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Michael Cuesta
American film director

Michael Cuesta

The basics

Quick Facts

Intro
American film director
Gender
Male
Place of birth
New York City, New York, USA
Age
61 years
Education
School of Visual Arts
The details (from wikipedia)

Biography

Michael Cuesta (born July 8, 1963) is an American film and television director, best known for his independent films, specially for having co-written and directed the 2001 film, L.I.E. He has directed and produced television series including Six Feet Under, Dexter, Blue Bloods and Homeland.

Life and career

Cuesta was born in New York City. He received a BFA in photography from the School of Visual Arts in 1985. Cuesta co-wrote (with Stephen Ryder and Gerald Cuesta) and directed the 2001 independent film, L.I.E. which starred Paul Dano, Brian Cox, Billy Kay, and Bruce Altman. L.I.E. received critical acclaim and two Independent Spirit Awards at the Sundance Film Festival.

His film L.I.E. led him to become a regular director for the HBO original series, Six Feet Under which aired from 2001–05. According to executive producer Alan Poul, "During the second season, we had hired a director for the fourth episode, but he fell out one week before the start of pre-production. Alan Ball and I were alarmed, but that night we went to see L.I.E., and it was a revelation. The next morning we booked Michael. He's a fantastic fit for the show." Michael Cuesta became a regular director during the 2002 season of Six Feet Under and directed five episodes of the series including the fourth-season premiere, "Falling into Place".

In addition to Six Feet Under and L.I.E., Cuesta has also directed the film, 12 and Holding, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2005 and was released by IFC Films theatrically in 2006.Other projects include an adaptation of the novel, The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint.

In 2006 Cuesta directed the pilot episode of the Showtime series, Dexter. The show reunited him with former Six Feet Under star Michael C. Hall in the lead role, Dexter Morgan. Cuesta joined the production staff for the first season and also directed further episodes including the season finale. He left the crew at the end of the first season.

He also directed the second-season finale for the HBO series True Blood which was created and executive produced by Alan Ball, creator and show runner of Six Feet Under.

Cuesta would have executive produced Babylon Fields, a CBS television series about zombies proposed for the 2007–2008 season. The show was not picked up.In 2013 NBC bought the rights to Babylon Fields, choosing Michael Cuesta as the director because of his familiarity with the prior pilot.A pilot was filmed in 2014 but the show was not picked up.

Cuesta directed and executive produced the pilot episode for CBS drama Blue Bloods in 2010. The series was created by Robin Green and Mitchell Burgess and focuses on a family of New York police officers. He returned to direct the eighth episode of the first season "Chinatown".

He was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for directing Homeland's Pilot episode.

In 2011, he directed the film Roadie starring Ron Eldard as a man who returns home to Queens, NY after twenty years on the road with Blue Öyster Cult. Co-written with his brother Gerald Cuesta and featuring supporting roles by Jill Hennessy, Bobby Cannavale, Lois Smith and David Margulies, the film was screened at the Stony Brook Film Festival, Vancouver International Film Festival and Austin Film Festival in 2011. It was released by Magnolia Pictures on January 6, 2012.

In February 2013 Cuesta was set up to direct the film Kill the Messenger for 2014 release date, Jeremy Renner will be leading the film. Filming started in the summer of 2013 in Atlanta. In January 2015 was named as the director, of the pilot episode of Fox Television Studios drama horror series Frankenstein, based on Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein.

Filmography

Film

Director

  • L.I.E. (2001)
  • 12 and Holding (2005)
  • Tell-Tale (2009)
  • Roadie (2011)
  • Kill the Messenger (2014)
  • American Assassin (2017)

Television

Producer

YearShowRoleNotes
2006DexterCo-executive producerSeason 1
2007Babylon FieldsExecutive producerPilot only
2008The OaksExecutive producerPilot only
2010Blue BloodsExecutive producerPilot only
2011-12HomelandExecutive producerSeason 1-2
2016Second ChanceExecutive producerPilot Episode only
2019City on a HillExecutive producerPilot episode only

Director

YearShowSeasonEpisode titleEpisodeOriginal airdateNotes
2002Six Feet Under2"Driving Mr. Mossback"4March 24, 2002
"Someone Else's Eyes"9April 28, 2002
20033"You Never Know"2March 9, 2003
20044"Falling Into Place"1June 13, 2004
20055"Static"11August 14, 2005
2006Dexter1"Dexter"1October 1, 2006Pilot episode
"Crocodile"2October 8, 2006
"Popping Cherry"3October 15, 2006
"Seeing Red"10December 3, 2006
"Born Free"12December 17, 2006Season finale
2007Babylon Fields1"Pilot" (CBS)1Unaired
2008The Oaks1"Amelia"1October, 2008Pilot episode
2009True Blood2"Beyond Here Lies Nothin'12September 13, 2009Season finale
2010Blue Bloods1"Pilot"1September 24, 2010Pilot epiosode
"Chinatown"8November 12, 2010
2011Homeland1"Pilot"1October 2, 2011Pilot episode
"Grace"2October 9, 2011
"The Weekend"7November 13, 2011
"Marine One"12December 18, 2011Season finale
2012Elementary1"Pilot"1September 27, 2012Pilot episode
Homeland2"The Smile"1September 30, 2012
"Beirut Is Back"2October 7, 2012
"I’ll Fly Away"8November 18, 2012
"The Choice"12December 16, 2012Season finale
2014Babylon Fields1"Pilot" (NBC)1Unaired
2016Second Chance1"A Suitable Donor"1January 13, 2016Pilot episode
Billions1"The Conversation"13April 10, 2016
2019City on a Hill1"The Night Flynn Sent the Cops on the Ice"1June 30, 2019Pilot episode
The contents of this page are sourced from Wikipedia article. The contents are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license.
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