Brett D. Morgen (born October 11, 1968)[1] is an American documentary filmmaker. His directorial credits include The Kid Stays in the Picture (2002), Crossfire Hurricane (2012), Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck (2015), Jane (2017), and Moonage Daydream (2022).

Brett Morgen
Morgen at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival
Born (1968-10-11) October 11, 1968 (age 55)
Alma mater
Occupation(s)Film director, producer
SpouseDebra Eisenstadt
Children3

Early life edit

Morgen was born October 11, 1968, in Los Angeles, California.[1] He was named after USC football lineman Britt Williams, who was team captain in 1961, but his parents misspelled the name.[2] He was raised in the San Fernando Valley, primarily in Studio City, where his father worked as a high school physical education teacher.[2] According to Morgen, he was an avid movie fan from a young age, and knew he wanted to be a filmmaker.[2][3] He attended the Crossroads School in Santa Monica, California.[2]

Morgen attended Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, where he earned a B.A. in history in 1987, before graduating with an MFA in filmmaking from New York University in 1991.[4]

Career edit

Morgen made Ollie's Army while a student at New York University. The film focuses on the exploits of the James Madison University College Republicans during Oliver North's senatorial campaign of 1994.[5][6][7]

On the Ropes was nominated for an Academy Award in 2000 for Best Documentary. The boxing documentary was directed by Morgen and Nanette Burstein, and examined the lives of three aspiring prizefighters and their coach. The film won Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary by the Directors Guild of America.[citation needed]

The Kid Stays in the Picture is a documentary biopic about film producer Robert Evans, focusing on his major hits, like The Godfather, and his tumultuous personal life. Once again, Morgen teamed with Nanette Burstein.[citation needed]

Chicago 10 is a film about the Chicago Eight. The film uses animation and celebrity voice-overs from Hank Azaria, Dylan Baker, Nick Nolte, Mark Ruffalo, Roy Scheider, Liev Schreiber, James Urbaniak, and Jeffrey Wright.[citation needed]

June 17th, 1994 aired on ESPN as an episode of 30 for 30 and featured on-air commentary by Morgen. It was the only 30 for 30 episode to date that included no interviews or voice-overs, consisting solely of the actual TV footage on June 17, 1994. This was the date of the O. J. Simpson slow-moving police chase, and the other important sports stories of that day that were mostly ignored, due to the American public's fascination with Simpson.[citation needed]

Next, Morgan directed Crossfire Hurricane (2012), a documentary on The Rolling Stones, followed by the Kurt Cobain documentary film Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck (2015).[8] His next film was Jane (2017), which follows the life of primatologist Jane Goodall, produced by National Geographic.[9]

Morgen began working on the David Bowie documentary Moonage Daydream in 2017.[10] The film was released theatrically in 2022 after premiering at the Cannes Film Festival.[10]

Personal life edit

Morgen is married to filmmaker Debra Eisenstadt, with whom he has three children: Sky, Max and Jasper.[3]

On January 5, 2017, while working on the film Moonage Daydream, Morgen suffered a near-fatal heart attack and flatlined three times while receiving medical care.[10] The heart attack resulted in Morgen being in a coma for a week, but he survived.[11][12] In a 2022 interview, Morgen attributed his heart attack to years of smoking, stress, and lack of exercise.[11]

Filmography edit

Feature-length films edit

Television series edit

  • On Tour (1997)
  • Say It Loud (2001)
  • "Nimrod Nation" (2007) Won Peabody Award (2008)
  • Marvel's Runaways (2017)

