Kathryn Ann Bigelow (born November 27, 1951) is an American film director from San Carlos, California, known for her adrenaline-soaked action movies and also for being the first woman to win the Academy Award for Best Director (for The Hurt Locker).
All of her movies tend to focus on characters who knowingly and willingly place themselves in harm's way in order to accomplish something that has to be done and at times seem to be addicted to the thrill of the chase.
From 1989 to 1991, she was married to James Cameron, who co-wrote and produced her film Strange Days. Some were afraid this would cause awkwardness during the 2009 Oscar race, when her film The Hurt Locker and his film Avatar were considered the frontrunners for Best Picture, but there was no bad blood between them at all, with Cameron praising The Hurt Locker for being "this generation's Platoon" and even encouraging Academy voters to vote for Bigelow as Best Director.
Her film Zero Dark Thirty, about the hunt to assassinate Osama bin Laden, was nominated for Best Picture, but also attracted strong controversy.
Filmography:
- The Loveless (1982)
- Near Dark (1987)
- Blue Steel (1989)
- Point Break (1991)
- Strange Days (1995)
- Homicide: Life on the Street (1998-1999) (3 episodes)
- The Weight Of Water (2000)
- K-19: The Widowmaker (2002)
- The Hurt Locker (2008)
- Zero Dark Thirty (2012)
- Detroit (2017)
Tropes applying to her and her work:
- Acclaimed Flop: Strange Days and Detroit
- Amicable Exes: With James Cameron, to the point of even working together on Strange Days years after their divorce.
- Blood Knight / Determinator: Her main characters are usually both.
- Career Resurrection: After years away from the camera, she returned with The Hurt Locker, which appeared on countless critics' Top 10 lists and swept the Academy Awards that year, even making Bigelow the first woman to win Best Director.
- Deconstructor Fleet
- Jitter Cam: All of her movies starting from The Hurt Locker contain this.
- Older Than They Look: She was 59 when the page photo was taken. Fifty-nine.
- Playing Against Type: Her most popular pre-Hurt Locker film was Point Break (1991), a movie that contains almost none of her subversive qualities or subtext, and is now remembered for being
So Bad, It's Good, Totally Radical and an Unintentional Period Piece. Before that, she directed Near Dark, a vampire western that helped reinvent the vampire genre. - Production Posse: With writer/producer Mark Boal and Ralph Fiennes.
- Statuesque Stunner: She's six feet tall and, as the page image shows, very attractive.
- This Loser Is You
- Working with the Ex: With James Cameron on Strange Days.
