Nicole Kassell

Kassell was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and raised in Charlottesville, VA where she attended St. Anne's-Belfiield School. Her father, Dr. Neal Kassell, a University of Virginia medical professor, performed two brain surgeries on Joe Biden in 1988 to repair his aneurysm and the two have remained friends ever since.{{Cite news|last=Daly|first=Michael|date=2020-11-08|title=Surgeon Who Saved Biden's Life Recalls Fateful Prediction|language=en|work=The Daily Beast|url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/dr-neal-kassell-surgeon-who-saved-bidens-life-recalls-fateful-prediction|access-date=2020-11-17}}{{Cite news|last=Olurunnipa|first=Toluse|date=October 24, 2020|title=Both Biden and Trump have questioned the other's physical and mental fitness. Here's what we know about their health.|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-biden-health-problems/2020/10/23/aa6390ac-13cd-11eb-ba42-ec6a580836ed_story.html|access-date=November 17, 2020|newspaper=The Washington Post}}{{Cite web|title=Neal Kassell - Focused Ultrasound Foundation|url=https://www.fusfoundation.org/the-foundation/leadership/the-team/neal-kassell|access-date=2020-11-17|website=www.fusfoundation.org}}{{Cite web|last=Cochran|first=Cheryl|date=2016-04-08|title=How an obscure medical technology caught the eye of Joe Biden. And John Grisham|url=https://www.statnews.com/2016/04/08/obscure-medical-therapy-caught-eye-joe-biden-john-grisham/|access-date=2020-11-17|website=STAT|language=en-US}}{{Cite magazine|last=Tina Nguyen|title=Neurosurgeon: I've Seen Biden's Brain and It's Perfectly Fine|language=en-us|magazine=Vanity Fair|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/08/joe-biden-neurosurgeon-brain|access-date=2020-11-17}}

She earned a BA in Art history from Columbia University,{{Cite web|date=August 10, 2020|title=AitN: August 10, 2020|url=https://www.college.columbia.edu/cct/latest/alumni-news/aitn-august-10-2020|access-date=August 10, 2020|website=Columbia College Today}} and received her MFA from the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU.{{Cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0975026/bio|title=Nicole Kassell|website=IMDb|access-date=2020-04-13}}{{cite news |title=Going out on a limb |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-nov-14-ca-woodsman14-story.html |newspaper=LA Times |date=14 November 2004 |access-date=29 August 2018}} While a student at NYU, she made three short films, including The Green Hour, which was screened at the Sundance Film Festival in 2002. While attending NYU she received full scholarship for two years.

A year earlier, she had won the Slamdance Screenplay Competition{{cite web |title=Slamdance Names Ten Winners of Screenplay Competition |url=https://www.indiewire.com/2004/09/slamdance-names-ten-winners-of-screenplay-competition-78634/ |website=Indie Wire |date=28 September 2004 |access-date=29 August 2018}} for her first feature-length project, The Woodsman (2004 film),{{cite news |title=Released From Prison but Never Really Free |work=The New York Times |date=24 December 2004 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/24/movies/released-from-prison-but-never-really-free.html |access-date=29 August 2018 |last1=Scott |first1=A. O. }} adapted from Steven Fechter's 1997 minimalist play she had seen staged at The Actors Studio in New York City. Her enthusiasm for it convinced Lee Daniels, one of the producers of Monster's Ball, to help her get funding for the film version. When he approached Kevin Bacon, the actor was so impressed by the script, about a convicted child molester forced to deal with social prejudice and the fear he will not be able to control his dark urges after he is released from prison, that he suggested he star in the movie opposite wife Kyra Sedgwick. The Woodsman competed at Sundance and the Toronto International Film Festival, was featured in the Director’s Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival, and eventually was released to the public in 2004. Kassell's second feature film, A Little Bit of Heaven, a romantic comedy starring Kate Hudson and Gael García Bernal, had its first release in February 2011 in the UK.{{Citation needed|date=February 2020}}

She has adapted Arthur Miller's play The Ride Down Mt. Morgan for the big screen. The project has been in pre-production since 2004 and will reportedly feature a cast that includes Diane Keaton, Emily Blunt and Michael Douglas if it goes into production. Douglas would also serve as executive producer.{{Citation needed|date=February 2020}}