Awards and nominations edit

Year Title Award Result
2018 Jane Cinema for Peace International Green Film Award Won
BAFTA Film Award for Best Documentary Nominated [14]
Cinema Eye Audience Choice Award Won [15]
Copenhagen International Documentary Festival Politiken's Audience Award Nominated
Gold Derby Award for Best Documentary Feature Nominated
International Online Cinema Award for Best Documentary Nominated
OFTA Best Documentary Picture Nominated
Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Directing for Nonfiction Programming Won [16]
Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Nonfiction Program Nominated
Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Picture Editing for Nonfiction Programming Nominated
Primetime Emmy for Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking Nominated
Producers Guild of America Award for Outstanding Producer of Documentary Theatrical Motion Pictures Nominated
Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival WWF Award Nominated
Writers Guild of America Award for Best Documentary Screenplay Won[17]
2017 Amsterdam International Film Festival Audience Favorite Award Nominated
Awards Circuit Community Award for Best Documentary Feature Nominated
BFI London Film Festival Grierson Award for Best Documentary Won
Zelda Penzel Giving Voice to the Voiceless Award Nominated
Philadelphia Film Festival Student Choice Award Won
2016 Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck American Cinema Editors Eddie Award for Best Edited Documentary Feature Nominated
Cinema Eye Audience Choice Award Nominated
Cinema Eye Honors Award for Outstanding Achievement in Editing Nominated
Seattle Film Critics Award Nominated
Writers Guild of America Award for Best Documentary Screenplay Nominated
2015 Ashland Independent Film Award for Best Editing: Feature Length Documentary Won
International Documentary Association Creative Recognition Award for Best Editing Won
Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Picture Editing for Nonfiction Programming Nominated
Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Directing for Nonfiction Programming Nominated
Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special Nominated
Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Writing for Nonfiction Programming Nominated
2013 Crossfire Hurricane FOCAL Award for Best Use of Footage in a Production Featuring Music Won
2009 Chicago 10 Writers Guild of America Award for Best Documentary Screenplay Nominated
2008 Cinema Eye Honors Award for Outstanding Achievement in Production Nominated
SLFCA Award Best Animated Film Nominated
2007 Silver Hugo Award for Best Documentary Feature Won
2003 The Kid Stays in the Picture International Online Cinema Award for Best Documentary Nominated
OFTA Film Award Nominated
2000 On the Ropes Academy Awards Best Documentary Feature Nominated [18]
Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary Won
Film Independent Spirit Truer Than Fiction Award Nominated
1999 International Documentary Association Award for Best Documentary Feature Won
Silver Spire Award for Film & Video - Society and Culture Won
Sundance Film Festival Special Jury Prize for Documentary Won
Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize for Documentary Nominated[19]
Taos Talking Picture Festival Land Grant Award Nominated
Urbanworld Film Festival Jury Prize for Best Documentary Won
1996 Ollie's Army UFVA Film Festival First Prize Won

[citation needed]

References edit

  1. ^ a b "Brett D Morgen, Born 10/11/1968 in Los Angeles County, California". The California Birth Index. Retrieved April 5, 2016.
  2. ^ a b c d Rushfield, Richard (May 1, 2015). "Brett Morgen: The Making of 'Montage of Heck's Mad Scientist". Uproxx. Archived from the original on September 30, 2018.
  3. ^ a b Levine, Edward (November 13, 2009). "Director's Suite". The New York Times. Archived from the original on September 26, 2018.
  4. ^ "Filmmaker: Morgen, Brett". DCEFF. Archived from the original on March 16, 2022.
  5. ^ "Movie Reviews". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. 2015. Archived from the original on 18 May 2015. Retrieved 26 September 2018.
  6. ^ Cinema Texas Austin Chronicle September 27, 1996
  7. ^ Ollie's Army (1996) - Overview - TCM.com
  8. ^ Welch, Andy (January 4, 2013). "'Crossfire Hurricane' director reveals first details of Kurt Cobain film". NME. Archived from the original on December 29, 2016.
  9. ^ O'Falt, Chris (August 22, 2018). "'Jane': Why 50-Year Old 16mm Archival Footage of Goodall and the Chimps Looks So Good". IndieWire. Archived from the original on November 3, 2021.
  10. ^ a b c Blyth, Antonia (May 23, 2022). "Brett Morgen Reveals He Flatlined After Heart Attack While Making 'Moonage Daydream', Felt Bowie "Was Guiding Me Through Recovery" — Cannes Studio". Deadline. Archived from the original on June 28, 2022.
  11. ^ a b Parker, Lyndsey (September 8, 2022). "'Moonage Daydream' director Brett Morgen nearly died making Bowie doc: 'I can't talk about the messaging of the film without talking about the heart attack'". Yahoo!. Archived from the original on September 9, 2022.
  12. ^ Dwyer, Michael (August 25, 2022). "'I want to live': The hidden tears that unlocked an epic David Bowie movie". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on August 27, 2022.
  13. ^ 2018 Creative Arts Emmys: Directing for a Documentary/Nonfiction Program-Television Academy
  14. ^ 2018 Film Documentary-BAFTA Awards
  15. ^ "The Results Are In!". 12 January 2018.
  16. ^ "2018 Creative Arts Emmy Awards: The Complete List of Winners". Archived from the original on 2022-03-18. Retrieved 2018-09-26.
  17. ^ Brett Morgen wins the 2018 Writers Guild Documentary Screenplay Award for Jane-WGA West
  18. ^ Documentary Winners: 2000 Oscars
  19. ^ CNN - Winners at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival - February 1, 1999

External links edit