Adam Wingard

Adam Wingard is one of the few filmmakers who has jumped from the “mumblecore” film scene (with collaborator Joe Swanberg) to studio-backed horror, thriller, and monster movies, and who is a highly diversified multiple threat as a director, writer, producer, cinematographer, editor, composer, and (on occasion) actor.

Wingard’s directorial debut was the indie horror movie, Home Sick (2007), which premiered at the Fantasia Film Festival, and quickly followed as director/writer/producer/cinematographer/editor of the horror movie, Pop Skull (2007), which he made in collaboration with actors/producers/writers Lane Hughes and E.L. Katz on a $2000 budget.

Wingard then did a run of nine consecutive movies in three years with Swanberg in various capacities. It started with writers-directors Bernard and Richard Shumanski’s LGTBQ+ thriller, Blackmail Boys (2010). Wingard was the cinematographer, and Swanberg co-starred with Nathan Adolf and Taylor Reed.

Wingard then directed Swanberg (as actor only) in the indie horror movie, A Horrible Way to Die (2010). Wingard was also the editor, camera operator, and music supervisor for this film. Wingard was a co-cinematographer with Swanberg and a cast member in Swanberg’s mumblecore film, Caitlin Plays Herself (2011). Wingard then co-directed with Swanberg on Autoerotic (2011). He was also a co-writer (with Swanberg and Simon Barrett), co-cinematographer (with Chris Hilleke), camera operator, and editor for this film.

Autoerotic also co-starred Kate Lyn Sheil, Amy Seimetz, Lane Hughes, and Ti West. What Fun We Were Having: 4 Stories About Date Rape (2011) was produced by Swanberg and featured him as an actor while Wingard served as director, co-writer, cinematographer, and editor. Then there was the hit slasher Lionsgate release, You’re Next (2011). Wingard directed cast member Swanberg and was also the editor and composer for this film.

Swanberg’s drama, Art History (2011), had Wingard serving as co-cinematographer with Swanberg. In Swanberg’s The Zone (2011), Wingard was both an actor with cast mates Sophia Takal, Sheil, Kentucker Audley, and Dustin Guy Defa, as well as co-cinematographer with Swanberg. Finally, there was Swanberg’s mumblecore movie, Marriage Material (2012), which Wingard photographed and appeared in the cast opposite Audley, Caroline White, and Swanberg.

Adam Wingard was director and editor of the Picturehouse-distributed thriller, The Guest (2014), starring Dan Stevens, Maika Monroe, and Lance Reddick, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Wingard was co-editor (with Sarah Broshar) of The Last Survivors (2014), directed and co-written by Thomas Hammock, and co-starring Haley Lu Richardson, Booboo Stewart, Max Charles, and Jon Gries.

Wingard again demonstrated his wide range of capacities on the sequel (and third film in the series), Blair Witch (2016), for which he was director and composer, and which grossed $45 million on a $5 million budget for producer-distributor Lionsgate. Wingard then directed the English-language supernatural crime thriller remake of the Japanese feature, Death Note (2017), with Nat Wolff, LaKeith Stanfield, Margaret Qualley, Shea Whigham, and Willem Dafoe, which premiered at FrightFest.

Adam Wingard then directed his first big-budget spectacular with the Warner Bros./Toho/Legendary Pictures “MonsterVerse” movie, Godzilla vs. Kong (2021), with Alexander Skarsgård, Millie Bobby Brown, Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, Shun Oguri, Lance Reddick, Kyle Chandler, and Demián Bichir, and grossed a good $470 million on a $200 million budget. Wingard followed this up as director/story co-writer/executive producer on the sequel, Godzilla vs. Kong: The New Empire (2024), co-starring Hall and Dan Stevens, and released worldwide by Warner Bros. and in Japan by Toho.