Stephen Norrington (born 1964) is an English special effects artist and retired film director known for his work in the horror and action genres.
Beginning his career as a sculptor and makeup artist, he worked under Dick Smith, Rick Baker, and Stan Winston on a number of well-known, effects-driven films of the 1980s and 90s.
His directorial credits include the cult sci-fi horror film Death Machine and the comic book adaptations Blade and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
His debut as a director was in the 1994 movie Death Machine but it was directing Blade in 1998 that gained him international status as the film became a box office hit.
[2] He was set to direct a remake of the 1981 fantasy film Clash of the Titans before the position went to Louis Leterrier, director of The Incredible Hulk.
In 2005, it was announced that Stan Lee had agreed to executive produce the film for DreamWorks, with Yuen Woo-ping directing from a Bruce McKenna screenplay.
[15] Shortly after Warner Bros. acquired the rights in 2002, Norrington was slated to direct a remake to the 1988 film Akira, with James Robinson writing the screenplay and Dan Lin producing.
[16] In 2003, Norrington's The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen was intended to spawn a film franchise based on further titles in the original comic book series, but there was little enthusiasm for a sequel due to underperformance at the box office.
[18] In 2013, after the sequel was scrapped, it was reported that Fox was ordering a pilot for the television version of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen with Michael Green as writer and executive producer.
[20] Only a couple years after news of the television series ceased, The Tracking Board reported, on 26 May 2015 that 20th Century Fox and Davis Entertainment had agreed to develop a reboot film with hopes of launching a new franchise.