31 Facts About Brian Trenchard-Smith

Brian Medwin Trenchard-Smith was born on 1946 and is an English-Australian filmmaker and author, known for his idiosyncratic and satirical low-budget genre films.

Brian Trenchard-Smith's filmography covers action, science fiction, martial arts, dystopian fiction, comedy, war, family, thriller, romance and erotica, and his works tend to be cross-genre pieces.

Brian Trenchard-Smith made his directorial debut with The Man from Hong Kong, the first film to be produced as an international co-production between Australia and Hong Kong.

Brian Trenchard-Smith moved to Hollywood in 1990, and has since primarily directed made-for-television and direct-to-video films.

Several of Brian Trenchard-Smith's films have garnered cult followings and have been subject to critical re-evaluation, and he has been cited as one of Quentin Tarantino's favourite directors.

Brian Trenchard-Smith was born in England, the son of a senior officer of the Royal Air Force, and lived for a time in Libya, where his father was stationed.

Brian Trenchard-Smith's family moved to RAF Odiham, Hampshire and he made his first film at the age of 15 on 8mm, a 2-minute short called The Duel.

Brian Trenchard-Smith was commissioned to make a film about his school, Wellington College, for prospective parents.

Brian Trenchard-Smith showed this around once he left school, and it helped him get work as an editor's assistant and camera assistant with a French news company in London.

Brian Trenchard-Smith worked at Channel Ten as an editor, doing news, documentaries and station promos.

Brian Trenchard-Smith followed it with a series of other specials: Marty Feldman in Australia, The Big Screen Scene, For Valor, Inside Alvin Purple.

Brian Trenchard-Smith was going to Hong Kong to make an $8,000 documentary on Bruce Lee called The World of Kung Fu but arrived on the day Lee died.

Brian Trenchard-Smith turned the documentary into a tribute on Lee, and in the course of making it met Raymond Chow.

Brian Trenchard-Smith made another TV special, Kung Fu Killers, featuring Page and George Lazenby.

Brian Trenchard-Smith spent nine months on a proposed film that never got up, The Siege of Sydney.

Brian Trenchard-Smith then made a film in the US called Stunt Rock which he once called "probably the worst film I have made" although it has become a cult classic.

Brian Trenchard-Smith followed this with Day of the Assassin, where he replaced the original director just before filming began.

Brian Trenchard-Smith later said making the movie was one of his craziest directing experiences:.

Brian Trenchard-Smith was announced as director of Blowing Hot and Cold but did not make it in the end.

Brian Trenchard-Smith began directing episodes of Australian TV shows such as Five Mile Creek.

Brian Trenchard-Smith was hired by the producers of Frog Dreaming to replace the original director during the shoot.

Brian Trenchard-Smith followed it with a melodrama which he co-wrote, Jenny Kissed Me, then another action film, Dead End Drive-In.

Brian Trenchard-Smith was hired for another "rescue operation" when the decision was made to sack the director of Day of the Panther during filming.

Brian Trenchard-Smith did a straight-to-video thriller, Out of the Body then travelled to the Philippines to make a Vietnam War film, The Siege of Firebase Gloria.

Brian Trenchard-Smith returned to Australia to make Official Denial on the Gold Coast.

Brian Trenchard-Smith went back to Australia to make Sahara, then did Escape Clause, Leprechaun 4: In Space, Doomsday Rock, Atomic Dog, and Voyage of Terror.

Brian Trenchard-Smith made the true crime film Happy Face Murders, which is one of his favourite movies.

Brian Trenchard-Smith says the 2000 Fox Family Channel movie Britannic was the best of the three disaster movies he made around this time.

Since 1975, Brian Trenchard-Smith has been married to Dr Margaret Gerard Brian Trenchard-Smith, an American Byzantine historian and retired actress whom he had cast in Deathcheaters, Stunt Rock, Out of the Body and The Siege of Firebase Gloria.

Brian Trenchard-Smith's hobbies include history and epee fencing, for which he has held a lifelong passion.

Brian Trenchard-Smith had cast certain actors in more than one of his films.