Bill Condon

Biography

Academy Award-winning filmmaker Bill Condon's early career demonstrated his skills in dark thrillers, mysteries, and horror films, but he was far from a one-note director. After delving into more serious and personal subjects for a time, he ultimately threw everyone a curve ball by displaying his theatrical side with elaborate musical film productions.

 Condon received numerous accolades for either writing and/or directing heavy-hitting dramas such as "Gods and Monsters" (1998) - which earned him an Oscar for Adapted Screenplay - starring Ian McKellen as an ailing director reliving his old flamboyant life through fantasy, and the biopic "Kinsey" (2004) about the provocative real-life sex researcher. 

He also wrote the scripts for glittery musical spectacles like "Chicago" (2002) and "Dreamgirls" (2006), the latter of which he also directed. 

Five years later, the filmmaker stunned his more ardent fans by signing on to direct the concluding two chapters of the record-breaking movie franchise - "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn" (2011, 2012), films that while not critically embraced, placed Condon at the upper echelon of commercially successful movie directors.

 Whether it was intimate art house dramas such as WikiLeaks drama "The Fifth Estate" (2013), period pieces like the Arthur Conan Doyle reimagining "Mr. Holmes" (2015), or mainstream blockbusters of the highest order such as the Emma Watson-starring "Beauty and the Beast" (2017), Condon proved himself more than capable of delivering the goods.