From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Michael "Breck" Eisner (born December 24, 1970) is an American television and film director.

Life and career

Eisner was born Michael Eisner in California, the son of Jane Breckenridge, a business advisor and computer programmer, and Michael Eisner, the former Walt Disney Company chief executive.^[1] Eisner attended Harvard High School (now Harvard Westlake), Georgetown University, and the University of Southern California's film school. At USC, he directed his MFA thesis film, Recon, which starred Peter Gabriel.

Directing career

For a directing project at Georgetown, he filmed a contemporary riff on Alice in Wonderland, shooting scenes in the vast empty attic of Healy Hall on the campus, as well as in an abandoned circular trolley-car tunnel under Dupont Circle in the District of Columbia. He also directed a Shakespeare play on the campus.

Eisner had used some of Digital Domain's processors to render images for his film, and the company suggested he meet with some commercial production houses. Thus began his career as a director of commercials, and after only a year-and-a-half, Eisner had directed 14 high-profile spots. His first commercial was Budweiser's Powersurge, which aired during the 1997 Super Bowl. He also took the helm for Rold Gold Pretzels' Comrades starring Jason Alexander, which featured Pretzel Boy on a rescue mission to Mir Space station. Eisner's two anti-smoking spots for the California Department of Health Services, Gala Event and Funeral, were selected as Best Spots in back-to-back issues of Adweek. In addition, Eisner's Mad Dog for Coors's Zima aired during the Seinfeld finale and was chosen by USA Today's "Ad Meter" as the #1 spot. He has also done commercials for Sony, Sega and Coca-Cola.

Eisner's success in the commercial world opened the door for him to direct the TV movie The Invisible Man for The Sci Fi Channel. That led to an episode of DreamWorks Television's mini-series Taken (2002), executive-produced by Steven Spielberg and starring Dakota Fanning.

His film debut was the crime drama Thoughtcrimes (2003), which went straight to DVD/Video. He then directed Sahara (2005), starring Matthew McConaughey, Penélope Cruz and William H. Macy.^[2] The movie is considered one of the biggest financial failures in Hollywood history.^[3][4][5]

Eisner currently works as a director of film and television. In October 2005, it was announced that Eisner would direct a remake of the classic monster movie Creature from the Black Lagoon which was dropped in 2009 for unnamed reasons, and in February 2008 it was announced that he would direct The Crazies, a remake of the film of the same name, due to be released in 2010.^[6] In December 2009 was announced he will direct the Remake's of Flash Gordon and The Brood, after resigns from the Creature from the Black Lagoon remake.^[7]

Filmography

As director

• Recon (1996)
• The Invisible Man (2000), a TV series pilot
• Taken (2002) (mini-series), episode "Jacob and Jesse"
• Thought Crimes USA Network pilot (2003)
• Sahara (2005)
• Beyond Fox Television pilot (2006)
• Fear Itself (2008) TV Series (Episode "The Sacrifice")
• The Crazies (2010)

Various commercials, including one for Powerbar in 1999.

As producer

• A Sound of Thunder (2005 movie)^[8]

As actor

• The Auteur Theory (1999), playing Moshe from the "film" Brooklyn Will Be Ours

Presonal life

He is married to Georgia Irwin^[9], her father is a real estate broker in Palm Springs who developed and sold La Mancha, a resort there. Her late grandfather Carroll Rosenbloom owned the Los Angeles Rams and the Baltimore Colts.

References