R.J. Cutler
R.J. Cutler
Director, screenwriter, producer
R. J. Cutler (born 1962) is an American filmmaker, documentarian, television producer and theater director. His work includes the documentary films The War Room, A Perfect Candidate, Thin, The September Issue, The World According to Dick Cheney and Listen To Me Marlon; the non-fiction television series American High, Freshman Diaries and 30 Days; the prime time drama series Nashville; and the feature film If I Stay. Cutler’s first film, The War Room, was nominated for an Academy Award and he is the recipient of numerous awards including an Emmy, two Peabody Awards, a GLAAD Award, two Cinema Eye Awards, and two Television Academy Honor Awards.In 2009, the Museum of Television and Radio held a five-day retrospective of his work. Born in 1962, R. J. Cutler grew up in a Jewish home in Great Neck, New York. He attended Great Neck North Senior High School and graduated in 1979. Cutler graduated from Harvard University in 1984. He received his AB degree magna cum laude with a Special Concentration in Dramatic Theory and Literature. He was the recipient of the prestigious Hoopes Prize. In 1991, Cutler became a faculty member of the University of Southern California School of Theatre and a student at the USC School of Cinema-Television. Cutler has been producing and directing documentary films since 1992. Cutler began his career as a theater director and was the first director selected to participate in the New York Drama League’s Director’s Apprenticeship Program. He worked as a director and producer at the American Repertory Theater and was director James Lapine’s assistant on the original Broadway production of the Sondheim/Lapine musical Into the Woods. He also served as Resident Director at New Dramatists. In 1988, Cutler directed the workshop production of Jonathan Larson's musical Superbia at Playwrights Horizons. That workshop became one of the subjects of Larson's next musical Tick, Tick, Boom....Productions directed by Cutler between 1988 and 1990 include the world premiere of Right Behind the Flag by Kevin Heelan at Playwrights Horizons (starring Kevin Spacey), the American premiere of Emerald City by David Williamson at the New York Theatre Workshop, and the world premiere of The Secret Garden by Marsha Norman and Lucy Simon at the Virginia Stage Company. The Secret Garden went on to run on Broadway for 709 performances. In 1990, Cutler produced the National Public Radio show Heat with John Hockenberry. Other producers included future This American Life creator Ira Glass and future Radio Diaries creator Joe Richman. The show aired live five nights a week on NPR stations across the country and received a Peabody Award. In 1991, Cutler became a faculty member of the University of Southern California School of Theatre and a student at the USC School of Cinema-Television. Cutler has been producing and directing documentary films since 1992.
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