André Øvredal
Birthdate: May 6, 1973
Birthplace: Norway
André Øvredal is a Norwegian-born writer-director who has successfully specialized in the horror genre. Øvredal’s feature debut was as co-director/writer/producer/editor of Future Murder (1997), starring Philippe Bergeron, Keith Forster, and Kimberly Warren.
After directing, writing and/or producing a few short films, Øvredal made his biggest splash with his first movie as solo director/writer, Troll Hunter (2010), a Norwegian-produced horror mockumentary that was one of the first Scandinavian non-arthouse films in a commercial genre which received North American distribution, and co-starring Otto Jespersen and Hans Morten Hansen; Øvredal passed on offers to direct a Hollywood remake, and an announced Chris Columbus-produced remake was canceled in 2016.
Øvredal was the director of the acclaimed U.K.-U.S.-produced supernatural horror film, The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016), starring Emile Hirsch and Brian Cox, premiering at the Toronto Film Festival and released by IFC Midnight, and grossing $6 million globally. André Øvredal’s next horror movie was as director of the hit $104-million-grossing anthology feature, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019), based on Alvin Schwartz’s children’s book series and adapted (in part) and produced by Guillermo del Toro, and co-starring Zoe Colletti, Michael Garza, Gil Bellows, and Lorraine Toussaint; a sequel, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark 2, was developed with Øvredal as director and co-stars Dean Norris, Garza, and Zoe Margaret Colletti.
Øvredal’s next feature as writer/director, the Norway/U.K./U.S. co-produced Mortal (2020), which was theatrically released in Norway and digitally released in the U.S. (by Saban Films), Øvredal served as executive producer (with producer Sam Raimi) on writer-director Iris K. Shim’s Umma (2022), starring Sandra Oh, Fivel Stewart, Dermot Mulroney, and Odeya Rush, and released by Sony Pictures.
Øvredal was director of one of his most prestigious projects to date—Last Voyage of the Demeter (2023), the Universal Pictures/DreamWorks/Phoenix Pictures feature adaptation of a chapter titled “The Captain’s Log” from Bram Stoker’s Dracula, starring Corey Hawkins, Aisling Franciosi, Liam Cunningham, and David Dastmalchian.
Personal Details
Øvredal was born and raised in Norway. Øvredal lives in Oslo, Norway. Øvredal’s height is 5’ 8½”. Øvredal’s estimated net worth is $1.5 million.
Filmography
actor
Previous (2)
- 2023 | Last Voyage of the Demeter
Last Voyage of the Demeter
Based on a single chapter, the Captain's Log, from Bram Stoker's classic 1897 novel Dracula, the story is set aboard the Russian schooner Demeter, which was chartered to carry private cargo - twenty-four unmarked wooden crates - f...
- 2019 | Scary Stories to Tell in the DarkasScary Stories to Tell in the Dark
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
On Halloween 1968, Stella and her two friends meet a mysterious drifter, Ramón, and uncover a sinister notebook of stories.
Some Facts About André Øvredal
Directing Technique: André Øvredal’s unusual directing approach with actors is, as he explains, to allow actors “the freedom to say whatever they wanted—as long as they didn’t say what was in the script.”
