Allen Hughes (director)

Albert Hughes and Allen Hughes (born April 1, 1972), known together professionally as the Hughes Brothers, are American twin brother filmmakers. They are known for visceral and often violent films, including ''Menace II Society'' (1993), ''Dead Presidents'' (1995), ''From Hell'' (2001), and ''The Book of Eli'' (2010). They did most of their collaborations between 1993 and 2001. They have primarily worked separately since Albert moved to Prague in 2004, with ''The Book of Eli'' being the only film they have directed together following his move.

Early lives

Albert and Allen Hughes were born in Detroit on April 1, 1972, the twin sons of Armenian-American mother Aida and African-American father Albert Hughes. Aida's family were Iranian-Armenians from Tehran. Albert is older by nine minutes. Although they originally believed themselves to be fraternal twins, the brothers now suspect they may be identical despite not having had a DNA test. Their parents divorced when they were two years old. At the age of nine, the brothers moved with their mother to Claremont, California, where she raised them alone while putting herself through school and starting her own vocational center. Supportive of her sons' ambitions as filmmakers, she gave them a video camera when they were 12. They spent their free time making short films, and when a teacher suggested that they make a "How-To" film for an assignment, they created the short film ''How to Be a Burglar''.

Career

Allen and singer Stevvi Alexander had a son together at the age of 18, prompting the twins to drop out of high school and begin working on music videos. They soon directed for artists such as Tone Loc and Tupac Shakur. Their first feature film, 1993's ''Menace II Society'', premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. Centering on black, disenfranchised youth, it was made on a budget of $3.5 million when they were 20 years old. Tyger Williams wrote the screenplay, and shared story credit with the brothers. It became a critical as well as a box office success and was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature. Because of their previous experience in directing music videos, they became the first sibling duo since Jerry and David Zucker allowed a waiver by the Directors Guild of America to take co-credit as directors.

Their second film was ''Dead Presidents'' in 1995. Dealing with the black underclass society like their feature film debut, and also starring Larenz Tate, the film centered on war veterans during the racially charged Vietnam War era. The film, which was released at the New York Critics Film Festival, failed to make as much of a profit as their first film. They followed ''Dead Presidents'' with ''American Pimp'', a feature-length documentary about the underground pimp culture and exploitation of women. It premiered at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival. They had originally set out to do an adaptation of Iceberg Slim's novel ''Pimp'', but someone else acquired the rights. The brothers have stated that the film's perspective was partially shaped by being raised by their mother, who is a feminist and a lesbian. In between projects, they filmed several anti-handgun public service announcements.

In a departure from their previous material, the Hughes brothers co-directed ''From Hell'', the 2001 film adaptation of Alan Moore's graphic novel of the same name about the Jack the Ripper murders in Victorian England, starring Johnny Depp and Heather Graham. Considered too violent and gory by some critics, the film had to be edited in order to avoid an NC-17 rating by the MPAA. As described by the film's star, there were sometimes disagreements between the twins regarding the direction of the film. For example, the amount of shown violence was a point of contention between the two; one brother thought the brutality should be shown, while the other believed implied violence would suffice.

Their only film together since 2001's ''From Hell'' was the post-apocalyptic drama '' Book of Eli'', which was released in January 2010.

In 2006, the brothers were announced as directing '' The Iceman'', a film about serial killer Richard Kuklinski, but it was eventually directed by Ariel Vromen, and released in 2012. They were also slated to direct a film version of the classic TV series ''Kung Fu''. It was announced in 2010 that the brothers were tapped to direct a live-action adaptation of the 1988 manga '' Akira'', but they left the project in 2011.

When the brothers collaborate, Allen typically works with the actors while Albert handles the technical aspects of their films, stemming from his experience of studying at Los Angeles City College's film school.

Solo projects

Allen

Allen directed a few episodes of the American version of the TV series ''Touching Evil'' (for which his brother was an executive producer) as well as the 2005 television feature ''Knights of the South Bronx''.

In 2009, Allen directed a segment of ''New York, I Love You'', starring Drea De Matteo and Bradley Cooper.

Allen Hughes directed the 2013 film ''Broken City'', a crime thriller starring Mark Wahlberg and Russell Crowe. He directed the four-part 2017 HBO documentary miniseries ''The Defiant Ones'', about music producers Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre.

Albert

In 2005, it was announced that Albert would direct a feature film called ''Art Con'', although no further news was reported on its development.

In December 2012, Albert Hughes announced that he would be producing an online video series using the ''Crysis 3'' game engine called ''The 7 Wonders of Crysis 3''.

In 2018, Albert Hughes directed his first solo feature film, ''Alpha''. The film was written by Daniele Sebastian Wiedenhaupt, based on a story written by Hughes, and holds an approval rating of 79% on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes.

Personal lives

Known as much for their frank manner as for their films, the brothers have been known to get into altercations. They took rapper Tupac Shakur to court in 1994 after he assaulted them during a music video shoot. Shakur had originally been slated to star in ''Menace II Society'', but was replaced after the incident, which apparently stemmed from him disliking the role they had chosen for him. He was later sentenced to 15 days in jail for the assault, as well as another incident that occurred the day before his sentencing.Randall Sullivan, ''Labyrinth: A Detective Investigates the Murders of Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G...'' page 80

The brothers are open about their marijuana use and have turned down offers to make anti-marijuana commercials.

Allen and singer Stevvi Alexander have a son together named Eric, who was born while the two were in high school. Albert has a daughter named Adrienne, and has lived in Prague since 2004. Albert said of his relationship with Allen in 2013, "I think the relationship is just much more complex now than it used to be. We love each other, and in the end we're still the best of friends. We're the only people we're going to call hen stressful things happenbut we're kind of in a weird dance right now."

Filmography

Solo works

Allen Hughes

Albert Hughes

References

External links

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Armenian Dramatic Arts Alliance: Allen Hughes

Armenian Dramatic Arts Alliance: Albert Hughes
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hughes, Al
1972 births
African-American film directors
American people of Armenian descent
Film producers from Michigan
American music video directors
Los Angeles City College alumni
Sibling filmmakers
American twins
Writers from Detroit
Film directors from Michigan
American writers of Iranian descent
Living people
American expatriates in the Czech Republic
21st-century African-American people
20th-century African-American people