John Dahl

John Dahl was born and raised in Billings, Montana,{{cite web|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/entertainment/2007/06/22/how-john-dahl-was-lured-to-the-dark-side/fad0f574-50a6-481e-a9c4-0437af8a4bf8/|work=The Washington Post|date=June 21, 2007|title=How John Dahl was lured to the dark side|url-status=live|last=Talcott|first=Christina|archive-date=March 15, 2025|archive-url=https://archive.today/20250315165028/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/entertainment/2007/06/22/how-john-dahl-was-lured-to-the-dark-side/fad0f574-50a6-481e-a9c4-0437af8a4bf8/}} {{subscription}}{{cite web|work=TV Guide|title=John Dahl|url=https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/john-dahl/credits/3000098628/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241211171126/https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/john-dahl/credits/3000098628/|archive-date=December 11, 2024}}{{cite web|work=Filmmaker|url=https://filmmakermagazine.com/archives/issues/summer1994/western.php|last=Otto|first=Susan|title=Western Noir|url-status=live|date=1994|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241211171126/https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/john-dahl/credits/3000098628/|archive-date=December 11, 2024}} the second of four children (his brother is filmmaker Rick Dahl).{{cite web|url=http://www.filmreference.com/film/41/John-Dahl.html|title=John Dahl Biography (1956-)| publisher=FilmReference.com|access-date=September 3, 2011}} His father worked as an insurance salesman, and his mother was a homemaker.{{cite web|url=https://www.thetimes.com/travel/destinations/north-america-travel/us-travel/california/lights-camera-bewilderment-mgbzrgzcjdc?region=global|work=The Times|title=Lights, camera, bewilderment|date=December 6, 2007|last=Maher|first=Kevin|archive-url=https://archive.today/20250315165354/https://www.thetimes.com/travel/destinations/north-america-travel/us-travel/california/lights-camera-bewilderment-mgbzrgzcjdc?region=global|archive-date=March 15, 2025|url-status=live}} He graduated from Billings Senior High School in 1974.{{cite web|url=https://www.montana.edu/news/mountainsandminds/article.html?id=9650|title=Calling the shots|work=Mountains and Minds|publisher=Montana State University|last=Schmidt|first=Carol|date=April 25, 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250315164421/https://www.montana.edu/news/mountainsandminds/article.html?id=9650|archive-date=March 15, 2025}}{{cite web|work=The Washington Times|url=https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/aug/29/amusement-park-drive-in-among-last-of-its-kind/|date=August 29, 2015|title=Amusement Park Drive-In among last of its kind|last=Webb|first=Jack|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160324020015/http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/aug/29/amusement-park-drive-in-among-last-of-its-kind/|archive-date=March 24, 2016|url-status=live}}

His interest in film began at the age of seventeen, when he first saw A Clockwork Orange at a Billings drive-in theater, as told to Robert K. Elder in an interview for The Film That Changed My Life.

{{Blockquote|This film captured my imagination so much. It was the first film that I saw that made me realize that somebody has to make this stuff. Somebody has to build those sets. Somebody has to paint those paintings. All of a sudden it became accessible. The movie was so compelling and interesting to me on so many levels. The one thing that struck me was that somebody made a movie, and that it was something that maybe, possibly, I could do.Dahl, John. Interview by Robert K. Elder. The Film That Changed My Life. By Robert K. Elder. Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 2011. N. p68. Print.}}

He first attended the Montana State University, and then transferred to Montana State University's [http://sfp.montana.edu School of Film and Photography], where he received a degree in film. While at MSU, Dahl was a student of Bill Pullman. His first feature film at MSU was titled The Death Mutants made for $12,000. While at Montana State he played guitar in the punk rock band "The Pugs". He also met his wife, Beth Friedberg at MSU, and after graduation they both left Montana to attend the AFI Conservatory in Los Angeles. He entered the directors program and she entered the cinematography program.

Dahl started his career as a storyboard artist and assistant director. He continued through the eighties making short films and directing music videos for Kool & the Gang and Joe Satriani. Dahl's first two films were Kill Me Again and Red Rock West.{{cite news|url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9E06E2D6153FF935A15753C1A962958260|author=Maslin, Janet|author-link=Janet Maslin|title=THE LAST SEDUCTION; A Femme Fatale Who Lives Up To the Description|work=The New York Times|date=October 26, 1994|access-date=March 8, 2012}} His third feature film was the crime thriller, The Last Seduction starring Linda Fiorentino. Fiorentino's performance in the film, although critically acclaimed, was not eligible to receive an Oscar nomination because it aired on cable television before its theatrical release. The Last Seduction also starred Dahl's former college professor, Bill Pullman.

Dahl and his wife, Beth, have four children. As of 2007, they resided in Los Angeles.

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Category:1956 births

Category:American male screenwriters

Category:American storyboard artists

Category:American television directors

Category:Living people

Category:Montana State University alumni

Category:AFI Conservatory alumni

Category:Writers from Billings, Montana

Category:University of Montana alumni

Category:Film directors from Montana

Category:Screenwriters from Montana