Francis Lawrence
Birthdate: March 26, 1971 (55 Years Old)
Birthplace: Vienna, Austria
Francis Lawrence is a director and producer of large-scale Hollywood studio productions, predominantly of the long-running The Hunger Games franchise. After a decade as a very successful music video director, Lawrence expanded into feature film direction with Warner Bros.’ superhero horror movie, Constantine (2005), loosely based on the DC Comics Hellblazer graphic novels, and starring Keanu Reeves, Rachel Weisz, Shia LaBeouf, Tilda Swinton, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Djimon Hounsou, and Peter Stormare, and grossing $231 million on a $70 million budget.
Lawrence took charge of Warner Bros.’ long-delayed mega-production co-produced in part by Village Roadshow Pictures, I Am Legend (2007), starring Will Smith, Alice Braga, and Dash Mihok, based on both Richard Matheson’s story and the novel, The Omega Man, and earning $585.4 million on a $150 million budget. Francis Lawrence switched genres as director of 20th Century Fox’s romantic drama, Water for Elephants (2011), written by Richard LaGravenese based on Sara Gruen’s best-seller, with Reese Witherspoon, Robert Pattinson, and Christopher Waltz, with a gross of $117 million, tripling its $38 million budget.
Francis Lawrence had a major career turn as a feature director when he took over Lionsgate’s much-anticipated franchise of The Hunger Games, starting with the second entry, Catching Fire (2013), starring Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Lenny Kravitz, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jeffrey Wright, Stanley Tucci, and Donald Sutherland, and earning a worldwide gross of $865 million.
Lawrence’s success continued with his direction of the subsequent The Hunger Games: Mockingjay—Part 1 (2014) and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay—Part 2 (2015), with new cast member Julianne Moore, grossing a combined $1.409 billion, as well as Lionsgate’s succeeding sequel, The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping (2026), starring Ralph Fiennes, Elle Fanning, Mckenna Grace, Jesse Plemons, Joseph Zada, Ben Wang, Maya Hawke, Kieran Culkin, Lili Taylor, Glenn Close, Kelvin Harrison Jr. and Billy Porter, and co-written by Billy Ray.
Lawrence returned to familiar territory eight years later with the series’ fifth installment, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023), starring Tom Blyth, Rachel Zegler, Hunter Schafer, Jason Schwartzman, Peter Dinklage, Josh Andres Rivera, and Viola Davis, and released by Lionsgate Films. In the interim between Hunger Games projects, Lawrence was director of Netflix’s Slumberland (2022) and another movie starring Jennifer Lawrence, the spy thriller, Red Sparrow (2018), with Joel Edgerton, Matthias Schoenaerts, Charlotte Rampling, Mary-Louise Parker, Jeremy Irons, and Ciaran Hinds, and grossing only $151.6 million for 20th Century Fox. Francis Lawrence returned to a long-delayed sequel in another series, Constantine 2 (date to be announced), starring Keanu Reeves and Peter Stormare, and then directed a feature film version of the video game, BioShock (date to be announced).
Lawrence was director/producer of the long-delayed (since 1988!) dystopian horror movie based on Stephen King’s 1979 novel (under his nom de plume Richard Bachman), The Long Walk (2025), adapted by screenwriter JT Mollner, starring Cooper Hoffman, David Jonsson, Garrett Wareing, Joshua Odjick, Charlie Plummer, Josh Hamilton, Judy Greer and Mark Hamill, produced by Vertigo Entertainment and release wide by Lionsgate.
Lawrence directed the sequel I Am Legend 2 (date to be announced), co-starring Michael B. Jordan (who was also a producer) and Will Smith, and Constantine 2 (date to be announced), and then Lawrence directed the big-screen version of the video game BioShock (date to be announced), co-written by Michael Green and Justin Rhodes and produced and released by Netflix.
Personal life
Francis Lawrence was born in Vienna, Austria, and raised there until he was four by his parents. His family moved to Los Angeles when he was four years old. Lawrence’s father taught theoretical physics at California State University, Northridge, and his mother was a vice president of technology at a public relations firm. Lawrence graduated from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles with a bachelor’s degree in film production.
Francis Lawrence Movies
Director
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Previous (6)
- 2023 |
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes
Coriolanus Snow mentors and develops feelings for the female District 12 tribute during the 10th Hunger Games.
- 2018 |
Red Sparrow
Prima ballerina Dominika Egorova turns dangerous Sparrow.
- 2015 |
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2
Katniss and a team of rebels from District 13 prepare for the final battle that will decide the fate of Panem.
- -- | I Am Legend
- -- | The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
- -- | The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1
Facts About Francis Lawrence
Music Video Maestro: Francis Lawrence has had a parallel career as an extremely successful music video director, making videos with such top pop artists as Bad Religion, Vanessa Williams, En Vogue, Coolio, Sarah McLachlan, Seal, Aerosmith, Timbaland, Jennifer Lopez, Ricky Martin, Whitney Houston, Destiny’s Child, Nelly Furtado, Third Eye Blind, Backstreet Boys, Janet Jackson, Green Day, Britney Spears, Will Smith, Pink, Alanis Morissette, Avril Lavigne, Justin Timberlake, Goo Goo Dolls, The Black Eyed Peas, Gwen Stefani, Lady Gaga, and Beyoncé.