In February 2021, Kassell was chosen to direct a new adaptation of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz at New Line Cinema.{{Cite web |last=Vlessing |first=Etan |date=2021-02-09 |title=Nicole Kassell to Direct 'Wonderful Wizard of Oz' Adaptation for New Line |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/nicole-kassell-to-direct-wonderful-wizard-of-oz-adaptation-for-new-line-4130401/ |access-date=2023-01-13 |website=The Hollywood Reporter |language=en-US}}{{cite web|url=https://screenrant.com/wizard-oz-remake-show-development-nicole-kassell-producer/|title=Wizard of Oz Remake In The Works From Watchmen TV Show Director|website=Screen Rant|last=Mehrtens|first=Michelle|date=February 10, 2021|access-date=February 10, 2021}}

Kassell has directed episodes of the series Cold Case and 3 lbs (both on CBS), The Closer (on TNT), The Killing (on AMC), Vinyl (on HBO){{cite web |title=Nicole Kassell on |url=https://www.indiewire.com/2016/06/tv-directors-female-films-vinyl-emmys-nicole-kassell-consider-this-1201683992/ |website=Indie Wire |date=3 June 2016 |access-date=29 August 2018}}{{cite web |title=Seasoned TV Directors Field Wide Array of Job Offers |url=https://variety.com/2016/tv/spotlight/seasoned-tv-directors-field-wide-choice-job-offers-1201794636/ |website=Variety |date=14 June 2016 |access-date=29 August 2018}} and The Americans (on FX). She also is writing an adaptation of the book Bad Medicine for HBO.{{Citation needed|date=February 2020}}

In 2018, it was announced that Kassell would direct the pilot for the HBO series Watchmen.{{cite web |title=Watchmen' Is A Go: Damon Lindelof's Pilot Picked Up To Series By HBO |url=https://deadline.com/2018/08/damon-lindelof-watchmen-pilot-picked-up-series-hbo-1202447586/ |website=Deadline |date=17 August 2018 |access-date=29 August 2018}}{{cite web |title=Watchmen' HBO Series Taps Nicole Kassell to Direct Pilot |url=https://variety.com/2018/tv/news/watchmen-hbo-series-nicole-kassell-director-1202682035/ |website=Variety |date=30 January 2018 |access-date=29 August 2018}} In January 2020, Kassell won the Directors Guild of America Award for Dramatic Series for directing the Watchmen episode "It's Summer and We're Running Out of Ice".

Kassell signed with WME in 2018.{{cite web |title=WME signs director Nicole Kassell |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/wme-signs-director-nicole-kassell-978222 |website=WME |date=21 February 2017 |publisher=Hollywood Reporter |access-date=29 August 2018}}

Kassell is now living in New York City, with her husband and two children. In an interview for a Complex article, Kassell described part of her ethnic identity and how it informed her work on the Watchmen series: "My father is Jewish and I am half-Jewish. We all lived in Charlottesville, and I’m just realizing in talking with you, that my ancestors escaped the pogroms of Ukraine. How much is there actually in my DNA history that I’m not even aware of that I am pouring into this?."[https://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2019/10/nicole-kassell-hbo-watchmen-anatomy-of-a-scene "Anatomy of a Scene: How 'Watchmen' Director Nicole Kassell Recreated the 1921 Tulsa Race Riots."] Clark, Kevin L. Complex. www.complex.com Published October 30, 2019. Accessed August 3, 2020.

Short films

Feature films

Television

{{reflist}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20051206024707/http://nicolekassell.com/ Nicolekassell.com]
• {{IMDb name|975026|Nicole Kassell}}

{{DirectorsGuildofAmericaOutstandingDirectingDramaSeries}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kassell, Nicole}}

Category:1972 births

Category:20th-century American Jews

Category:American people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent

Category:American women screenwriters

Category:American television directors

Category:American women film directors

Category:American women television directors

Category:Living people

Category:Artists from Philadelphia

Category:Tisch School of the Arts alumni

Category:Columbia College (New York) alumni

Category:21st-century American Jews

Category:Directors Guild of America Award winners

Category:Film directors from Pennsylvania