John L'Ecuyer

John L'Ecuyer (born November 15, 1964) is a Canadian film and television director.

Biography Born in Montreal, L'Ecuyer later moved and studied at Ryerson Polytechnical Institute in Toronto, where his classmates included screenwriter Brad Abraham. His brother Gerald L'Ecuyer is also a film and television director.

L'Ecuyer's first feature, Curtis's Charm (1995), based on a short story by Jim Carroll, starred Maurice Dean Wint as Curtis, a paranoid drug addict who believes his mother-in-law has cast a voodoo spell on him, which has resulted in his being stalked by a killer squirrel. It was shot on black and white 16 mm film.

The film, executive produced by Atom Egoyan and Patricia Rozema, premiered at the 1995 Toronto International Film Festival, where it received a special jury citation as Best Canadian Feature Film.

Also at TIFF that year, L'Ecuyer's short film Use Once and Destroy (1995) received another special jury citation at the festival, for Best Canadian Short Film. The short film was based on his own book, titled UseOnceAndDestroy, which was published in 1998 by Gutter Press.

L'Ecuyer's other feature film credits include Saint Jude and On the Verge of a Fever, both of which premiered at TIFF. His feature documentary, Confessions of a Rabid Dog, won Best Social Documentary at HotDocs.

In 1999, Playback called him "one of the country’s top dramatic directors."

Since the 2000s, L'Ecuyer has worked primarily in television. His television work includes dozens of popular series such as ReGenesis and Murdoch Mysteries, and he has also directed over a dozen made-for-television films.

Filmography Film Short film Year Title Director Writer1994 It's a Beautiful Day Low Life 1995 Use Once and Destroy

Feature film Year Title Director Writer 1995 Curtis's Charm 1997 Confessions of a Rabid Dog 2000 Saint Jude 2004 On the Verge of a Fever 2014 A Date with Miss Fortune

Television

TV movies Tagged: The Jonathan Wamback Story (2001) Choice: The Henry Morgentaler Story (2003) Prom Queen: The Marc Hall Story (2004) Under the Dragon's Tail (2005) In God's Country (2007) The Good Times are Killing Me (2008) The Riverbank (2012) Sorority Surrogate (2013) My Daughter's Nightmare (2013) Early Release (2016) Gwen Shamblin: Starving for Salvation (2023)