Matt Bettinelli-Olpin (born February 19, 1978) is an American director, writer, actor, and musician. He is a founding member of the punk band Link 80 and co-creator of the filmmaking collectives Chad, Matt & Rob and Radio Silence. He is best known for his work in horror films, including '' V/H/S'', '' Southbound'', '' Ready or Not'', '' Scream'', '' Scream VI'' and ''

Abigail Abigail () was an Israelite woman in the Hebrew Bible married to Nabal; she married the future King David after Nabal's death (1 Samuel ). Abigail was David's third wife, after Ahinoam and Saul's daughter, Michal, whom Saul later married to ...

''.

Early life

Raised in

Oakland, California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...

, Bettinelli-Olpin attended Chabot Elementary, Claremont Middle School and Bishop O'Dowd High School. He attended college at the

University of California, Santa Cruz The University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz or UCSC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Cruz, California, United States. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of C ...

Career

Music

Bettinelli-Olpin formed the

Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose. The Association of Bay Area Governments ...

punk band Link 80 in 1993. On the band's first two albums, '' 17 Reasons'' and '' Killing Katie'', Bettinelli-Olpin played guitar, sang backing vocals and co-wrote the lyrics with singer Nick Traina. After leaving Link 80, Bettinelli-Olpin worked as a music journalist and interviewed bands including

Alkaline Trio Alkaline Trio is an American punk rock band from Chicago. The band's current members are Matt Skiba (guitar, vocals), Dan Andriano (bass, vocals), and Atom Willard (drums). Founded in late 1996 by Skiba, bassist Rob Doran, and drummer Glenn Por ...

, Dropkick Murphy's, Lawrence Arms,

Avail Avail is an American melodic hardcore band from Richmond, Virginia. Originally from Reston, Virginia, the band formed in 1987, its members including Joe Banks, Doug Crosby, Brien Stewart, and Mikey Warstler. The only original remaining member, ...

, Blur,

Violent Femmes Violent Femmes are an American folk punk band from Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The band consists of founding members Gordon Gano (guitar, lead vocals) and Brian Ritchie (bass, backing vocals), joined by multi-instrumentalist Blaise Garza ( ...

the Breeders The Breeders are an American alternative rock band based in Dayton, Ohio, consisting of members Kim Deal (rhythm guitar, lead vocals), her twin sister Kelley Deal (lead guitar, vocals), Josephine Wiggs (bass guitar, vocals) and Jim Macpherson ( ...

the Mars Volta The Mars Volta is an American Rock music, rock band formed in 2001. The band's only constant members are Omar Rodríguez-López (guitar, producer, direction) and Cedric Bixler-Zavala (vocals, lyrics), whose partnership forms the core of the ban ...

and

the Psychedelic Furs The Psychedelic Furs are an English rock band founded in London in February 1977. Led by lead vocalist Richard Butler (singer), Richard Butler and his brother Tim Butler on bass guitar, the Psychedelic Furs are one of the many acts spawned from ...

. In 2016, Bettinelli-Olpin played guitar in a Link 80 reunion for the

Asian Man Records Asian Man Records is a DIY record label run by Mike Park in Monte Sereno, California. Park started a record label and began releasing music in 1989 under the name Dill Records, with the Asian Man label established in May 1996. History Asian Man ...

20th Anniversary. On June 17 and 18, the band played two sold-out shows at the San Francisco's Bottom of the Hill. Before the shows, a video tribute to singer Nick Traina was shown. On May 21, 2021, a Link 80 cover of Rancid's "Junkie Man" was released from Lavasock Records' upcoming 25th anniversary tribute to Rancid's punk rock classic ...And Out Come the Wolves featuring Bettinelli-Olpin on vocals. Link 80 at 924 Gilman

Film

In 1999, Bettinelli-Olpin directed Alkaline Trio's first

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

(''Goodbye Forever'') while attending the

and, in the early 2000s, was roommates with

The Lonely Island The Lonely Island is an American comedy trio, formed by Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone, and Akiva Schaffer in Berkeley, California, in 2001. They have written for and starred in the American TV program ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL''). The th ...

and appeared in many of their early shorts. While working in the mailroom at

New Line Cinema New Line Productions, Inc., Trade name, doing business as New Line Cinema, is an American film production, film and television production company that is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, a division of the Major film studios, ...

, he formed the filmmaking collective Chad, Matt & Rob in 2007 and Radio Silence in 2011.

