Vincenzo Natali (born 1969) is an American-born Canadian film director and screenwriter, known for writing and directing

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

and

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit physical or psychological fear in its viewers. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with Transgressive art, transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements of the genre include Mo ...

s such as ''

Cube A cube or regular hexahedron is a three-dimensional space, three-dimensional solid object in geometry, which is bounded by six congruent square (geometry), square faces, a type of polyhedron. It has twelve congruent edges and eight vertices. It i ...

'', '' Cypher'', ''

Nothing Nothing, no-thing, or no thing is the complete absence of ''anything'', as the opposite of ''something'' and an antithesis of everything. The concept of nothing has been a matter of philosophical debate since at least the 5th century BCE. Ea ...

'', and '' Splice''.

Early life and education

Natali was born in

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

, to a nursery school teacher/painter mother and a photographer father. He is of Italian and English descent. He moved to

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, along with his family, at the age of one. During his time at Royal St. George's College, Natali befriended British-born Canadian actor David Hewlett, who has appeared in the majority of films that Natali has directed. Natali also attended the film programme at Ryerson Polytechnical Institute. He was eventually hired as a

storyboard artist A storyboard artist (sometimes called a story artist or visualizer) creates storyboards for advertising agencies and film productions. Work A storyboard artist visualizes stories and sketches frames of the story. Quick pencil drawings and mar ...

at the Nelvana Animation Studios. His cinematic influences included

Samuel Beckett Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish writer of novels, plays, short stories, and poems. Writing in both English and French, his literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal, and Tragicomedy, tra ...

, David Cronenberg, and Terry Gilliam.

Career

Natali's directing debut came in 1997, when he directed ''

'' which he also co-wrote. The film became a success worldwide, especially in Japan and France, grossing over $10 million in the latter country, and breaking box office records for a Canadian film. At the 19th Genie Awards, the film received five nominations, and also won the award for Best Canadian First Feature at the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the most prestigious and largest publicly attended film festivals in the world. Founded in 1976, the festival takes place every year in early September. The organi ...

. After this success, Natali went on to direct '' Cypher'' (2002) and ''

'' (2003). Following the June 2010 release of '' Splice'' (2009), Natali's next efforts were expected to be an adaptation of J. G. Ballard's 1975 novel '' High Rise'' and a 3D adaptation of the

Len Wein Leonard Norman Wein (; June 12, 1948 – September 10, 2017) was an American comic book writer and editor best known for co-creating DC Comics' Swamp Thing and Marvel Comics' Wolverine (character), Wolverine, and for helping revive the Marvel sup ...

/ Berni Wrightson comic book character Swamp Thing, for producer Joel Silver. A May 2010 item in ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'', however, announced that Natali was to replace Joseph Kahn as director of the highly anticipated adaptation of cyberpunk author William Gibson's 1984 novel '' Neuromancer''. Natali was nominated for the 4th Annual Splatcademy Awards under the category "Best Director" presented by Cadaver Lab for his work '' Splice''. In 2013 his series '' Darknet'', an adaptation of the Japanese series ''Tori Hada'', began airing on Super Channel in Canada. In 2014, he directed the episodes "Su-zakana" and "Naka-choko" of the second season of the crime drama series ''

Hannibal Hannibal (; ; 247 – between 183 and 181 BC) was a Punic people, Carthaginian general and statesman who commanded the forces of Ancient Carthage, Carthage in their battle against the Roman Republic during the Second Punic War. Hannibal's fat ...

'' and in 2015 the episodes "Antipasto", "Primavera" and "Secondo" of the third season of the same TV series. in 2015, he also directed the second episode (entitled "Simon") of the first season of the American supernatural drama television series '' The Returned''. In 2016, he directed the fourth episode ("Dissonance Theory") of the

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

series '' Westworld''. In 2017, he directed the fifth episode ("Lemon Scented You") of the Starz series ''

American Gods ''American Gods'' (2001) is a fantasy novel by British author Neil Gaiman. The novel is a blend of Americana (culture), Americana, fantasy, and various strands of ancient and modern mythology, all centering on the mysterious and taciturn Shad ...

''. He directed a pilot for a new '' Tremors'' TV series starring

Kevin Bacon Kevin Norwood Bacon (born July 8, 1958) is an American actor. Known for various roles, including leading man characters, Bacon has received numerous accolades such as a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award. Bacon made his featu ...

reprising his role from the 1990 film but it was not picked up by SyFy as a series. A television adaptation of William Gibson's '' The Peripheral'' was put into development in April 2018 by

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

, with Natali among the executive producers. Natali directed the show's pilot, plus three other episodes of the first season. He has directed the last 2 episodes of the first season for the '' Locke & Key'' TV series, distributed by Netflix. In 2024, he was awarded the Trailblazer Award at the 28th Fantasia International Film Festival.

Filmography

Short film

Executive producer * ''Eyes on the Road'' (2006) * ''Cube (2021)''

Feature film

Documentary

Television

References

External links

*
Podcast interview with Vincenzo Natali about ''Splice'' (daily.greencine.com)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Natali, Vincenzo 1969 births 20th-century Canadian screenwriters 20th-century Canadian male writers 21st-century Canadian screenwriters 21st-century Canadian male writers Canadian male screenwriters Living people English-language film directors Writers from Detroit Toronto Metropolitan University alumni Naturalized citizens of Canada Canadian people of Italian descent Canadian people of English descent Canadian storyboard artists American emigrants to Canada Canadian horror film directors American science fiction film directors Canadian science fiction film directors Film directors from Michigan Film directors from Toronto Screenwriters from Toronto Canadian Film Centre alumni