John Stockwell

Director John Stockwell revels in moral complexity. Whether it's the invention of the silicone breast implant (1997's HBO docudrama BREAST MEN, for which Stockwell wrote the screenplay), a teacher instructing his students to lie and cheat (CHEATERS, 2000), or a dedicated "family" of female surfers (BLUE CRUSH, 2002), Stockwell embraces the opportunity to bring challenging stories and unconventional characters to the screen, and to fully immerse viewers in highly credible, visceral realities. He penned the darkly humorous script for HBO's "Breast Men" (1997), about the inventors of silicone implants which became his calling card. He wrote and directed the equally well-received drama "Cheaters" (HBO, 2000), about a teacher who uses an illegally obtained copy of test questions to level the playing field in an academic competition. His taut, nicely nuanced script snagged an Emmy nomination. He also wrote the screenplay for "Rock Star" (also 2001), about an ordinary guy who harbors a desire to play in a heavy metal band.

Stockwell took a raw, bold look at adolescent romance in Touchstone Pictures crazy/beautiful (2001), for which Kirsten Dunst shed her girl-next-door image to play a troubled, provocative teen who finds a measure of hope and happiness when she falls in love with a poor Latino boy (Jay Hernandez).

After earning an undergraduate degree at Harvard, Stockwell entered NYU's filmmaking program, but gave that up in favor of a real-world education. While performing in a string of features and TV movies including TOP GUN, CHRISTINE, and "North and South", Stockwell took notes, asked questions, and generally made a pest of himself on the set, all in an effort to learn everything he could about the filmmaking process.

Other credits include the Fox Atomic/2929 thriller TURISTAS and the adventure-drama INTO THE BLUE, starring Jessica Alba and Paul Walker, "Middle of Nowhere" with Anton Yelchon and Susan Sarandon, and the recently completed KID CANNABIS from his own screenplay, based on a Rolling Stone article about a young pizza delivery boy who built a $150 million empire smuggling British Columbia bud across the Canadian border. It stars Jonathan Daniel Brown (Project X), Kenny Wourmald, (Footloose), John C McGinley, and Ron Perlman.

He took on the assignment of directing "Seal Team 6" in December 2011 and started principal photography in March 2012 shooting both in New Mexico and India.