MARCUS NISPEL
German-born Marcus Nispel came to America on a Fulbright Scholarship at the age of 20, where he attended Brooklyn College and the NY Institute of Technology. On his return to Germany, Nispel began his career in advertising as an art director for Young & Rubicam in Frankfurt, but he soon found his way back to America, and made his directing debut with a series of music videos for C&C Music Factory.
To date, Nispel has directed six feature films, numerous music videos and commercials with advertising clients like AT&T, Audi, Canon, Coca-Cola, Dr. Pepper, Kodak, Levi’s, L’Oreal, Mercedes, Motorola, Nike, Panasonic, Pepsi, Showtime, Sprint, Sprite and VISA, as well as the TV networks MTV, ABC, CBS and NBC. Nispel has garnered numerous international advertising accolades for his commercial work, including Clio Awards, the ADC Awards, the Grand Prix at the BDA Awards, AICP awards, and honors from the New York, Houston, and Chicago Film Festivals.
Marcus Nispel’s music video work includes over fifteen #1 hit songs and several breakthrough clips for artists including Puff Daddy, No Doubt, the Fugees, George Michael, Janet Jackson, Elton John, Billy Joel, Aretha Franklin, Cher, Mariah Carey, Brian McKnight, K.D. Lang, Tony Bennett, Bette Midler, LL Cool J, Bryan Adams and Gloria Estefan, just to name a few. This impressive body of work has earned him 12 MTV Music Video Awards nominations, resulting in four wins, including MTV’s Best European Video Award for “Killer/Papa was a Rolling Stone” by George Michael. Nispel’s films have been highlighted and screened at the New York Film Festival, the Art Director’s Club and at the Film and Broadcast Museum in Frankfurt, Germany. His work is also part of the permanent collection at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
He was featured in a chapter of Armand White’s The Resistance: Ten Years of Pop Culture that Shook the World, and received the Black Achievement “Nubian” Award for the positive portrayal of African Americans in mass media. Nispel has won two Billboard Awards and Music Video Filmmaker Association Awards, took home the MVPA Lifetime Achievement Award and has been featured in Vogue, Vanity Fair, Details, The New York Times, The LA Times, Adweek, Adage and Creativity.
In 2003, Nispel made his feature film debut with New Line Cinema’s “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” which went on to become the most profitable film of that year. In 2004, he expanded into television, directing and producing a modern retelling of “Frankenstein,” written by Dean Koontz and co-produced by Marcus and Martin Scorsese. In 2007, Nispel directed his second feature, “Pathfinder,” which he developed and produced with Mike Medavoy at Phoenix Pictures. As a companion piece to the movie, Nispel published the three-part Graphic Novel, “Pathfinder.” In 2009, he directed his third feature film, “Friday the 13th,” for New Line Cinema with Michael Bay producing. The film set the record for the highest box office opening for any R-rated horror film at the time of its release. In 2011, Marcus, in collaboration with Lionsgate, premiered a retelling of “Conan The Barbarian,” starring Jason Momoa. Next up for Marcus is horror thriller, "Exeter,” which he directed, co-wrote, and produced with Steven Schneider. A tale about six small-town kids who discover subliminal/satanic messages in old vintage records when played backwards, “Exeter” was released simultaneously in theatre's and VOD.
