Celebrity Info
A young American filmmaker made a direct leap from film school to the big screen with his debut feature—an action-packed, low-budget production titled Catch Me if You Can (1989). Following the release of that film, along with his compelling script for The Adventures of Huck Finn, Sommers was given an opportunity by Disney to prove his directing chops through what’s known as a “director’s test.” This involved shooting two scenes in a single day with a modest $20,000 budget. The results impressed the studio enough to greenlight Sommers to helm his version of Huck Finn (1993), and he was also offered a two-year production deal.
After that, he went on to write the western Gunmen (1994), which didn’t quite resonate with audiences the way he had hoped. However, he quickly bounced back with critical and commercial success through his direction and co-writing work on the 1994 reimagining of Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book. This film, while loosely inspired by the classic story of a boy raised in the wild, marked a strong return to form for Sommers and showcased his growing talent behind the camera.
Stephen Sommers is perhaps best known for directing Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book (1994), which remains his highest-rated film to date. On the other hand, one of his least critically acclaimed works is The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008), which is often regarded as his lowest-rated movie. While Sommers has worked on a variety of films throughout his career, these two titles—The Jungle Book and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor—stand out as the peaks and valleys of his filmography. It’s interesting to see how Stephen Sommers’ style and storytelling evolved between these two projects, especially considering the stark difference in their reception.
Turkey
