Sean Leland Sebastian Gullette (born June 4, 1968) is an American film director, writer, screenwriter, actor, and producer.
Film directing
Gullette is slated to direct Upland, adapted from the novel Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids by Nobel Prize–winning Japanese author Kenzaburō Ōe, for an upcoming international co-production. Attached cast include Forrest Goodluck and Paul Sparks with Lisa Wolofsky and Pierre Even as lead producers.
Gullette's first feature film, Traitors, starring Chaimae Ben Acha, Soufia Issami, Mourade Zeguindi, Driss Roukhe and Saleh Bensaleh was released internationally. The film was shot on locations in Tangier, Morocco and the hashish producing Rif mountains. It made its world premiere at the 2013 Venice Film Festival , and screened in competition at the Stockholm Film Festival and at the Marrakech International Film Festival, the Dubai Film Festival, and the Tribeca Film Festival. The film was distributed by Rezo Films, Paris and in the US by Film Movement. Traitors received positive reviews from critics and has a "Fresh" rating of 88% on Rotten Tomatoes. "To keep her parents from being evicted and fund her Clash-inspired punk band, Malika takes a job smuggling drugs over the mountains. Her partner in the run is a world-weary veteran drug mule, who unexpectedly wins Malika's sympathy."
Gullette was announced at the Cannes Film Festival as the writer-director of Tangier, a film in-development set to star Kristin Scott Thomas and Jeremy Irons. The status of the project is currently unknown.
Producing
Gullette executive produced the landmark doc series Black Gold with Protozoa Pictures and TIME Studios. "BLACK GOLD is the story of the coverup of the century - of the boss atop a trillion-dollar industry who discovered a shocking truth 40 years ago, created a black ops conspiracy to hide the evidence, and would stop at nothing to keep the money flowing, while the world burned..."
Gullette produced The 8 with Sarah Riggs and Blaire Dessent; the film was selected for the 2010 Berlin Film Festival. He directed several short films from his own scripts. He produced False Start by Yto Barrada which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and went on to win a Tiger Award at the 2016 Rotterdam Film Festival and Tree Identification for Beginners also by Barrada which premiered at Rotterdam 2018.
Gullette produced Nicole Zaray's gender-inverted short film Joe's Day, featuring Deborah Harry. He wrote produced Thanksgiving, starring Yolonda Ross, James Urbaniak and Seymour Cassel.
Screenwriting
His feature film screenwriting projects have included Trinity, Conviction, Monopolis and Kilroy. He wrote "New York Stories" for Donna Karan's DKNY, and directed the "Von Hummer the 1st" series of promotional spots for VH1, starring James Urbaniak. He has also consulted on screenplays for Warner Bros., Paramount, and independent productions. IMDB reports Gullette as the screenwriter of the upcoming Olivier Megaton film Land of the Living.
Television
In 2019, Gullette directed two episodes of the ABC Television series 1969. Gullette wrote that "Was quite an adventure to direct this hour for ABC TV, which aired in the spring and is now streaming. Thanks to EP Jeanmarie Condon, my segment producers Jesse Rosen and Jackie Filer, senior producer Erica Salit, editors Doug Quade and Alessandro Barnett and the team at Lincoln Square Productions. Despite the title, everyone signed on to resist the grotesque Manson Industry and instead listen closely to the stories of two fascinating — and very different — women who joined the group. Both Dianne Lake and Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme sat for powerful, revealing interviews. Our re-reading of the Manson myth is also carried by Peter Fonda, rock author Lizzy Goodman, VIBE editor Desiree Thompson, Woodstock founder Michael Lang, John Fogerty of Creedence, and Tariq Trotter of The Roots."
Acting
His professional work in film began in 1998, when he co-wrote and played the lead role in the award-winning Pi, directed by longtime collaborator Darren Aronofsky. He has since played principal and supporting roles in some twenty films including Brad Anderson's Happy Accidents (with Vincent D'Onofrio and Marisa Tomei) and Darren Aronofsky's Requiem for a Dream (with Jennifer Connelly), the German film Toskana Karrussel (with Susanna Lothar) and as a guest actor on network TV dramas. His occasional theater work has included the lead in the New York premiere of Susan Sandler's If I Were a Train.
In 2010 he played principal roles in Blue Ridge, directed by Vincent Sweeney, and Die zwei Leben des Daniel Shore, with Nikolai Kinski and Morjana Alaoui, directed by Michael Dreher.