Biography
A 1984 graduate of Tufts University, Gary Winick quickly moved into filmmaking as a full-time vocation, placing a stronger emphasis on producing than on directing. He earned M.F.A. degrees from both the American Film Institute and the University of Texas at Austin, then jump-started his career by helming and producing low-budget, direct-to-video efforts for such houses as
Roger Corman's New World Pictures and Concrete -- including the 1998
Curfew and the 1990
Out of the Rain. These projects drew little attention, but Winick's fortunes started to shift with the 1996
Sweet Nothing -- an appropriately grueling parable about drug addiction that featured an early
Michael Imperioli and
Mira Sorvino, which netted favorable remarks from such respected critics as
Roger Ebert and Barbara Shulgasser.
Winick unveiled his genre versatility by teaming up with writer/star Polly Draper (
thirtysomething) and
Gregory Hines to direct the family-themed ensemble drama
The Tic Code, produced in 1998 but released two years later; he subsequently continued directorial assignments, but made his most significant and impressive advances on a business end -- advances effectuated when Winick founded an all-digital production company in 1999 and thus drove the cost of filmmaking down substantially. At that point, Winick began turning out offbeat, profitable indie films right and left with a who's who of stars -- such an extensive list of films, in fact, that his resumé over the following decade reads like a laundry list of important American independent features: Personal Velocity: Three Portraits (2001), Eric Bogosian: Wake Up and Smell the Coffee (2001),
Pieces of April (2003), and
Starting Out in the Evening (2007), to name only a few, all bore Winick's producing credit. In 2006, Winick entered the mainstream Hollywood market by directing the live-action children's picture
Charlotte's Web for Paramount, Nickelodeon, and Walden Media.
2008 witnessed Winick helming the romantic comedy
Bride Wars. With a cast featuring
Kate Hudson and
Anne Hathaway, and a script co-authored by SNL contributor
Casey Wilson and June Diane Raphael, the movie concerns two brides who enter crisis mode when they discover that they've both accidentally scheduled their weddings for the same day. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide