D. J. Caruso

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D. J. Caruso
Born	Daniel John Caruso, Jr.[1] (1965-01-17) January 17, 1965 (age 53) Norwalk, Connecticut
Occupation	Director, producer
Years active	1988 - present

Daniel John "D. J." Caruso, Jr. (/kəˈruːsoʊ/; born January 17, 1965) is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. His work encompasses a variety of genres, including thriller (Disturbia, Taking Lives), dramas (Standing Up), horror (The Disappointments Room), and action (I Am Number Four, xXx: Return of Xander Cage). He has also directed numerous episodes of television series such as The Shield, Over There, Smallville, and Dark Angel. The majority of his films fall into the thriller and action film genres.

Contents

• 
  1 Early life and education
  


• 
  2 Career
  


• 
  3 Personal life
  


• 
  4 Filmography
  
  • 
    4.1 Film
    
  
  
  • 
    4.2 Television
    
  
  


• 
  5 References
  


• 
  6 External links
  

Early life and education

Caruso was born in Norwalk, Connecticut, the son of Lorraine (Zullo) and Daniel John Caruso, who owned a salon, House of Beauty.^[2] He is of Italian descent.^[3]

Caruso graduated from Norwalk High School in 1983. He is a graduate of Pepperdine University in Malibu, California.^[4][5]

Career

Caruso began his career as a protege of director John Badham, acting as producer and second unit director on films like Point of No Return, Drop Zone, and Nick of Time. He directed multiple episodes of television series like High Incident and Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction, in addition to two made-for-television films.

His feature film directorial debut as a director was The Salton Sea; a stylish 2002 crime thriller starring Val Kilmer and Vincent D'Onofrio that has since gained minor cult status. Two years later, Caruso directed the Angelina Jolie and Ethan Hawke-starring psychological thriller film Taking Lives. The film was released in theaters on March 16, 2004, but did not meet box office expectations, only grossing $65,470,529 from a $35 million budget. However, the film proved to be a success on home video, holding its place as the number one best-selling DVD for three straight weeks. Two for the Money was Caruso's next film which was considered "a well done sport thriller, but with too many details".^{[citation needed]} The film was released on October 7, 2005, and was a moderate success, grossing $30,526,509 worldwide with a modest budget of $18 million. It was later released on DVD on January 17, 2006.

In 2007, Caruso was asked by Steven Spielberg to direct Disturbia. The movie was Caruso's first big hit, grossing over $117 million on a $20 million budget. It starred Shia LaBeouf, Sarah Roemer, David Morse, Aaron Yoo, and Carrie-Anne Moss. It was released April 13, 2007 in theaters and on DVD August 7.^[6]Eagle Eye was Caruso's second collaboration with producer Spielberg and actor LaBeouf. It also starred Michelle Monaghan, Billy Bob Thornton, Rosario Dawson and was released in theaters September 26, 2008. Critical reactions were mixed to negative but, on its opening weekend the movie grossed $29.1 million in 3,510 theaters in the United States and Canada. As of 2017, it has grossed $201 million worldwide with a movie budget of $80 million.

He directed the YA novel adaptation I Am Number Four in 2011, which film grossed $161 million worldwide, but failed to build enough interest for an intended sequel. Two year later, he fulfilled a long-time passion project with the coming-of-age film Standing Up, the director's first family film. It is based on Brock Cole's novel, The Goats. The film stars Chandler Canterbury and Annalise Basso as two geeky children who embark on a journey of discovery and self-discovery after they are stripped naked and left stranded together on an island as part of a summer camp prank. Caruso began adapting the novel in the early nineties with then-partner Ken Aguado, who produced the film. Standing Up was produced for a small budget of $3 million and was released on August 16, 2013.

In August 2013, Caruso planned to direct the film adaptation of the comic Preacher.^[7][8] Caruso was also working on a film titled Selling Time, a supernatural thriller potentially starring Will Smith, about a man who is given the unique opportunity to relive the worst day of his life, in exchange for seven years off his own life expectancy.^[9] Both projects have since fallen through, with the former property being adapted into a hit television series aired on AMC.

He was a guest judge on the Fox reality television show On the Lot for the episode of May 28 and 29 in 2007. Caruso directed his first music video in 2007 for the song "Don't Make Me Wait" by This World Fair.^[10] In 2009, he directed the music video for Airborne Toxic Event's song "Sometime Around Midnight".

On April 2, 2015, Caruso was hired to direct the as-of-yet untitled third entry in the G.I. Joe film series, with Aaron Berg writing the screenplay.^[11][12] October 2015, actor and producer Vin Diesel had Caruso sign on as the director of xXx: Return of Xander Cage.^[13] The film was debuted as the number one film in the world and made 347 million dollars worldwide. The sequel will shoot in 2018.

