Brad Anderson (born April 5, 1964) is an American film director, producer and writer. A director of thriller and horror films and television projects, he is best known for directing The Machinist (2004), starring Christian Bale, psychological horror film Session 9 (2001) and The Call (2013), starring Halle Berry. He also produced and directed several episodes of the Fox science fiction series Fringe. Earlier in his career he directed the romantic comedies Next Stop Wonderland (1998) and Happy Accidents (2000).
Biography
Early life Anderson was born in Madison, Connecticut, the son of Pamela Taylor Anderson, a community services administrator. He is the nephew of Emmy Award-winning actress Holland Taylor. Before he began his film career, he attended Bowdoin College, where he majored in anthropology and Russian. He then went to London to finish his film education at London Film School before returning to Boston.
Film career Anderson started out writing and directing the romantic comedies The Darien Gap (1996), Next Stop Wonderland (1998) and Happy Accidents (2000), all of which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.
His next film was the 2001 psychological horror film Session 9. Unsuccessful at the box office, the film has since gained a cult following. In 2002, Anderson was a member of the dramatic jury at the Sundance Film Festival.
This was followed by his most notable work to date, The Machinist (2004), starring Christian Bale. The film became well known for Bales' dramatic weight loss (62 pounds) for the lead role, and for its screenplay, written by Scott Kosar.
His next two films were TransSiberian (2008), a thriller starring Woody Harrelson, Emily Mortimer and Ben Kingsley and the horror film Vanishing on 7th Street (2010), starring Hayden Christensen, John Leguizamo and Thandiwe Newton. Notably, both TransSiberian and The Machinist were funded by Anglo-German production companies.
At one point, he was also one of the candidates to direct the sequel to Paranormal Activity.
In 2013, Anderson directed The Call, a thriller starring Halle Berry and Abigail Breslin.
This was followed by Stonehearst Asylum (aka Eliza Graves) in 2014, with Kate Beckinsale, Jim Sturgess, David Thewlis and Ben Kingsley in the leading roles.
In 2018, Anderson directed the espionage thriller Beirut, which stars Jon Hamm and Rosamund Pike, and in 2019, he directed the Netflix thriller film Fractured, starring Sam Worthington, Lily Rabe, Stephen Tobolowsky and Adjoa Andoh, which was released on October 11.
Television work Anderson has directed numerous episodes of Fringe, as well as two episodes each of The Wire, The Killing, and Boardwalk Empire.
Anderson was one of the contributors to the horror series Masters of Horror, directing the season two episode "Sounds Like".
Anderson directed the pilot episode of the ABC prime time series Forever.
He also directed the pilot episode of CBS's Zoo.
Anderson directed episodes of Clickbait for Netflix.
Future projects Anderson replaced Joseph Ruben as director of Bold Films thriller Jack in May 2010, and cast John Cusack for the lead, who has since been replaced by Liev Schreiber. Anderson was supposed to direct The Living and the Dead, based on the novel of the same name by Robert Tinnell and Todd Livingston. As of 2024,"Jack" had not appeared.
After working together on The Machinist, Anderson and Christian Bale have had plans to collaborate again on an adaptation of J. G. Ballard's novel Concrete Island.
Anderson is slated to direct Peter Dinklage in the title role in an adaptation of Nobel prize winning author Pär Lagerkvist's novel The Dwarf.
Filmography Film Documentary film Year Title Director DoP 1992 Wake Up! On the Road with a Zen Master
Short film Year Title Director Producer Editor DoP 1995 Frankenstein's Planet of Monsters!
Feature film Year Title Director Writer Editor Notes 1996 The Darien Gap Also producer 1998 Next Stop Wonderland 2000 Happy Accidents 2001 Session 9 2004 The Machinist 2008 TransSiberian 2010 Vanishing on 7th Street 2013 The Call 2014 Stonehearst Asylum 2018 Beirut 2019 Fractured 2022 Blood Also executive producer 2024 The Silent Hour 2025 World Breaker
Television Year Title Director ExecutiveProducer Episode(s) 1999 Homicide: Life on the Street "Bones of Contention" 2002–2006 The Wire "The Cost""A New Day" 2003 The Shield "Inferno" 2006 Masters of Horror "Sounds Like" 2008 Fear Itself "Spooked" 2008–2011 Fringe "In Which We Meet Mr. Jones""The Transformation""Unleashed""There's More Than One of Everything""Night of Desirable Objects""Olivia. In the Lab. With the Revolver.""The Plateau""Entrada""Immortality""Os""One Night in October""And Those We've Left Behind" 2010 Rubicon "A Good Day's Work" Undercovers "Assassin"2010–2011 Treme "Shallow Water, Oh Mama""Carnival Time" Boardwalk Empire "Belle Femme""Battle of the Century" 2011-2012 The Killing "Orpheus Descending""Numb" 2012 Person of Interest "Legacy" Alcatraz "Cal Sweeney" 2013 Almost Human "Pilot" 2014–2015 Forever "Pilot""The Ecstasy of Agony""The Last Death of Henry Morgan" 2015 Zoo "First Blood" 2016 Frequency "Pilot" 2017–2018 The Sinner "Part IV""Part VI" 2017 The Brave "Pilot" 2018 Titans "Titans""Hawk and Dove" 2019 Treadstone "The Kentucky Contract""The Bentley Lament" 2020 Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector "Requiem" 2021 Debris "Pilot" 2022 Peacemaker "Stop Dragon My Heart Around" 2023-2025 Invasion "The Tunnel""Pressure Points""Down the Rabbit Hole""Outpost 17""Homecoming"
Miniseries Year Title Director ExecutiveProducer Episodes 2021 Clickbait "The Sister""The Wife" 2022 Devil in Ohio "Mother's Keeper""Rely-upon" 2026 I Will Find You "Episode 1""Episode 2"
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