Stellastarr
Alongside Tannen, Kremer and the new addition of Michael Jurin - who took up the lead guitar position - Christensen formed the indie rock band Stellastarr, (stylized as "stellastarr*), in March 2000. [11] In July, the band had their debut performance with Christensen's original compositions at Luna Lounge on Manhattan's Lower East Side. [12] In May 2003, Stellastarr signed with RCA Records, allowing for them to focus on their musical careers. [13] Under the RCA label, Stellastarr released an eponymous album in September 2003, featuring the standout singles "Jenny" and "My Coco". [14]
Stellastarr released Harmonies for the Haunted , their second album under RCA, on September 13, 2005. Christensen's progression as a singer was praised, with his tone being noted for having matured and become more consistent beyond his shifting between falsetto and baritone vocal registers. [15] [16] [17] Stellastarr released their final album, Civilized , through their personal imprint label Bloated Wife Records, in July 2009. Christensen was complimnented for his range being able to deliver deep bellows and high falsettos. [16] Following the release of Civilized, Stellastarr unofficially went on hiatus. [11]
Filmmaking
While Stellastarr was on the Hot Fuss Tour alongside the Killers in 2004, Christensen collaborated with Jason Dolan on a feature-length spec script for a drama called Sidney Hall - he shared it with Paul Wesley, who presented it to William Morris Endeavor, resulting in the signing of both screenwriters. [18] [19] Christensen and Dolan further collaborated on other spec scripts during the mid-2000s, including a psychological thriller called Enter Nowhere . [20] Christensen independently penned an Alfred Hitchcock-inspired thriller, Abduction , and a science-fiction drama, The Karma Coalition. The screenplays for Sidney Hall and The Karma Coalition were sold in 2008, to Scott Free Productions and Warner Bros., respectively. [21]
After a week-long bidding war in February 2010, Lionsgate Films acquired the screenplay for Abduction, with actor Taylor Lautner attached. [22] Jeffrey Nachmanoff rewrote the screenplay and the film began production the following July. [23] In 2011, Jack Heller directed Enter Nowhere, with Christensen & Dolan credited as executive producers. [20] It was acquired by Lionsgate for a direct-to-DVD release, prior to its October premiere at the Screamfest Horror Film Festival. [24]
Disillusioned from studios retrofitting his screenplays, Christensen rebooted his filmmaking career, to focus on directing. He wrote a screenplay in 2011 for a short film for him to direct and co-star in called Curfew . [8] Two days prior to shooting a dance scene, negotiations with the artists behind the accompanying song failed, leading to the filming of cast members dancing to the original song, while Christensen composed a single, "Sophia So Far", to replace it. [25] For two weeks, editor Evan Henke edited Curfew, before Christensen took over and edited the film on his MacBook Pro in his living room for the rest of 2011. [26] Curfew premiered at the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival in January 2012, to critical acclaim, numerous festival screenings and awards for Christensen's acting, directing and writing. [27] At the 85th Academy Awards, Curfew won the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film. [28]
Prior to Curfew's success, Paul Wesley took an interest in the short film and together with Christensen and his producing partner, Damon Russell, collaborated to develop a feature-length adaptation. [18] The film, titled Before I Disappear , premiered at South by Southwest on March 10, 2014, and won the audience award for Best Narrative Feature. [29] Before I Disappear went on to have a successful festival run, with distinctions including an official selection at the 71st Venice International Film Festival. [30] IFC Films was announced to have acquired the North American distribution rights for Before I Disappear in August 2014 and the film was released on video on demand, concurrent with a limited theatrical release the following November. [31]
Per the Writers Guild of America, East Separated Rights, the rights to Sidney Hall reverted to Christensen in 2014, after five years of no development. [19] Christensen opted to independently produce it through Jonathan Schwartz's Super Crispy Entertainment banner, as well as his own Fuzzy Logic Pictures banner. [32] The film premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, in Park City, Utah. [33] Sidney Hall was acquired for distribution by A24 and DirecTV in April 2017, with DirecTV providing an exclusive pre-release prior to its theatrical release. [34] The film, re-titled The Vanishing of Sidney Hall , was released in theaters on March 2, 2018. [35]
Podcasting
Christensen expanded his direction efforts to fiction podcasts with Blackout , the first series produced by QCode that was released in March 2019, starring Rami Malek. [36] The first season directed by Christensen was popular, having been downloaded over twelve million times by the time its second season was ordered. [37] Christensen directed the narrative thriller Hunted, the first podcast produced by Wolf Entertainment's Endeavor Audio division, starring Parker Posey, released in November 2019. [38] Alongside Gabriel Mason, Christensen founded an entertainment label called Criminal Content in 2020. Christensen directed, executive produced and acted in the company's debut podcast, American Hostage , an eight-part dramatization of the 1977 Indianapolis hostage crisis perpetrated by Tony Kiritsis. Starring Jon Hamm, American Hostage was released in February 2022. [39] Criminal Content's sophomore historical-fiction series about the Fox sisters and starring Carey Mulligan, The Foxes of Hydesville, was announced in April 2023, with a spring release date. [40]
