Brandon Trost

Not to be confused with Brandon Trust.

Brandon Trost
Trost at the premiere of The FP , 2011 Fantasia Festival
Born	Brandon Scott Trost (1981-08-29) August 29, 1981 (age 43) Los Angeles, California, United States
Alma mater	Los Angeles Film School
Occupation(s)	Cinematographer, screenwriter, director, producer, actor
Years active	1996–present
Relatives	Jason Trost (brother)

Brandon Scott Trost (born August 29, 1981) is an American cinematographer, screenwriter, and film director whose credits include writing and directing The FP (2011) with his brother Jason, as well as being the cinematographer of several films, including Crank: High Voltage , Halloween II , MacGruber , Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance and That's My Boy . Trost is also a frequent collaborator with Seth Rogen, including the films This Is the End , Neighbors , The Interview , The Night Before and Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising . Trost's first film as a solo director, An American Pickle , was released in 2020.

Trost was also the cinematographer of the films Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and its 2024 sequel, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 , the sequels to the 2020 film adaptation of the video game, Sonic the Hedgehog .

Early life

Trost was born in 1981 in Los Angeles, California, to Karen (née French) ^[1] and Ron Trost, a special effects coordinator. His grandfather, Scott Maitland, was an assistant director, ^[2] and his great-grandfather was a stuntman. His uncle was actor Victor French. ^[3] He attended Frazier Mountain High School ^[4] and later graduated from Los Angeles Film School. ^[5] He grew up in Frazier Park, California with his brother Jason and sister Sarah. ^{[6] [7]}

Influences

Trost has cited Andrew Laszlo as one of his favorite cinematographers, calling Streets of Fire "one of the most amazing-looking movies from the 1980s." ^[8]

Filmography

Director

Short film

• The FP (2007)
• The Day the Dead Weren't Dead (Also producer) (2007)

Feature film

• The FP ^[a] (2011)
• An American Pickle (2020)

Television

Year	Title	Episode
2017	Future Man	"Pandora's Mailbox"
2024	Knuckles	"The Shabbat Dinner"

Cinematographer

Film

Year	Title	Director	Notes
2001	Deuces	Michael Winnick
2004	Lightning Bug	Robert Green Hall
	State's Evidence	Benjamin Louis
2005	The Salon	Mark Brown
	Val/Val	Gustavo Camelot	With Tobias Datum
	Chaos	David DeFalco
2006	Outside Sales	Blayne Weaver
	Special Ops: Delta Force	Cole S. McKay
2007	He Was a Quiet Man	Frank Cappello	Jury Award for Best Cinematography
	Broken Glass	Gustavo Camelot	With Tobias Datum and Alejandro Lalinde
	One of Our Own	Abe Levy
	Days of Darkness	Jake Kennedy
	The Last Season	Bryan Kramer
2008	Pulse 2: Afterlife	Joel Soisson
	Pulse 3
	Presence	Brian Kramer
2009	Weather Girl	Blayne Weaver
	Crank: High Voltage	Mark Neveldine Brian Taylor
	Halloween II	Rob Zombie
2010	A Buddy Story	Marc Erlbaum
	MacGruber	Jorma Taccone
	Mad World	Cory Cataldo
2011	The FP	Himself Jason Trost
	Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance	Mark Neveldine Brian Taylor
2012	That's My Boy	Sean Anders
	The Lords of Salem	Rob Zombie
2013	This Is the End	Seth Rogen Evan Goldberg
2014	That Awkward Moment	Tom Gormican
	Neighbors	Nicholas Stoller
	The Interview	Seth Rogen Evan Goldberg
2015	The Diary of a Teenage Girl	Marielle Heller	Sundance: U.S. drama, special jury award for cinematography
	Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse	Christopher B. Landon
	The Night Before	Jonathan Levine
2016	Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising	Nicholas Stoller
	Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping	Akiva Schaffer Jorma Taccone
2017	The Disaster Artist	James Franco
2018	Can You Ever Forgive Me?	Marielle Heller
2019	Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile	Joe Berlinger
2021	Dear Evan Hansen	Stephen Chbosky
2022	Sonic the Hedgehog 2	Jeff Fowler
	Bros	Nicholas Stoller
2024	Nightbitch	Marielle Heller
	Sonic the Hedgehog 3	Jeff Fowler
2025	The Naked Gun †	Akiva Schaffer	Post-production
2026	Coyote vs. Acme †	Dave Green	[9]

Television

Year	Title	Director(s)	Episode(s)
2012	Dark Wall	Toby Wilkins	"6:14"
2017	Future Man	Seth Rogen Evan Goldberg	"Pilot"
2018	Barry	Bill Hader	"Chapter One: Make Your Mark"
2019	The Righteous Gemstones	Danny McBride	"The Righteous Gemstones"
2024	Knuckles	Jeff Fowler Ged Wright Jorma Taccone	"The Warrior" "Don't Ever Say I Wasn't There for You" "The Flames of Disaster"

Acting roles

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1996	Kazaam	Student	Uncredited
1998	Rushmore	Vietnamese soldier with rocket launcher
2004	Lightning Bug	Seismograph drummer
2009	Crank: High Voltage	White Slave Boy
2010	MacGruber	Brick's boyfriend
2013	This Is the End	Cannibal	Uncredited
2019	Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile	Interview Cameraman

Notes

1. Co-written and co-directed with Jason Trost; credited as "Trost Bros."

References

1. "Brandon Scott Trost, Born 08/29/1981 in California". California Birth Index . Retrieved July 9, 2015.
2. Reynolds, Rebecca (July 1, 2013). "All Indie Family". The Independent . Archived from the original on February 27, 2014. Retrieved March 26, 2014.
3. Gale, Wayne (April 18, 2013). "The Lords of Salem - Exclusive Interview with Cinematographer Brandon Trost". Dread Central . Retrieved January 28, 2014.
4. Barrera, Brandon (August 15, 2008). "Filmmaking Brothers to Make Feature Of 'The FP'". Mountain Enterprise . Retrieved June 13, 2014.
5. "Brandon Trost shoots 'This is the End'". British Cinematographer. Archived from the original on June 22, 2013. Retrieved January 27, 2014.
6. Mancini, Vince (March 15, 2012). "Smiles Humped All up My Face". The Portland Mercury . Index Publishing. Retrieved January 27, 2014.
7. Carey, Anna (March 19, 2012). "Makers of 'The FP' discuss inspiration for their surreal film". The Daily Californian . Independent Berkeley Students Publishing Company.
8. S., Iain (March 17, 2011). "SXSW/American Cinematographer: The FP's Brandon Trost". CHUD. Archived from the original on February 8, 2012. Retrieved January 28, 2014.
9. Taylor, Drew (February 9, 2024). "The Final Days of 'Coyote vs. Acme': Offers, Rejections and a Roadrunner Race Against Time | Exclusive". TheWrap. Retrieved February 9, 2024.

External links

• Official website
• Brandon Trost at IMDb