Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. (, born 26 July 1965 in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

) is a Dutch filmmaker, writer and producer best known for directing ''The Thing'' (2011).

Career

Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. began directing at an early age with promotional trailers for

Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

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Stella Artois Stella Artois ( ) is a pilsner beer, first brewed in 1926 by Brouwerij Artois in Leuven, Belgium. In its original form, the beer is 5.2 per cent ABV, the country's standard for pilsners. The beer is also sold in other countries like the UK, Ir ...

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, and

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. In 1996, van Heijningen made his film directing debut with the Dutch short-film thriller ''Red Rain''. In 2011, he directed '' The Thing'', a

prequel A prequel is a literary, dramatic or cinematic work whose story precedes that of a previous work, by focusing on events that occur before the original narrative. A prequel is a work that forms part of a backstory to the preceding work. The term ...

to ''

John Carpenter's The Thing ''The Thing'' is a 1982 American science fiction horror film directed by John Carpenter from a screenplay by Bill Lancaster. Based on the 1938 John W. Campbell Jr. novella ''Who Goes There?'', it tells the story of a group of American resear ...

''. Van Heijningen was due to direct ''

Army of the Dead ''Army of the Dead'' is a 2021 American zombie heist film directed by Zack Snyder from a screenplay he co-wrote with Shay Hatten and Joby Harold, based on a story he also created. The film features an ensemble cast consisting of Dave Bautist ...

'', but the project ended up being directed by

Zack Snyder Zachary Edward Snyder (born March 1, 1966) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and cinematographer. He made his feature film debut in 2004 with '' Dawn of the Dead'', a remake of the 1978 horror film of the same name. Since t ...

after lingering in

development hell Development hell, development purgatory, and development limbo are media and software industry jargon for a project, concept, or idea that remains in development for an especially long time, often moving between different crews, scripts, game en ...

for a number of years. In 2020, van Heijningen directed his second feature ''

The Forgotten Battle ''The Forgotten Battle'' ( nl, De Slag om de Schelde) is a 2020 Dutch World War II film directed by Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. that depicts the Battle of the Scheldt in 1944. The film follows a Dutch Axis soldier played by Gijs Blom, a Brit ...

'', a

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original war film depicting the

Battle of the Scheldt The Battle of the Scheldt in World War II was a series of military operations led by the First Canadian Army, with Polish and British units attached, to open up the shipping route to Antwerp so that its port could be used to supply the Allie ...

. Netflix's first ever original Dutch film.

Filmography

Director Producer * ''Dada'' (1994) * ''Witness'' (1994) * ''En Route'' (1994) Other credits

Personal life

He is the son of Dutch film producer

Matthijs van Heijningen Sr. Matthijs (also Mattijs, Mathijs and Matijs) is a Dutch form of the masculine given name "Matthew". It can also be a surname. Notable people with the name include: Given name ;Matthijs/Matthys * Matthijs Accama (1702–1783), Dutch painter * Matthi ...

Van Heyningen Jr gaat het vervolg op The Thing regisseren
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References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Heijningen, Matthijs Van Jr. 1965 births Living people Dutch film producers Dutch film directors Dutch screenwriters Dutch male screenwriters Writers from Amsterdam