Rupert Miles Sanders (born 16 March 1971) is an English film director. He has directed the movies ''
Snow White and the Huntsman'' (2012) and ''
Ghost in the Shell'' (2017). In 2021, he directed the pilot episode of the
Apple TV+ science fiction series ''
Foundation''.
Early life
Sanders was born in
Westminster
Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster.
The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buck ...
, London, the eldest son of Thalia (née Garlick) and hospital ophthalmologist Michael Sanders. After a foundation year at
Kingston School of Art he graduated with a degree in graphic design from
Central St Martins.
Career
Sanders began his commercial production career under
Tony Kaye. He had primarily done art direction before Kaye suggested he try out directing. Sanders has directed numerous television advertisements, including ''
The Life'' for ''
Halo 3: ODST'', which won him two Golden Lions at the
Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival.
Sanders' first feature film was ''
Snow White and the Huntsman'', which was released in the US in early June 2012. The film's budget was $170 million, including an eight-figure marketing expenditure, and it earned $20.3 million on its opening day in the US. To date, the film has grossed $396,592,829 at the box office.
After passing the offer to direct the
fifth instalment of the ''
Pirates of the Caribbean'' film series, Sanders directed
a film adaptation of science fiction
manga
Manga ( Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is use ...
franchise ''
Ghost in the Shell'', with
Avi Arad and
Steven Paul producing and
Scarlett Johansson starring in the main role. It was released in late March 2017.
In June 2018, Sanders was announced to direct Johansson again in ''Rub & Tug'', a planned
biopic about
Dante "Tex" Gill and his girlfriend Cynthia Bruno, with Johansson starring as Gill. However, the film has been left 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 ...
after Johansson stepped down from starring in the film when the
transgender
A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through ...
community criticised having a
cisgender
Cisgender (often shortened to cis; sometimes cissexual) is a term used to describe a person whose gender identity corresponds to their sex assigned at birth. The word ''cisgender'' is the antonym of ''transgender''. The prefix '' cis-'' is L ...
actress play a
trans man
A trans man is a man who was assigned female at birth. The label of transgender man is not always interchangeable with that of transsexual man, although the two labels are often used in this way. ''Transgender'' is an umbrella term that in ...
.
In April 2022, it was announced that Sanders will direct a reboot of ''
The Crow
The Crow is a supernatural superhero comic book series created by James O'Barr revolving around the titular character of the same name. The series, which was originally created by O'Barr as a means of dealing with the death of his fiancée at t ...
'', with
Bill Skarsgård starring as
Eric Draven / The Crow.
Personal life
Sanders married model
Liberty Ross,
sister of Oscar-winning composer
Atticus Ross,
in 2002.
They moved to Los Angeles to further Sanders' career.
Together they have two children, daughter Skyla and son Tennyson. In July 2012, ''
Us Weekly'' published photos of Sanders in an intimate embrace with actress
Kristen Stewart, prompting Sanders and Stewart to issue separate public apologies. Ross subsequently filed for divorce from Sanders in January 2013, seeking joint custody, spousal support, and legal fees. The divorce was finalised on 30 May 2014.
Filmography
Film
Television
Music videos
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanders, Rupert
1971 births
English film directors
Living people
English expatriates in the United States
Television commercial directors
People from Westminster
English music video directors