---
name: "Bennett Miller"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/bennett-miller"
fi1m_id: "bennett-miller"
imdb_id: "nm0587955"
tmdb_id: 5345
wikidata_id: "Q817863"
roles: ["Director"]
born: "30 December 1966"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 5
average_fi1m_score: 83
average_as: "director"
average_over: 3
updated: "2026-10-02T21:50:40.480045+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Bennett Miller

## Identity

Bennett Miller

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/bennett-miller
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** bennett-miller
- **IMDb ID:** nm0587955
- **TMDB ID:** 5345
- **Wikidata ID:** Q817863
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bennett_Miller, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q817863, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0587955/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/5345

Director. Born 30 December 1966 in New York City, New York, U.S..

## Details

- **Work:** Director
- **Born:** 30 December 1966, New York City, New York, U.S.
- **Active:** 2005–2014
- **Also known as:** 베넷 밀러
- **Titles on Fi1m:** 5: 3 directing, 2 other
- **Frequently works with:** [Dan Futterman](https://film.one/person/dan-futterman.md), [Philip Seymour Hoffman](https://film.one/person/philip-seymour-hoffman.md)
- **Academy Awards:** 2 Oscar nominations
- **Average Fi1m score:** 83, as director, over 3 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 2000s 82 (2), 2010s 82 (2), 2020s 52 (1)
- **Fi1m against the critics:** 83 to 76 across 3 titles
- **Score spread:** 3 at 80+, 0 at 60–79, 0 under 60
- **Genres:** Drama 3, Sport 2, Crime 1, Thriller 1
- **Screen time:** 6 hours of reviewed films
- **Box office:** $179m across 3 films with figures
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bennett_Miller, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q817863, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0587955/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/5345

## Streaming the US now

- **The Roku Channel:** [*Capote*](https://film.one/film/capote.md) (84)
- **Disney+:** [*Moneyball*](https://film.one/film/moneyball.md) (83)
- **Amazon Prime Video:** [*Foxcatcher*](https://film.one/film/foxcatcher.md) (82)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Bennett Miller

> Bennett Miller is good at letting ambitious people win our sympathy without excusing their behaviour. *Capote* makes a strong case for his patient, actor-led cinema, though we wanted more of the writer’s work and less scrutiny of his failings.

In *Capote* (2005), Catherine Keener’s Harper Lee gives us a rest from listening to Philip Seymour Hoffman’s writer. Her reserve lets us consider the man who has been doing the talking, and Miller allows that quieter performance to hold our attention. We felt uncomfortable watching Capote win people’s trust, because Miller makes his company appealing even as he shows us how he uses them. The film earns our admiration by making those relationships absorbing, even when we would like a closer look at the book they serve.

Miller began with *The Cruise* (1998), a documentary about a New York tour guide, before making his first fiction feature with *Capote*. He followed it with *Moneyball* (2011), drawn from a non-fiction book about baseball analytics, and the controlled scrutiny of *Foxcatcher* (2014). Across his films, outsiders try to find a place in worlds that do not readily accommodate them. Miller’s unfussy images and editing give us room to notice what they leave unsaid; he does not hurry to supply an explanation for everything they do.

The most useful collaborator to consider in *Capote* is screenwriter Dan Futterman, who concentrates on the relationships behind *In Cold Blood* rather than a whole life. That choice gives Miller a manageable story and Hoffman people to persuade, rather than biographical milestones to reach. Clifton Collins Jr.’s vulnerability as Perry Smith matters as much to the balance as Keener’s reserve: both keep other people’s needs in view. Hoffman can dominate our attention, but Miller makes sure the film has space for the people Capote would prefer to treat as supporting characters.

The limit is how often Futterman returns to the writer’s selfishness without deepening our understanding of it. We learn more about how Capote persuades than how he writes, and eventually the film makes disapproval a little too easy. That is a frustration with an otherwise absorbing drama, not a reason to wish Miller had attempted a cradle-to-grave account. Start with *Capote*, and pay as much attention to Keener and Collins as to the man doing most of the talking.

## Biography

Bennett Miller (born 30 December 1966) is an American film director. Born in New York City, he attended New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts but left before graduating. He began his career with the documentary *The Cruise* (1998), which he also produced and wrote.

Miller is known for directing the films *Capote* (2005), *Moneyball* (2011) and *Foxcatcher* (2014). He received Academy Award nominations for Best Director for *Capote* and *Foxcatcher*. He has directed six performers to Academy Award nominations, including Philip Seymour Hoffman, who won for his performance in *Capote*.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (5)

### Directed (3) — the average rests on these

- *Foxcatcher* (2014), Fi1m 82, Producer, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/foxcatcher.md)
- *Moneyball* (2011), Fi1m 83, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/moneyball.md)
- *Capote* (2005), Fi1m 84, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/capote.md)

### Also credited (2) — thanks, archive footage, uncredited

- *Digger* (2026), Fi1m 52, Thanks — [page](https://film.one/film/digger.md)
- *Where the Wild Things Are* (2009), Fi1m 80, Thanks — [page](https://film.one/film/where-the-wild-things-are.md)

## Complete filmography (9)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Sky Ladder: The Art of Cai Guo-Qiang* (2017), Executive Producer
- *Foxcatcher* (2014), Director, Producer — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/film/foxcatcher.md)
- *The Question* (2012), Director of Photography, Director
- *Moneyball* (2011), Director — Fi1m 83, [page](https://film.one/film/moneyball.md)
- *Where the Wild Things Are* (2009), Thanks — Fi1m 80, [page](https://film.one/film/where-the-wild-things-are.md)
- *Bob Dylan: When the Deal Goes Down* (2006), Director
- *Capote* (2005), Director — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/film/capote.md)
- *The Cruise* (1998), Director, Director of Photography, Producer
- *A Christmas Carol*, Director, Producer

## Awards

### Academy Awards — 0 won, 2 nominated

- 2015: Best Director (nominated), for *Foxcatcher*
- 2006: Best Director (nominated), for *Capote*

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/bennett-miller