Dan Attias, Director, Producer and Author: I thought I had to know everything in advance. I thought I had to be the authority coming in. I couldn’t confess to not knowing something. I was reluctant to ask too many questions because I thought that would…
Film Courage: What mistakes did you make directing your first episode of television?
Dan: Yeah, that was early in my career. I write a chapter about it in my book. It’s the second chapter, I call it The School of Hard Knocks. I grew up watching films in the 60’s and 70’s and kind of loved the independent cinema world and really aspired That’s what I want to do. I want to be an auteur. My first job was a feature film in 1984, Stephen King’s Silver Bullet. I’m not a horror aficionado but that was often the way in (horror films) to get good directing credits. After I did that I was determined I don’t want to do a feature. I don’t want to do a horror film. I want my next film to reflect more of my sensibility even though I’m pleased that it now seems to have a kind of a cult following and I enjoy people telling me…(Watch the video interview on Youtube here).
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BIO:
Dan Attias has worked as a director in the film and television industry for 37 years. As a director of series television he has received the Directors Guild of America award for outstanding direction of dramatic television and has been nominated for multiple Emmy awards for his comedy directing. He continues to work on some of the most celebrated and critically acclaimed American television shows, including Homeland, The Americans, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Billions, and The Boys. Previously he has directed The Sopranos, The Wire, Six Feet Under, True Blood, Entourage, The Killing, The Walking Dead, True Detective, Ray Donovan, Bloodline, Friday Night Lights, Northern Exposure, House, Lost, Alias, among many others. His first professional directing assignment was the feature film, Stephen King’s Silver Bullet, produced by Dino DeLaurentiis. Dan started his career studying acting, then worked as an assistant director on E.T. The Extraterrestrial, Airplane!, One From the Heart and several other feature films. He has taught acting and directing workshops in the United States, and has appeared as a guest speaker at festivals in Italy, Brazil, Greece, Mexico and Canada. Before working in the film and television industry, Dan was enrolled in a Ph.D. program in English literature at U.C.L.A., then transferred to the Theater Arts Department where he earned an M.F.A. in film production.
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