The director of “8 Mile” and “L.A. Confidential” has reportedly died at a Los Angeles hospital. Curtis Hanson was 71.
The death was first reported by the celebrity-news site TMZ, which said Mr. Hanson apparently died of a heart attack.
“Law enforcement sources tell us paramedics went to the home, responding to a call of an unconscious man. We’re told Hanson was pronounced dead at the scene,” TMZ wrote.
Mr. Hanson won one Academy Award, for best adapted script for his 1997 neo-noir “L.A. Confidential,” which he directed and co-wrote with Brian Helgeland.
“I prefer stories about people who are, in a sense, trying to find better versions of themselves,” Mr. Hanson once described his films and scripts.
He directed 17 feature and made-for-TV films and wrote or produced several others, going back to 1973. But he had his greatest successes in the 90s and early-00s.
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In that period, he directed Eminem in “8 Mile,” the rap star’s semi-autobiographical feature-starring debut; “The River Wild,” a Meryl Streep action film; “Wonder Boys,” a critically praised comedy starring Michael Douglas; and the hit thriller “The Hand That Rocks the Cradle” about the world’s worst nanny.
• Victor Morton can be reached at vmorton@washingtontimes.com.
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