Robert Zemeckis

Robert Zemeckis

Robert Zemeckis returns to the director's chair this week to helm his first live action film Cast Away in 2000 with his new film Flight.

The film sees him team up with Oscar winning actor Denzel Washington for the latest instalment for what has been a fantastic movie career.

Zemeckis kicked off his directing career in 1978 with the release of I Wanna Hold Your Hand and Used Cars two years later.

They were both received well critically but the films struggled at the box office.

But the director was not deterred by this as he wrote scripts for other directors until he began work on Romancing The Stone - which starred Michael Douglas

The movie was no expected to perform well at the box office when it was released but it went on to be a sleeper hit and Zemeckis' directing career was up and running.

However it wasn't until a certain Back To The Future franchise that Zemeckis really grabbed everyone's attention.

The science fiction comedies were a huge hit as Zemeckis penned the screenplays as well as directed the films. Michael J Fox and Christopher Lloyd made a great acting team and they will forever be synonymous with their roles of Marty McFly and Doc Brown.

The first film hit the big screen in 1985 with sequels following in 1989 and 1990 and it has gone on to become a much loved trilogy.

But Back To The Future was not the only box office success that Zemeckis had during the late eighties as he was also behind Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

The movie mixed live action with animation and saw the director team up with Disney.

At that time its $70 million budget made it one of the most expensive movies but it was a critical and commercial hit as it went on to take in excess of $329 million at the global box office.

Another movie that Zemeckis will always be remembered for is Forrest Gump as he teamed up with actor Tom Hanks in the mid nineties.

The movie was a big screen adaptation of the novel of the same name by Winston Groom and saw Eric Roth pen the screenplay.

When it was released in 1994 the movie was a mammoth box office smash as it took $677 million worldwide and easily made back it's $55 million budget.

It went on to be nominated for thirteen Oscars going on to win six - including Best Picture, Best Actor (Hanks) and Best Director for Zemeckis.

After this Oscar success Zemeckis moved onto horror/thriller with What Lies Beneath before reuniting with Hanks for Cast Away.

In recent year we have seen the director move away from live action and concentrate on animation projects with The Polar Express, Beowulf and A Christmas Carol all hitting the big screen.

But he is back with a live action project this week as Flight hits the big screen.

Whip Whitaker is a seasoned airline pilot who miraculously crash-lands his plane after a mid-air catastrophe, saving nearly every soul on board

After the crash, Whip is hailed as a hero, but as more is learned, more questions than answers arise as to who or what was really at fault, and what really happened on that plane?

The movie has been met well by the critics and Washington has picked up a Best Actor Oscar nod for his central performance.

Flight is released 1st February.


by for www.femalefirst.co.uk
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