Peter Hyams is a Actor, Director, Scriptwriter, Producer, Director of Photography and Cinematography American born on 26 july 1943 at New York City (USA)
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Nationality USABirth 26 july 1943 (81 years) at New York City (
USA)
Peter Hyams (born July 26, 1943) is an American director, screenwriter and cinematographer, probably best known for directing the 1981 science fiction thriller Outland, Capricorn One, 2010 (the sequel to Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey), the action/comedy Running Scared, the comic book adaptation Timecop, the action film Sudden Death (both starring Jean-Claude Van Damme), and the horror films The Relic and End of Days.
Biography
Family
Hyams was born in New York City, New York, the son of Ruth Hurok and Barry Hyams, who was a theatrical producer and publicist on Broadway. His maternal grandfather was Sol Hurok, the Russian Jewish impresario. His stepfather was blacklisted Arthur Lief. His sister is casting director Nessa Hyams. His son John Hyams is also a film director and nephew Stephen Hyams.
Career
Hyams studied art and music at Hunter College and Syracuse University, before working as a producer/anchorman for WHDH-TV and later WBBM-TV. He has described himself as "one of the very few writer/directors of major films who also photographs his own pictures". During his time with CBS (where he worked from 1964 to 1970), he began to shoot documentary films. Hyams moved to Los Angeles in 1970 where he sold his first screenplay, T.R. Baskin, to Paramount Pictures in 1971.
Hyams worked in television through the early to mid-1970s. His first major film was Capricorn One (1978), a critically acclaimed conspiracy thriller about a faked mission to Mars. This was followed by the less successful Hanover Street (1979) which starred Harrison Ford, and the science fiction cult classic Outland (1981), which starred Sean Connery in a 'High Noon' scenario set on Io, one of Jupiter's moons. In 1983, he produced, directed, and wrote the screenplay for 2010 (1984), collaborating closely with author Arthur C. Clarke (2010).
Hyams also co-authored with Clarke The Odyssey File: The Making of 2010, published 1985, a collection of their email correspondence which illustrates their fascination with the then pioneering medium, and its use for them to communicate on an almost daily basis while planning and producing the film.
Since the mid-1980s, Hyams has directed/photographed several Hollywood-based movies with varying degrees of commercial and critical success. These movies include: The Star Chamber (1983), Running Scared (1986), The Presidio (1988), Narrow Margin (1990), Stay Tuned (1992), Timecop (1994), and The Relic (1997). The blockbuster End of Days (1999) starring Arnold Schwarzenegger is the highest-grossing film in Hyams' career, grossing over $200 million at the worldwide box-office but met with negative reception.
His two most recent films are The Musketeer (2001) and A Sound of Thunder (2005). The Musketeer (2001) was a minor box office success in the United States. However, A Sound of Thunder (2005), which faced troubles during its production (including the bankruptcy of the original production company during post-production), performed particularly badly at the box office worldwide and poorly received by critics.
In addition, Hyams also directed various episodes of Steven Spielberg's television show, Amazing Stories. He executive produced the 1980s cult kids movie, The Monster Squad (1986), and co-wrote the screenplay for the Charles Bronson thriller, Telefon (1977).
In 2007, it was reported that he would direct the remake of his own Capricorn One, instead he directed the remake of the 1956 film noir Beyond a Reasonable Doubt starring Michael Douglas, which was released in 2009 as a result the film was a box office flop and panned by critics. He also elaborated the cinematography of his son John's effort, Universal Soldier: Regeneration, the third official Universal Soldier sequel starring Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren.
Currently, he is set to direct the thriller Enemies Closer which begins filming in late 2012. It will mark his fourth (third directorial) collaboration with Jean-Claude Van Damme.
Personal life
On December 19, 1964 he married George-Ann Spota, with whom he has three children. His son John Hyams is also a film director; Peter performed cinematography duties on his son's film Universal Soldier: Regeneration.
Trademark
Hyams is well known for acting as his own cinematographer on the movies he directs.
As a reference to his wife's family, there's a minor character named Spota in many of his films, the exceptions being, A Sound of Thunder (although there was a market called "Spotas"), End of Days (although there was a bar called "Spotas"), Stay Tuned, Narrow Margin, Running Scared, 2010, Hanover Street and Peeper.
Best films
(1999)
(Director)
(1994)
(Director)
(1984)
(Director)
(1997)
(Director)
(1981)
(Director) Usually with