Session 9

Brad Anderson (born 1964) is a film director. A director of thriller and horror films and television projects, he is best known for having directed The Machinist (2004), starring Christian Bale, as well as producing and directing several installments of the FOX science-fiction series Fringe.

Early life

Anderson was born in Madison, Connecticut, the son of Pamela Taylor Anderson, a community services administrator. He is the nephew of Emmy Award-winning actress Holland Taylor. Before he began his film career, he attended Bowdoin College, where he majored in anthropology and Russian. He then went to London to finish his film education before returning to Boston.

Film career

His films have varied from Sundance Film Festival audience favorites (and romantic comedies) Next Stop Wonderland (1998) and Happy Accidents (2000) to darker films such as Session 9 (2001) and The Machinist (2004), starring Christian Bale. He was inspired to use the Danvers State Hospital for Session 9 because he drove past it every day. His work on the psychological drama The Machinist, his most notable film to date, has helped earn Anderson a cult following.

His two most recent films were the well-received Transsiberian (2008), a thriller starring Woody Harrelson, Emily Mortimer, and Ben Kingsley, and the horror film, Vanishing on 7th Street (2010), starring Hayden Christensen, John Leguizamo and Thandie Newton. Notably, both Transsiberian and The Machinist were funded by Anglo-German production companies.

In 2002, Anderson was a member of the dramatic jury at the Sundance Film Festival. At one point, he was also one of the candidates to direct the sequel to Paranormal Activity.

Television work

Anderson has directed numerous episodes of Fringe as well as two episodes of The Wire.

Future projects

Anderson replaced Joseph Ruben as director of Bold Films thriller Jack in May 2010, and cast John Cusack for the lead, who has since been replaced by Liev Schrieber.

Anderson will direct The Living and the Dead, based on the novel of the same name by Robert Tinnell and Todd Livingston.

After working together on The Machinist, Anderson and Bale currently plan to collaborate again on an adaptation of J.G. Ballard’s novel, Concrete Island. —Wikipedia