How Kathryn Bigelow became 'Queen of the World' at the Oscars

11 April 2012
The Weekender

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Kathryn Bigelow may not be the most productive director in the movie business, but she is one of the most accomplished.

Her CV boasts an eclectic list of films in traditionally male-dominated territory, topped now by her intense and multi-Oscar winning Iraq War thriller The Hurt Locker.

While it didn't break box office records, the film was lavished with praise for its gritty realism and attention to detail - a hallmark of her work.

The Hurt Locker's Oscars success means Bigelow will have to decide where to put her statuettes, as the former art student's films have routinely been ignored by the major movie award ceremonies.


Queen of the world: Kathryn Bigelow - ex wife of James Cameron - triumphed at the Oscars

It might also reduce the number of times she is referred to as the ex-wife of Avatar director James Cameron.

Her first big hit was the 1991 surf-based thriller Point Break.

Crammed with action, it starred Keanu Reeves as an FBI agent on the trail of a gang of sun-drenched bank robbers.

Critics dwelled on its homo-erotic buddy-cop nuances, as well as the moral ambiguity of Reeves' character.

She went on to make the sci-fi flick Strange Days in 1995, hardly a box office smash but which was noted for its ambitious virtual reality scenes.

Her next big Hollywood film was the 2002 Cold War submarine film K-19: The Widowmaker.

Starring Liam Neeson, it featured a Russian submarine commander who had to sacrifice members of his crew after a missile test went wrong.

Bigelow, 58, headed off to the baking desert of Jordan for The Hurt Locker.

She also shot the movie with a cast of relative-unknowns, so the audience wouldn't be to guess which of three main characters was going to die.

The director was born in 1951 in San Carlos, California, her father a paint factory manager and mother a librarian.

She was apparently painfully shy as a child, compensating by pouring all her energies into art.

Bigelow once said: "All my memories are of me brushing some sort of liquid on some sort of natural surface."

She attended the San Francisco Art Institute in her teens, and after being drawn to film went on to study film criticism at Columbia University in New York. She then broke into film and TV directing in the 1970s.

Cameron and Bigelow were married for two years between 1989 and 1991.

They remained close friends after their divorce, with Cameron producing both Strange Days and Point Break, and there appears to be little animosity now.

In fact, the Avatar film-maker has proved magnanimous about his third wife's chances.

After accepting the Golden Globe for best director earlier this year, Cameron said: "Frankly, I thought Kathryn was gonna get this. And she richly deserves it."

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