Born in Vienna on March 26, 1971, Francis Lawrence moved to Los Angeles at the age of 4 following his father who became a physics lecturer at California State University. He started his career in film as a camera assistant in films Pump Up the Volume (1990).
After being assistant director Anton Vassil in the film Marching Out of Time (1993), Francis Lawrence began collaborating with his colleagues to create music videos for musicians.
Some of his music videos include “I Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing” from Aerosmith, “Independent Women – Part I” from Destiny’s Child, and “I’m a Slave for You” from Britney Spears.
The music video he made has slick visuals and has a storyline like a movie. So when the offer to direct a film featurehe immediately accepted it.
And now, after a decade has passed, Francis Lawrence has become one of Hollywood’s top directors. Come on, see the following list of the best films!
Also read: The 7 Best Films by Director Christopher Landon
1. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
Nice enough to refine two film adaptations of novels, Francis Lawrence was appointed as the director for the sequel films The Hunger Games (2012), that is The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.
The story continues the ending of the first film, several months after Katniss and Peeta won the 74th edition of the Hunger Games. They became symbols that sparked the people of District 12 to revolt.
Besides that, Katniss is also trapped in a love affair with Gale who is jealous of Peeta. And they also have to prepare for the 75th tournament as reigning champions.
In the hands of Francis Lawrence, this film appears smoothly and intelligently where the script is able to dig deeper into the characters, emotions and situations that occur in the storyline.
Jennifer Lawrence appeared in a slick performance under his direction and this film also presents a song written and performed by Coldplay entitled “Atlas” which was successfully entered as the nominee at the Grammy Awards and the Golden Globe Awards.
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Made it into a movie box-office with revenues of $ 424 million against a production budget of $ 130 million, this film is the best in terms of quality and grossing based on its income. So it is only natural that Francis Lawrence is retained to direct the next two films.
2. I Am Legend
Film action thrillers Set after the apocalypse, this is an adaptation of the novel by Richard Matheson. Became the third film to adapt the novel, after The Last Man on Earth (1964) and The Omega Man (1971), this time Will Smith played the role of Robert Neville, the last human living in New York City.
This film is brought to life by Will Smith’s stunning acting which is very total and ties the story together. The production design and use of visual effects look neat.
Washington Square in New York City was vacated for the purposes of shooting at night. Meanwhile the mostly empty city scene was rendered using visual effects, so that some objects could be removed from the image.
The film was a resounding success, grossing $256 million against a production budget of $150 million. Plans for a sequel film have been planned for a long time but failed to get the green light many times.
In 2022, it is reported that Francis Lawrence is ready to work on a sequel with Will Smith returning as Robert Neville and supported by Michael B. Jordan as an actor and producer of the film.
The plan, the story in this sequel film to continue alternate ending different from what is shown in the film. Alternate endings this can only be found in the DVD version special edition which was released in 2008.
Responding to the requests of his fans, the second film will start the story from the end alternate ending the first film.
3. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2
Katniss is now leading the rebel struggle to overthrow the power of the Capitol which is in the hands of President Snow. What’s more, Katniss has a personal grudge against Snow.
With the support of all the Districts, except for District 2 which is still controlled by Snow, they advance towards the Capitol.
Even though it’s still far from the best ending of an action saga, Francis Lawrence managed to present a series of scenes action which is exciting and depicts the nuances of dark pain in the storyline. As a result, overall this film performs satisfactorily as the closing film of the saga The Hunger Games.
4. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1
