Brian Trenchard-Smith

Brian Trenchard-Smith

  • Place of birth: England
  • Also know as: Браян Тренчард-Сміт

Biography

Brian Trenchard-Smith is an Anglo Australian film and television director, producer, and writer, with a reputation for large scale movies on small scale budgets, many of which display a quirky sense of humor that has earned him a cult following. Quentin Tarantino referred to him in Entertainment Weekly as one of his favorite directors. His early work is featured in Not Quite Hollywood, an award winning documentary released by Magnolia. Among his early successes were the 20th Century Fox release The Man from Hong Kong, a wry James Bond/Chop Sockey cocktail, the Vietnam battle movie Siege of Firebase Gloria, and the futuristic satire Dead End Drive-In, a particular Tarantino favorite. BMX Bandits, showcasing a 15-year old Nicole Kidman, and Miramax's The Quest, starring ET's Henry Thomas, won prizes at children's film festivals in Montreal and Europe. He has also directed 35 episodes of television series as diverse as Silk Stalkings, Time Trax, The Others, and Flipper. Born in England, where his Australian father was in the RAF, Trenchard-Smith attended UK's prestigious Wellington College, where he neglected studies in favor of acting and making short films, before migrating to Australia. He started as a news film editor, then graduated to network promos before he became one of a group of young people that, as he recalls, "pushed, shoved, lobbied and bullied the government into introducing investment for Australian made films." He persuaded Australia's largest distribution-exhibition circuit at the time, the Greater Union Theater Organization, to form an in-house production company that he would run. The company made three successful films in a row, and his career was underway. In parallel careers, he was also founding editor of Australia's quarterly Movie magazine for 6 years, and has made over 100 trailers for other directors in Australia, Europe, and America. Among his 39 movies, 5 were commissioned by Showtime, including the remake of the World War II classic, Sahara, the highly rated, Happy Face Murders, starring Ann-Margret, and DC 9/11: Time of Crisis, with Timothy Bottoms as President Bush. His frequently repeated family drama for Lifetime, Long Lost Son starring Gabrielle Anwar, introduced future Gossip Girl's Chace Crawford to audiences in the title role." I knew from his first scene, he was going to be hot." In 2009, Trenchard-Smith shot Porky's - The College Years, a re-imagining of the famous 80's franchise of teen comedies. His recent ecological thriller Arctic Blast, starring Michael Shanks, was chosen to premiere at the 2010 Possible Worlds Canadian Film Festival in Sydney. Trenchard-Smith writes for filmindustrybloggers.com as The Genre Director, and is a contributing guru to trailersfromhell.com. He is married to Byzantine historian Dr. Margaret Trenchard-Smith, lives in Los Angeles, and is a member of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.

Filmography

Thanatomania

2023

As

Game of Death: The Six Doors to Hell

2025

As Major Paul Anders

Deathcheaters

1976

As Hit & Run Director

Not Quite Hollywood

2008

As Self

Production

Day of the Panther

1988

As Additional Dialogue

Resistance

1992

As Thanks

The Man from Hong Kong

1975

As Director

Aztec Rex

2007

As Director

Night of the Demons 2

1994

As Director

Frog Dreaming

1986

As Director

Stunt Rock

1978

As Director

Tides of War

2005

As Director

Sahara

1995

As Director

Arctic Blast

2010

As Director

BMX Bandits

1983

As Director

Dead End Drive-In

1986

As Director

Turkey Shoot

1982

As Director

Leprechaun 3

1995

As Director

Leprechaun 4: In Space

1996

As Director

Dangerfreaks

1987

As Director

Day of the Panther

1988

As Director

Happy Face Murders

1999

As Director

Porky's: Pimpin' Pee Wee

2009

As Director

In Her Line of Fire

2006

As Director

Deathcheaters

1976

As Director

Britannic

2000

As Director

The Paradise Virus

2003

As Director

Atomic Dog

1998

As Director

Hospitals Don't Burn Down

1978

As Director

Seconds to Spare

2002

As Director

The Cabin

2011

As Director

Escape Clause

1996

As Director

The Love Epidemic

1975

As Director

Official Denial

1993

As Director

Out of the Body

1989

As Director

Strike of the Panther

1989

As Director

DC 9/11: Time of Crisis

2003

As Director

Absolute Deception

2013

As Director

Day of the Assassin

1979

As Director

Kung Fu Killers

1974

As Director

Megiddo: The Omega Code 2

2001

As Director

Drive Hard

2014

As Director

Voyage of Terror

1998

As Director

Doomsday Rock

1997

As Director

Jenny Kissed Me

1986

As Director

Long Lost Son

2006

As Director

The Stuntmen

1973

As Director

The World of Kung Fu

1973

As Director

That Dangerous Summer

0000

As Director

Escape 2000

1983

As Director

In Her Line of Fire

2006

As Producer

Elimination Game

2014

As Executive Producer

The Paradise Virus

2003

As Producer

Deathcheaters

1976

As Producer

Kung Fu Killers

1974

As Producer

Blood Tide

1982

As Co-Producer

Tides of War

2005

As Producer

Malibu Shark Attack

2009

As Producer

The Stuntmen

1973

As Producer

Demonstone

1990

As Executive Producer

Stunt Rock

1978

As Screenplay

Dangerfreaks

1987

As Writer

Seconds to Spare

2002

As Writer

The Love Epidemic

1975

As Writer

Britannic

2000

As Writer

Deathcheaters

1976

As Story

Drive Hard

2014

As Screenplay

The Man from Hong Kong

1975

As Screenplay

Kung Fu Killers

1974

As Writer

The Stuntmen

1973

As Writer

keyboard_arrow_up