JOHN McTIERNAN (Director/Producer) has directed some of the biggest and most exciting box office hits in film history, including Die Hard, the phenomenal success of which spawned enough imitators to create an entire sub-genre of pulse-pounding action-adventure films. His most recent success was with the stylish and witty 1999 film version of The Thomas Crown Affair starring Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo. He is currently working on the film Basic starring John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson.
McTiernan followed Die Hard with The Hunt for Red October, the blockbuster adaptation of Tom Clancy's best-selling novel. With this film, McTiernan further refined an active, fluid cinematic style and a theme that has distinguished all his films: the battle of wills between strong, opposing individuals.
MeTiernan, who grew up in a small farm town in upstate New York, developed his interest in drama at an early age. After graduating from Exeter prep school he enrolled at Juilliard to study theater directing, but quickly realized his real interest was in film. He earned a fellowship from the American Film Institute, where he began his formal education in movie directing, and in 1997 received the AFI's Franklin J. Schaffner Award for Achievement in Directing.
In 1986 McTiernan wrote and directed his first feature film, the science fiction-fantasy Nomads starring a young actor named Pierce Brosnan. His first major studio film was Predator starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. He then turned to a movie that expressed deeply held environmental concerns: Medicine Man, starring Lorraine Bracco and Sean Connery, whom he also directed in The Hunt for Red October. McTiernan reteamed with Schwarzenegger, acting as producer and director on The Last Action Hero, and worked again as producer/director on the international hit Die Hard With a Vengeance. He executive produced Flight of the Intruder.
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