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Gregory Hoblit

For Gregory Hoblit, filmmaking is a passionate endeavor. His willingness to examine the human condition and wade through his characters' complex web of emotions and behavior is apparent in every movie he has helmed. Having spent more than 20 years behind the camera on many of television's most popular and ground-breaking shows, Hoblit's utilizes his technical acumen, coupled with a keen intuitive perspective, to direct with a textured artistry that is both precise yet visceral.

This narrative style is evident in the 2002 film, Hart's War, based on the book by John Katzenbach. Bruce Willis and Colin Farrell star in the unconventional, character-driven courtroom drama about a well-heeled Army lieutenant ordered to defend a black prisoner falsely accused of murder. Set against the grim backdrop of a POW camp in World War II Germany, the film explores issues of race, betrayal and honor.

Hoblit's ability to transcend the conventions of genre with visual and emotional depth is also evident in New Line Cinema's Frequency. With characteristic style and sensitivity, Hoblit found the core of dramatic realism within a sci-fi fantasy about a New York City police detective, played by Jim Caviezel, who rewrites history by reaching back in time to talk with his late father, portrayed by Dennis Quaid.

In 1996 Hoblit made an auspicious feature debut with Paramount's Primal Fear, a moody courtroom drama that crackled with crisp pacing and twisting suspense, and garnered the director kudos from critics and audiences alike. Hoblit made full use of a gifted ensemble cast that included Richard Gere, Laura Linney, Frances McDormand, John Mahoney and, in his film debut, Edward Norton, whose performance brought the novice actor an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

Fallen, starring Denzel Washington, John Goodman, Donald Sutherland, Elias Koteas and James Gandolfini, followed two years later. Combining elements of crime drama and supernatural thriller in the story of a homicide detective being terrorized by a disembodied presence, the film offered a haunting exposition on the nature of evil.

The seeds of Hoblit's feature success were sown in television, where he helped to develop and craft some of the most innovative shows of modern television. His vast and influential body of work as an executive producer/director includes Hill Street Blues, L.A. Law, and N.Y.P.D. Blue, as well as the acclaimed NBC movie Roe V. Wade and the 1990 AIDS documentary The Los Altos Story. Along the way, Hoblit received virtually every honor available, including nine Emmy and three Peabody Awards, as well as the DGA, CableACE, Humanitas, Golden Globe and People's Choice Awards.

Born in Abilene, Texas and raised in Berkeley, California, Hoblit completed his undergraduate degree at the University of California, Berkeley and UCLA before studying film and television on the graduate level at UCLA. He began his professional career in Chicago, where he associate produced and produced several talk shows for the local ABC affiliate. Upon returning to Los Angeles, Hoblit cut his teeth as an associate producer on a half-hour sitcom and two low budget films, and as the producer/director of a feature documentary.

After working as an associate producer on the six-hour miniseries Loose Change and on Universal Television's two-hour pilot Dr. Strange, Hoblit joined Steven Bochco at MTM Enterprises, where they produced the movie-of-the-week Vampire, as well as the series Paris, Hill Street Blues and Bay City Blues. He then joined Bochco at Twentieth Century Fox, beginning their collaboration on L.A. Law, Hooperman, Cop Rock, Civil Wars and NYPD Blue. In 1992 Hoblit directed Class of '61 for Amblin Entertainment and executive producer Steven Spielberg.

Hoblit's next film will be Untraceable, starring Diane Lane, which began filming in Portland, Oregon in February 2007.


Note: This profile was written in or before 2007.
Read earlier biographies on this page.

Gregory Hoblit Facts

OccupationDirector
BirthdayNovember 27, 1944 (79)
SignSagittarius
BirthplaceAbilene, Texas, USA

Selected Filmography

Not available.