John Harrison (director)

Last updated
John Harrison
Born
John S. Harrison Jr.

1948 (75-76 years)
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Alma mater Emerson College (B.S.)
Carnegie Mellon University (MFA)
Occupations
  • Director
  • Writer
  • Producer
  • Composer
  • Actor
Website www.officialjohnharrison.com

John S. Harrison Jr. (born 1948) is an American television and film director, screenwriter, musician, composer and actor. [1] He is best known for his collaborations with filmmaker George A. Romero, and for writing-directing the 2000 television miniseries adaptation of Dune.

Contents

Early years

Harrison was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Emerson College in Boston with a BS [2] in Theater Arts and is an MFA graduate of Carnegie Mellon University's School of Drama. [2] For several years after that, he performed on the road with his band Homebrew before moving back to Pittsburgh to take a master's degree in film and television from Carnegie Mellon University.

At the same time, he joined blues guitarist Roy Buchanan, with whom he toured across the US and internationally for four years. He was also featured on several of Buchanan's albums, including That's What I'm Here For (1974), Live Stock (1975), and A Street Called Straight (1976).

Career

In 1973, Harrison and his friends, Dusty Nelson and Pasquale Buba, formed a film production company eventually named The Image Works to produce commercials and industrials in the Pittsburgh area. This partnership eventually led to the production of the film Effects (1980), which Harrison produced and performed in [3] as the character Lacey Bickel. [4] In 1974, Harrison began a long collaboration and friendship with filmmaker George A. Romero. Harrison performed as Sir Pelinore in Romero's Knightriders , then became his 1st Assistant Director for both Romero films Creepshow (1982) and Day of the Dead (1985).

Harrison also composed the scores for Creepshow and Day of the Dead (1985). [5] He also played the "Screwdriver Zombie" in Romero's classic Dawn of the Dead (1978). The music that was composed for the score of Creepshow was also featured in the fake trailer for Thanksgiving in the film Grindhouse (2007), and the South Park episode "Tegridy Farms Halloween Special" (2019). Music from Harrison's Day of the Dead score was also featured in the premiere Stranger Things Season 3, "Suzie, Do You Copy" (2019).

After Creepshow, Harrison moved to Los Angeles to continue his writing and directing career. He wrote, directed and composed the music for multiple episodes of the Tales from the Darkside TV show. He was then tapped by producer Richard P. Rubinstein to direct Tales from the Darkside: The Movie (1990) for Paramount, [6] which won the Gran Prix du Festival at Avoriaz, France (1991). [2] Harrison's collaboration with Rubinstein culminated in the Emmy-winning TV miniseries, Frank Herbert's Dune (2000), which Harrison wrote and directed, [1] and Frank Herbert's Children of Dune (2003), which Harrison wrote and executive produced.

In 2001, Harrison receives a co-song writing credit, for the Gorillaz's track "M1 A1", from the album Gorillaz , which samples music (along with dialogue), from the film Day of the Dead. Gorillaz used samples from the same film for another song, "Hip Albatross", a B-side on the international hit "19-2000".

In 2006, Harrison reunited with mentor Romero to co-produce Romero's film Diary of the Dead (2007). [7] His action suspense thriller Blank Slate for producer Dean Devlin, which Harrison wrote and directed, aired as a twenty episode mini-series on TNT in the fall of 2008. In 2009, Harrison completed his adaptation of acclaimed horror novelist Clive Barker's Book of Blood , which Harrison co-wrote and directed.

His paranormal thriller miniseries Residue (2015), which he created and wrote, was released on Netflix in April 2015. [8]

Harrison has written and directed episodes of Creepshow on Shudder. [6]

He has also written the novels. Destiny Gardens which was published in 2013, Passing Through Veils, published in 2023 and Residue, Paramentals Rising which was published in 2025.

