John Lee Hancock

Screenwriter and director

  • Born: December 15, 1956
  • Place of Birth: Longview, Texas

Contribution: John Lee Hancock is a screenwriter, director, and producer who is best known for his 2009 film The Blind Side, for which star Sandra Bullock won an Academy Award for best actress.

Background

John Lee Hancock Jr. was born on December 15, 1956, in Longview, Texas, though his family moved to Texas City when he was in second grade. His mother, Sue Hoover, was a sixth-grade English teacher; his father, John Lee Hancock Sr., taught high school and coached football and swimming. He was the oldest of four children.

Growing up, Hancock was surrounded by sports. His father had played football at Baylor University and had a short professional career with the Chicago Cardinals before becoming a teacher. His brothers, Joe and Kevin, also played collegiate and professional football: Joe for Vanderbilt University and later the Chicago Bears, Kevin for Baylor and then the Indianapolis Colts.

Hancock played high school football as well, but he did not achieve the level of success that his father and brothers did, and he only received scholarship offers from junior colleges. Without a substantial football scholarship from a major university, Hancock opted to focus on academic rather than athletic pursuits and enrolled at Baylor, like his father. After earning his bachelor’s degree in English, he continued his studies at Baylor Law School.

Upon his graduation, Hancock practiced for three years as an attorney with the Houston-based firm Sowell & Ogg. During this time, he also took some acting classes at the University of St. Thomas in Houston.

Career

Due to his interest in film, Hancock shifted his career focus toward the entertainment industry, moving to Los Angeles and becoming actively involved in the stage. He was a member of the prestigious Fountainhead Theater Company before cofounding the Legal Aliens Theatre Company with actor Brandon Lee. In addition to running Legal Aliens, he also wrote and directed the plays Full-Fed Beast, Riff for Emily, and Ten to Midnight for the company.

Hancock’s first film script to be produced was also his directorial debut: Hard Time Romance (1991), a romantic comedy about a rodeo cowboy looking for love. The following year, he wrote the screenplay for A Perfect World (1993), which became a successful vehicle for stars Clint Eastwood (who also directed), Laura Dern, and Kevin Costner. The film focuses on the relationship between Costner’s fugitive convict and a young boy he kidnaps during his escape. Eastwood plays the Texas Ranger pursuing Costner. The film was well received by critics and audiences.

In the mid-1990s, Hancock was asked to write the screen adaptation of John Berendt’s 1994 nonfiction book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Though Hancock was initially reluctant, he found the book compelling and eventually agreed. After finishing the script, he showed it to Eastwood to ask his opinion, and Eastwood immediately asked if he could direct. The film stars John Cusack and Kevin Spacey. Reviews for the film were mixed, citing its relatively slow pace and modifications to Berendt’s characters.

After a brief period writing for television, Hancock returned to the big screen to direct The Rookie (2002), which stars Dennis Quaid as an aging baseball pitcher who returns to the game. The film’s relative success led Hancock to cowrite and direct The Alamo (2004), an epic about his home state. The film, starring Dennis Quaid and Billy Bob Thornton, was met with mixed reviews.

After spending some time focusing on family and writing, Hancock returned to directing with The Blind Side (2009), for which he also wrote the script. Based on the book The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game (2006) by Michael Lewis, of whom Hancock is a fan, the film tells the real-life story of a young African American football player and the white family who adopts him. It stars Quinton Aaron and Sandra Bullock and earned Bullock her first Academy Award, for best supporting actress.

Following the success of The Blind Side, Hancock began to take on more high-profile work. He wrote the screenplay for Snow White and the Huntsman (2012), starring Chris Hemsworth, Kristen Stewart, and Academy Award–winner Charlize Theron. He then directed Saving Mr. Banks (2013), a Walt Disney Studios film about Mary Poppins author P. L. Travers and her deal with Disney for the film rights, starring Tom Hanks and Emma Thompson.

Next, Hancock became intrigued by a script, written by Robert Siegel, about Ray Kroc, who is credited with transforming McDonald's into a nationally influential and successful fast-food chain giant. Interested in the complexity of the real-life figure of Kroc, Hancock directed Michael Keaton as Kroc as well as Nick Offerman and John Carroll Lynch as the brothers Dick and Mac McDonald, respectively, in the film The Founder (2016). Following his work on The Founder, which received a good amount of critical praise, Hancock served as the director of a film focusing on the real-life, notorious criminal pair of Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow through the perspective of the men responsible for putting an end to their crime spree. In the Netflix film, titled The Highwaymen (2019), Kevin Costner and Woody Harrelson play the two former Texas Rangers brought in to stop the criminals. The Highwaymen, for which Hancock also served as an executive producer, received mixed reviews upon its release.

He next wrote, produced, and directed The Little Things, a film about the hunt for a serial killer. Denzel Washington, Jared Leto, and Rami Malek star in the 2021 police drama. Hancock wrote the screenplay for Mr. Harrigan's Phone. The 2022 horror drama stars Donald Sutherland as an elderly man who befriends a teen who does odd jobs for him. When Mr. Harrigan dies, the teen tucks the man's cellphone into his pocket at the funeral home. Later, Craig calls Mr. Harrigan...and is shocked to receive a text in response. Hancock also directed the film, which is based on a novella by Stephen King.

Impact

Many of Hancock’s films are reflective of his passion for sports as well as his familiarity with, and fondness for, Texas and the South as a whole. He has stated in interviews that among the many genres in which he has worked, those stories that are based on real-life events are the ones in which he takes the greatest interest. In 2019, he was honored with a Texas Film Hall of Fame Star of Texas.

Personal Life

Hancock and his wife, Holly, have two children, who are fraternal twins.

Bibliography

Goldstein, Patrick. “Blind Side Director John Lee Hancock Is out of Movie Jail.” Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 24 Nov. 2009. Web. 30 Aug. 2013.

Hancock, John Lee. “The M/C Interview: John Lee Hancock Discusses The Blind Side.” Interview by Drew McWeeny. HitFix. HitFix.com, 18 Nov. 2009. Web. 30 Aug. 2013.

Hancock, John Lee, et al. “Video Interview: Michael Brandt, Derek Haas, John Lee Hancock and David Peoples.” Go into the Story. Black List, 24 Feb. 2013. Web. 30 Aug. 2013.

Harrigan, Stephen. “His Perfect World.” Texas Monthly. Texas Monthly, Dec. 1997. Web. 30 Aug. 2013.

"John Lee Hancock." IMDb, 2024, www.imdb.com/name/nm0359387/. Accessed 24 Sept 2024.

McMullan, Dawn. “Making Their Mark.” Baylor Line Winter 2009: n. pag. Web. 30 Aug. 2013.

Wyatt, Doug. “The Movie Version of the Book.” Savannah Morning News. Morris, 26 May 1997. Web. 30 Aug. 2013.