Louis Leterrier is a French film director whose films include the first two Transporter films, Unleashed, The Incredible Hulk, Clash of the Titans, Now You See Me and the web television series .
Life and career
Leterrier was born in Paris, the son of director François Leterrier and costume designer Catherine Leterrier. He is the nephew of politician Laurent Fabius and antiquarian François Fabius. He was guided artistically by his mother. Leterrier was at first a drummer for a music group before experimenting with short films. At the age of 18, after some training in advertising and publicity, he left France to study cinema at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. In 1997, he assisted Jean-Pierre Jeunet on the set of Alien Resurrection. On returning to France, he worked with Luc Besson on the production of commercials for :fr:Club Internet|Club Internet and L'Oréal as well as on the film '. He also collaborated, as the second assistant director, with Alain Chabat on the production of '. Later in 2002, Louis Leterrier directed The Transporter, an action movie starring Jason Statham. Although the US release lists him as artistic director and Corey Yuen as director, the opening credits of the European release grant him directorial credit and list Yuen as action director. Leterrier later entered the so-called "Besson stable" – a group of directors working on films produced by or associated with Luc Besson – alongside Chris Nahon and Pierre Morel. He directed Jet Li in Unleashed, his solo debut feature, a full-length martial arts film. Luc Besson then entrusted him with directorial control of Transporter 2, set this time in Miami. In 2008, as part of a wave of French directors employed in Hollywood, he directed his first big-budget American film, The Incredible Hulk. His next project, a remake of the 1981 Clash of the Titans produced by Warner Bros., was released on April 2, 2010. Leterrier had mentioned that he would like to create a Clash of the Titans franchise, should the latest film prove to be successful. However, in June 2010, Jonathan Liebesman was named as director of the sequel, leaving Leterrier's involvement in future films in doubt. Leterrier directed the spy comedy film Grimsby, written by, and starring, Sacha Baron Cohen. In March 2015, Deadline Hollywood reported that Leterrier was in talks to direct the shark thriller filmIn the Deep, for Sony Pictures Entertainment. However, on June 3, 2015, TheWrap reported that Leterrier had exited the film due to creative differences and the reduction of the previously told budget. In 2019, Leterrier directed the first season of for Netflix, a prequel series to The Dark Crystalconsisting of ten hour-long episodes, consisting entirely of puppetry and special effects.
