AUDREY WELLS

(25 January 1960 - 4 October 2018)

The American film director and scenarist Audrey Wells, who has died from cancer at the age of 58, was the daughter of a psychiatrist from Austria and a psychologist from Romania. Born and raised in a French-speaking household in San Francisco, she was imbued with a world-view from the get-go. After studying at the University of California, Berkeley, she moved to Paris and then returned to California and, after dabbling as a jazz DJ and earning a master’s of fine arts, embarked on a career as a screenwriter. Her first film as scenarist was the funny and charming romcom The Truth About Cats and Dogs (1996), with Uma Thurman, followed by the action-adventure George of the Jungle (1997) with Brendan Fraser, and the 1999 drama Guinevere with Stephen Rea and Sarah Polley, which also marked her directorial debut. She scripted Disney's The Kid (2000), with Bruce Willis, before writing and directing Under the Tuscan Sun (2003), which really made her name. Her other writing credits include Shall We Dance? (2004), with Richard Gere and Jennifer Lopez, The Game Plan (2007), with Dwayne Johnson, and the canine comedy-drama A Dog’s Purpose (2017). Audrey Wells died the day before her last completed film, the critically acclaimed The Hate U Give, was released in US cinemas. She also scripted the Netflix cartoon Over the Moon (2020).

MICHAEL DARVELL