Brewer is the son of Gail, a teacher, and Walter D. Brewer, an executive who worked for Matson Navigation Co. He is of Irish, English, and Spanish descent.
Career
Hustle & Flow was financed by filmmaker John Singleton, also produced by Stephanie Allain, Preston Holmes and executive produced by Dwight Williams. Singleton was impressed by Brewer's first feature, The Poor & Hungry, shot in Memphis, Tennessee. Ten years after the release of Hustle & Flow, Brewer will be re-teaming with Terrence Howard and Taraji P. Henson on their acclaimed television series, Empire. The episode he directed, "Fires of Heaven", aired October 7, 2015. Brewer's subsequent project, Black Snake Moan, began filming in September 2005 and stars Samuel L. Jackson, Christina Ricci, and Justin Timberlake. Black Snake Moan was partially filmed in Stanton, Tennessee. Production completed on Black Snake Moan in October 2005 and it was released on March 2, 2007. His first big-budget film, a remake of the 1984 film, Footloose was released on October 14, 2011 after Brewer and the two stars of the film, Kenny Wormald and Julianne Hough, completed a national press tour promoting the film. The film received higher critical praise than its predecessor. In 2012, Brewer was executive producer of . That same year, Brewer premiered a documentary he directed about Indie Memphis and filmmakers called Indie Origins. In 2014, Brewer was elected President of Indie Memphis for two years. A year later, Brewer released a video made in conjunction with the Memphis Grizzlies on the city's adoration of player Marc Gasol; Brewer himself makes a brief appearance at the beginning of the video. Brewer is also the creator of $5 Cover, an MTV drama series about Memphis musicians. The 15-episode show was broadcast online and on MTV, and featured Memphis musicians playing themselves and their original songs. Other TV projects include an episode of The Shield and the pilot to Terriers. Brewer returned to directing TV pilots with Boomerang, starring Felicity Huffman on FOX. The pilot was not picked up by FOX. In January 2014, Brewer signed a deal with Paramount Television to executive produce, write and direct two TV drama pilots. In late May 2015, one of these shows was revealed to be a television adaptation of the film Urban Cowboy; Brewer wrote the pilot and directed it, but the pilot was not picked up by FOX. In late February 2013, Brewer's theatrical follow-up to Footloose was announced as Gangster Princess of Beverly Hills, based on the true-life crime escapades of Lisette Lee, a young woman who claimed to be the heiress of Samsung. Brewer will write and direct. As of May 2020, there has been no further development on the project. A year later, Brewer was also attached to potentially direct a new version of The Idolmaker, with Justin Timberlake producing. Brewer wrote a draft for Warner Bros.' 2016 film The Legend of Tarzan, directed by David Yates. In June 2018, Brewer began directing a Netflix feature, Dolemite Is My Name. Based on the life of Rudy Ray Moore, the film stars Academy Award nominee Eddie Murphy as Moore, a '70s comedian who puts up the money to make an action film based on a character from his stand-up material. The film is written by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski. Other cast members include Wesley Snipes, Craig Robinson and Mike Epps. The film was released in 2019. In January 2019, it was announced that Brewer would direct Eddie Murphy in Coming 2 America. Production began in August 2019.
