Davis Guggenheim Biography
Philip Davis Guggenheim is an American screenwriter, director, and producer.
Active in television and film's directions and productions since the 90s, from 2006 Guggenheim has specialized in making do*entaries, ranking the top 100 highest-grossing do*entaries of all time with three works: An Inconvenient Truth, It Might Get Loud, and Waiting for "Superman".
Guggenheim's cinematographic projects received severals awards and nominations, including the Academy Award for Best Do*entary Feature Film for An Inconvenient Truth, the Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Do*entary Feature for He Named Me Malala and two nominations at the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Do*entary/Nonfiction Program.
His credits include NYPD Blue, ER, 24, Alias, The Shield, Deadwood, and the do*entaries, It Might Get Loud, The Road We've Traveled, Waiting for "Superman", Inside Bill's Brain: Decoding Bill Gates.
Early life
Philip Davis Guggenheim was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the son of Marion Davis (née Streett) and filmmaker Charles Guggenheim. His father was Jewish, whereas his mother was Episcopalian. He graduated from the Potomac School, Sidwell Friends School and Brown University.
Career
Guggenheim joined the HBO Western drama Deadwood as a producer and director for the first season in 2004. The series was created by David Milch and focused on a growing town in the American West. Guggenheim directed the episodes "Deep Water", "Reconnoitering the Rim", "Plague" and "Sold Under Sin". He left the crew at the end of Season 1.
The do*entary, An Inconvenient Truth, was produced and directed by Davis Guggenheim. An Inconvenient Truth won the Academy Award in 2007 for Best Do*entary Feature. The film, released in 2006, featured Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore and his international slideshow on global warming.
Then-candidate Barack Obama's biographical film, which aired during the Democratic National Convention in August 2008, was directed by Guggenheim. Their infomercial, which was broadcast two months later, on October 29, 2008, was "executed with high standards of cinematography", according to The New York Times. In 2012, he released The Road We've Traveled, a 17-minute short film on the president.
Guggenheim directed and was an executive producer of the 2009 pilot for Melrose Place. His brother-in-law, Andrew Shue, starred on the 1990s version of the series.
In 2008, he released It Might Get Loud, a do*entary that glimpses into the lives of guitarists Jimmy Page, The Edge, and Jack White.
Guggenheim's 2010 do*entary Waiting for "Superman", a film about the failures of American public education sparked controversy and debate. Guggenheim knew his film would lead to this and said, "I know people will say this movie is anti-this or pro-that. But it really is all about families trying to find great schools". This film received the Audience Award for best do*entary at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. Its public release was in September 2010.
A do*entary film about the band U2 directed by Guggenheim *led From the Sky Down opened the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival in September.
In 2013, he directed a 30-minute do*entary The Dream is Now Archived December 5, 2017, at the Wayback Machine about four undo*ented students in the United States as they deal with the U.S. immigration system.
In 2015, he directed a do*entary film He Named Me Malala about a young Pakistani female activist Malala Yousafzai, who was targeted by Taliban gunmen, shot in the head and left wounded.
In 2019, he created and directed a do*entary miniseries *led Inside Bill's Brain: Decoding Bill Gates. The series explores the mind and motivations behind the captain of industry and philanthropist Bill Gates, the rise of Microsoft, and the past and current pursuits of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
In 2020, Guggenheim and Jonathan King launched production company Concordia Studio.
In 2023, the do*entary Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie, directed by Guggenheim, was released on Apple TV+. Featuring read excerpts from Michael J. Fox's own books, the biopic stars Fox himself as both interviewee and narrator, recounting his acclaimed career and experience contending with Parkinson's disease. The feature received seven Emmy Nominations.
Personal life
Guggenheim married actress Elisabeth Shue in 1994. They have three children together. He is the first cousin of actress Patty Guggenheim.
Accolades
References
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Davis Guggenheim.- Davis Guggenheim at IMDb
- Teach
- Biography Archived October 31, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
- Interview
- The Director's Take: Davis Guggenheim captures the ideals of the "former next president" interview, Riverfront Times, June 7, 2006
- "Waiting for Superman" to Save Our Public Schools: An in-depth interview with Director Davis Guggenheim
- Amanda Ripley (September 23, 2010). "Waiting for "Superman": A Call to Action for Our Schools". TIME. Vol.:176, no.:12. pp.:32–42.
