Renny Harlin

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Birth Name: Lauri Mauritz Harjola

Age: 64, born 15 March 1959

Country of origin: Finland

Currently Residing In: United States

Height: 6' 4"

Relationship Status: Married

Partner: Johanna Harlin

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Finnish Film Directors (77 items)
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Published 12 years, 4 months ago

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Description: Born in 15 March 1959 as Renny Lauri Mauritz Harjola, he is the most successful Finnish film director in the history of Hollywood. Harlin started his career in film business in the beginning of 1980s when he was directing commercials and company films for companies like Shell. Later he worked as a buyer for Finnish film distributor and met Finnish Markus Selin in Los Angeles. They became friends and started writing a screenplay called "Arctic Heat". The project started fast and soon they had Chuck Norris signed on leading role for the film. But with money problems shooting schedule didn't hold and Norris left the pr Born in 15 March 1959 as Renny Lauri Mauritz Harjola, he is the most successful Finnish film director in the history of Hollywood.

Harlin started his career in film business in the beginning of 1980s when he was directing commercials and company films for companies like Shell. Later he worked as a buyer for Finnish film distributor and met Finnish Markus Selin in Los Angeles. They became friends and started writing a screenplay called "Arctic Heat". The project started fast and soon they had Chuck Norris signed on leading role for the film. But with money problems shooting schedule didn't hold and Norris left the project, but Selin and Harlin got Mike Norris for the leading role. They wrote new script, Infierno en el Ártico (1986), and got financial help from USA. In the year 1986 Infierno en el Ártico (1986) was finished and the most expensive Finnish film ever opened in USA in over 1,000 theaters and reached no 9.

The film wasn't successful in Finland, where it was banned. Harlin moved to Los Angeles and got a job from _Halloween_ producer Irwin Yablans who offered him script of "Prison" to film. Film was made with low budget and distributed with only 42 copies. In the same year 1988 he got a job from New Line Cinema to direct Pesadilla en Elm Street 4 (1988) after meeting producer Robert Shaye numerous times, who at the first didn't want Harlin to direct the film. It became the highest-grossing film in the series, though its budget was seven times greater than the original "A Nightmare on Elm Street" film.

20th Century Fox wanted Harlin to direct the Andrew Dice Clay rock'n roll comedy Las aventuras de Ford Fairlane (1990) and also a sequel to Jungla de cristal (1988). Harlin made the both, but only La jungla 2 (Alerta roja) (1990) was commercially successful, with over 239 million dollar worldwide gross. Next he directed Máximo riesgo (1993) with Sylvester Stallone which made $255 million worldwide and was nominated for 3 Oscar's. Before Máximo riesgo (1993) Harlin was hired to direct "Alien³" but he left the project because of creative differences.

His next film La isla de las Cabezas Cortadas (1995) was a pirate film made with $100 million budget. Unfortunately it came out without good promotion and flopped badly. It made only $10 million in USA and for a time became the biggest flop in Hollywood history. But for Harlin, it wasn't a total loss.

Memoria letal (1996) was a critical success, but was a box office flop, grossing only $30 million domestically with a $65 million budget.

In year 1998, Warner Bros. wanted a summer blockbuster for the year 1999 and Renny Harlin was the right name to direct. Deep Blue Sea (1999) came to theaters after costing 60 million dollars to film and made $160 million worldwide. The film never hit the top spot in the USA but still grossed $73 millions in the USA alone.

Harlin was hired to direct El exorcista: El comienzo (2004) after John Frankenheimer left the job and died shortly after it, and Paul Schrader was fired. Producers knew that Harlin could made a blockbuster even with the weak script, and so he did. With $50 million budget the film opened in number 1 and grossed $80 million worldwide.

Probably most liked Harlin's film Cazadores de mentes (2004) was released in 2004 after years post-production. It was released in USA in 2005 in over 1,000 theaters but it only reached 10th place. In 9 weeks it grossed only $4 million dollars.

La alianza del mal (2006) was released in 2006. With non-famous (but attractive) actors, the film hit the top in its opening weekend and became a successful film. With a $20 million budget, it grossed $37 million worldwide and DVD sale brought $20 million more. ... (more)

Tags: Finnish (2), Director (2), Born 1959 (2), Writer (1), Producer (1), Actor (1), Cinematographer (1)

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Movies directed by

Most popular

Top rated

Most recent

1. Die Hard 2: Die Harder (1990)

Rating:

6.8

2357 Watched

2. Deep Blue Sea (1999)

Rating:

5.2

1318 Watched

3. Cliffhanger (1993)

Rating:

5.9

1040 Watched

4. A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988)

Rating:

5.8

715 Watched

5. The Long Kiss Goodnight

Rating:

6.3

628 Watched

View all Renny Harlin movies (15 more)

Movies

Most popular

Top rated

Most recent

1. Deep Blue Sea (1999)

Rating:

5.2

1318 Watched

2. A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988)

Rating:

5.8

715 Watched

3. Cutthroat Island (1995)

Rating:

368 Watched

4. Driven (2001)

Rating:

277 Watched

5. 12 Rounds (2009)

Rating:

5.2

226 Watched

View all Renny Harlin movies (7 more)

TV directed by

Most popular

Top rated

Most recent

1. White Collar (2009)

Rating:

7.9

552 Watched

2. Burn Notice

Rating:

7.5

445 Watched

3. Covert Affairs

Rating:

7.1

153 Watched

4. Graceland (2013)

Rating:

7.1

57 Watched

5. Making the Video

Rating:

7.1

22 Watched

View all Renny Harlin TV (1 more)

TV

Most popular

Top rated

Most recent

1. Late Night with Conan O'Brien (1993)

Rating:

7.3

637 Watched

2. E! True Hollywood Story

Rating:

100 Watched

3. Biography

Rating:

7.9

73 Watched

4. Cinema 3 (1984-2016)

Rating:

9.3

8 Watched

5. 4Pop (2003)

Rating:

9.3

4 Watched

View all Renny Harlin TV (9 more)

Movies written by

1. The Legend of Hercules (2014)

Rating:

3.6

173 Watched

2. Prison (1987)

Rating:

6.1

74 Watched

3. Born American (1986)

Rating:

4.8

47 Watched

TV written by

1. Gladiaattorit

Rating:

2 Watched

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Top Grossing Directors (200 person items)

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Films that Director's Never Got to Make or Wanted (81 person items)

"1991 "Gale Force" (remake of "Key Largo" was planned, but nothing happened with it) 1991 "Torpedo" (gangster film set in 1939 was planned, but nothing happened with it) 1991 "The Saint" (was offered, but nothing happened with it) 1992 "Fade (film with Steven Spielberg producing, but nothing happened with it) 1992 "Alien 3" (worked on it for over a year before asking to leave because the script was not satisfactory). 1994 "The Day the Earth Caught Fire" (wanted to make a remake of the film h"

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