Renny Harlin

Early life Harlin was born in Riihimäki, Finland. His father was Oiva Harjola (formerly Harlin), a chief physician at Riihimäki Hospital, and his mother was Liisa Koskiluoma, a nurse. Since 1987, Renny's surname has been Harlin, his father's original surname. Harlin started his career in the film business in the beginning of the 1980s, directing commercials and company films for companies like Shell. Later, he worked as a buyer for a Finnish film distributor and met fellow Finn Markus Selin in Los Angeles in 1982. They became friends and started writing a screenplay called "Arctic Heat", which later evolved into Born American, with Mike Norris in the leading role. They secured financing from the U.S., and in 1986, Born American became the most expensive Finnish film ever. It opened in the U.S. in over 1,000 theatres. By 9 July 1986, he set up his own production company with partner Selin, Larmark Productions, with the first two projects going low-budget, and it was a Los Angeles-based production company.

Harlin moved to Los Angeles and got a job from Irwin Yablans, who offered him a script of Prison to film. The film was made with a low budget and distributed with only 42 copies. In the same year, 1988, he got a job from New Line Cinema to direct A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988) after meeting producer Robert Shaye, who at first did not want Harlin to direct the film. It became the highest-grossing film in the series until the 2003 release of Freddy vs. Jason, and its budget was seven times greater than the original A Nightmare on Elm Street.

Breakthrough and the 1990s After the success of The Dream Master, Harlin was set to direct the science-fiction thriller Alien 3. He was attached to the project for a little over a year, but left due to creative differences with the producers.

The comedy The Adventures of Ford Fairlane and the action thriller Die Hard 2 were edited simultaneously and released a week apart in 1990. The former flopped, but the latter was a commercial success. Harlin achieved critical acclaim the following year when he produced Rambling Rose through his own Midnight Sun Pictures for director Martha Coolidge. The film won Best Feature at the 1992 Independent Spirit Awards and earned its star and Harlin's then-partner Laura Dern a Best Actress Oscar nomination at the 1992 Academy Awards.

Harlin, Selin and a number of other businessmen founded the indoor amusement park Planet FunFun in Kerava, Finland, in 1992, which included everything from a tropical park to a cinema park, the latter of which Harlin also gave his own special stamp to by loaning his film sets and props to special theme rooms. The park also hosted sports competitions and filmed television series. However, Planet FunFun was short-lived, closing in 1995.

1993's action thriller Cliffhanger was Harlin's first film with Sylvester Stallone. Harlin's career suffered a blow with the pirate adventure film Cutthroat Island in 1995, which starred Harlin's then-wife, Geena Davis. Cutthroat Island was one of the biggest box-office bombs of all time, losing $147 million and leading to the bankruptcy of Carolco Pictures. Harlin did go on to have moderate success with Long Kiss Goodnight, starring Samuel L. Jackson and Davis in 1996, and the science fiction horror film Deep Blue Sea in 1999.

2000s Harlin wanted to direct a movie based on Formula One, but unable to secure the rights, he instead directed and produced the film Driven in 2001, based on the American Champ Car series.

Harlin took over directing the action mystery film Mindhunters when the original director Peter Howitt dropped out, but the release was delayed by studio conflicts. Harlin went on to re-shoot a more traditional horror version of Exorcist: The Beginning (2004), after the studio was unhappy with the version cut by director Paul Schrader, which was more of a psychological drama. Mindhunters was released in the US in 2005.

Harlin directed the WWE Studios action movie 12 Rounds, starring John Cena. It was released in March 2009. In 2009, Harlin directed an independent war film in Georgia. The film, 5 Days of War, was a story about the 2008 war between Georgia and Russia in the region of South Ossetia. The film included real-life figures, including Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, played by Andy García.

2010s and move to China

Harlin next directed the 2013 film Devil's Pass, set in Russia's Ural Mountains and loosely based on the Dyatlov Pass incident in 1959, when nine experienced hikers were found dead. Harlin then directed The Legend of Hercules, which opened in theatres on 10 January 2014. One of two Hercules movies released in 2014 – the other being Hercules, starring Dwayne Johnson – it was critically panned and was a box-office bomb.

