Simon West is an English director and producer. He has primarily worked in the action genre, most notably as the director of the films Con Air, , The Mechanic, and The Expendables 2. Outside of action, he directed the mystery thriller filmThe General's Daughter and the psychological horror filmWhen a Stranger Calls.
Early life
West was born in Letchworth, Hertfordshire. He began his career as an assistant film editor with the BBC Film Department, where he worked on dramas and documentaries. He then left the BBC to work on commercials and music videos. He debuted as a director in 1997 with Con Air, starring Nicolas Cage, John Cusack, and John Malkovich.
Lara Croft
West directed the 2001 action film, . Although it’s an adaptation of the popular video gameTomb Raider, the development of the film was influenced by a market that "wasn't used to women leading summer blockbusters". This factor influenced his decision to cast Angelina Jolie as Croft, though she was not well known. While Lara Croft led to box office totals that were the highest for a female-led action film at that time,, inspired theme park rides, led to a sequel, and made a star of Jolie, West was disappointed that it did not lead to similar films. He noted that "at the time, the studio was incredibly nervous at what the outcome could have been. I’m surprised it's taken so long , because I thought that two or three years after, there’d be 10 other movies like it cashing in on its success...ut it's amazing how things work so slowly. But finally The Hunger Games and Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman have caught up!" Joey Nolfi states that West "molded his heroine – never bogged down by romantic subplots – as a badass genre role model for girls, with more scenes of assured tomb raiding and less overt sexuality". Critic Cristina Lucia Stasia also argues that the film Lara Croft distinguished itself from other popular "girl power" shows and films of the same period:The Matrix, Charles Angels, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Dark Angel, and Alias . She suggests that this was due to the fact that "Simon West, the director of Tomb Raider, foregrounds tension between female sexuality and female action heroes when he argues that ‘Angelina should be a role model for action actors. We turned her into something you wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley – but then again you would."
