Marcmarc Forster Director And Producer
MARC FORSTER is best known for the unique aesthetic and attention to detail evident in each of the wide-ranging list of films he has directed. In 2008, Forster founded Apparatus, a Los Angeles-based production company.
Forster is currently in production on World War Z, starring Brad Pitt. The film, a joint venture with Apparatus and Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment, is based on Max Brooks’ post-apocalyptic horror novel World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War.
Born in Germany in 1969 and raised in Switzerland, Forster came to the U.S. in 1990 to attend NYU Film School, graduating in 1993. The helmer’s style was immediately made clear in Forster’s first film, Everything Put Together, which he also co-wrote. This searing psychological drama was nominated for a Grand Jury Prize at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival. At the Independent Spirit Awards, Forster won the Someone to Watch Award and was nominated for the “Best Feature under $500,000” honor.
Forster’s true directorial breakout came in 2001 with Monster’s Ball, a critical and commercial success that received two Oscar nominations with Halle Berry winning for Best Actress. Featuring commanding performances by Berry, Billy Bob Thornton and Heath Ledger, the film offered a powerful glimpse into the legacies of race, loss and redemption.
In Finding Neverland, Forster recreated turn-of-the-century London in the semi-biographical story of the inspiring friendship between J.M. Barrie, author of the beloved stage play “Peter Pan,”and the four young boys and single mother who lived next door. Starring Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet, Finding Neverland was one of the most celebrated films of 2004. It was recognized as Best Film of the Year by the National Board of Review and received seven Academy Award® nominations, five Golden Globe® nominations and 11 BAFTA nominations. Forster himself received a Best Director nomination from his peers at the DGA.
Forster’s next film was 2005’s reality-bending thriller, Stay, starring Ewan McGregor, Naomi Watts and Ryan Gosling. He followed that with the imaginative comedy Stranger Than Fiction, starring Will Ferrell, Maggie Gylenhaal, Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson. Stranger Than Fiction premiered at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival to critical and audience acclaim, culminating in a Golden Globe® nomination for Ferrell.
In 2007, Forster adapted the New York Times bestselling novel The Kite Runner. Forster’s film garnered a Golden Globe® nomination for Best Foreign Language Film and a BAFTA bid for Film Not in the English Language.
Following the critical success of The Kite Runner, Forster was sought out to direct the latest installment of the James Bond franchise, Quantum of Solace, in 2008. The film became the highest-grossing film in Bond history with a worldwide box-office total of $587 million.