Craig Zobel | |
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Born | Roger Craig Zobel New York City, U.S. |
Alma mater | North Carolina School of the Arts |
Occupations |
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Years active | 2000–present |
Roger Craig Zobel is an American filmmaker and actor whose work includes music videos, film, and television. He has directed the films Compliance (2012), Z for Zachariah (2015), and The Hunt (2020). On TV he has directed episodes of The Leftovers , American Gods , and Westworld . In 2021, he directed the miniseries Mare of Easttown on HBO. He also helped to co-create the online Flash animation series Homestar Runner with Mike and Matt Chapman, known collectively as The Brothers Chaps.
Zobel was born in New York and grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, later studying film at the North Carolina School of the Arts alongside David Gordon Green and other future collaborators. He is of Jewish background. [1]
After graduation, Zobel worked on Green's first three films — George Washington (2000), All the Real Girls , (2003) and Undertow (2003), as either co-producer, production manager or second unit director. [2] He also directed The Hunt (2020).
More recently, he reupped his deal with HBO, which was served for three more years. [3]
Homestar Runner is a Flash animated internet cartoon which mixes surreal humor with references to pop culture. Zobel co-created the initial concept and some characters for a book with Mike Chapman using the name "Homestar Runner", coined by their mutual friend James Huggins, which later went on to become the flash animated cartoon by Mike and Matt Chapman. On a day off while Zobel and Chapman were working summer jobs surrounding the 1996 Summer Olympics, a visit to a bookstore prompted them to parody the state of children's books, leading to the creation of the cartoon. [4]
Zobel has directed, written, and produced several films, including Great World of Sound and Compliance . [5] In August 2019, the release of Zobel's horror thriller film The Hunt was postponed by distributor Universal in response to the 2019 El Paso shooting, [6] with the studio cancelling the film's original September 27, 2019, date, and moving it to March 13, 2020. [7]
Film
Year | Title | Director | Producer | Writer |
---|---|---|---|---|
2001 | A Letter from My Father | Yes | No | No |
2007 | Great World of Sound | Yes | Yes | Yes |
2012 | Compliance | Yes | Yes | Yes |
2013 | Prince Avalanche | No | Yes | No |
2015 | Z for Zachariah | Yes | No | No |
2020 | The Hunt | Yes | No | No |
Television
Year | Title | Director | Executive producer | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
2015 | The Leftovers | Yes | No | Episodes: "Lens", "International Assassin" |
2016 | Outcast | Yes | No | Episodes: "The Road Before Us" |
2017 | American Gods | Yes | No | Episodes: "Git Gone" |
The Leftovers | Yes | No | Episodes: "The Most Powerful Man in the World (and His Identical Twin Brother)" | |
2018 | Westworld | Yes | No | Episodes: "Akane no Mai" |
One Dollar | Yes | Yes | 10 episodes | |
2021 | Mare of Easttown | Yes | Yes | 7 episodes |
TBA | The Penguin | Yes | Yes | Upcoming miniseries |
Homestar Runner is an American comedy animated web series and website created by Mike and Matt Chapman, known collectively as The Brothers Chaps. The series centers on the adventures of a large and diverse cast of characters, headed by the titular character, Homestar Runner. It uses a blend of surreal humor, self-parody, satire, and references to popular culture, in particular video games, classic television, and popular music.
Strong Bad is a fictional character from Homestar Runner, a series of animated Flash videos, who is inspired by "The Strong Bads" from the video game Tag Team Wrestling. He is voiced by Matt Chapman, the principal voice actor and co-creator of the series. Strong Bad enjoys pranking the other characters of the series, along with his ever-diligent lackey pet named "The Cheat" and his older brother Strong Mad. The main segment that Strong Bad is a part of is Strong Bad Email, in which he answers emails sent to him by fans. The Strong Bad Email series grew to be so popular that six DVDs featuring the emails have been released, as well as a podcast where emails could be downloaded to digital media players, since its first episode in 2001.
Strong Bad Sings (and Other Type Hits) is a compilation album featuring songs by Strong Bad and other characters from the Homestar Runner web cartoon series. Strong Bad Sings is the sole audio CD spinoff from the online cartoon world of homestarrunner.com. The songs represent various pastiches of popular music, such as glam metal, folk, hip hop, techno and indie rock.
"Experimental Film" is a song by alternative rock band They Might Be Giants. It is the lead single from their 2004 album The Spine. The song has been seen by some critics as a return to the band's earlier sound. An animated music video was made for the song by internet animators The Brothers Chaps and featured characters from the animators' internet series Homestar Runner.
Matthew Alan "Matt" Chapman and Michael Raymond "Mike" Chapman, known collectively as The Brothers Chaps, are American writers, voice actors, directors, animators, producers and composers. They are best known as the creators of the animated series Homestar Runner.
