- Born
- Birth nameWalter Wesley Hill Jr.
- Hill was born in Long Beach, California and educated at Mexico City College and Michigan State University. He worked in oil drilling and construction in the 60s before becoming a 2nd assistant director in 1967. He has written and co-written screenplays, including several uncredited works. He has produced and directed films since 1975.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Melissa Portell <mportell@s-cwis.unomaha.edu>
- SpousesHildy Gottlieb(September 7, 1986 - present) (2 children)Maureen McCurry(April 19, 1969 - December 1972) (divorced)
- At least one character in many of his films drives a sky blue Cadillac Convertible. e.g. 48 Hrs. (1982), Brewster's Millions (1985) and Red Heat (1988).
- Several of Hill's films have a bar called "Torchy's." Inseveral of his films, characters utter a variation on Cody's (Streets of Fire (1984)) and The Driver's exhortation to "Go home!"
- Frequently has a minor character named "Luther" in his films
- Frequently works with character actors James Remar, David Patrick Kelly, Brion James, and Ed O'Ross. Frequently casts actors Bill Paxton and Stoney Jackson in minor roles (e.g. Streets of Fire (1984) and Trespass (1992)).
- Has an affinity for the city of El Paso. El Paso has been mentioned in or has been the location of several Walter Hill movies.
- Is an avid fan of John Wayne. When The Duke saw Hard Times (1975), he wanted Hill to helm his last film, The Shootist (1976). But Hill refused because he didn't want to see his hero dying in a movie.
- His favourites directors are John Ford, Howard Hawks, John Huston, Raoul Walsh, Sam Peckinpah, and Sergio Leone.
- Sylvester Stallone personally hand-picked him to direct Bullet to the Head (2012).
- Was originally meant to direct Alien (1979).
- He purposefully made Brewster's Millions (1985) "to improve his bank account and success quotient". He later called the movie "an aberration in the career line" being his only flat out comedy. He added that "whatever [the film's] deficiencies, I think the wistful quality was there. I was happy about that. The picture did well and made money.".
- [on working with Charles Bronson on Hard Times (1975)] Well, Charlie does things in terms of performance that are hard for a lot of other people to comprehend as being part of an actor's tool, and that is being visually interesting. There is a great poetry in Charlie's face. With just a look, he can suggest moods that are quite interesting. He's always on time, he always knows his lines, and he never misses a mark.
- I very purposely -- more and more so every time I do a script -- give characters no back story. The way you find out about these characters is by watching what they do, the way they react to stress, the way they react to situations and confrontations. In that way, character is revealed through drama rather than being explained through dialogue.
- [2002, Being asked on what he learned from the experience of making Supernova (2000)] Ah, what did I learn the most? Oh, I think there was a desperate political situation with a failing administration, and I foolishly got into helping a movie that I thought could turn into something, but I then discovered I didn't have as free a hand as I had been led to believe, and when I was taking the movie along the lines that I thought would make it a credible movie, they did not share that vision, so we had a rather angry breach, and the movie was re-cut by two or three directors. I won't say there's no recognition of what I did, but the ending's much different, and much of the setup is different. Mine was a much darker vision. I can honestly tell you that I have yet to have seen it, but it's on cable a lot and sometimes I'll be surfing about and I'll sit there and watch about 4 minutes just to see what they've fucked up, but James Spader's performance is still, I can see is quite interesting in it, I thought Jimmy did a good job.
- I am very happy about it. I mean no film is beyond criticism, but I think we've made a very modest movie. Heck, we did it in 39 days, it cost $20 million dollars, which is very cheap for Hollywood standards, and tells a good story. I guess it's the literary equivalent of a short story,
- 48 Hrs. (1982) was fun. Back then, Eddie Murphy was very inexperienced, and Nick Nolte was. Eddie wasn't an actor; he was just being an actor. Also, Nick is extremely talented and together they just clicked. It was a marvellous experience. Nick is someone I can call one of my best friends today,
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