Robert Luketic ( Croatian: Luketić) is an Australian film director. His films include ''

Legally Blonde ''Legally Blonde'' is a 2001 American comedy film directed by Robert Luketic and written by Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith, based on Amanda Brown's novel. It stars Reese Witherspoon, Luke Wilson, Selma Blair, Matthew Davis, Victo ...

'' (2001), ''

Monster-in-Law ''Monster-in-Law'' is a 2005 romantic comedy film directed by Robert Luketic, written by Anya Kochoff and starring Jennifer Lopez, Jane Fonda, Michael Vartan and Wanda Sykes. It marked a return to cinema for Fonda, being her first film in 15 ...

'' (2005), '' 21'' (2008), '' Killers'' (2010), and ''

Paranoia Paranoia is an instinct or thought process that is believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety, suspicion, or fear, often to the point of delusion and irrationality. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of co ...

'' (2013).

Early life and education

Robert Luketic was born in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

on November 1st, 1973, as the elder of two children of a Croatian father and

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

mother. He has a younger sister called Marie. Luketic started making short films as a teenager and went on to study at the Victorian College of Arts – School of Film and Television (VCA).

Career

He first attracted Hollywood's attention with his award-winning short film ''

Titsiana Booberini ''Titsiana Booberini'' is a 1997 Australian short film directed by Robert Luketic, written by and starring Tania Lacy, also starring Sophie Lee, and Roz Hammond. Premise The film is a musical comedy, with the story focusing on Titsiana Booberini ...

'' written by

Tania Lacy Tania Jane Lacy is an Australian comedian. Early life and education Originally from Toowoomba, Queensland, Toowoomba, Queensland, Lacy spent many of her early years travelling with her family. Her father, then an officer in the army, was poste ...

. After screening to much acclaim at several festivals within Australia, ''Titsiana Booberini'' became a hit at many internationally renowned festivals including the

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 ...

. It won "Best Film" at the

Aspen Shortsfest The Aspen Shortsfest is an annual Oscar-qualifying short film festival held in Aspen, Colorado. It is run by Aspen Film, which has also run the feature film festival, Aspen Filmfest, since 1979. History and description Aspen Film was founded b ...

. Luketic directed the comedy ''

'' for

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...

in the summer of 2001. This film, which grossed close to $100 million domestically and was nominated for two

Golden Globe Awards The Golden Globe Awards are awards presented for excellence in both international film and television. It is an annual Awards ceremony, award ceremony held since 1944 to honor artists and professionals and their work. The ceremony is normally ...

, marked Luketic's feature film directing debut. Next, Luketic directed the

DreamWorks Pictures DreamWorks Pictures (also known as DreamWorks SKG and commonly referred to as DreamWorks) is an American film studio and Film distribution, distribution label of Amblin Partners. It was originally founded on October 12, 1994, as a live-action a ...

film ''

Win a Date with Tad Hamilton! ''Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!'' is a 2004 American romantic comedy film directed by Robert Luketic, written by Victor Levin and starring Kate Bosworth, Topher Grace, Josh Duhamel, Gary Cole, Ginnifer Goodwin, Sean Hayes and Nathan Lane. T ...

''. The 2003 film, produced by Doug Wick and Lucy Fisher at Red Wagon, stars

Kate Bosworth Katherine Anne Bosworth (born January 2, 1983) is an American actress. Following minor roles in the films ''The Horse Whisperer (film), The Horse Whisperer'' (1998) and ''Remember the Titans'' (2000), she had a leading role in movie ''Blue Crush' ...

Nathan Lane Nathan Lane (born Joseph Lane; February 3, 1956) is an American actor. Since 1975, he has been Nathan Lane on screen and stage, on stage and screen in both comedic and dramatic roles. He has received List of awards and nominations received by Na ...

Josh Duhamel Joshua David Duhamel ( ; born November 14, 1972) is an American actor. After various modeling work, he made his acting debut as Leo du Pres on the ABC daytime soap opera ''All My Children'' for which he won a Daytime Emmy Award and later starr ...

and

Topher Grace Christopher John Grace ( ; born July 12, 1978), known professionally as Topher Grace, is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Eric Forman in the teen sitcom ''That '70s Show'' (1998–2005) and Eddie Brock / Venom in Sam Raimi's s ...

. In 2005, he directed ''

'', starring

Jennifer Lopez Jennifer Lynn Lopez (born July 24, 1969), also known by her nickname J.Lo, is an American singer, songwriter, actress, dancer and businesswoman. Lopez is regarded as one of the most influential entertainers of her time, credited with breaking ...

Jane Fonda Jane Seymour Fonda (born December 21, 1937) is an American actress and activist. Recognized as a film icon, Jane Fonda filmography, Fonda's work spans several genres and over six decades of film and television. She is the recipient of List of a ...

