Nicole Kassell is an American film and television director who is noted for her work on films such as The Woodsman and on TV in series such as Vinyl and Watchmen. In January 2020, Kassell won the Directors Guild of America Award for Dramatic Series for directing the Watchmen episode "It's Summer and We're Running Out of Ice".
Early life
Kassell was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, raised in Charlottesville, VA where she attended St. Anne's-Belfiield School. She earned a BA in Art history from Columbia University, and received her MFA from the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU. While a student at NYU, she made three short films, including The Green Hour, which was screened at the Sundance Film Festival in 2002.
A year earlier, she had won the Slamdance Screenplay Competition for her first feature-length project, The Woodsman , adapted from Steven Fechter's 1997 minimalist play she had seen staged at The Actors Studio in New York City. Her enthusiasm for it convinced Lee Daniels, one of the producers of Monster's Ball, to help her get funding for the film version. When he approached Kevin Bacon, the actor was so impressed by the script, about a convicted child molester forced to deal with social prejudice and the fear he will not be able to control his dark urges after he is released from prison, that he suggested he star in the movie opposite wife Kyra Sedgwick. The Woodsman competed at Sundance and the Toronto International Film Festival, was featured in the Director’s Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival, and eventually was released to the public in 2004. Kassell's second feature film, A Little Bit of Heaven, a romantic comedy starring Kate Hudson and Gael García Bernal, had its first release in February 2011 in the UK. She has adapted Arthur Miller's play The Ride Down Mt. Morgan for the big screen. The project has been in pre-production since 2004 and will reportedly feature a cast that includes Diane Keaton, Emily Blunt and Michael Douglas if it goes into production. Douglas would also serve as executive producer.
Television
Kassell has directed episodes of the series Cold Case and 3 lbs, The Closer, The Killing, Vinyl and The Americans. She also is writing an adaptation of the book Bad Medicine for HBO. In 2018, it was announced that Kassell would direct the pilot for the HBO series Watchmen. In January 2020, Kassell won the Directors Guild of America Award for Dramatic Series for directing the Watchmen episode "It's Summer and We're Running Out of Ice". Kassell recently signed with WME.
Personal Life
Kassell is now living in New York City, with her husband and two children.
