DOUG LIMAN (Director) has become one of the most vibrant and original voices in American film with his critically acclaimed features Swingers and Go. More recently, he directed The Bourne Identity, a thriller based on the Robert Ludlum best selling novel. Starring Matt Damon, the film was a top box office hit in 2002.
Born in New York City, Liman attended the International Center of Photography while still in high school. He attended Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, where he helped found the school’s student-run cable television station.
Liman began making short films at age seven. He attended the graduate program of the School of Cinema and Television at the University of Southern California, where he directed his first feature project, the comedy thriller Getting In (a.k.a. Student Body), which starred Stephen Mailer, Matthew Perry, Andrew McCarthy and Christine Baranski.
Liman made a splash with the independent hit Swingers, which he produced and directed. The film was made on a shoestring budget of $250,000 – money he scraped together with the help of his father, the late Iran-Contra investigator Arthur Liman, who also served as counsel to the production. Doug Liman acquired the script from the film’s screenwriter, Jon Favreau and cast him along with Vince Vaughn, Ron Livingston and Patrick Van Horne, in a story about the search for love in and around Los Angeles’ retro swing bars.
Liman’s adrenaline-driven next effort, Go, had three separate but related sections, each focusing on different members of the film’s talented ensemble, including Sarah Polley, Katie Holmes, Taye Diggs, William Fichtner, Jane Krakowski, Brekin Meyer and Jay Mohr. Imbued with freshness of vision and execution, Go premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and opened to overwhelming positive notices. Liman also served as director of photography on both Swingers and Go. Following Go, Liman produced Sarah Thorp’s See Jane Run, starring Clea DuVall and Kevin Corrigan and helped produce the critically acclaimed Kissing Jessica Stein.
His projects have proven that Liman has a passion and a unique eye for spotting new and distinctive talent. The stars of Swingers, Go and Kissing Jessica Stein have the distinction of having launched their feature film acting careers and screenwriting voices from a Doug Liman film.
Liman has also directed highly acclaimed and popular commercials, such as the Nike Golf commercial starring Tiger Woods effortlessly juggling a golf ball with his club and foot – a spot which became a national phenomenon.
Liman is a founding partner of the entertainment production company
Hypnotic, which produces, markets and distributes independent film and television properties. Hypnotic serves as the production entity for many of Liman’s film, television and commercial projects.
His interests outside of filmmaking include working for the Legal Action Center, which provides pro-bono legal work on behalf of people with addictions, HIV and convictions and with Safe Space, which does work on behalf of homeless teens in New York. He works on the campaigns of New York politicians and supports young New York-based artists by exhibiting their works in his TriBeCa loft. He is also an accomplished pilot and an avid outdoor enthusiast who guides river trips, climbs and mountaineers.
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