Alan Jacobs

Alan Jacobs is an American independent film director, screenwriter and producer, best known for his films Nina Takes a Lover and Down for Life (2009).

Born in Tappan, New York, Jacobs' career began at Apple Inc., where he was the in-house filmmaker. Jacobs attended Tappan Zee High School, in Orangeburg, New York. He then studied writing and literature at Wesleyan University and later received an MBA from the Stanford Business School. That year he wrote the screenplays for two movies based in San Francisco, California: Nina Takes a Lover and Just One Night (then titled SFO).

Nina Takes a Lover (1994) His first feature, Nina Takes a Lover (1994), was an independent film that Jacobs wrote, directed and produced for $600,000. The film features a young woman who retells the story of an affair she had when she felt that the romance had disappeared from her marriage. At the movie's end, the viewer learns that the affair was an elaborate sexual roleplay with her actual husband. Jacobs funded the film in part with help from his former classmates at Stanford's Graduate School of Business.

Both the Sundance Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival accepted the film. At Sundance, the film was a nominee for the Grand Jury Prize in the Dramatic category. Columbia Pictures bought the rights to Nina Takes a Lover and distributed it theatrically.

Todd McCarthy of Variety called it "a wisp of a film that leaves no indelible impression save a general attractiveness and civilized sensibility." Roger Ebert praised the acting and said the two leads "generate authentic chemistry," but said he "felt vaguely cheated and empty" when the movie concluded.

TV Guide said "San Francisco's charm is well used" and the film makes it seem "like the most romantic city on earth." David Armstrong of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote that while the film's twist ending didn't feel convincing, Alan Jacobs "coaxes warm yet wary performances from his actors" and "has a good ear for how lovers talk - the shyly revealed secrets, the shared code words - and a strong sense of the way newly intimate strangers peel away layers of defense, their own and the other person's." Mick LaSalle, also of the San Francisco Chronicle, called it "a nice little picture" that showed a non-tourist side of San Francisco and gave Jacobs "a good track record".

Also in 2000, Jacobs co-directed the Indian-US animated co-production Sinbad: Beyond the Veil of Mists with Evan Ricks. It was the first full-length animated movie ever created solely from the motion capture process. The movie tells the story of Sinbad the Sailor, best known from One Thousand and One Nights, as he seeks the ingredients for a magic potion to save the life of a king. The film starred Brendan Fraser as Sinbad, with Leonard Nimoy and Mark Hamill in supporting roles.

Moria Reviews described some of the film's early scenes as "uninvolving" and that the film's limited technology came out "looking like a Pixar test reel." However, the reviewer also praised the film's "conceptual wildness of animation" and the more exciting adventure scenes in its second half, such as a sequence with a giant robotic manta ray.

In 2002, Miramax Films released Jacob's next film, American Gun (2002), which he wrote and directed. Starring James Coburn, Virginia Madsen, and Barbara Bain, the film tells interwoven stories centering on a fatal shooting. Critics generally praised Coburn's lead role, with Andrew Wright of The Portland Mercury writing, "Coburn is the whole show [here]."

Jacobs' directing and screenplay drew a variety of reactions. David Hunter of The Hollywood Reporter wrote that Jacobs was "getting a lot of quality cinema out of a tight budget" and praised the "risky" storytelling,

Inspired by films that had previously used amateur actors "with great success" – such as Roberto Rossellini's Rome, Open City, Vittorio De Sica's Bicycle Thieves, and Fernando Meirelles's City of God – Jacobs took a similarly neorealist approach by seeking an amateur performer for Down for Life'''s lead role of "Rascal." He told the Los Angeles Times, "I figured it would be easier to teach a street kid to act than to teach a teen actor to play street."

After a casting search that included thousands of teenagers at Los Angeles high schools, he cast Jessica Romero in her film debut and other amateur actors in various roles. Adult cast members include Danny Glover as a supportive teacher, Kate del Castillo, Laz Alonso, Elizabeth Peña, and a cameo by rapper Snoop Dogg. Much of the film was shot on location at Locke High School, which the film's real-life inspiration Lesly Castillo was attending at the time she wrote her essay. Peter Brunette of The Hollywood Reporter praised the film's realism and "authenticity", noting, "Jacobs also has a remarkable feel for rhythm". Down for Life was included in the first film festival at the Simon Wiesenthal Center's Museum of Tolerance in 2010. In 2019, BuzzFeed included it on a list of the 27 most popular Latino movies. In 2021, the US Congressional Hispanic Caucus nominated Down for Life to be included in the National Film Registry as one of 25 "important examples of Latino artistic and cinematic achievement."

Armadillo United In January 2025, it was announced that Jacobs' next project would be Armadillo United, a "fantastical sports comedy" about a youth soccer team that advances to the World Cup of Youth Soccer. The film's cast includes Rubén Blades, Danny Trejo, Danay Garcia, and Antonio Banderas, with Banderas playing an ice cream vendor who believes himself to be Argentine soccer legend Diego Maradona. The film is being made in coordination with Houston Dynamo of Major League Soccer.

Other activities

Jacobs is the founder and president of Archer Entertainment Group, an integrated media and production company. In 2021, he founded JFI, a non-profit that benefits Arab and Jewish filmmakers in Israel.

Filmography Nina Takes a Lover—director, producer, writer Mail Bonding—writer, executive producer Sinbad: Beyond the Veil of Mists—director Just One Night—director, writer American Gun—director, writer Down for Life''—director, writer