Hanson was an American director, producer and screenwriter. He left high school and worked as a photographer, journalist and for a while an editor of the magazine Cinema, which gave him the opportunity to interview famous film names such as John Ford, William Wyler, Dalton Trumbo, Vincente Minnelli. During the 1970’s he began writing screenplays and directing. He made his debut with the horror Sweet Kill (1972), and then directed the action karate comedy The Little Dragons (1979), teen comedy Losin' It (1983) starring Tom Cruise in one of his first bigger roles and The Bedroom Window (1987). However, his first real success came in the 1990’s. After the popular thriller Bad Influence (1990) starring Rob Lowe and James Spader, he achieved great success with the thriller The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (1992). Another one of his popular films was the action thriller The River Wild (1994). He produced most of his films, including the modern noir L.A. Confidential (1997), an extremely successful adaptation of the novel by James Ellroy that won over the critics and audience alike. Even though it did not win an Oscar for best director or film, the film was awarded with Oscars for best adapted screenplay and was nominated for the Golden Palm in Cannes. It remains one of his most famous films that was shown on numerous festivals around the world. His next film was the humorous drama Wonder Boys (2000), which was also adapted from a novel. The film was financially unsuccessful but the audience and the critics view it as one of his best works. He directed a video for Bob Dylan’s song “Things Have Changed“ (used in the film and awarded with an Oscar and Golden Globe for best original song) using recordings of the singer and scenes from the film. He collaborated with another musician, Eminem, in his autobiographical film 8 Mile (2002) about the young rapper’s growing up in Detroit. Somewhat less popular were his romantic comedy In Her Shoes (2005), and Lucky You (2007), drama about a professional poker player. He directed the TV film about the beginning of the financial crisis in the US in 2008 Too Big to Fail (2011). His last film is the sports drama Chasing Mavericks (2012), which he was unable to finish due to health issues (it was finished by Michael Apted). After that he retired and passed away at the age of 71.