Gary Fleder, born December 19, 1965) is best known as an indie director and screenwriter of a very few films, 7 to be exact, in a career spanning three decades.
Fleder was born to a Jewish family in Norfolk, Virginia, the son of Lorraine and Harry Fleder.
A graduate of Boston University and the USC School of Cinematic Arts, Fleder began his TV career in 1992 with the episode “Seance” followed by the award-winning episode of Tales from the Crypt (“Forever Ambergris”, starring Steve Buscemi and Roger Daltrey).
Since then, he has directed pilots and episodes of more than a dozen TV series, including L.A. Doctors, Blind Justice, The Evidence, The Shield, Life on Mars, Happy Town, Star-Crossed, Turn: Washington’s Spies and Kingdom.
He was an executive producer and frequent director of October Road, Life Unexpected, and The Art of More.
Fleder directed “Subway” a 1996 episode of Homicide: Life on the Street that earned a Peabody Award for its guest star, Vincent D’Onofrio. He also collaborated with producer Tom Hanks to direct an episode of the Emmy Award winning mini-series “From the Earth to the Moon.”
Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead, Fleder’s feature debut (and best film), premiered at the 1995 Cannes Film Fest.
A crime film, written by Fleder’s Boston University classmate and collaborator Scott Rosenberg, has become a cult favorite and has been credited with reviving the career of Treat Williams.
Denver marked Fleder’s first work with artists who went on to become recurring collaborators, production designer-art director Nelson Coates, costume designer Abigail Murray, script supervisor Elizabeth Ludwick, and composer Steve Weisberg.
Fleder has directed a series of thrillers, including the commercial hit Kiss the Girls (1997), starring Ashley Judd and Morgan Freeman, and the less popular Don’t Say a Word (2001), featuring Brittany Murphy and Michael Douglas.
Impostor (2002), a sci-fi thriller based on a Philip K. Dick short story, starred Gary Sinise, Madeleine Stowe, and Vincent D’Onofrio.
Runaway Jury (2003), starring John Cusack and Oscar winners Gene Hackman and Dustin Hoffman, was based on the novel by John Grisham.
The Express: The Ernie Davis Story, released in October 2008, and starring Dennis Quaid, Rob Brown, and Charles S. Dutton, tells the story of Ernie Davis (1939–1963), the first African-American winner of the Heisman Trophy.
His latest film, the action thriller Homefront starring Sylvester Stallone, was released by Open Road and Millennium in November 2013, but was not popular at the box office.
In recent years, he has been a prolific director of TV pilots and episodes.
Filmography: 7 Features
1995 Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead
1997 Kiss the Girls
2001 Don’t Say a Word
2002 Impostor
2003 Runaway Jury
2008 The Express: The Ernie Davis Story
2013 Homefront
