Jacob Aaron Estes

Last updated

Jacob Aaron Estes
BornSeptember 6, 1972 (1972-09-06) (age 51)
Occupation(s) Screenwriter, film director
Known for Mean Creek
Spouse Gretchen Lieberum

Jacob Aaron Estes (born September 6, 1972) is an American screenwriter and film director known for his films Mean Creek , The Details and Don't Let Go.

Contents

Career

Estes was a theatre major at the University of California, Santa Cruz. [1] After that, he went to film school at AFI. [1] Estes also attended the National Playwrights Conference at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, which produced two of his plays, Free Lessons and Mean Creek. [1] [2] Estes turned Mean Creek into a screenplay, which became his feature film debut as writer and director in 2004. [3] In his first offering as writer-director, he gained critical acclaim, receiving nominations at various film festivals and winning the Independent Spirit John Cassavetes Award. [4] His second film as writer/director came with the 2011 film The Details , [5] which premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival [6] and stars Tobey Maguire, Laura Linney, Ray Liotta, Dennis Haysbert, Kerry Washington, and Elizabeth Banks. In 2019, Estes co-wrote and directed the Blumhouse thriller Don't Let Go starring David Oyelowo and Storm Reid.

Personal life

Estes is married to musician Gretchen Lieberum. [1]

Filmography

YearFilmDirectorWriterProducerNotes
2001SummoningYesYesNoShort film
2004 Mean Creek YesYesNo John Cassavetes Award winner
2005 Nearing Grace NoYesNo
2011 The Details YesYesNo
2014 7 Minutes NoNoYes
2015BromanceNoNoNoSpecial thanks
2017 Rings NoYesNoCo-write with David Loucka and Akiva Goldsman
2019 Don't Let Go YesYesNo
2022 He's Watching YesYesYes
2023 Black Mirror (Season 6 Episode 3)NoNoNoNetflix anthology series

Related Research Articles

<i>In the Company of Men</i> 1997 film

In the Company of Men is a 1997 American black comedy film, written and directed by Neil LaBute and starring Aaron Eckhart, Matt Malloy, and Stacy Edwards. The film, which was adapted from a play written by LaBute, and served as his feature film debut, won him the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bobcat Goldthwait</span> American comedian and actor (born 1962)

Robert Francis "Bobcat" Goldthwait is an American comedian, actor, director and screenwriter. He is known for his black comedy stand-up act, delivered through an energetic stage persona with an unusual raspy and high-pitched voice. He came to prominence with his stand-up specials An Evening with Bobcat Goldthwait—Share the Warmth and Bob Goldthwait—Is He Like That All the Time? and his acting roles, including Zed in the Police Academy franchise and Eliot Loudermilk in Scrooged. Since 2012, he has been a regular panelist on the radio-quiz show, Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mike White (filmmaker)</span> American actor, writer and producer (born 1970)

Michael Christopher White is an American writer, actor, and producer for television and film. He has won numerous awards, including the Independent Spirit John Cassavetes Award for the 2000 film Chuck & Buck, which he wrote and starred in. He has written the screenplays for films such as School of Rock (2003) and has directed several films that he has written, such as Brad's Status (2017). He was a co-creator, executive producer, writer, director, and actor on the HBO series Enlightened. White is also known for his appearances on reality television, competing on two seasons of The Amazing Race and later becoming a contestant and runner-up on Survivor: David vs. Goliath. He created, writes, and directs the ongoing HBO satire comedy anthology series The White Lotus, for which he has won three Primetime Emmy Awards.

<i>Mean Creek</i> 2004 film by Jacob Aaron Estes

Mean Creek is a 2004 American independent coming-of-age psychological drama film written and directed by Jacob Aaron Estes and starring Rory Culkin, Ryan Kelley, Scott Mechlowicz, Trevor Morgan, Josh Peck, and Carly Schroeder. It was produced by Susan Johnson, Rick Rosenthal, and Hagai Shaham.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Todd Field</span> American actor and filmmaker (born 1964)

William Todd Field is an American filmmaker and actor. He is known for directing In the Bedroom (2001), Little Children (2006), and Tár (2022), which were nominated for a combined fourteen Academy Awards. Field has personally received six Academy Award nominations for his films; two for Best Picture, two for Best Adapted Screenplay, one for Best Director, and one for Best Original Screenplay.

<i>Smooth Talk</i> 1985 film by Joyce Chopra

Smooth Talk is a 1985 film directed by Joyce Chopra, loosely based on Joyce Carol Oates' short story "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" (1966), which was in turn inspired by the Tucson murders committed by Charles Schmid. The protagonist and main character, Connie Wyatt, is played by Laura Dern. The antagonist, Arnold Friend, is played by Treat Williams.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Larry Fessenden</span> American actor and filmmaker

Laurence T. Fessenden is an American actor, producer, writer, director, film editor, and cinematographer. He is the founder of the New York based independent production outfit Glass Eye Pix. His writer/director credits include No Telling, Habit (1997), Wendigo (2001), and The Last Winter, which is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art. He has also directed the television feature Beneath (2013), an episode of the NBC TV series Fear Itself (2008) entitled "Skin and Bones", and a segment of the anthology horror-comedy film The ABCs of Death 2 (2014). He is the writer, with Graham Reznick, of the BAFTA Award-winning Sony PlayStation video game Until Dawn. He has acted in numerous films including Bringing Out the Dead (1999), Broken Flowers (2005), I Sell the Dead (2009), Jug Face (2012), We Are Still Here (2015), In a Valley of Violence (2016), Like Me (2017), and The Dead Don't Die (2019), Brooklyn 45 (2023), and Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wash Westmoreland</span> British film director

Paul "Wash" Westmoreland, previously known professionally as Wash West, is a British director who has worked in television, documentaries, and independent films. He frequently collaborated with his husband, writer-director Richard Glatzer. Together, they wrote and directed the 2014 film Still Alice, based on Lisa Genova's NYT best-selling book and starred Julianne Moore, Kristen Stewart, and Alec Baldwin. The film won many awards, including the Academy Award for Best Actress for Julianne Moore and Humanitas Prize for feature film for the duo. Their 2006 coming-of-age feature film, Quinceañera, won the Audience Award and the Grand Jury Prize at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival.

