G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra

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Director

Stephen Sommers

Bio

STEPHEN SOMMERS wrote and directed “The Mummy” and “The Mummy Returns” and produced “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.” Additionally, Sommers wrote, produced, and directed “Van Helsing” starring Hugh Jackman and Kate Beckinsale; wrote and directed “The Adventures of Huck Finn” starring Elijah Wood and Jason Robards; “The Jungle Book” with Jason Scott Lee, Cary Elwes, Sam Neill and John Cleese; and “Deep Rising” starring Treat Williams and Famke Janssen. Sommers wrote and executive-produced Disney's “Tom and Huck” with Jonathan Taylor Thomas and Brad Renfro. For television, he wrote and executive-produced “Oliver Twist,” again working with Elijah Wood, as well as Richard Dreyfuss.

A native of Minnesota, Sommers attended St. John's University and the University of Seville in Spain. Afterwards, Sommers spent the next four years working in street theatre groups and managing rock bands.

From there, he relocated to Los Angeles and attended the USC School of Cinema-Television for three years, earning a Masters Degree, where he wrote and directed an award-winning short film called “Perfect Alibi.” With independent funding, he wrote and directed his first motion picture, “Catch Me If You Can” (1989) which was filmed in his hometown of St. Cloud, Minnesota.

Director- Job Description

The principal creative artist on a movie set. A director is usually (but not always) the driving artistic source behind the filming process, and communicates to actors the way that he/she would like a particular scene played. A director's duties might also include casting, script editing, shot selection, shot composition, and editing. Typically, a director has complete artistic control over all aspects of the movie, but it is not uncommon for the director to be bound by agreements with either a producer or a studio. In some large productions, a director will delegate less important scenes to a second unit director 2UD.