---
name: "Curtis Hanson"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/curtis-hanson"
fi1m_id: "curtis-hanson"
imdb_id: "nm0000436"
tmdb_id: 323
wikidata_id: "Q263486"
roles: ["Director","Producer","Writer"]
born: "24 March 1945"
died: "20 September 2016"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 5
average_fi1m_score: 81
average_as: "director"
average_over: 3
updated: "2026-10-07T04:39:21.074290+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."
---

# Curtis Hanson

## Identity

Curtis Hanson

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/curtis-hanson
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** curtis-hanson
- **IMDb ID:** nm0000436
- **TMDB ID:** 323
- **Wikidata ID:** Q263486
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtis_Hanson, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q263486, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000436/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/323

Director and producer. Born 24 March 1945 in Reno, Nevada, USA. Died 20 September 2016.

## Details

- **Work:** Director, Producer, Writer
- **Born:** 24 March 1945, Reno, Nevada, USA
- **Died:** 20 September 2016
- **Active:** 1983–2002
- **Also known as:** Curtis Lee Hanson
- **Titles on Fi1m:** 5: 1 acting, 3 directing, 1 writing
- **Frequently works with:** [Kim Basinger](https://film.one/person/kim-basinger.md)
- **Academy Awards:** 1 Oscar (1 won · 2 nominated)
- **Average Fi1m score:** 81, as director, over 3 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1980s 79 (1), 1990s 88 (1), 2000s 80 (3)
- **Fi1m against the critics:** 81 to 77 across 3 titles
- **Score spread:** 2 at 80+, 1 at 60–79, 0 under 60
- **Genres:** Drama 2, Comedy 1, Crime 1, Music 1, Mystery 1, Thriller 1
- **Screen time:** 6 hours of reviewed films
- **Box office:** $403m across 3 films with figures
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtis_Hanson, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q263486, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000436/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/323

## Streaming the US now

- **Amazon Prime Video:** [*L.A. Confidential*](https://film.one/film/l-a-confidential.md) (88)
- **The Roku Channel:** [*Never Cry Wolf*](https://film.one/film/never-cry-wolf.md) (79)
- **Apple TV:** [*8 Mile*](https://film.one/film/8-mile.md) (74)

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

## Fi1m on Curtis Hanson

> Curtis Hanson makes complicated stories clear by giving us people worth following. We rate him highly for his patient work with actors, though *L.A. Confidential* also shows how unevenly that attention can be shared.

A change in someone’s manner can matter as much as a clue in Curtis Hanson’s *L.A. Confidential* (1997). He keeps us watching the people while we try to solve the case. Kevin Spacey’s Jack Vincennes enjoys an audience, and that ease lets the film relax without losing our attention. We laughed at Danny DeVito’s Sid Hudgens because his grubby humour interrupts all that hard-man seriousness.

Hanson worked through B-thrillers in the 1980s, with *The Bedroom Window* (1987) marking a growing assurance in suspense. *The Hand That Rocks the Cradle* (1992) and *The River Wild* (1994) brought wider recognition. His grounding in suspense helps explain the precision of his storytelling, but actors remain central to it. He adapts his methods to each setting and cast, giving performers room to work.

In *L.A. Confidential*, he and co-writer Brian Helgeland make James Ellroy’s crowded mystery intelligible without tidying away its complications. The men’s weaknesses help us follow the corruption; information arrives with a reason to care about it. Cinematographer Dante Spinotti makes 1950s Los Angeles attractive enough for violence to disturb the view. Production designer Jeannine Oppewall gives the period surroundings a solidity that lets the actors seem at home there. Hanson keeps those actors in charge, even when there is plenty else to look at.

That attention is not distributed fairly. Kim Basinger makes Lynn Bracken feel like a person despite a film too interested in how she looks. Hanson and Helgeland let the men contradict themselves more freely, leaving her less room to surprise us. A little more of that curiosity about her would have made an already persuasive film richer.

The move into the literate comedy-drama of *Wonder Boys* (2000), then *8 Mile* (2002) with Eminem, makes sense for a director so attentive to performance. The settings change; his interest in finding the right conditions for an actor does not. Some critics have treated that adaptability as evidence of a journeyman; we think it takes skill to make different kinds of story work. Start with *L.A. Confidential*, but pay as much attention to the people as to the case.

