Gary Fleder made a smooth transition first from student films to television and then to features. His student short "Terminal Round", a 8-minute look into boxing, appeared at the Mill Valley (California) Film Festival in 1988 and his USC thesis project "Air Time" (1991) opened eyes to his talent at the 1992 Sundance Festival. A 48-minute thriller written by pal Scott Rosenberg, "Air Time" related the story of an ex-con threatening a late-night radio-talk-show psychologist. He returned to the world of boxing when he helmed "Animal Instinct" (1992), a 30-minute documentary detailing three years in the life of Brooklyn boxer Philip Paolina. Fleder cut his commercial teeth directing two episodes of HBO's popular "Tales From the Crypt" series ("Seance" 1992; "Forever Ambergris" 1993), both written by Rosenberg. Fleder's rapid progress continued at the helm of the USA Network's sci-fi movie "The Companion" (1994), which centered on the tumultuous relationship between a successful romance novelist and her android companion. He then made his feature directing debut with Rosenberg's darkly comic "Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead" (1995). On the strength of the latter, Fleder signed a two-year, first-look development deal with New Line Cinema in April 1997. His second film, the dark, moody thriller "Kiss the Girls" (1997), followed in the footsteps of "Seven" and "Silence of the Lambs", but patterned much of its visual style after 70s movies like "The Exorcist" and "Klute". (Both "Klute" and "Kiss the Girls" employed the anamorphic format with its short depth of field and distorted optical image, which lends itself to thrillers, heightening the sense of being off-kilter).
Profession(s):
director, screenwriter
Sometimes Credited As:
Education
College of Communications, Boston University Boston, Massachusetts film 1985
School of Cinema and Television, University of Southern California Los Angeles, California MA film production 1991
2002 Produced (with star Gary Sinise) and directed the sci-fi film "Impostor"; originally made as a 40-minute short in 1998 to be included in an anthology film called "Light Years", the footage so impresse
2001 Directed the thriller "Don't Say a Word", with Brittany Murphy in a co-starring role
1998 Helmed pilot for the CBS drama series "L.A. Doctors"
1997 Breakthrough feature, "Kiss the Girls", a dark and moody thriller that reflected the visual influence of 70s films like "The Exorcist" and "Klute"
1997 Directed the impressive "The Subway" episode of the NBC drama series "Homicide: Life on the Street"
1995 Directed feature "Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead"; scripted by Rosenberg
1994 TV-movie directing debut, USA Network's "The Companion"
1992 Short film "Air Time" debuted at Sundance Festival; first collaboration with writer Scott Rosenberg
1992 TV directing debut, the "Seance" episode of HBO's "Tales From the Crypt"; written by Scott Rosenberg
1992 Returned to boxing (subject of "Terminal Round"), directing "Animal Instinct", a 30-minute documentary about Brooklyn boxer Philip Paolina (shown at 1993 Sundance Festival)
1988 Directorial debut, "Terminal Round", 8-minute short shown at Mill Valley (CA) Film Festival
Worked as commercial director in both Chicago and Minneapolis
Founded Mojo Films to develop projects for him to produce and direct; in 1997 signed two-year, first-look development deal with New Line
Attached as director of a biopic of Janis Joplin with Brittany Murphy set to play the singer; project abandoned
Helmed "The Runaway Jury" (lensed 2002), based on John Grisham's best-seller
