Alexander Witt Biography

Date of Birth: 1952

Although of German descent, Alexander Witt was born in Santiago, Chile. He moved to Europe in the 1970s and began his film career as a camera assistant on projects such as the TV movie 21 Hours at Munich (1976) and the feature films Die Dritte Generation (1979) and The American Success Company (1980). With that film, which starred Jeff Bridges, Witt was able to make valuable American contacts and he moved to the United States shortly after. He soon graduated to camera operator, then worked his way up to second unit director of photography on the feature film The Jewel of the Nile (1985), starring Michael Douglas.

In the early 1990s, Witt began directing commercials and in 1994, as second unit director, he directed many of the car scenes for the movie Speed. He continued to work as a second unit director on films such as Twister (1996), Gladiator (2000), Black Hawk Down (2001), The Bourne Identity (2002), Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) and Hidalgo (2004).

Having worked with some of the biggest directors in the world on some of the biggest sets, Witt finally made the leap into the director's chair himself with Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004), starring Milla Jovovich. Just before the movie was released, it was announced that he would next direct the war film, Cold Shelter (2005), set in East Germany.

Filmography:

Cold Shelter (2005)
Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004)