Sacha Gervasi

Journalist-turned-filmmaker Sacha Gervasi rose to international acclaim with the humorous and inspiring documentary "Anvil! The Story of Anvil!" (2008) and surpassed Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese and Ryan Murphy as the director of "Hitchcock" (2012), a dramatization of the making of "Psycho" (2012). The appointment surprised many in Hollywood, given Gervasi's limited film career, which encompassed scripts for the independent features "The Big Tease" (1999) and "Henry's Crime" (2010) and a single studio effort, Spielberg's "The Terminal" (2004). But the worldwide success of "Anvil" paved the way for Gervasi to move into the director's chair, which he won on "Hitchcock" by focusing the film on the complicated relationship between the director (Anthony Hopkins) and his wife and muse, Alma (Helen Mirren). The positive press afforded to the film indicated that Gervasi had made a successful transition from writer to director - an all-too-infrequent occurrence in the film industry.