Austin Chick (born 1971) is an American film director, screenwriter and producer, who made the films ''

XX/XY ''XX/XY'' is a 2002 American romantic drama film written and directed by Austin Chick and starring Mark Ruffalo, Kathleen Robertson, and Maya Stange. The title refers to the different chromosome pairings present in men and women. XX/XY premier ...

'', released in 2002, and '' August'', which premiered at the 2008

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

Early life

Although born in

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...

, Chick moved to New Hampshire as a youngster.Austin Chick The Brooklyn Director of XX/YY
FreeWilliamsburg.com website, May 2003 In the late 1980s he attended high school at

High Mowing School Founded in 1942, High Mowing School is an independent Private school, private, co-educational, day and boarding school, located in Wilton, New Hampshire, Wilton, New Hampshire, in the United States. High Mowing serves students in early childhood t ...

, a boarding school in Wilton, NH. He went on to

Sarah Lawrence College Sarah Lawrence College is a private liberal arts college in Yonkers, New York. The college models its approach to education after the Oxford/Cambridge system of one-on-one student-faculty tutorials. Sarah Lawrence scholarship, particularly i ...

Yonkers Yonkers () is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States. Developed along the Hudson River, it is the third most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City and Buffalo. The population of Yonkers was 211,569 as enu ...

, where he specialized in literature and

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...

with the aid of grants from the King Foundation.:

Google Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...

translation of references at ''Zinema.com'' website. Retrieved on January 25, 2008. Chick spent a number of years unsure of what he wanted to do with his life and took on a life of a wanderer for some time. He said watching ''

Kings of the Road ''Kings of the Road'' (german: Im Lauf der Zeit, "in the course of time") is a 1976 German road movie directed by Wim Wenders. It was the third part of Wenders' " Road Movie trilogy" which included '' Alice in the Cities'' (1974) and ''The Wrong Mo ...

'' helped him find direction:. In 1998, Chick graduated in

cinematography Cinematography (from ancient Greek κίνημα, ''kìnema'' "movement" and γράφειν, ''gràphein'' "to write") is the art of Film, motion picture (and more recently, electronic video camera) photography. Cinematographers use a lens (o ...

from SUNY Purchase Film School in

Purchase, New York Purchase is a hamlet in the town and village of Harrison, in Westchester County, New York, United States. One myth explains that its name is derived from Harrison's purchase, where John Harrison was to be granted as much land as he could ride in ...

Career

His first major film, which he wrote and directed, was released in 2002. It was titled ''

'', and it starred

Mark Ruffalo Mark Alan Ruffalo (; born November 22, 1967) is an American actor and producer best known for playing Bruce Banner / Hulk since 2012 in the superhero franchise of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and in the television series '' She-Hulk: Attorn ...

and

Kathleen Robertson Kathleen Robertson (born July 8, 1973) is a Canadian actress, producer, writer and showrunner. She is best known for her roles as Kitty O' Neill in the Starz, Golden Globe winning series Boss, Hildy Mulligan in TNT's Murder in the First, Tina Edi ...

. It examined the complex relationship between three Sarah Lawrence College students, both during their time at the school and then many years later. It was an independent production, which was shown at the 2002

(where it was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize) and subsequently taken up by

IFC Films IFC Films is an American film production and distribution company based in New York. It is an offshoot of IFC owned by AMC Networks. It distributes mainly independent films under its own name, select foreign films and documentaries under its Sun ...

. He co-produced

Sidney Lumet Sidney Arthur Lumet ( ; June 25, 1924 – April 9, 2011) was an American film director. He was nominated five times for the Academy Award: four for Best Director for '' 12 Angry Men'' (1957), '' Dog Day Afternoon'' (1975), '' Network'' (19 ...

's 2007 film ''

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead ''Before the Devil Knows You're Dead'' is a 2007 American crime thriller film directed by Sidney Lumet. The film was written by Kelly Masterson, and stars Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke, Marisa Tomei, and Albert Finney. The title comes from ...

'', which featured

Ethan Hawke Ethan Green Hawke (born November 6, 1970) is an American actor and film director. He has been nominated for four Academy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards and a Tony Award. Hawke has directed three feature films, three off-Broadway plays, and a doc ...

and

Philip Seymour Hoffman Philip Seymour Hoffman (July 23, 1967 – February 2, 2014) was an American actor. Known for his distinctive supporting and character roles—typically lowlifes, eccentrics, underdogs, and misfits—he acted in many films and theatrical produ ...

as two brothers who stage the robbery of their parents' jewelry shop in an effort to get rich quick, with tragic consequences. He then produced a movie called '' August'', was released b
ContentFilm International
in 2008. The cast list is headed by

Josh Hartnett Joshua Daniel Hartnett (born July 21, 1978) is an American actor and producer. He first came to attention in 1997 for his role as Michael Fitzgerald in the television crime drama series ''Cracker''. He made his feature film debut in 1998 in the ...

, and features Adam Scott,

Naomie Harris Naomie Melanie Harris (born 6 September 1976) is a British actress. She started her career when she was a child, appearing in the television series '' Simon and the Witch'' in 1987. She portrayed Selena in the zombie film ''28 Days Later'' (200 ...

Rip Torn Elmore Rual "Rip" Torn Jr. (February 6, 1931 – July 9, 2019) was an American actor whose career spanned more than 60 years. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his part as Marsh Turner in '' Cross Creek'' ...

, and

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

. The plot centered on two brothers, with one of them, Tom (Hartnett), involved in a struggle to save his internet company on the stock market just before the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Chick directed the film and was also executive producer. In 2012, he wrote and directed ''

Girls Against Boys Girls Against Boys is a post-hardcore band which formed in Washington, D.C. and subsequently relocated to New York City shortly after their formation in 1989. The band released albums on the labels Adult Swim, Touch and Go Records, Geffen Record ...

'' (starring

Danielle Panabaker Danielle Nicole Panabaker (born September 19, 1987) is an American actress. She began acting as a teenager and came to prominence for her roles in the Disney films '' Stuck in the Suburbs'' (2004), ''Sky High'' (2005) and '' Read It and Weep'' ( ...

and Nicole LaLiberte); it was released by

Anchor Bay Entertainment Anchor Bay Entertainment (formerly Video Treasures and Starmaker Entertainment) was an American home entertainment and production company. It was a subsidiary of Starz Inc. Anchor Bay Entertainment marketed and sold feature films, television se ...

in 2012.

Personal life

Chick married actress

Morena Baccarin Morena Silva de Vaz Setta Baccarin (; born 2 June 1979) is a Brazilian actress known for portraying Inara Serra in the sci-fi series ''Firefly'' and its follow-up film ''Serenity'', Vanessa in the superhero comedy franchise ''Deadpool'', Jess ...

over

Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Philippines. It is also observed in the Netherlander town of Leiden ...

in 2011. Their son Julius was born October 22, 2013, in

Glendale, California Glendale is a city in the San Fernando Valley and Verdugo Mountains regions of Los Angeles County, California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents ac ...

. Chick filed for divorce in 2015, citing irreconcilable differences.

References

External links

*
Austin Chick's first student film
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chick, Austin Sarah Lawrence College alumni American male screenwriters American film producers Living people People from Hartford, Connecticut 1971 births Waldorf school alumni Film directors from New York City Screenwriters from New York (state)