Curtis Hanson Dies: Oscar-Winning ‘L.A. Confidential’ Filmmaker Was 71

Curtis Hanson, who shared an Adapted Screenplay Oscar for L.A. Confidential and also helmed such films as Eminem starrer 8 Mile, Wonder Boys, The River Wild, In Her Shoes and HBO’s Too Big to Fail, died today of natural causes at his Hollywood Hills home. He was 71.

Officer Tony Im of the LAPD confirmed the news to Deadline, saying police arrived at Hanson’s home at 4:50 PM and that he was pronounced dead at the scene. The filmmaker had been in poor health for a while.

Hanson co-wrote (with Brian Helgeland), directed and produced L.A. Confidential (1997), an adaptation of James Ellroy’s noir novel which was up for Best Picture and also earned him a directing nom and won the Palme d’Or at Cannes. Set in 1953 Los Angeles, the film starred Kevin Spacey, Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, James Cromwell,Danny DeVito, David Straithairn and — in brief but Oscar-winning scenes — Kim Basinger. It followed a group of corrupt LAPD officers and a deal with a Hollywood gossip rag to feed it celebrity tips.

Born on March 24, 1945, in Reno, NV, Hanson grew up in Los Angeles and began his career writing and directing indie pics in the early 1970s. By the next decade he would direct a young Tom Cruise in Losin’ It (1983) wrote the screenplays for features White Dog (1982) and Never Cry Wolf (1983). He was more focused on directing by the 1990s, helming such films as Bad Influence (1990), The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (1992) and The River Wild starring Meryl Streep and Kevin Bacon (1994).

He followed up L.A. Confidential by directing Wonder Boys (2000), starring Michael Douglas as a troubled English professor and Tobey Maguire and Katie Holmes as his students. The cast also included Frances McDormand, Rip Torn and Robert Downey Jr — like Maguire, then a pre-superhero actor. Next up for Hanson was 8 Mile, starring rapper Eminem in a semi-autobiographical tale of a young white rapper from Detroit trying to launch his career.

Hanson’s next project was In Her Shoes, a 2005 dramedy about two sisters (Cameron Diaz and Toni Collette) and their relationship with their grandma (Shirley MacLaine). He followed that with the 2007 poker drama Lucky You, starring Eric Bana, Robert Duvall and Drew Barrymore, which he wrote and directed.

In 2011, Hanson took his directing talents to the small screen for Too Big to Fail, HBO’s telepic about how Washington and Wall Street flailed during the late-2000s financial crisis. The pic, which included William Hurt (at left, with Hanson) among its large ensemble, scored 11 Emmy noms, including two for Hanson as director and producer, but came away empty-handed.

Hanson began, but didn’t complete, the 2012’s Chasing Mavericks, a biopic about surfer Jay Moriarity. The director dropped out of the project due to an undisclosed illness, and Michael Apted took over the direction.

Before starting his filmmaker career, Hanson was a photographer for Cinema magazine. While there, he took shots of a young Faye Dunaway. The images led to her audition for Bonnie & Clyde, and Dunaway would go on to become one of the leading actresses in Hollywood into the 1980s.

Hanson was elected to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Board of Governors, representing the Directors branch. He was re-elected in 2004, 2007 and 2009.

R.I.P. Curtis Hanson!!!!!!!!!!!!