Breck Eisner

Breck Eisner has had a checkered Hollywood career that ranges from a successful stint helming commercials to directing one of Hollywood's most costly failures. The son of former Disney CEO Michael Eisner, Breck graduated from the University of Southern California's film school in 1996; he wasn't shy about using his connections for his MFA thesis film, "Recon," whose cast included Hollywood veteran Charles Durning, stellar character actress Elizabeth Pena, and musician Peter Gabriel. Eisner spent the next few years directing ads for commercial titans Budweiser, Coca-Cola, Sony, Sega, and Coors. In the early 2000s, he directed the pilot for the Sci-Fi Channel series "The Invisible Man" and the miniseries "Taken," as well as the unaired pilot "Thoughtcrimes," which went straight to DVD. His big theatrical opportunity finally came in 2005 with "Sahara," a can't-miss adaptation of Clive Cussler's best-selling adventure novel starring the then-red-hot Matthew McConaughey and Penelope Cruz. While the film, envisioned as the first of a franchise, opened at number one and made $122 million at the box office, its original budget doubled over the course of its production in Morocco, making it one of the most money-losing movies in history. After a long series of aborted and delayed projects, Eisner's next major feature was an acclaimed 2010 remake of George Romero's '73 infection thriller "The Crazies," featuring "Deadwood" and "Justified" star Timothy Olyphant. Unlike "Sahara," this movie cost a relatively meager $20 million and made back more than double that sum.