Rian Johnson

Rian Craig Johnson (born 1973 in Maryland) is an American writer and director, who won the Special Jury Prize for Originality of Vision at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival with his debut feature, "Brick". Johnson is originally from San Clemente, California, and attended the high school where "Brick" was predominantly filmed. He then attended the University of Southern California and graduated from the USC School of Cinematic Arts in 1996.

In addition to his film work, Johnson is also an accomplished folk singer. Some of his songs can be found in faux albums on his website.

Film career

"Brick"

Made for just under $500,000, "Brick" is a crime drama starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Johnson has often said that he looked to the novels of Dashiell Hammett as inspiration for the film's unique use of language. While the film is classified as a film noir, Johnson claims that during production no references were made to film noir so as to focus the production away from reproducing a genre piece. "Brick" was released on DVD by Focus Features.

"The Brothers Bloom"

"The Brothers Bloom", is the next film from Johnson, which started filming March 19th, 2007. It's a con-man film starring Mark Ruffalo, Adrien Brody, Rachel Weisz, and Rinko Kikuchi.

Other projects

Rian directed the video for The Mountain Goats' song "Woke Up New" in 2006.

Rian has made a number of short films, some of which are available on his website. His short film from high-school titled Ninja Ko is available as an easter egg on the "Brick" DVD.

Links

* [http://www.rcjohnso.com Personal site]
* [http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/entertainment/homepage/article_1082381.php Article on Johnson and the making of "Brick"]
* [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0426059/ Rian Johnson] at The Internet Movie Database
* [http://www.rocktag.us/article.php?article=3 Brick Review at RockTag.us]
* [http://thebrothersbloom.com/ The Brothers Bloom Website]
* [http://www.rcjohnso.com/forum/ Brick Forum] run by director Rian Johnson