Lawrence Guterman graduated from USC Film School and was then hired by
DreamWorks Interactive to direct the flagship “Goosebumps” computer game after
Steven Spielberg saw his live action U.S.C. Master’s Thesis film “Headless!” The film
had just won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Student Film at the Worldfest Houston
International Film Festival.
As a result of his work on “Goosebumps”, DreamWorks then hired him to direct
sequences on ANTZ, the company’s first C.G.I. feature, starring the voices of Woody
Allen, Sharon Stone, and Christopher Walken. The film went on to make $171 million.
Next, Guterman developed and prepped a live-action/C.G.I. version of the feature film
CURIOUS GEORGE to direct for Imagine, producer Ron Howard and Universal Studios
for the better part of a year before the project was put on hold following changes at the
studio.
He then went on to direct the hit film CATS & DOGS for Warner Bros., which earned
more than $200 Million in worldwide box office revenue. The BBC said about the film that
it “succeeds both as a parody of the spy genre, and in stretching the boundaries of what
you believe is possible,” and A.O. Scott of the New York Times called it “exuberant fun.”
Entertainment Weekly dubbed the “Russian Cat” sequence in the film the “IT Sequence
of the Summer.”
Guterman directed New Line’s effects-filled “Son of the Mask”, which has earned $100
million in theatrical and ancillary revenue (Source: DGA). As a co-writer (and while still in
film school) Guterman sold a Tales from the Crypt episode to Bob Zemeckis for him to
direct, as well as a feature sci-fi thriller to Paramount and a family comedy to Tri-Star.
He also created and directed CAPTAIN AMAZING, a live action TV pilot presentation
starring Sean Hayes, that was purchased by Fox.
Guterman developed “My Middle Earth Crisis” to direct for New Regency,
VALEDICTORIAN, described as “Rushmore” meets “The Graduate,” for producer Mason
Novick (JUNO), as well as DOG’S BEST FRIEND for Universal-based Gold Circle Films.
He is Executive Producer of the film REMEMBER directed by Atom Egoyan, starring
Christopher Plummer and Martin Landau, which won four Canadian Academy awards in
2016 including best screenplay and best actor (Plummer).
He is currently co-founder of SonicCloud, a technology startup company developing
revolutionary software for personalizing sound on smartphones and computers for
people with hearing loss.
Guterman received an undergraduate degree in physics from Harvard University, where
he illustrated and wrote for the “Harvard Lampoon,” after attending MIT his freshman
year.