Filmography

Film

YearTitleFunctioned asNotes
DirectorWriterProducerComposerActor
1978 Dawn of the Dead UncreditedRole; as Screwdriver Zombie
1979 Effects ExecutiveYesYesRole; as Lacey Bickel
1981 Knightriders YesRole; as Pellinore
1982 Creepshow YesAlso first assistant director
1985 Day of the Dead YesAlso first assistant director
1988 Jack's Back YesRole; as Chooch
1990 Tales from the Darkside: The Movie YesYes
2000 Dinosaur Yes
2007 Diary of the Dead Executive
2009 Book of Blood YesYes
2015ResidueYesExecutive
2021 Dune Executive
2024 Dune: Part Two Executive

Television

YearTitleFunctioned asNotes
DirectorWriterProducerComposerActor
1984-87 Tales from the Darkside YesYesYesDirector (8 episodes), writer (5 episodes), composer (4 episodes)
1987Night Rose: Akhbar’s DaughterYesYesYesTV movie
1988Scary Tales: Night ElevatorYesYesYesTV movie
1988 Monsters YesEpisode "The Legacy"
1990 Memories of Murder YesTV movie
1991-96 Tales from the Crypt YesYesDirector (2 episodes), writer (3 episodes)
1992 Nightmare Cafe YesEpisode "The Heart of the Mystery"
1995 Earth 2 YesYesDirector (3 episodes), writer (1 episode)
1995Donor UnknownYesYesTV movie
1996The Assassination FileYes
1996 Profiler YesEpisode "I'll Be Watching You"
1996 Kindred: The Embraced YesEpisode "Nightstalker"
2000 Frank Herbert's Dune YesYesMiniseries (3 episodes)
2003 Frank Herbert's Children of Dune YesCo-ProducerMiniseries (3 episodes)
2005 Supernova YesTV movie
2005 Painkiller Jane YesExecutive
2008Blank SlateYesYesYesTV movie
Role; as Thomas Hale
2009 Mental YesEpisode "Bad Moon Rising"
2010-12 Leverage Yes5 episodes
2015 The Librarians YesEpisode "And the Heart of Darkness"
2015 Residue YesExecutiveMiniseries (3 episodes)
2017-18 Superstition Yes2 episodes
2019-21 Creepshow YesYesDirector (4 segments), writer (1 segment)

Soundtracks

Awards and nominations

CeremonyYearCategoryWorkResult
Avoriaz International Fantastic Film Festival 1991Grand Prize Tales from the Darkside: The Movie Won
Hugo Award 2001 Best Dramatic Presentation Frank Herbert's Dune Nominated
Writers Guild of America Award 1988 Best Anthology Episode/Single Program Tales from the Darkside ("Everybody Needs a Little Love")Nominated

Further reading

References

  1. 1 2 Wertheimer, Ron (December 2, 2000). "TELEVISION REVIEW; For the Spice of Life, Literally". The New York Times .
  2. 1 2 3 "John Harrison". Heinz College . Retrieved June 26, 2021.
  3. ↑ Alexander, Chris (August 9, 2017). "John Harrison on Effects and George A. Romero". comingsoon.net . Retrieved June 26, 2021.
  4. ↑ "EFFECTS (DVD)". Film Threat . November 22, 2005. Retrieved June 26, 2021.
  5. ↑ Williams, Tony (2015). The Cinema of George A. Romero: Knight of the Living Dead. Columbia University Press. pp. 274–275. ISBN   9780231850759.
  6. 1 2 Szpirglas, Jeff (October 1, 2019). "Interview: Getting Creeped Out With John Harrison". Rue Morgue . Retrieved June 26, 2021.
  7. ↑ Karr, Lee (February 28, 2008). "Interview with John Harrison, Executive Producer of Diary of the Dead". Homepage of the Dead. Retrieved June 26, 2021.
  8. ↑ Miller, Liz Shannon (April 1, 2015). "How to Sell a TV Show to Netflix". IndieWire .
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