''Chad, Matt & Rob''

Bettinelli-Olpin co-founded Chad, Matt & Rob with Chad Villella and Rob Polonsky in 2007. The group is known for their unique blend of comedy, adventure, sci-fi and horror. According to an interview in IndieWire, Bettinelli-Olpin worked in the mailroom and later as the office manager at

, where the group would sneak in after hours to use the offices as their sets. Among their numerous short films is the viral found footage style video ''Roommate Alien Prank Gone Bad'' and five installments of their first-of-its-kind series of Interactive Adventures. Their work online has over 100,000,000 views.Lawton, Christopher (2009-02-04), "Video Sites Entice Users To Stay and Play." ''Wall Street Journal''

''Radio Silence''

After the dissolution of Chad, Matt & Rob, Bettinelli-Olpin formed Radio Silence with Tyler Gillett, Justin Martinez and Chad Villella. The group co-directed the ''10/31/98'' segment of the feature film '' V/H/S''.Zeitchik, Steven (2011-10-13), "Wingard, West headline new Bloody Disgusting film." ''Los Angeles Times'' http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/movies/2011/10/ti-west-inkeepers-bloody-disgusting-adam-wingard-youre-next.html The film premiered at the 2012

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 ...

and was released theatrically by Magnolia Pictures in October 2012. The following year, they made '' Devil's Due'' for

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film studio, film production and Film distributor, distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the ...

and in 2015, their film '' Southbound'' premiered at the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the most prestigious and largest publicly attended film festivals in the world. Founded in 1976, the festival takes place every year in early September. The organi ...

. It was released theatrically by the Orchard on February 5, 2016.

Paul Thomas Anderson Paul Thomas Anderson (born June 26, 1970), also known by his initials PTA, is an American filmmaker. Often described as one of the most preeminent writer-directors of his generation, List of awards and nominations received by Paul Thomas Anders ...

called the film "a hidden gem."Fangoria (Volume 2, Issue 3) ''Fangoria'' https://twitter.com/bradmiska/status/1110741195880308737 In 2019, Bettinelli-Olpin co-directed the well-reviewed comedic thriller '' Ready or Not'' with Tyler Gillett for

Fox Searchlight Searchlight Pictures, Inc., formerly known as Fox Searchlight Pictures, is an American arthouse film production and distribution company, which since 2019 is owned by Walt Disney Studios, a division of the Disney Entertainment segment of the ...

. The film stars Samara Weaving,

Adam Brody Adam Jared Brody (born December 15, 1979) is an American actor. His breakout role was as Seth Cohen on the Fox television series '' The O.C.'' (2003–2007). For his performance as Noah in the Netflix romantic comedy series '' Nobody Wants T ...

, Andie MacDowell, and Mark O'Brien. The film was nominated for Best Horror Film at the 46th Saturn Awards. In March 2020, it was announced that Bettinelli-Olpin would co-direct the fifth installment of the ''Scream'' franchise, alongside Tyler Gillett, with Kevin Williamson serving as executive producer. The film was released on January 14, 2022. The film was nominated for Best Movie at the 2023 MTV Movie & TV Awards. In 2022, Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett directed '' Scream VI'' which was released on March 10, 2023, by Paramount Pictures. The film won Best Movie at the 2023 MTV Movie & TV Awards and ranked #3 on ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

''s list of "The Best Slasher Movies of the Decade". In 2023, Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett directed ''

'' which was released on April 19, 2024, by Universal Pictures. The film was nominated for Best Wide Release Movie at the 2024 Fangoria Chainsaw Awards. and included on many best of 2024 lists including ''Variety'''s "The Best Horror Movies of 2024", ''Screen Rant'''s "10 Best Horror Movies Of 2024", ''

Bloody Disgusting Bloody Disgusting is an American independent multi-media company, which began as a horror genre-focused news website specializing in information services that covered various horror media. The company expanded into other media including podcast ...

''s "The 10 Best Horror Movies Released in the First Half of 2024", ''Time Out'''s "The Best Horror Movies of 2024" and '' SlashFilm''s "The 19 Best Horror Movies Of 2024 So Far". In all of their films, Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett have used music from

artists including

, Link 80, MU330 and Laura Stevenson and the Cans as well as music from the

including

Too Short Todd Anthony Shaw (born April 28, 1966), better known by his stage name Too Short (stylized as Too $hort), is an American rapper. A pioneer of West Coast hip-hop, Shaw was among the first acts to receive recognition in the genre during the late ...

, The Atom Age, Link 80,

The Jacka Shaheed Akbar (August 12, 1977 – February 2, 2015; former name Dominick Newton), better known by his stage name The Jacka, was an American rapper from Pittsburg, California. He began his career as part of the rap group Mob Figaz. He was kil ...

, Kamaiyah and P-Lo. Bettinelli-Olpin portrays Michael Myers in '' Scream'' in the film within a film ''Stab 8'' and Ghostface on the TV news segment in '' Scream VI''. Bettinelli-Olpin is also a producer on '' V/H/S'', '' V/H/S/94'', '' V/H/S/99'' and '' V/H/S/85''.

Discography

* '' The Link 80 & Wet Nap Split'' (1995) * '' Remember How It Used To Be EP'' (1995) * '' Rumble At The Tracks EP'' (1996) * '' 17 Reasons'' (1996) * '' Killing Katie'' (1997)

Filmography

Accolades

References

External links

*
Radio SilenceChad, Matt & RobLink 80
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bettinelli-Olpin, Matt 1978 births Living people 21st-century American male writers Film directors from California American punk rock guitarists American horror film directors American male film actors Male actors from Oakland, California Writers from Oakland, California University of California, Santa Cruz alumni American male comedians Comedians from Oakland, California American people of Italian descent Bishop O'Dowd High School alumni