Rupert Wyatt (born 26 October 1972) is an English filmmaker. He made his directorial debut with the 2008 film '' The Escapist'', which premiered at 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 ...

. His second film was the 2011 blockbuster ''

Rise of the Planet of the Apes ''Rise of the Planet of the Apes'' is a 2011 American science fiction action film directed by Rupert Wyatt from a screenplay by Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver. It is a reboot of the ''Planet of the Apes'' film series and is the seventh install ...

''. His later directorial endeavors have included the 2014 crime drama '' The Gambler'', the 2019 sci-fi film '' Captive State'', and the first two episodes of the television adaptation of '' The Mosquito Coast'' in 2021. He also has served as an executive producer on the series.

Early life

Wyatt was born and raised near Winchester in Hampshire. He was educated at the

Dragon School The Dragon School is a private school across two sites in Oxford, England. The Dragon Pre-Prep (children aged 4–7) and Prep School (children aged 8–13) are both co-educational schools. The Dragon Prep School was founded in 1877 as the Oxfo ...

, Oxford and

Winchester College Winchester College is an English Public school (United Kingdom), public school (a long-established fee-charging boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) with some provision for day school, day attendees, in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It wa ...

, Winchester.

Career

Producing

Wyatt is the founder of the film collective Picture Farm, which has produced numerous shorts, documentaries and features, including the Sundance Award-winning documentary '' Dark Days''.

Directing

He also co-wrote and directed the British prison escape thriller '' The Escapist'' (2008), starring Brian Cox,

Damian Lewis Damian Watcyn Lewis (born 11 February 1971) is a British actor, musician and producer. He rose to prominence portraying U.S. Army Major Richard Winters in the HBO miniseries ''Band of Brothers (miniseries), Band of Brothers''. Lewis won a Prime ...

, Dominic Cooper, Joseph Fiennes,

Seu Jorge Jorge Mário da Silva, more commonly known by his stage name Seu Jorge (Seu, Portuguese for "Your"; born June 8, 1970; ), is a Brazilian musical artist, songwriter, and actor. He is considered by many a renewer of Brazilian pop samba. Seu Jorg ...

, Steven Mackintosh and Liam Cunningham. The film premiered at the

in January 2008, was nominated for eight international film awards, and was the winner of two. In March 2010, he was selected to direct ''

'', a reboot of the ''

Planet of the Apes ''Planet of the Apes'' is a science fiction media franchise consisting of films, books, television series, comics, and other media about a Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction, post-apocalyptic world in which humans and intelligent apes c ...

'' franchise, which was based on a screenplay by Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver. The film was released on 5 August 2011 to mostly positive reviews and grossed more than $481 million worldwide. Wyatt was to be the director of 20th Century Fox's X-Men spin-off film ''

Gambit A gambit (from Italian , the act of tripping someone with the leg to make them fall) is a chess opening in which a player sacrifices with the aim of achieving a subsequent advantage. The word '' gambit'' is also sometimes used to describe si ...

'', to be released on 7 October 2016, but dropped out due to scheduling conflicts. He directed the 2019 sci-fi film '' Captive State''. His next film announced as director is the thriller Boxman, about a safe-cracker who attempts to rescue the victims of a failed bank heist.

Personal life

Wyatt currently lives between New York City and Hudson, New York.

Filmography

Short film

Feature film

Other credits * '' Fishing Without Nets'' (2014) (Executive producer) * ''

Animal Farm ''Animal Farm'' (originally ''Animal Farm: A Fairy Story'') is a satirical allegorical novella, in the form of a beast fable, by George Orwell, first published in England on 17 August 1945. It tells the story of a group of anthropomorphic far ...

'' (2025) (Executive Producer and Co-story credit with

Andy Serkis Andrew Clement Serkis (born 20 April 1964) is an English actor and filmmaker. He is best known for his motion capture roles comprising motion capture acting, animation and voice work for computer-generated characters such as Gollum in ''The Lo ...

)

Television

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wyatt, Rupert 1972 births Living people English writers English film directors Mass media people from Exeter English cinematographers English film producers English screenwriters English male screenwriters English expatriates in the United States People educated at Winchester College