his superiors spent millions and millions on the production of a single motion picture. Huang, believing his own original stories would never be told, shared some story ideas with Rodriguez, who promptly told his new friend and roommate that he needed to immediately quit his job and make his own films. Huang was understandably reluctant to this idea, but in January 1993, he resigned from his post at Columbia.

Huang next began writing, and seeking financing for, a script loosely based on his experiences at Columbia. Released in 1994, Huang's debut film, Swimming with Sharks, is a satire of Hollywood politics from the point of view of a studio underling.[1]

Since then, Huang has gone on to do a lot of behind-the-scenes work with directorial turns on several short-lived television series, such as Significant Others, Live Through This, and The Invisible Man. He also directed the independent films Trojan War (starring Jennifer Love Hewitt) and How to Make a Monster (which has become a cult favourite, starring Clea DuVall as the only leading role).

Huang shot Elijah Wood's audition tape that landed him the role of Frodo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy.[2]

In 2006, Dimension Films acquired the rights to comic book series Madman, and planned to have a film directed by Huang and produced by Rodriguez and Elizabeth Avellán. Series creator Mike Allred was set to write the screenplay along with Huang.[3] The project ultimately didn't pan out, however, with Allred announcing he had reverted the rights to a Madman film in 2015.[4][5]

Huang wrote the screenplay for Final Recipe, a 2013 South Korean-Chinese-Thai co-production starring Michelle Yeoh and directed by Gina Kim.[2]

Filmography

Film
Year Title Director Writer Producer Notes
1994 Swimming with Sharks Yes Yes No Also dialogue editor and sound effects editor
1997 Trojan War Yes No No
2001 How to Make a Monster Yes Yes No
2003 S.W.A.T. No No Yes
Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over No No No Creative consultant
2010 Machete No No No
2011 Into the Night No Yes No
Spy Kids 4: All the Time in the World No No Yes Co-producer
2013 Final Recipe No Yes No
2016 Hard Target 2 No Yes No
2018 22 Willowbrook No No Yes Co-producer (short film)

Television
Year Title Director Writer Notes
1998 Significant Others Yes No 1 episode: "My Left Kidney"
2000 Live Through This Yes Yes
The Invisible Man Yes No 1 episode: "Germ Theory"
2006 Asian Excellence Awards No No Creative consultant
2007 American Heiress Yes No 27 episodes
2010 Law & Order: Special Victims Unit No Yes 1 episode: "Gray"

Commercials
Year Title Notes
2011 Nike: The Black Mamba Writer

References
  1. Maslin, Janet (1995-04-21). "FILM REVIEW; Getting Even In Hollywood Can Be Fun". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-01-05.
  2. Hueso, Noela (2017-10-03). "George Huang". UCLA School of TFT. Retrieved 2022-10-24.
  3. Fleming, Michael (2006-12-19). "Dimension crazy for 'Madman' pic". InPharma. 293 (1): 7–8. doi:10.1007/bf03312758. ISSN 0156-2703. S2CID 198203134 – via EBSCO Host.
  4. Schultz, Ian (2021-07-16). "Interview with George Huang – director of Swimming With Sharks". Retrieved 2022-10-24.
  5. "Twitter". Mike Allred on Twitter. Retrieved 2022-10-24.

Further reading
  • Metz, Nina (Jun 1, 2018). "Another Swim With 'Sharks'; Rewatching Spacey vehicle through the prism of #MeToo". Chicago Tribune. Sec. 4, pp. 1, 3
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