Norwegian director Roar Uthaug first came to public attention as a filmmaking student, when his graduation film The Martin Administration became only the second Norwegian student-film in history to be nominated by the Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Science (AMPAS) for the Student Academy Awards. Subsequently, he made his feature directorial debut with the slasher film Cold Prey (2006).

In 2018, Uthaug forayed into Hollywood with the action-adventure movie Tomb Raider, which starred Academy Award-winning actress Alicia Vikander in the lead role. Other significant directorial credits include the Christmas movie Magic Silver (2009), the action-thriller Escape (2012) and the widely acclaimed disaster film The Wave (2015).