Touted to be one of the most influential horror filmmakers of the modern era, Scott Derrickson is an American director, screenwriter, and producer who made his debut in the year 1995. He is popular for co-writing and directing the horror movie The Exorcism of Emily Rose.
Early Life
Scott Derrickson is a Biola University graduate and holds a B.A. degree in Humanities and Communications with an emphasis on film and a minor in theological studies. He later was enrolled at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, where he earned his M.A. degree in film production.
Movie Career
As a Director and Writer
Derrickson began his career by writing, directing and producing the movie Love in Ruins (1995). His second movie as a director, Hellraiser, Inferno, was only released five years after his debut in 2000. However, Derrickson achieved recognition with his third movie as a director, The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005), starring Laura Linney and Tom Wilkinson. The movie is said to be loosely based on the story of Anneliese Michel, a German woman who underwent Catholic exorcism rites in 1975 and died the following year. The movie received critical and commercial acclaim, with the Chicago Film Critics Association listing the film in their Top 100 Scariest Films Ever Made. In 2005, he also wrote an independent movie Land of Plenty, directed by Wim Wenders.
Derrickson next directed The Day the Earth Stood Still, starring Keanu Reeves. The movie, which is a remake of the 1951 film of the same name, received negative reviews from the critics but was successful at the box office. Having a penchant for writing and directing horror movies, in the subsequent years Derrickson worked on projects such as Sinister (2012), Devil's Knot (2013), and Deliver Us from Evil (2014). Sinister, which released in 2012, is a mystery-horror movie that stars Ethan Hawke - the movie received positive critical reviews and was declared as a box office hit. He later would go on to write the sequel to the movie, Sinister 2, directed by Ciaran Foy. Derrickson's 2016 release includes the movie Doctor Strange starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Benedict Wong, and Rachel McAdams.
As a Producer
Scott Derrickson has also worked as a producer for a few of the movies he has directed such as - Sinister, Devil's Knot, and Sinister 2.