<i>Little Miss Sunshine</i> 2006 American dark tragicomedy road film

Little Miss Sunshine is a 2006 American tragicomedy road film directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris from a screenplay written by Michael Arndt. The film stars an ensemble cast consisting of Greg Kinnear, Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Paul Dano, Abigail Breslin, and Alan Arkin, all of whom play members of a dysfunctional family taking the youngest (Breslin) to compete in a child beauty pageant. It was produced by Big Beach Films on a budget of US$8 million. Filming began on June 6, 2005, and took place over 30 days in Arizona and Southern California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matt Greenhalgh</span> English screenwriter

Matthew Greenhalgh is an English screenwriter from Manchester. He is best known for writing the screenplay to the film Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool, which earned him a BAFTA Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adam Wingard</span> American filmmaker (born 1982)

Adam Wingard is an American filmmaker. He has served as a film director, producer, screenwriter, editor, cinematographer, actor, and composer on numerous American films.

<i>Red State</i> (2011 film) American independent horror thriller film

Red State is a 2011 American independent horror thriller film written and directed by Kevin Smith and starring Michael Parks, John Goodman, Michael Angarano, Melissa Leo, and Stephen Root.

Jeffrey McDonald Chandor, better known as J. C. Chandor, is an American filmmaker, best known for writing and directing the films Margin Call (2011), All Is Lost (2013), A Most Violent Year (2014), Triple Frontier (2019) and Kraven the Hunter (2024).

Kipp Marcus is an American actor, screenwriter, producer, and digital media executive. He is best known for his role as the oldest brother Kip Cleaver on the revival television series The New Leave It To Beaver. He has also received critical acclaim for his screenwriting and acting in the film Let It Snow.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julie Davis</span> American film director, writer and actress

Julie Davis is an American film director, writer and actress. Davis is best known for directing, writing and acting in the romantic comedy film Amy's Orgasm. Davis' first film, the ultra low-budget I Love You, Don't Touch Me! debuted at the 1997 Sundance Film Festival. She also directed the cult gay romantic comedy All Over the Guy in 2001 and the 2010 film Finding Bliss, based on her experiences as an editor at the Playboy Channel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Azazel Jacobs</span> American film director and screenwriter

Azazel Jacobs is an American film director and screenwriter. He is the son of experimental filmmaker Ken Jacobs. His short films include Kirk and Kerry (1997) and Message Machine (2002), and his features include the acclaimed The GoodTimesKid (2005), Momma's Man (2008), Terri (2011), The Lovers (2017), French Exit (2020), and His Three Daughters (2023).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alfonso Gomez-Rejon</span> American film and television director

Alfonso Gomez-Rejon is an American film and television director. He made his directorial film debut with the slasher film The Town That Dreaded Sundown (2014). He has since directed the coming of age film Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (2015), and the historical drama The Current War (2017).

<i>The Details</i> (film) 2011 American film

The Details is a 2011 American independent black comedy film written and directed by Jacob Aaron Estes. It stars Tobey Maguire, Elizabeth Banks, Kerry Washington, Laura Linney, Ray Liotta and Jonah Hill as the narrator. The film premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and went into limited release on November 2, 2012.

<i>Dont Let Go</i> (2019 film) 2019 American film

Don't Let Go is a 2019 American science fiction horror thriller film written and directed by Jacob Aaron Estes. The film stars David Oyelowo, Storm Reid, Alfred Molina, Brian Tyree Henry, Byron Mann, Mykelti Williamson, and Shinelle Azoroh. Jason Blum serves as a producer through his Blumhouse Productions banner, alongside Bobby Cohen and Oyelowo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ari Aster</span> American filmmaker

Ari Aster is an American filmmaker. Having garnered some initial recognition for the short film The Strange Thing About the Johnsons (2011), he became best known for writing and directing Hereditary (2018), Midsommar (2019), and Beau Is Afraid (2023), all of which were released by A24. His films have been noted for their unsettling combination of horror, dark comedy, and depictions of graphic violence. In 2018, he co-founded the production company Square Peg with Danish producer Lars Knudsen.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Kushner, Zach (September 24, 2012). "GET THE DETAILS FROM DIRECTOR JACOB AARON ESTES: EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW & TRAILER". Stand By for Mind Control. Retrieved December 26, 2017.
  2. "Jacob Aaron Estes". doollee.com. Retrieved December 26, 2017.
  3. Armstrong, Derek. "Review: Mean Creek". AllMovie . Retrieved February 24, 2011.
  4. "Awards: Mean Creek". Allmovie . Retrieved February 24, 2011.
  5. Holden, Stephen. "Relentless Raccoons and Other Suburban Problems Money Can't Always Fix". NY Times . Retrieved November 1, 2012.
  6. Greenberg, James (January 26, 2011). "SUNDANCE REVIEW: 'The Details' Is a Rom-com That Becomes Something Much Darker". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved July 12, 2023.