Biography of Andrew Niccol

Born in New Zealand in 1964, Andrew Niccol is a screenwriter, film director and film producer. He lived and studied in Auckland before moving to London where he directed television advertisements for ten years.

He then moved to Los Angeles to make films that lasted "longer than 60 seconds." It was at this time that Niccol wrote the screenplay The Truman Show. In an interview Niccol stated that "his biggest mistake, was that [he] wrote [his] most expensive film (The Truman Show), first." He added, "and you just shouldn't do that. I remember talking to the studio head at the time and she said, "There's no way for a first film that we'll give you a budget of $80 million. But we would give you $20 million". So I went off and wrote Gattaca and made sure it was $20 million. So they let me make it."

And so Gattaca, released in 1997, was Niccol's first feature film, which he both wrote and directed. Gattaca was received well, but failed to be a box office hit. It did however win a Best Film award from Stiges - Catalan International Film Festival. It was only then that Niccol was able to get production started on his breakthrough screenplay The Truman Show. Niccol managed to get high powered producer Scott Rudin on board but Rudin insisted on a more experienced director for such a big project: Peter Weir. Niccol became a producer on the film. The Truman Show received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay and won a BAFTA award for Best Screenplay.

Every film that Niccol has directed he has also written and these films include Simone (2002), Lord of War (2005), In Time (2011), The Host (2013) and Good Kill (2014).