Rupert Miles Sanders (born 16 March 1971) is an English film director. He has directed the movies '' Snow White and the Huntsman'' (2012) and '' Ghost in the Shell'' (2017). In 2021, he directed the pilot episode of the

Apple TV+ Apple TV+ is an American subscription streaming service owned and operated by Apple Inc. Launched on November 1, 2019, it offers a selection of original production film and television series called Apple Originals. The service was announced ...

science fiction series '' Foundation''.

Early life

Sanders was born in

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, B ...

, London, the eldest son of Thalia (née Garlick) and hospital ophthalmologist Michael Sanders. After a foundation year at Kingston School of Art he graduated with a degree in graphic design from

Central St Martins Central Saint Martins is a public tertiary art school in London, England. It is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London. It offers full-time courses at foundation, undergraduate and postgraduate levels, and a variety of sho ...

Career

Sanders began his commercial production career under Tony Kaye. He had primarily done art direction before Kaye suggested he try out directing. Sanders has directed numerous television advertisements, including '' The Life'' for '' Halo 3: ODST'', which won him two Golden Lions at the

Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity (formerly the International Advertising Festival) is a global event for those working in creative communications, advertising, and related fields. It is considered the largest gathering of the ...

. Sanders' first feature film was '' Snow White and the Huntsman'', which was released in the US in early June 2012. The film's budget was $170 million, including an eight-figure marketing expenditure, and it earned $20.3 million on its opening day in the US. To date, the film has grossed $396,592,829 at the box office. After passing the offer to direct the fifth instalment of the ''

Pirates of the Caribbean ''Pirates of the Caribbean'' is a Disney media franchise encompassing numerous theme park rides, a series of films, and spin-off novels, as well as a number of related video games and other media publications. The franchise originated with the ...

'' film series, Sanders directed a film adaptation of science fiction

manga Manga ( Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is ...

franchise '' Ghost in the Shell'', with

Avi Arad Avi Arad (; he, אבי ארד; born 1948) is an Israeli-American film producer who became the CEO of the company Toy Biz in the 1990s and soon afterward became the chief creative officer of Marvel Entertainment, and the chairman, CEO, and founde ...

and Steven Paul producing and

Scarlett Johansson Scarlett Ingrid Johansson (; born November 22, 1984) is an American actress. The world's highest-paid actress in 2018 and 2019, she has featured multiple times on the ''Forbes'' Celebrity 100 list. ''Time'' magazine named her one of the 100 ...

starring in the main role. It was released in late March 2017. In June 2018, Sanders was announced to direct Johansson again in ''Rub & Tug'', a planned

biopic A biographical film or biopic () is a film that dramatizes the life of a non-fictional or historically-based person or people. Such films show the life of a historical person and the central character's real name is used. They differ from docudr ...

about Dante "Tex" Gill and his girlfriend Cynthia Bruno, with Johansson starring as Gill. However, the film has been left in

development hell Development hell, development purgatory, and development limbo are Media industry, media and Software industry, software industry jargon for a project, concept, or idea that remains in development for an especially long time, often moving between d ...

after Johansson stepped down from starring in the film when the

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through ...

community criticised having a

cisgender Cisgender (often shortened to cis; sometimes cissexual) is a term used to describe a person whose gender identity corresponds to their sex assigned at birth. The word ''cisgender'' is the antonym of '' transgender''. The prefix '' cis-'' is L ...

actress play a

trans man A trans man is a man who was assigned female at birth. The label of transgender man is not always interchangeable with that of transsexual man, although the two labels are often used in this way. ''Transgender'' is an umbrella term that inc ...

. In April 2022, it was announced that Sanders will direct a reboot of '' The Crow'', with Bill Skarsgård starring as Eric Draven / The Crow.

Personal life

Sanders married model Liberty Ross, sister of Oscar-winning composer Atticus Ross, in 2002. They moved to Los Angeles to further Sanders' career. Together they have two children, daughter Skyla and son Tennyson. In July 2012, ''

Us Weekly ''Us Weekly'' is a weekly celebrity and entertainment magazine based in New York City. ''Us Weekly'' was founded in 1977 by The New York Times Company, who sold it in 1980. It was acquired by Wenner Media in 1986, and sold to American Media Inc ...

'' published photos of Sanders in an intimate embrace with actress

Kristen Stewart Kristen Jaymes Stewart (born April 9, 1990) is an American actress. The world's highest-paid actress in 2012, she has received various accolades, including a British Academy Film Award and a César Award, in addition to nominations for an Aca ...

, prompting Sanders and Stewart to issue separate public apologies. Ross subsequently filed for divorce from Sanders in January 2013, seeking joint custody, spousal support, and legal fees. The divorce was finalised on 30 May 2014.

Filmography

Film

Television

Music videos

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sanders, Rupert 1971 births English film directors Living people English expatriates in the United States Television commercial directors People from Westminster English music video directors