Austin Chick (born 1971) is an American film director, screenwriter and producer, who made the film '' XX/XY'', released in 2002, and ''

August August is the eighth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 31 days. In the Southern Hemisphere, August is the seasonal equivalent of February in the Northern Hemisphere. In the Northern Hemisphere, August ...

'', which premiered at the 2008

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

Early life

Although born in

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The city, located in Hartford County, Connecticut, Hartford County, had a population of 121,054 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ce ...

, 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, co-educational, day and boarding school, located in Wilton, New Hampshire, in the United States. High Mowing serves students in early childhood through grade 12. It is the oldest W ...

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

Sarah Lawrence College Sarah Lawrence College (SLC) is a Private university, private liberal arts college in Yonkers, New York, United States. Founded as a Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in 1926, Sarah Lawrence College has been coeducational ...

Yonkers Yonkers () is the List of municipalities in New York, third-most populous city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and the most-populous City (New York), city in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County. A centrally locate ...

, where he specialized in literature and

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

with the aid of grants from the King Foundation.:

Google Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...

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'' (, "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 Move'' (1975). It wa ...

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

cinematography Cinematography () is the art of motion picture (and more recently, electronic video camera) photography. Cinematographers use a lens (optics), lens to focus reflected light from objects into a real image that is transferred to some image sen ...

from SUNY Purchase Film School in

Purchase, New York Purchase is a hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set ...

Career

His first major film, which he wrote and directed, was released in 2002. It was titled '' XX/XY'', and it starred

Mark Ruffalo Mark Alan Ruffalo (; born November 22, 1967) is an American actor. He began acting in the late 1980s and first gained recognition for his work in Kenneth Lonergan's play ''This Is Our Youth'' (1996) and drama film ''You Can Count on Me'' (2000) ...

and Kathleen Robertson. 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 Independent Film Company (formerly IFC Films) is an American film production and distribution company based in New York City, New York. It is an offshoot of IFC (U.S. TV channel), IFC, owned by AMC Networks. It mainly distributes independent fil ...

. He co-produced

Sidney Lumet Sidney Arthur Lumet ( ; June 25, 1924 – April 9, 2011) was an American film director. Lumet started his career in theatre before moving to film, where he gained a reputation for making realistic and gritty New York City, New York dramas w ...

'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 come ...

'', which featured

Ethan Hawke Ethan Green Hawke (born November 6, 1970) is an American actor, author, and film director. He made his film debut in ''Explorers (film), Explorers'' (1985), before making a breakthrough performance in ''Dead Poets Society'' (1989). Hawke starr ...

and

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

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 ''

'', which 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. He began his career on American Broadcasting Company, ABC's drama series ''Cracker (American TV series), Cracker'' (1997–1998), after which he became known as a teen idol thro ...

, and features Adam Scott,

Naomie Harris Naomie Melanie Harris (born 6 September 1976) is an English 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'' (2 ...

Rip Torn Elmore Rual "Rip" Torn Jr. (February 6, 1931 – July 9, 2019) was an American actor whose career spanned roughly 60 years. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for playing Marsh Turner in '' Cross Creek'' (1983). Tor ...

, and

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...

. 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 Rec ...

'' (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 The Walt Disney Company, Disney films ''Stuck in the Suburbs'' (2004), ''Sky High (2005 film), ...

and

Nicole LaLiberte Nicole LaLiberté (born December 1, 1981) is an American actress. She has had recurring roles on the television series '' How to Make It in America'' (2011) and ''Dexter'' (2012–2013) and most notably played Darya in David Lynch's ''Twin Peak ...

). It was released by

Anchor Bay Entertainment The revived Anchor Bay Entertainment is an American independent film production and distribution company owned by Umbrelic Entertainment co-founders Thomas Zambeck and Brian Katz. Anchor Bay Entertainment markets and releases "new release genre ...

in 2012.

Personal life

Chick married actress

Morena Baccarin Morena Silva de Vaz Setta Baccarin (; born June 2, 1979) is an American actress. She is known for portraying Adria in season 10 of the TV series ''Stargate SG-1'', Inara Serra in the sci-fi television series ''Firefly (TV series), Firefly'' (20 ...

over

Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in October and November in the United States, Canada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Germany. It is also observed in the Australian territory ...

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

Glendale, California Glendale is a city located primarily in the Verdugo Mountains region, with a small portion in the San Fernando Valley, of Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is located about north of downtown Los Angeles. As of 2024, Glendale ha ...

. Chick filed for divorce in July 2015, citing irreconcilable differences. In September 2015, his wife responded in a legal declaration involving their divorce that she planned to marry her ''Gotham'' co-star,

Ben McKenzie Benjamin McKenzie Schenkkan (born September 12, 1978) is an American actor, author and commentator. He is best known for his starring television roles as Ryan Atwood on the teen drama ''The O.C.'' (2003–2007), Ben Sherman on the crime drama ''S ...

, adding that she was three-and-a-half months pregnant with McKenzie's child. On 2 March 2016, Baccarin and McKenzie's daughter was born. On 18 March 2016, Baccarin and Chick's divorce became official.

References

External links

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