, and

Michael Vartan Michael Vartan (born November 27, 1968) is an American actor, known for his role as Michael Vaughn on the ABC television action drama '' Alias'', his role on the TNT medical drama '' Hawthorne'', and his role on the '' E!'' drama '' The Arrangeme ...

. At one point, Luketic was attached to direct an adaptation of

Donald Hamilton Donald Bengtsson Hamilton (March 24, 1916 – November 20, 2006) was an American writer of novels, short stories, and non-fiction about the outdoors. His novels consist mostly of paperback originals, principally spy fiction, but also crime ...

Matt Helm Matt Helm is a fictional character created by American author Donald Hamilton (1916–2006). Helm is a U.S. government counter-agent, a man whose primary job is to kill or nullify enemy agents—not a spy or secret agent in the ordinary sense of ...

books as his followup to ''Monster-in-Law''. He was later attached to direct a feature film adaptation of the TV series ''

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

''. In 2008, Luketic released '' 21'', based on the book '' Bringing Down the House'' by

Ben Mezrich Ben Mezrich ( ; born February 7, 1969) is an American author. He has written well-known non-fiction books, including '' The Accidental Billionaires'' and '' The Antisocial Network'', which have been turned into the films ''The Social Network'' ...

. The film tells the true story of five

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...

students who became experts at counting cards and subsequently took Vegas casinos for millions in winnings. The film stars

Kevin Spacey Kevin Spacey Fowler (born July 26, 1959) is an American actor. Known for Kevin Spacey on screen and stage, his work on stage and screen, he List of awards and nominations received by Kevin Spacey, has received numerous accolades, including two ...

Jim Sturgess James Anthony Sturgess''Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England & Wales, 1916–2005.''; at ancestry.com (born 16 May 1978) is an English actor and singer-songwriter. His first major role was as Jude in the musical romance drama film ''Acros ...

, and

Laurence Fishburne Laurence John Fishburne III (born July 30, 1961) is an American actor. Throughout his career, he has gained recognition for his roles on stage and screen as militant and authoritative characters. List of awards and nominations received by Laur ...

. He directed the romantic comedy ''

The Ugly Truth ''The Ugly Truth'' is a 2009 American romantic comedy film directed by Robert Luketic, written by Nicole Eastman, Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith, and starring Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler. The film was released in North America on ...

'', which opened in July 2009. Starring

Katherine Heigl Katherine Heigl ( ; born November 24, 1978) is an American actress and model. She portrayed Izzie Stevens, Dr. Izzie Stevens on the American Broadcasting Company, ABC television medical drama ''Grey's Anatomy'' from 2005 to 2010, a role that b ...

and

Gerard Butler Gerard James Butler (born 13 November 1969) is a Scottish actor and film producer. After studying law, he turned to acting in the mid-1990s with small roles in productions such as '' Mrs Brown'' (1997), the James Bond film ''Tomorrow Never ...

, the film follows a morning show producer (Heigl) who sets out to disprove the outrageous relationship theories of her chauvinistic correspondent (Butler). Luketic next directed the action-comedy '' Killers'', starring Heigl and

Ashton Kutcher Christopher Ashton Kutcher (; born February 7, 1978) is an American actor, producer and entrepreneur. His accolades include a People's Choice Award and fifteen Teen Choice Awards, in addition to a nomination for a Screen Actors Guild Award. K ...

. In August 2024, it was announced that Luketic is set to direct ''All Out of Love: The Air Supply Story'' (a biopic about the Australian band

Air Supply Air Supply is an Australian soft rock duo formed in Melbourne, Australia, in 1975, consisting of Englishman Graham Russell (vocals, guitar) and Australian Russell Hitchcock (vocals). With record sales of 100 million worldwide, they had a suc ...

), for Altit Media Group.

Personal life

Luketic is openly

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...

Filmography

Short film * ''

'' (1997) (Also writer) Feature film * ''

'' (2001) * ''

'' (2004) * ''

'' (2005) * '' 21'' (2008) * ''

'' (2009) * '' Killers'' (2010) * ''

'' (2013) * ''

The Wedding Year ''The Wedding Year'' is a 2019 American romantic comedy film directed by Robert Luketic and starring Sarah Hyland, Tyler James Williams, Jenna Dewan, Matt Shively and Anna Camp. Los Angeles photographer, Mara Baylor, "isn’t sure she is the ma ...

'' (2019) Television

References

External links

*
robluketic.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Luketic, Robert Year of birth missing (living people) Australian film directors Australian people of Croatian descent Australian people of Italian descent Film directors from Sydney Living people Victorian College of the Arts alumni Australian LGBTQ film directors Australian gay men