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Susan Montford is a Scottish filmmaker living in Los Angeles. She has produced, written and directed movies that range from cult hits to blockbusters. She was born in
Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated pop ...
, Scotland. She is related to the Scottish football commentator Arthur Montford. Obsessed with art and film and literature as a child, she attended Cardonald College and
Grays School of Art Gray's School of Art is the Robert Gordon University's art school, located in Aberdeen, Scotland. It is one of the oldest established fine art institutions in Scotland and one of Scotland's five art schools today, and ranked among the Top 20 S ...
and the
Glasgow School of Art The Glasgow School of Art (GSA; gd, Sgoil-ealain Ghlaschu) is a higher education art school based in Glasgow, Scotland, offering undergraduate degrees, post-graduate awards (both taught and research-led), and PhDs in architecture, fine art, and ...
where she worked across many mediums from installation through sculpture, photography, films and text. Her art works have been exhibited throughout Scotland at many galleries and pop up art spaces including the
Transmission Gallery Transmission Gallery is an artist-run space in Glasgow. It was established in 1983 by graduates of Glasgow School of Art. It primarily shows the work of young early career artists and is run by a changing voluntary committee of six people. Amon ...
and the
Stirling Smith Art Gallery and Museum Stirling Smith Art Gallery and Museum, formerly The Smith Institute, is an art and local history museum in Stirling, Scotland. The museum was founded in 1874 at the bequest of artist Thomas Stuart Smith. History Founding Thomas Stuart S ...
. Susan was an early, active member of Women in Profile during the "herstories" era at Glasgow Women's Library when she worked with women escaping from domestic violence. She also created the Bookmakers workshops and worked with deprived kids at Street Level Photoworks. She ran many workshops while developing her art and writing. She went on to direct and write short films including ''Hairpin'' and ''Strangers'' with grants from the
Scottish Film Council The Moving Image Archive is a collection of Scottish film and video recordings at the National Library of Scotland, held at Kelvin Hall in Glasgow, Scotland. There are over 46,000 items within the collection, and over 2,600 of these are publicly a ...
. Her work was shown at the
Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a perman ...
. She moved to
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...
to specialize in film. She developed on her first feature film, ''The Family Jam'', a drama about the early days of the
Charles Manson Charles Milles Manson (; November 12, 1934November 19, 2017) was an American criminal and musician who led the Manson Family, a cult based in California, in the late 1960s. Some of the members committed a series of nine murders at four loca ...
Family based on the book by Ed Sanders While in Los Angeles she developed several films for
Sony Pictures Entertainment Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Sony Pictures or SPE, and formerly known as Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc.) is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment studio conglomerate that produces, acq ...
. Her first major hit was the 2007 film ''
Shoot 'Em Up Shoot 'em ups (also known as shmups or STGs ) are a sub-genre of action games. There is no consensus as to which design elements compose a shoot 'em up; some restrict the definition to games featuring spacecraft and certain types of chara ...
'', on which she played a "really hands on ole... from the casting to the music, and it was a great feeling to have it come together." Following the success of that film she wrote and directed the thriller '' While She Was Out'' starring
Kim Basinger Kimila Ann Basinger ( ; born December 8, 1953) is an American actress and former fashion model. She has garnered acclaim for her work in film and television, for which she has received various accolades including an Academy Award, a Golden Glo ...
and
Lukas Haas Lukas Daniel Haas (born April 16, 1976) is an American actor and musician. His acting career has spanned four decades, during which he has appeared in more than 50 feature films and a number of television shows and stage productions. Early life ...
which was released in December 2008. Susan produced ''
Splice Splice may refer to: Connections * Rope splicing, joining two pieces of rope or cable by weaving the strands of each into the other ** Eye splice, a method of creating a permanent loop in the end of multi stranded rope by means of rope splicing * ...
'' a twisted fairy tale released by
Warner Brothers Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American Film studio, film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank, Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, Califo ...
and directed by
Vincenzo Natali Vincenzo Natali (born 1969) is an American-born Canadian film director and screenwriter, known for writing and directing science fiction and horror films such as ''Cube'', ''Cypher'', ''Nothing'', and '' Splice''. Early life and education Natali ...
. Susan produced the DreamWorks hit film '' Real Steel'', which starred
Hugh Jackman Hugh Michael Jackman (born 12 October 1968) is an Australian actor. Beginning in theatre and television, he landed his breakthrough role as James "Logan" Howlett / Wolverine in the 20th Century Fox ''X-Men'' film series (2000–2017), a role ...
and was directed by
Shawn Levy Shawn Adam Levy (born July 23, 1968) is a Canadian film director, film producer, actor, and founder of 21 Laps Entertainment. He has worked across genres and is perhaps best known as the director of the ''Night at the Museum'' film franchise an ...
from a story by
Richard Matheson Richard Burton Matheson (February 20, 1926 – June 23, 2013) was an American author and screenwriter, primarily in the fantasy, horror, and science fiction genres. He is best known as the author of '' I Am Legend'', a 1954 science fictio ...
. A sequel has been announced. Susan produced the thriller '' Vampire Academy'' directed by
Mark Waters Mark Stephen Waters (born June 30, 1964) is an American filmmaker who directed the comedy films '' Freaky Friday'', '' Mean Girls'', '' Ghosts of Girlfriends Past'', '' Mr. Popper's Penguins'', and '' Vampire Academy''. Filmography Film Prod ...
based on the ''
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' bestselling series of books, as well as the Bryan Fuller created television movie '' High Moon''. She is currently in development on a modern horror version of the classic mondo series ''
Faces of Death ''Faces of Death'' (later re-released as ''The Original Faces of Death'') is a 1978 American mondo horror film written and directed by John Alan Schwartz, credited under the pseudonyms "Conan Le Cilaire" and "Alan Black" respectively. The fi ...
'' for
Legendary Entertainment Legendary Pictures Productions, LLC (doing business as Legendary Entertainment or simply Legendary) is an American film production and mass media company based in Burbank, California, founded by Thomas Tull in 2000. The company has collaborated ...
and is also producing with them on a TV series based on space classic ''
Buck Rogers Buck Rogers is a science fiction adventure hero and feature comic strip created by Philip Francis Nowlan first appearing in daily US newspapers on January 7, 1929, and subsequently appearing in Sunday newspapers, international newspapers, books ...
''. She is working with
The Jim Henson Company The Jim Henson Company (formerly known as Muppets, Inc., Henson Associates, Inc., and Jim Henson Productions, Inc.; commonly referred to as Henson) is an American entertainment company located in Los Angeles, California. The company is known for ...
on an animated series based on a
Prince A prince is a Monarch, male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary title, hereditary, in s ...
song. She is married to Don Murphy, the American producer of ''
Natural Born Killers ''Natural Born Killers'' is a 1994 American crime film directed by Oliver Stone and starring Woody Harrelson, Juliette Lewis, Robert Downey Jr., Tommy Lee Jones, and Tom Sizemore. The film tells the story of two victims of traumatic childhoo ...
'' and the ''
Transformers ''Transformers'' is a media franchise produced by American toy company Hasbro and Japanese toy company Tomy, Takara Tomy. It primarily follows the Autobots and the Decepticons, two alien robot factions at war that can transform into other forms ...
'' films.


References


External links


Susan Montford Home Page
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Living people British film producers 1974 births {{Scotland-bio-stub