Mark Illsley

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Mark Illsley
Born (1958-06-04) June 4, 1958 (age 66)
Occupation(s) Film director, screenwriter

Mark Illsley (born June 4, 1958) is a film director best known for writing and directing the film Happy, Texas , which starred William H. Macy and Steve Zahn, and directing Bookies .

Illsley was raised in Santa Rosa, California where he made films as a teen with a Super-8 camera. He graduated from the USC School of Cinema-Television in 1981, where he met and started working relationship with Kevin Reynolds.

Happy, Texas triggered a bidding war that played out at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival, with Harvey Weinstein and Miramax beating out other suitors, which included Fox Searchlight, Paramount Classics and New Line Cinema. [1]

He married his wife Jill Zimmerman on September 29, 2001. They divorced in 2016. [2] He is the son of Rolf Illsley

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