American filmmaker (born 1956)
John Lee Hancock
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Born
| (
1956-12-15
)
December 15, 1956
(age 67)
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Education
| Baylor University
(
BA
,
JD
)
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Occupations
| - Screenwriter
- director
- producer
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Years active
| 1987?present
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John Lee Hancock Jr.
(born December 15, 1956) is an American filmmaker. He is best known for directing the sports drama films
The Rookie
(2002) and
The Blind Side
(2009), the historical drama films
The Alamo
(2004),
Saving Mr. Banks
(2013),
The Founder
(2016) and
The Highwaymen
(2019), the crime thriller film
The Little Things
(2021), and the horror film
Mr. Harrigan's Phone
(2022).
Early life and education
[
edit
]
Hancock was born in Longview, but grew up in Texas City. His father, John Lee Hancock Sr.,
[1]
played football for Baylor and in the NFL
[2]
and went on to become a football coach at Texas City High School. His mother, Sue Hancock is a retired English teacher who taught in the Texas City ISD. The eldest of four children (two brothers and one sister), John Jr. played football and competed in swimming while in high school (his brother played briefly in the NFL).
[3]
Throughout high school and when home from college, John worked in his grandfather's pipe fabrication shop, located near the industrial refineries of his hometown, Texas City, Texas. Hancock received his bachelor's degree in English from Baylor in 1979 and earned a
J.D.
degree from
Baylor Law School
in 1982.
[4]
[5]
Career
[
edit
]
After working in a Houston law firm for four years, he decided to pursue screenwriting and moved to Los Angeles. Choosing not to take the California bar exam and practice law in California, Hancock instead held numerous non-legal jobs those next few years, took acting classes, and worked in local theater. He debuted as both a screenwriter and director with 1991's
Hard Time Romance
,
and another screenplay he wrote in 1991 was noticed by Clint Eastwood and went on to become
A Perfect World
directed by Eastwood and starring Eastwood and Kevin Costner. He went on to produce the critically acclaimed
My Dog Skip
before finding widespread recognition as director of
The Rookie
,
which won an ESPY in 2002 for "Best Sports Movie" and was both critically and commercially successful. He also wrote the screenplay for
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
and directed
The Alamo
,
[6]
a remake of
the 1960 film
. It starred
Dennis Quaid
,
Billy Bob Thornton
,
Jason Patric
and
Patrick Wilson
.
After a five-year absence from directing spent honing his screenwriting skills, Hancock returned to both his football and
Christian
roots with 2009's
The Blind Side
, a biographical sports drama film starring
Quinton Aaron
as
Michael Oher
, a homeless, 350-pound African-American teenager who ended up becoming the Baltimore Ravens' first-round pick in the 2009 NFL draft, and
Sandra Bullock
as Leigh Anne Tuohy, a well-off Memphis woman who makes room in her life for Oher. With a budget of $29 million, the film grossed over $309 million, becoming Hancock's highest-grossing film to date, and received two
Academy Award
nominations for Best Picture and Best Actress, with Bullock winning the
latter award
. Bullock also won Screen Actors Guild and Golden Globe awards for her portrayal of Tuohy.
In 2013 Hancock directed
Saving Mr. Banks
, a film about the life of
P. L. Travers
and her difficult negotiations with
Walt Disney
over adapting her novel
Mary Poppins
into
a feature film
. He also directed
The Founder
(2016), about the
McDonald's
fast food chain, and co-wrote the upcoming musical film
The Goree Girls
. In 2019 he directed his first
Netflix
movie
The Highwaymen
.
[7]
Hancock also directed the pilot of the television series
Paradise Lost
, which premiered on April 13, 2020.
[8]
His latest film is
The Little Things
, a 2021
neo-noir
crime thriller
written, directed and produced by Hancock and
Mark Johnson
. The plot follows two police officers (
Denzel Washington
and
Rami Malek
) who try to catch a serial killer in 1990s Los Angeles; the film also stars
Jared Leto
as their top suspect and
Natalie Morales
as another detective.
[9]
In 2022, he wrote and directed
Mr. Harrigan's Phone
. Based on a short story by Stephen King, which appears in the collection
If It Bleeds
, the film follows a boy who befriends an older billionaire who lives in his small town. When the man dies, the boy finds himself able to communicate with his friend from the grave by leaving voicemails on the iPhone that was buried with him.
[10]
Filmography
[
edit
]
Uncredited writing roles
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"
"The Blind Side" director remembers coach-dad"
.
Oklahoman.com
. November 20, 2009
. Retrieved
January 31,
2021
.
[
permanent dead link
]
- ^
"John Hancock Stats - Pro Football Archives"
.
www.profootballarchives.com
.
Archived
from the original on February 5, 2021
. Retrieved
January 31,
2021
.
- ^
"Kevin Hancock Stats"
.
Pro-Football-Reference.com
.
Archived
from the original on January 15, 2021
. Retrieved
January 31,
2021
.
- ^
"
'The Blind Side' Director John Lee Hancock to Speak at Baylor Law Commencement May 1"
.
Media and Public Relations | Baylor University
. April 29, 2010.
Archived
from the original on March 3, 2021
. Retrieved
January 29,
2021
.
- ^
"Director Hancock - a Texas City native - dedicates 'The Blind Side' to late father"
.
khou.com
. November 20, 2009.
Archived
from the original on April 14, 2021
. Retrieved
January 30,
2021
.
- ^
"John Lee Hancock"
.
Texas Monthly
. January 1, 2003.
Archived
from the original on January 18, 2021
. Retrieved
January 29,
2021
.
- ^
"The True Story Behind the Netflix Movie The Highwaymen"
.
Time
. Retrieved
January 29,
2021
.
- ^
White, Peter (February 19, 2020).
"Spectrum Originals Sets Premiere Date For Josh Hartnett Southern Gothic Drama 'Paradise Lost'
"
.
Deadline Hollywood
.
Archived
from the original on March 10, 2020
. Retrieved
July 18,
2020
.
- ^
Thompson, Anne (January 28, 2021).
"With 'The Little Things,' John Lee Hancock Wrote a Script So Dark Even He Wasn't Ready to Direct It"
.
IndieWire
.
Archived
from the original on January 28, 2021
. Retrieved
January 29,
2021
.
- ^
"John Lee Hancock Adapting Stephen King Short Story Mr. Harrigan's Phone"
.
Empire
. July 12, 2020.
Archived
from the original on December 21, 2020
. Retrieved
January 29,
2021
.
External links
[
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]
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Films directed
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Written only
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International
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National
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Artists
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Other
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