Adobe Flash animation is an animation that is created with the Adobe Animate platform or similar animation software and often distributed in the SWF file format. The term Adobe Flash animation refers to both the file format and the medium in which the animation is produced. Adobe Flash animation has enjoyed mainstream popularity since the mid-2000s, with many Adobe Flash-animated television series, television commercials, and award-winning online shorts being produced since then.
Mike Milo is an American animator, director, storyboard artist, writer, and producer in the television industry. He is currently directing the new series Scooby-Doo and Guess Who? at Warner Bros. Animation. He was an animation director on Uncle Grandpa as well as Craig of the Creek, both for Cartoon Network. He was also a story artist on Curious George for Universal. In 2012, he worked as a storyboard artist for The Fairly OddParents, and developed a pilot with Butch Hartman. Before that, he directed the animated series Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja at Titmouse, Inc. for Disney XD. He is also known to have designed the characters for the Comedy Central series Brickleberry, although he is uncredited. Before that, he was a story artist on the show Phineas and Ferb for Disney Channel and co-wrote nine episodes for that series. Growing up in Old Tappan, New Jersey, he began his animation career in 1990 animating commercials for Broadcast Arts in New York City. Subsequently, he worked for Sierra On-Line and Warner Bros., again as an animator working on Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs, Tazmania, Pinky and the Brain and Histeria!. He has also worked for Disney Television Animation, Frederator Studios, Film Roman, Hanna-Barbera, Universal Animation Studios, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network Studios, DIC Entertainment, Saban, Mike Young Productions, and other smaller studios.
Matt Reeves is an American filmmaker who first gained recognition for the WB drama series Felicity (1998–2002), which he co-created with J. J. Abrams. Reeves came to widespread attention for directing the hit monster film Cloverfield (2008). He also directed the vampire drama Let Me In (2010), and the critically acclaimed science fiction sequels Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014) and War for the Planet of the Apes (2017). He directed the superhero film The Batman (2022), which stars Robert Pattinson as the title character.
Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People is an episodic graphic adventure developed by Telltale Games and based on the Homestar Runner web cartoon, with Strong Bad as the lead character. A total of five episodes were released for Microsoft Windows and WiiWare between August 11, 2008, and December 15, 2008. It was released on the PlayStation 3 in North America on December 21, 2010, and in other regions at a later time. There is also an OS X version.
Philip Anderson Lord and Christopher Robert Miller are American filmmakers. They are the creators and co-stars of the adult animated sitcom Clone High, and the writers and directors of the animated films Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and The Lego Movie (2014), as well as the directors of the live-action comedy film 21 Jump Street (2012) and its sequel, 22 Jump Street (2014).
Two More Eggs is an American animated sketch comedy web series produced by The Brothers Chaps for Disney XD's YouTube channel and Disney XD. The Brothers Chaps previously produced the web series Homestar Runner. Two More Eggs is Disney's first animated web series.
Woody Woodpecker is a 2017 American live-action and animated slapstick comedy film directed by Alex Zamm, based on the cartoon character of the same name and produced by Universal 1440 Entertainment in co-production with Universal Animation Studios and distributed by Universal Pictures. The film stars Timothy Omundson, Graham Verchere, Jordana Largy and Thaila Ayala, and features Eric Bauza as the voice of Woody Woodpecker. The film's plot follows Woody protecting his forest from a real estate lawyer planning to build an investment house in his habitat.
Mare of Easttown is an American crime drama television miniseries created and written by Brad Ingelsby for HBO. Directed by Craig Zobel, the series premiered on April 18, 2021, and concluded on May 30, 2021, consisting of seven episodes. It stars Kate Winslet as the titular detective, who investigates a murder in a small town outside Philadelphia. Julianne Nicholson, Jean Smart, Angourie Rice, Evan Peters, Sosie Bacon, David Denman, Neal Huff, James McArdle, Guy Pearce, Cailee Spaeny, John Douglas Thompson, and Joe Tippett appear in supporting roles.
The Hunt is a 2020 American satirical action horror film directed by Craig Zobel and written by Nick Cuse and Damon Lindelof. The film stars Betty Gilpin, Hilary Swank, Ike Barinholtz, and Emma Roberts. Jason Blum was a producer under his Blumhouse Productions banner, along with Lindelof. Zobel and Lindelof have said that the film is intended as a satire on the profound political divide between the American left and right. It is about a group of elites who kidnap working class people to hunt them.
Looney Tunes Cartoons is an American animated television series developed by Pete Browngardt and produced by Warner Bros. Animation, based on the characters from Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies. The series made its worldwide debut at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival on June 10, 2019, and premiered on HBO Max on May 27, 2020.
Brad Ingelsby is an American screenwriter and film producer.