- Born
- Birth nameMatthew George Reeves
- Height5′ 9½″ (1.77 m)
- Matthew George "Matt" Reeves was born April 27, 1966 in Rockville Center, New York, USA and is a writer, director and producer. Reeves began making movies at age eight, directing friends and using a wind-up camera. He befriended filmmaker J.J. Abrams when both were 13 years old and a public-access television cable channel, Z Channel, aired their short films. When Reeves and Abrams were 15 or 16 years old, Steven Spielberg hired them to transfer some of his own Super 8 films to videotape. Reeves attended the University of Southern California and there, between 1991 and 1992, he produced an award-winning student film, Mr. Petrified Forest, which helped him acquire an agent. He also co-wrote a script that eventually became Under Siege 2: Dark Territory (1995). After graduating, he co-wrote The Pallbearer (1996), which became his directorial debut.
Reeves and J.J. Abrams co-created the TV series Felicity (1998), for which Reeves directed several episodes, including the pilot. He has also helmed occasional episodes of other television series. He co-wrote The Yards (2000) with director James Gray, which he also co-produced. In 2008, Reeves directed the monster science fiction film Cloverfield (2008), which Abrams produced. Reeves later served as an executive producer on 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) and The Cloverfield Paradox (2018). He wrote and directed the fantasy-horror film Let Me In (2010), a remake of the Swedish film Let the Right One In (2008). Reeves directed the science fiction films Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014) and later the sequel, War for the Planet of the Apes (2017). He served as an executive producer on the Amazon original series Tales from the Loop (2020).- IMDb Mini Biography By: Caleb Folck
- ChildrenChild
- Often works with composer Michael Giacchino.
- Often works with cinematographer Grieg Fraser.
- Often works with Andy Serkis.
- Tortured, tormented outsiders.
- At first, he was not interested in directing Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014), because the outline he was presented with did not have Caesar as the main character, who Reeves believed was the true hero of the franchise. When 20th Century Fox agreed to let him change the story to his liking, he agreed to direct it.
- Was on the list of front runners to direct Man of Steel (2013).
- He and J.J. Abrams first met screening their early shorts at an 8mm film fest in Los Angeles.
- Cites Martin Scorsese as the filmmaker who inspired him to make movies.
- His filmmaking influences include Martin Scorsese, Alfred Hitchcock, Akira Kurosawa, Federico Fellini, and Francis Ford Coppola.
- It's the idea that anticipation is as scary as anything in a movie could be. People's imagination is the most effective tool in creating terror or dread.
- Really interesting genre films, especially monster movies, evoke the fears of the times intentionally. Our starting point was Godzilla - the original movie was released less than 10 years after Hiroshima, and it's a classic in Japan. It came out at the same time as Seven Samurai (1954) and is held in equal regard. Yet it was definitely a metaphor for the anxiety of those times, about the fears after Hiroshima and the knowledge that we now had the ability to destroy the world. To give that the form of a giant monster - that was an effective way of exploring that fear.
- As a kid, I was always mistaken for a girl. Before you reach that age where your sexuality starts to display itself, kids can look very androgynous, and I guess I leaned more toward the feminine. All those things were very hard, growing up, because you're trying to create an identity, and you're feeling shameful about the one that you're making.
- I never would have guessed I would be making science fiction and horror films.
- I discovered the fun of genre is... you get to explore your fears, and you get to use the metaphor of the genre - whether it's a giant monster or a... 12-year-old vampire. Whatever it is, you can sink something underneath the surface and make a personal film under the guise of great fun romp.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content