Ron Underwood

Ronald Brian Underwood (born November 6, 1953) is an American film and television director, known for directing such films as Tremors, City Slickers (1991), Heart and Souls (1993), and Mighty Joe Young (1998).

Early life Underwood was born November 6, 1953, in Glendale, California, the son of Ella Julia (née Green) and Laurence Joseph Underwood. In school he lived in Ceylon, now Sri Lanka, as an American Field Service Intercultural Programs exchange student. After graduating from high school, he briefly attended Occidental College as a pre-med student, but transferred to the USC School of Cinema-Television (now USC School of Cinematic Arts) after deciding to become a filmmaker. Underwood majored in cinema with a minor in anthropology. During a summer break while at USC, he directed the first film produced about the sport of hang gliding. "Hang Gliding: The New Freedom" was distributed by Paramount Communications, a short film division of Paramount Pictures.

Film career

Early career (1976–1989) Upon completion of his fellowship at the American Film Institute, Underwood began working as a staff director for Barr Films, a company specializing in the production of educational films. Underwood directed over one hundred short films, including an adaptation of the Kurt Vonnegut short story, "Deer in the Works", starring Dennis Dugan. While directing and producing short films for the educational market, Underwood pursued work in the motion picture industry. One of the first movies Underwood worked on was Futureworld (1976) as a production assistant. The film starred Blythe Danner and Peter Fonda, actors he would later direct in 2004. During the filming of Futureworld, one of his tasks was to babysit a young Gwyneth Paltrow while her mother, Ms. Danner, was shooting. Soon after Underwood served as the location manager on the Peter Hyams directed motion picture, Capricorn One (1978). Another early job was acting as assistant director to first-time director David Schmoeller on Tourist Trap, a low-budget horror film. After this he continued to direct and produce educational films and children's television for the next several years. In 1986 Underwood established himself as a director when his live action/stop motion film adaptation of Beverly Cleary's The Mouse and the Motorcycle won a Peabody Award, which was followed two years later by the sequel Runaway Ralph, for which he received a Daytime Emmy nomination.

Mainstream breakthrough (1990–present) Following his critically acclaimed venture into children's television, Underwood moved into directing feature films. His first effort was Tremors starring Kevin Bacon, Fred Ward, Michael Gross, and Reba McEntire in her acting debut. Written and produced by his friends Brent Maddock & S. S. Wilson, it was released by Universal Studios in 1990. The film was well received by the critics and later established itself as a cult classic.

Underwood received his first taste of commercial success with 1991's City Slickers, which starred Billy Crystal, Daniel Stern, Bruno Kirby and Jack Palance, who won an Academy Award for his performance. Billy Crystal was nominated for Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical in the Golden Globes for his role. The film made $179m worldwide with a budget of only $27m. It was the tenth most successful film released in 1991 (the fifth most successful in the US).

Underwood joined Brent Maddock, S. S. Wilson and Nancy Roberts to form Stampede Entertainment that produced his next film, also written by Maddock & Wilson, Heart and Souls (1993). It was again well-received by critics but struggled at the box office (making a total of $16m in the US). It starred Robert Downey, Jr., Alfre Woodard, Kyra Sedgwick, Charles Grodin, Tom Sizemore, Elisabeth Shue and David Paymer. He followed this with Speechless (1994), written by Robert King and starring Michael Keaton, Geena Davis and Christopher Reeve. Geena Davis was nominated for Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical in the Golden Globes for her performance.

Given the opportunity to direct a big-budget film by Walt Disney Pictures in 1998, he was asked to direct Mighty Joe Young, a remake of the 1949 RKO film. The film, starring Bill Paxton and Charlize Theron in her first lead role, was nominated for the Academy Award for Visual Effects and featured some of the most sophisticated visual effects seen in film up to that point, paving the way for later ape films like Peter Jackson's King Kong (2005). The special effects drove production costs to around $90m.

Following Mighty Joe Young, Underwood began work on the Eddie Murphy fronted The Adventures of Pluto Nash. The film also starred Rosario Dawson, Joe Pantoliano and Pam Grier. The film was greeted with poor critical reception and became a massive box office failure.

Underwood returned to his roots, directing both low-budget films and television. He directed Stealing Sinatra (2003) for Showtime, about the true story of the kidnapping of Frank Sinatra, Jr. for which William H. Macy received an Emmy nomination. He followed that with Back When We Were Grownups (2004) based on the Anne Tyler novel which garnered star Blythe Danner a nomination for an Emmy as well as a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress. The film also featured Peter Fonda, Faye Dunaway, and Jack Palance in his last role. This was followed by In the Mix (2005), starring R&B singer Usher and Chazz Palminteri for Lions Gate Entertainment. He has directed many television dramas, including episodes of Monk, Boston Legal, Ugly Betty, Heroes, Grey's Anatomy, Burn Notice, Once Upon a Time, Desperate Housewives, Nashville, Scandal, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., The Good Fight, Big Shot, Fear the Walking Dead, Evil, Watson and Elsbeth.

Filmography Short film Hang Gliding: The New Freedom (1973) Courtesy: A Good Eggsample (1976) Deer in the Works (1980) A Case of Working Smarter, Not Harder (1982) Library Report (1983) Overcoming Objections (1984) Living With Computers (1984) Motivation: The Classic Concepts (1985) The Meeting Robbers (1986)

Feature film Director Tremors (1990) (Also story writer) City Slickers (1991) Heart and Souls (1993) Speechless (1994) Mighty Joe Young (1998) The Adventures of Pluto Nash (2002) In the Mix (2005)

Other credits

Television

TV movies Stealing Sinatra (2003) Back When We Were Grownups (2004) Santa Baby (2006) The Year Without A Santa Claus (2006) Holiday in Handcuffs (2007) Santa Baby 2: Christmas Maybe (2009) Deck the Halls (2011)

Awards and nominations Year Association Category Work Result Notes 1989 Daytime Emmy Award Special Class Directing ABC Weekend Special Episode Runaway RalphShared with John Clark Matthews 1994 Saturn Award Best Director Heart and Souls 2002 Stinkers Bad Movie Award Worst Sense of Direction The Adventures of Pluto Nash 2003 Razzie Award Worst Director 2007 DGA Award Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Children's Programs The Year Without a Santa Claus