Bigelow taught at theCalifornia Institute of the Arts. Bigelow wrote her first movieThe Set-Up in 1978 atColumbia University. The movie was about two men beating each other up and two professors analyzing the situation.[3] The movie was part of her MFA at Columbia.[4]
Bigelow's first full-length movie was theindependent movieThe Loveless (1981). She directed it withMonty Montgomery. The story was about a bicycle rider played byWillem Dafoe. Bigelow did not want it to follow a traditional plot-line. The movie was, in some ways, againstmainstream Hollywood.[5][6]
Bigelow went on to directNear Dark (1987). The movie was Bigelow's first as a single director. Three actors were also inAliens (1986), whichJames Cameron directed.[7] The movie did not make that much money but got positive reviews fromcritics.[8] LikeThe Loveless, Bigelow also broke tradition and experimented withgenre. The movie is a mixture ofwestern andvampire genres. In 1988, TheMuseum of Modern Art highlighted the new movie in its Cineprobe program.Near Dark is considered the first movie, in which Bigelow showed a unique and notable style as filmmaker.[9]
The next movie Bigelow directed wasBlue Steel (1990). The movie was an action genre but also had elements of a fantasy movie and plays with genre.[10] In the movie,Jamie Lee Curtis stars as a police officer whom aserial killer stalks. LikeNear Dark,Eric Red co-wrote the screenplay.Blue Steel is similar toThe Silence of the Lambs (1991). In both, womendetectives are the main characters.[11] Some critics said the movie was empowering for women.[12]
Bigelow in 2009
Point Break (1991) followed Blue Steel. The movie starredKeanu Reeves as anFBI agent. The movie made a lot more money than Bigelow's previous movies. It got about $80 million profit. However, it had somewhat lower ratings. Critics thought the movie was simply an action movie and was just gut emotions.[13][14][15] Some have said the movie is not as radical or feminist as Bigelow's other movies.[16] The movie has created acult following.[17]
Bigelow directed her next movieStrange Days (1995). She worked with her former husband,James Cameron, on the story. Bigelow focused more on the less romantic parts of the story.[18] Bigelow partly wanted to work onStrange Days because of events like the1992 Los Angeles riots.[19] The movie was a science fiction thriller and used film noir.[20] It made very little money and wascontroversial with critics.[21][22] Bigelow wanted to include controversial themes likeracism,abuse of power, andrape.[23] The movie was also controversial, because Bigelow was a female director.[24]Strange Days almost ended Bigelow's career. Bigelow would not direct another movie for five years.[25]
Bigelow directed the independent movieK-19: The Widowmaker in 2002. The movie starsHarrison Ford andLiam Neeson and is about Soviet soldiers in the first nuclear submarine. The movie was very expensive, did not make a lot of money and got mixed reviews.[26][27]
Bigelow's next movie was the independent movieThe Hurt Locker (2008). The movie is about an explosive disposal team in theIraq War. The movie starsJeremy Renner,Brian Geraghty andAnthony Mackie. It was shown at theVenice Film Festival in September 2008. Bigelow wanted the movie to be as real as possible, "raw and immediate". Bigelow was interested in the idea of a man going near bombs. Usually, people would run away from bombs.Mark Boal was the screenwriter. Bigelow wanted cinematographerBarry Ackroyd because she liked how realUnited 93 was.
The movie was a critical success and got very positive reviews. Critics liked Bigelow as director. The movie got many awards. The movie got nine Academy Award nominations and won six. It also got nine Oscar nominations. The movie also won many awards from critics. Bigelow won theAcademy Award for Best Director, the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing and theBAFTA Award for Best Direction.[28] It is thought to be one of best movies of 2008.[29] BBC also named it one of the best movies of the 21st century.[30]
Bigelow's next movieZero Dark Thirty (2012) was also a success. It is about the hunt forOsama Bin Laden. Critics praised the movie.[31] They said it was one of the best of year.[32] The movie got five nominations at the Academy Awards and four nominations at the Golden Globe Awards.[33] There was only controversy about the torture scenes.[34]
Bigelow's most recent movie isDetroit (2017). It is about the1967 Detroit riots. The movie had positive reviews, but made little money.[35] Bigelow worked again withMark Boal.[36]
In March 2022, it was announced that Bigelow will direct a movie version ofDavid Koepp’s book,Aurora forNetflix.[37]
↑Abbott, Stacey. Near Dark. United Kingdom: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2020., p. 1-2.
↑The Cinema of Kathryn Bigelow: Hollywood Transgressor. United Kingdom: Wallflower Press, 2003., p. 53.
↑MIZEJEWSKI, LINDA. “PICTURING THE FEMALE DICK: THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS AND BLUE STEEL.”Journal of Film and Video 45, no. 2/3 (1993): 6–23. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20688003.
↑Deborah Jermyn; Sean Redmond (January 2003). "Introduction".The Cinema of Kathryn Bigelow: Hollywood Transgressor.Wallflower Press. pp. 1–19.ISBN978-1903364420.
↑Katerina Kitsi-Mitakou; Zoe Detsi-Diamanti (May 2009). "Fleshing Out Virtual Bodies: White Heterosexual Masculinity in Contemporary Cyberfantasy Cinema".The Future of Flesh: A Cultural Survey of the Body.Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 181–198.ISBN978-0230613478.
↑Bigelow, Kathryn (1995-10-13),Strange Days (Crime, Drama, Sci-Fi), Lightstorm Entertainment, retrieved2022-07-26
↑Travers, Peter; Travers, Peter (1995-10-13)."Strange Days".Rolling Stone. Retrieved2022-07-26.
↑Bigelow, Kathryn (2002-07-19),K-19: The Widowmaker (Drama, History, Thriller), First Light Production, IMF Internationale Medien und Film GmbH & Co. 2. Produktions KG, Intermedia Films, retrieved2022-07-26
↑Greenwald, Glenn (December 14, 2012). "Zero Dark Thirty: CIA hagiography, pernicious propaganda".The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on December 15, 2013