## Biography

Curtis Hanson was an American film director, screenwriter and producer. Born in Reno, Nevada, he grew up in Los Angeles. After leaving high school he worked as a photographer and editor for Cinema magazine before moving into screenwriting and directing.

Hanson directed the psychological thriller *The Hand That Rocks the Cradle* (1992) and the action film *The River Wild* (1994). He achieved widespread recognition with the neo-noir crime film *L.A. Confidential* (1997), which he also co-wrote and produced; the screenplay, written with Brian Helgeland, won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.

His later films include *Wonder Boys* (2000), *8 Mile* (2002) and *In Her Shoes* (2005). Hanson died in 2016.

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

## On Fi1m (5)

### Performed in (1)

- *Adaptation.* (2002), Fi1m 83, as Orlean's Husband — [page](https://film.one/film/adaptation.md)

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

- *8 Mile* (2002), Fi1m 74, Director, Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/8-mile.md)
- *Wonder Boys* (2000), Fi1m 82, Producer, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/wonder-boys.md)
- *L.A. Confidential* (1997), Fi1m 88, Director, Producer, Screenplay — [page](https://film.one/film/l-a-confidential.md)

### Wrote (1)

- *Never Cry Wolf* (1983), Fi1m 79, Screenplay — [page](https://film.one/film/never-cry-wolf.md)

## Complete filmography (28)

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

- *Chasing Mavericks* (2012), Producer, Director
- *Too Big to Fail* (2011), Director, Executive Producer
- *The Big Year* (2011), Producer
- *Three Rivers* (2009), series, Producer
- *Revolution! The Making of 'Bonnie and Clyde'* (2008), Additional Photography
- *Lucky You* (2007), Screenplay, Director, Producer
- *The Making of 'Some Like It Hot'* (2006), Thanks
- *In Her Shoes* (2005), Director, Producer
- *'In a Lonely Place' Revisited* (2003), as Host
- *Adaptation.* (2002), as Orlean's Husband — Fi1m 83, [page](https://film.one/film/adaptation.md)
- *8 Mile* (2002), Producer, Director — Fi1m 74, [page](https://film.one/film/8-mile.md)
- *Greg the Bunny* (2002), series, Director
- *Wonder Boys* (2000), Director, Producer — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/film/wonder-boys.md)
- *L.A. Confidential* (1997), Screenplay, Producer, Director — Fi1m 88, [page](https://film.one/film/l-a-confidential.md)
- *Film Music Masters: Jerry Goldsmith* (1995), Actor
- *The River Wild* (1994), Director
- *The Hand That Rocks the Cradle* (1992), Director
- *Bad Influence* (1990), Director
- *Evil Town* (1987), Director
- *The Bedroom Window* (1987), Director, Screenplay
- *The Children of Times Square* (1986), Director, Writer
- *Never Cry Wolf* (1983), Screenplay — Fi1m 79, [page](https://film.one/film/never-cry-wolf.md)
- *Losin' It* (1983), Director
- *White Dog* (1982), Screenplay
- *The Little Dragons* (1980), Director
- *The Silent Partner* (1978), Screenplay, Associate Producer, Co-Director
- *Sweet Kill* (1972), Director, Writer, Producer
- *The Dunwich Horror* (1970), Screenplay

## Gallery

- ![Curtis Hanson](https://film.one/media/person/87089/gallery-69746a0f265a.jpg) Curtis Hanson — David Shankbone (attribution required), CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/64/Curtis_Hanson.JPG?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Curtis Hanson by David Shankbone (2007)](https://film.one/media/person/87089/gallery-2d253036ba0d.jpg) Curtis Hanson by David Shankbone (2007) — David Shankbone, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1d/Curtis_Hanson_by_David_Shankbone.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Curtis Hanson](https://film.one/media/person/87089/gallery-4a0dbcda02d7.jpg) Curtis Hanson — Image via TMDB

## Awards

### Academy Awards — 1 won, 2 nominated

- 1998: Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay (won), for *L.A. Confidential*
- 1998: Best Picture (nominated), for *L.A. Confidential*
- 1998: Best Director (nominated), for *L.A. Confidential*

### Other awards — 2 won, 1 nominated

- European Film Award for Best Non-European Film 2002: European Film Award for Best Non-European Film (nominated), for *8 Mile*
- Edgar Awards 1998: Edgar Awards (won)
- Writers Guild of America Award 1998: Writers Guild of America Award (won)

*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/curtis-hanson