Susanne Bier
Susanne Bier is the only female Danish filmmaker to make movies in the Hollywood studio system and to have received two nominations for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, launching her filmmaking career with her graduation film made at the Danish National Film School titled De Saliges (1987), which won best film at the Munich Film School Film Festival and released by Channel Four (U.K.). Bier made her feature directorial debut with the Swedish comedy, Freud Leaving Home (1991), followed by the mid-length Swedish drama, Letter to Jonas (1992); her first Danish-based feature as director, Family Matters (1993), the Danish Swedish drama, Like it Was Never Before (1995), and as director/co-writer of the Danish thriller, Credo (1997).
Bier directed and executive produced the biggest Danish box office hit in years with the rom com, The One and Only (1999), starring Sidse Babett Knudsen, Niels Olsen and Paprika Steen, winning both the Robert and Bodil Awards for Best Film, and then Bier directed the Swedish music-based comedy, Once in a Lifetime (2000), followed by the Danish drama, Open Hearts (2002), written by Anders Thomas Jensen, co-starring Mads Mikkelsen, Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Sonja Richter and Paprika Steen, and which was distributed by Newmarket Films. Bier continued with co-writer Jensen and as director of the Danish drama, Brothers (2004), co-starring Ulrich Thomsen, Connie Nielsen and Nikolaj Lie Kaas, produced by Zentropa and released by Focus Features (U.S.)/Nordisk Film (Denmark, Scandinavia).
Susanne Bier had one of her earliest international successes as director/story writer of the acclaimed Danish drama, After the Wedding (2006), again with screenwriter Anders Thomas Jensen, co-starring Mads Mikkelsen, Sidse Babett Knudsen and Rolf Lassgard, produced (in part) by Zentropa/Danish Film Institute/Sigma Films and which was distributed by IFC Films (U.S.)/Nordisk Film Biografdistribution (Denmark)/Nordisk Film/Swedish Film Institute (Sweden)/Sony Pictures Releasing International (International) after launching internationally at the Toronto Film Festival. Bier directed her first American movie, Things We Lost in the Fire (2007), starring Halle Berry, Benicio del Toro and David Duchovny, written by Allan Loeb, produced by Sam Mendes and Sam Mercer and which was a money loser for distributor Paramount Pictures (based on estimated costs).
Bier won the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar as well as the Best Director in the European Film Awards as director/co-writer (with Anders Thomas Jensen) of the Danish Swedish co-production, In a Better World (2010), co-starring Mikael Persbrandt, Trine Dyrholm and Ulrich Thomsen, produced by Zentropa, and released (in part) by Sony Pictures Classics, grossing over $13 million worldwide. Bier was again director and story writer with her regular co-writer Jensen of the rom com Love Is All You Need (2012), co-starring Pierce Brosnan, Trine Dyrholm and Kim Bodnia, co-produced via Zentropa and Arte by Denmark/Sweden/Italy/France/Germany and filmed in the Danish, English and Italian languages, and distributed by Sony Pictures Classics (U.S.)/Les Films du Losange (France)/Nordisk Film (Scandinavia)/Prokino Filmverleih (Germany)/Teodora Film (Italy).
Susanne Bier continued as director/story writer (with regular writing partner Anders Thomas Jensen) of the Danish thriller, A Second Chance (2014), co-starring Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Ulrich Thomsen, Maria Bonnevie, Nikolaj Lie Kaas and Lykke May Andersen, produced (in part) by Zentropa and released (in part) by Rock Salt Releasing (U.S.)/Nordisk Film Distribution (Scandinavia)/KMBO (France)/EuroVideo (Germany). Bier was director/producer of her second U.S.-set drama, the big screen adaptation of Ron Rash’s 2008 novel by screenwriter Christopher Kyle, Serena (2014), starring Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Rhys Ifans, Toby Jones, Sean Harris and Ana Ularu, premiering at the London Film Festival before a poor box office (based on estimated costs) via Magnolia Pictures (U.S.)/StudioCanal (U.K., France).
Bier was director only of her second project adapting an English-language novel, Josh Malerman’s 2014 post-apocalyptic horror novel, Bird Box (2018), written by Eric Heisserer, starring Sandra Bullock, John Malkovich, Trevante Rhodes, Jacki Weaver, Rosa Salazar, Lil Rel Howery, Tom Hollander, BD Wong, Pruitt Taylor Vince and Sarah Paulson, and which was released theatrically and then on streaming by Netflix. Bier then made a long-term shift as director to streaming television, spending eight years as director/producer of various English-language streaming series (several starring Nicole Kidman), and then returning to the big screen and reuniting with co-stars and co-lead producers Bullock and Kidman for the long-delayed sequel, Practical Magic 2 (2026), co-written by Akiva Goldsman, Georgia Pritchett and Kelly Marcel adapting Alice Hoffman’s 2021 novel, The Book of Magic, with the supporting cast of Joey King, Lee Pace, Maisie Williams, Xolo Mariduena, Dianne Wiest and Stockard Channing, and which was released wide by Warner Bros. Pictures.
Known For
Susanne Bier Movies
Director
Previous (3)
- 2026 |
Practical Magic 2
A multi generational family of witches, cursed to be loveless for centuries, attempts to break the spell by confronting dark secrets and sacrificing for each other.
- 2019 |
After the Wedding
A manager of an orphanage in Kolkata travels to New York to meet a benefactor.
- 2018 |
Writer
Previous (1)
- 2019 |
After the Wedding
A manager of an orphanage in Kolkata travels to New York to meet a benefactor.
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