Brian Trenchard-Smith is an Anglo-Australian film and television director, producer, and writer, renowned for his work on large-scale movies with small-scale budgets, often showcasing a quirky sense of humor that has garnered a devoted cult following. Quentin Tarantino has publicly praised him, referring to him as one of his favorite directors in Entertainment Weekly.
Trenchard-Smith's early work is featured in the award-winning documentary Not Quite Hollywood, released by Magnolia. His notable early successes include the 20th Century Fox release The Man from Hong Kong, a unique blend of James Bond and Chop Socky elements, the Vietnam battle movie Siege of Firebase Gloria, and the futuristic satire Dead End Drive-In, which is a particular favorite of Tarantino's.
Among his other notable films are BMX Bandits, which features a young Nicole Kidman, and Miramax's The Quest, starring Henry Thomas from E.T. Both of these films won prizes at children's film festivals in Montreal and Europe. In addition to his work in film, Trenchard-Smith has directed 35 episodes of television series, including Silk Stalkings, Time Trax, The Others, and Flipper.
Born in England to an Australian father who was serving in the RAF, Trenchard-Smith attended the prestigious Wellington College in the UK, where he neglected his studies in favor of acting and making short films. He later migrated to Australia, where he began his career as a news film editor before moving on to network promos.
Trenchard-Smith was part of a group of young people who pushed for government investment in Australian-made films. He successfully persuaded the Greater Union Theater Organization, Australia's largest distribution-exhibition circuit at the time, to form an in-house production company that he would run. The company produced three successful films in a row, launching his career.
In addition to his work in film, Trenchard-Smith was the founding editor of Australia's quarterly Movie magazine for six years and has made over 100 trailers for other directors in Australia, Europe, and America. He has directed a total of 39 movies, including five commissioned by Showtime, such as 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, featuring Timothy Bottoms as President Bush.
Trenchard-Smith has also worked on a number of family dramas for Lifetime, including Long Lost Son, starring Gabrielle Anwar, which introduced future Gossip Girl star Chace Crawford to audiences in the title role. In 2009, he shot Porky's - The College Years, a re-imagining of the famous 80's franchise of teen comedies.
More recently, his ecological thriller Arctic Blast, starring Michael Shanks, premiered 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.