Personal life

Caruso married actress Holly Kuespert on July 6, 1990. They have five children: Brandon, Daniel, Sophia, Charlie and Sally.^[14]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Director	Producer	Writer	Other	Notes
1991	The Hard Way	N/A	Yes	N/A	N/A	As associate producer
1993	Point of No Return	N/A	Yes	N/A	Yes	As associate producer and 2nd unit director
	Another Stakeout	N/A	Yes	N/A	Yes	As co-producer and 2nd unit director
1994	Drop Zone	N/A	Yes	N/A	Yes	As producer and 2nd unit director
1995	Nick of Time	N/A	Yes	N/A	Yes	As executive producer and 2nd unit director
1997	Cyclops, Baby	Yes	N/A	N/A	N/A	Short film
2002	Crazy as Hell	N/A	Yes	N/A	N/A
	The Salton Sea	Yes	N/A	N/A	N/A	Feature film debut
2004	Taking Lives	Yes	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
2005	Two for the Money	Yes	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
2007	Disturbia	Yes	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
2008	Eagle Eye	Yes	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
2011	I Am Number Four	Yes	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
2013	Standing Up	Yes	N/A	Yes	N/A	N/A
2016	The Disappointments Room	Yes	N/A	Yes	N/A	N/A
2017	xXx: Return of Xander Cage	Yes	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
2020	G.I. Joe: Ever Vigilant	Yes	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Television

Year	Title	Notes
1996	VR.5	1 episode
1996-97	High Incident	4 episodes
1997	Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction	1 episode
1998	Black Cat Run	Television film
	Buddy Faro	1 episode
1999	Martial Law	1 episode
	Mind Prey	Television film
	The Strip	1 episode
2001	Dark Angel	1 episode
	Going to California	1 episode
2002	Robbery Homicide Division	2 episodes
	Smallville	1 episode
2002–2006	The Shield	6 episodes
2005	Over There	1 episode
2011	Inside	Alternate reality game
2014	Tin Man	Television film

References

1. 
   ^ "Caruso, a Norwalk Native, Helms 'Eagle Eye'". Norwalk Citizen News. October 3, 2008. 
   


2. 
   ^ "NHSAA Wall of Honor Hollywood director was All-State tennis player - Thehour.com: Norwalk". Thehour.com. Retrieved 2015-11-05. 
   


3. 
   ^ Liz Braun (2007-04-12). "CANOE - JAM! Movies: 'Disturbia' director mixes genres". Jam.canoe.ca. Retrieved 2010-09-23. 
   


4. 
   ^ Fay, Francis X., Jr. (October 1, 2010). "NHSAA Wall of Honor Hollywood director was All-State tennis player". The Hour. Archived from the original on July 17, 2011. Retrieved October 3, 2010. CS1 maint: Multiple names: authors list (link)
   


5. 
   ^ Jason Buchanan. "D.J. Caruso". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-09-29. 
   


6. 
   ^ "00's Retrospect: Star Power Pushes Over 2007". Bloody-disgusting.com. Retrieved 2010-09-23. 
   


7. 
   ^ Empireonline Archived October 26, 2013, at the Wayback Machine.
   


8. 
   ^ "Yes, D.J. Caruso Still Plans to Make 'Preacher' - /Film". Slashfilm.com. 2013-08-19. Retrieved 2015-11-05. 
   


9. 
   ^ Kroll, Justin (January 7, 2014). "DJ Caruso to Direct Supernatural 'Selling Time' for Fox". Film. Variety. LA: Variety Media. 
   


10. 
    ^ "This World Fair". Archived from the original on 2008-10-10. Retrieved 2008-09-29. 
    


11. 
    ^ Kit, Borys (November 24, 2015). "D. J. Caruso in Talks to Direct 'G. I. Joe 3' (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. 
    


12. 
    ^ Kit, Borys (November 24, 2015). "'G. I. Joe 3' Nabs 'Section 6' Writer (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. 
    


13. 
    ^ Osborn, Alex. "Vin Diesel: XXX 3 Will Be Directed by D.J. Caruso". IGN.com. Retrieved 23 November 2015. 
    


14. 
    ^ "Brandon Caruso Bio - Pepperdine University Official Athletic Site". Pepperdinesports.com. Retrieved 2015-11-05. 
    

External links

• 
  D. J. Caruso on IMDb
  


• 
  D. J. Caruso at AllMovie
  


• Q&A with D. J. Caruso


• D. J. Caruso Interview

v t e Films directed by D. J. Caruso
The Salton Sea (2002) Taking Lives (2004) Two for the Money (2005) Disturbia (2007) Eagle Eye (2008) I Am Number Four (2011) Inside (2011) Standing Up (2013) The Disappointments Room (2016) xXx: Return of Xander Cage (2017)

Authority control	WorldCat Identities BNF: cb140225093 (data) GND: 139156364 ISNI: 0000 0001 1462 8534 LCCN: no99081172 SNAC: w6b00b2z SUDOC: 139261508 VIAF: 100319494