Matt Reeves gained feature film prominence when he helmed the much lauded science fiction-horror hit Cloverfield (2008), about the arrival of a giant monster in New York City and its impact on the lives of several people there. Shot in hyper-realistic vérité style with a single camera carried by one of the protagonists, the film spoke to post-9/11 fears while delivering a special effects tour de force. The modestly budgeted film set a domestic record for a January release and went on to gross more than $175 million worldwide.
Born in Rockville Centre, New York, Reeves was raised in Los Angeles, where he began making 8mm movies at the age of eight. As a teenager, he discovered that a local cable system was broadcasting homemade movies on its public access channel, and contacted the program, Word of Mouth, to air his own productions. Reeves not only managed to get his movies shown on the program, but was also interviewed by its host, Gerard Ravel. Through him, Reeves met aspiring young filmmakers J.J. Abrams and Bryan Burk. The trio became fast friends and subsequent production partners. Perhaps most importantly, the festival introduced Reeves to producer Steven Spielberg, who after reading an article about it in the Los Angeles Times (titled The Beardless Wonders of Film Making) hired Reeves, Abrams and Burke to clean his old teenage 8mm films and repair the splices for $300.
Reeves and Burk eventually attended the University of Southern California, where they collaborated on Reeves' thesis project, a short fantasy film called Mr. Petrified Forest, about a photographer obsessed with disaster. The project required a plane crash sequence, which Abrams, returning from college on the East Coast, to constructed on the front yard of his parents' home. Mr. Petrified Forest made the rounds of student film festivals, where it netted not only an award but also Industry attention and an agent for Reeves. He soon set to work on several feature scripts, including an action-adventure film that later became the Steven Seagal picture Under Siege 2: Dark Territory (1995).
Following Cloverfield, Reeves directed Let Me In (2010). Acclaimed by critics and audiences alike, the film is a remake of the Swedish horror film Let the Right One In, about the relationship between a bullied young boy (Kodi Smit-McPhee) and his new neighbor, a young girl who turns out to be a vampire.
Reeves co-created the popular television series Felicity, starring Golden Globe Award winning actress Keri Russell. Reeves served as executive producer with partner and co-creator J.J. Abrams. He frequently directed episodes during the show's four-season run, including the 1998 pilot for the WB network.
Reeves made his feature directorial debut with the 1996 dark comedy The Pallbearer, starring Gwyneth Paltrow, David Schwimmer and Barbara Hershey. He developed the screenplay with Jason Katims through Robert Redford's Sundance Institute. In 1999, Reeves co-wrote and co-produced James Gray's critically acclaimed feature The Yards, starring Mark Wahlberg, Joaquin Phoenix and Charlize Theron.
For television, Reeves helmed the pilot episodes of Gideon's Crossing and Miracles for ABC, Conviction for NBC and episodes of NBC's Homicide: Life on the Street and ABC's Relativity.
20th Century Fox