Harlin directed the 2016 action comedy film Skiptrace, which starred Jackie Chan alongside Johnny Knoxville and Fan Bingbing. He then directed the 2018 film Legend of the Ancient Sword for Alibaba Pictures, based on a Chinese role-playing video game. The film was a box-office bomb, grossing only $1.25 million against a budget of $11 million. More recently, his film The Misfits received U.S. and international deals.

In 2021, he was selected as jury member at 11th Beijing International Film Festival.

Unproduced and upcoming films In the late 1980s, Harlin was attached as the original director of Alien 3, developing the film for a year before departing from the production due to creative differences.

From the late 1980s and going into the 1990s, Harlin was attached to multiple projects at Carolco. Among them were Child of the Dragon, a starring vehicle for Brandon Lee written by Barry Beckerman about a leader of a Chinese student rebellion who comes to America to rescue his sister, and Sandbox Club written by Tom DeCerchio.

Harlin was interested in making a biopic about fellow Finnish personality, composer and national hero Jean Sibelius. Die Hard 2 used Sibelius' Finlandia in a crucial scene, but the Sibelius movie was eventually directed by Timo Koivusalo in 2003.

In August 1992, Harlin had lined up Warriors of the Rainbow to be his next film following Cliffhanger, reteaming with producer Mario Kassar. The script was written by David Williamson and John Briley and focused on Greenpeace, specifically the early 1970s work of Robert Hunter. "My life's mission is to make that movie," Harlin stressed to Variety. "I hope it will attract a name star. I want to make movies of substance–that will entertain and make people think." He wanted to cast both John Lithgow and Dern for undisclosed parts in the film. At the time, he planned to follow it up with a film for Warner Bros., The Original Gangster, which deals with black L.A. gangs in the 1960s and with one of the founders of the Crips. Richard Dilello was writing the script. Harlin dubbed the story as one about "making peace instead of violence." Approximately $1.3 million in development costs was spent on Warriors of the Rainbow, despite never going into production. but this never occurred.

In June 1993, Harlin was attached to direct John Milius' script of the Sgt. Rock comics as his next film following Cliffhanger, in which he was to reteam with producer Joel Silver. Arnold Schwarzenegger was to star in the title role. At the time, Harlin was also developing the directing vehicle Love and Honor, an epic in Russia. Neither film was ever made.

In July 1993, Harlin was set to direct Flies (also referred to as The Fly III), a sequel to David Cronenberg's The Fly with his then-wife Davis reprising her role. The script by Richard Jefferies featured a story in which Davis' character gives birth to twin boys, and is later suspected of murder when she merges their untainted human genes into a single being, fearing that they both would begin developing fly-hybrid characteristics. Harlin and Davis were also going to collaborate on an adaptation of Mistress of the Seas, but opted to do Cutthroat Island instead.

In April 1995, HBO was reportedly developing a horror series called Fear Itself, about phobias, set to be directed by Harlin, written by Shane Black and produced by Michael De Luca.

In May 1995, following The Long Kiss Goodnight, Harlin and Davis intended to follow up with Exit Zero, a spec script by Kurt Wimmer about "what would happen if the Internet achieves consciousness and decides that the fate of the world is better off in its hands than it is in mankind's." Harlin was to direct and produce for New Line Cinema.

In 1996, he was attached to producer Silver's long-in-the-works project Isobar.

In 1997 he was going to direct Frequency for New Line Cinema, but allegedly the film got into trouble after Stallone asked too much for playing the lead. Eventually film was directed by Gregory Hoblit and starring Dennis Quaid.

In 1998, Warner Bros. acquired a pitch by Talley Griffith called Time Out, which Harlin developed to direct into a film.

In 1999, Harlin began developing the action-comedy Nosebleed at New Line Cinema, starring Chan as a window washer who foils a terrorist attack to destroy the World Trade Center. The film was delayed after changing studios to MGM in May 2001. After the September 11 attacks the plot was drastically rewritten ultimately before being completely shelved. Chan later told Oriental Daily News that the film was scheduled to begin filming at the North Tower less than two hours before it was hit by American Airlines Flight 11, and that he only escaped the attack because he made a last-minute decision to travel to Toronto to begin filming The Tuxedo instead. Although the director was changed, Harlin was credited as a producer when the finished film was released in 2005.

In 2002, Harlin became attached to direct Land of Legend for Crusader Entertainment instead. The film, with a screenplay by Chris Hauty, was billed as an epic set in the 9th century, that follows a Danish prince who is sold into slavery as a child and returns home fifteen years later to exact revenge on the people who did him wrong. Harlin was expected to start work on the project following Mindhunters.

In 2004, it was reported that Harlin was hired to develop and direct a feature based on the graphic novel Full Moon Fever by Joe Casey, for producers Adrian Askarieh and Daniel Alter. Production began in 2008 with Mikko Nousiainen starring as Mannerheim, and the film was to premiere in Helsinki on January 15, 2010.

In 2007, it was announced that Harlin would direct an adaptation of the comic-book series Brodie's Law.

In 2011, it was reported that he was planning a sequel to The Long Kiss Goodnight.

On 16 June 2017 it was announced Harlin will direct Hanging Coffins for Shanghai Film Group and Shanghai New Wave Films. On 18 June 2017, it was announced Harlin will direct Operation Somalia. The film's story, based on true events, revolves around a rescue operation against Somali pirates mounted by Chinese Special Operations Forces. On 8 May 2018, it was announced Harlin will direct Solara, a Chinese sci-fi epic revolving around an international team that must work together to save Earth from a global catastrophe. On 18 June 2018 it was announced Harlin will direct Operation Wild.

On January 19, 2021, it was announced that Harlin will direct the new Inspector Palmu film, based on a character created by Finnish writer Mika Waltari. Although the film is shot in Finland, unlike the previous Finnish-language Palmu films, Harlin's film is becoming an international English-language production, where an actor is also being sought internationally for the title role. Filming of the new Inspector Palmu should begin at the end of 2024.

A sequel to The Postcard Killings, entitled The Postcard Killer, was announced in May 2024 with Harlin slated to direct. Filming was set to begin in fall 2024 in London, Madrid, Florence and Latvia, but was later pushed to January 2025.

Personal life Harlin was married to actress Geena Davis from 1993 to 1998. He had a son, Lucas, with Davis's personal assistant in 1997, which prompted the divorce. Since September 2021, Harlin has been married to fitness athlete and school teacher Johanna Harlin (née Kokkila). They have a daughter, born July 2022 and a son, born April 2024, both in Miami, Florida.

Harlin lived in the United States from the mid-1980s until 2014, when he moved to China. After Harlin finished the shooting of the Finnish film Reunion 3: Singles Cruise in 2020, he moved to Sofia, Bulgaria. He holds dual citizenship in Finland and the United States.

Filmography Film Feature film Year Title Director Producer Writer 1986 Born American 1987 Prison 1988 A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master 1990 Die Hard 2 The Adventures of Ford Fairlane 1991 Rambling Rose 1993 Cliffhanger 1994 Speechless 1995 Cutthroat Island 1996 The Long Kiss Goodnight 1999 Blast from the Past Deep Blue Sea 2001 Driven 2004 Mindhunters Exorcist: The Beginning 2006 The Covenant 2007 Cleaner 2009 12 Rounds 2011 5 Days of War The Resident 2013 Devil's Pass 2014 The Legend of Hercules 2016 Skiptrace 2018 Legend of the Ancient Sword 2019 Bodies at Rest 2021 The Misfits Reunion 3: Singles Cruise 2023 Refuge The Bricklayer 2024 The Strangers: Chapter 1 2025 The Strangers – Chapter 2 2026 The Strangers – Chapter 3 Deep Water The Beast 2027 Black Tides

Short film Year Title Director Producer Writer Notes 1980 Huostaanotto as Lauri Harjola 1981 Kohtauspaikka 33 as Lauri Harjola 1994 The Foot Shooting Party

Television Year Title Director Producer Writer Notes 1993–1994 Gladiaattorit Wrote and produced 54 episodes, directed 21 episodes 1996 Mistrial Television film 2011–2012 Burn Notice 4 episodes2012 White Collar Episode: "Gloves Off" Covert Affairs Episode: "Lady Stardust" 2013 Graceland 3 episodes

Awards and nominations Year Award Category Recipient Result 1990 Saturn Awards Best Director A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master 1991 Golden Raspberry Awards Worst Director The Adventures of Ford Fairlane 1996 Cutthroat Island 2002 Driven 2005 Exorcist: The Beginning 2015 The Legend of Hercules 2022 The Misfits