Nook NotesPick a film
Gary Leva

Director

Gary Leva

71 films

Filmmaker and film historian Gary Leva has distinguished himself as the creative force behind scores of documentaries, broadcast programs and Special Features, many of them focused on the cinematic arts. His feature documentary, Fog City Mavericks, which highlights 100 years in the history of San Francisco's vibrant filmmaking community, had its world premiere at the 50th San Francisco International Film Festival prior to its continuing life on cable television and disc.

Read more

Leva's documentaries have made a lasting contribution to the history of film. His award- winning A Legacy of Filmmakers premiered at the Telluride Film Festival and received a New York Film Society screening at Manhattan's Guggenheim Museum. This documentary illuminates the creation of Francis Ford Coppola's landmark film company American Zoetrope, set against the changing landscape of American cinema in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The film is now a part of the curricula at several top universities.

Leva's celebrated documentaries on the cinema of George Lucas span the entire range of Lucas' career, from his earliest student films to his first feature, THX 1138, to the Star Wars series and beyond. His collections of documentaries on filmmakers Alfred Hitchcock, Clint Eastwood and Stanley Kubrick are often regarded as the top anthology on each of these master's works.

Having earned a distinguished reputation as a leader in his field, Leva continues to work with the top filmmakers of our time, including Christopher Nolan, Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Spike Lee, Robert Redford, Oliver Stone and many others.

Beyond the world of cinema, Leva has produced documentaries on subjects as varied as the struggle for investigative journalists to stay relevant in the Internet age and the ways in which the achievements of Alexander the Great are reflected in our modern lives.

Other projects include the award-winning narrative feature film, Plan B, starring Jon Cryer, the mockumentary R2-D2: Beneath the Dome, broadcast nationally on Fox, and 1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year, broadcast nationally on TCM.

Leva is an adjunct professor at the USC School of Cinematic Arts.

Start here

The best way into Gary Leva's work
One Soldier's Story: The Journey of American Sniper posterFirst watchOne Soldier's Story: The Journey of American Sniper20155.9Join director Clint Eastwood and his creative team, along with Bradley Cooper and Sienna Miller, as they overcome enormous creative and logistic obstacles to make a film that brings the…View film

Filmography

71 films as director
  1. TBAA True Ensemble: The Cast of L.A. ConfidentialDirector
  2. TBAL.A. Confidential: From Book to ScreenDirector
  3. 2020The Men of MidwayDirector
  4. 2020Getting It Right: The Making of MidwayDirector
  5. 2020We Met At Midway - Two Survivors RememberDirector
  6. 2020Joe Rochefort - Breaking The Japanese CodeDirector
  7. 2020Turning Point: The Legacy of MidwayDirector
  8. 2019Making MothraDirector
  9. 2019Monsters are RealDirector
  10. 2019Godzilla: King of the Monsters - Godzilla 2.0Director
  11. 2019Reimagining RodanDirector
  12. 2019Creating GhidorahDirector
  13. 2019Godzilla: King of The Monsters- The Antarctic BaseDirector
  14. 2019Godzilla: King of the Monsters- Monster Tech: Monarch Joins the FightDirector
  15. 2019Godzilla: King of the Monsters- Castle BravoDirector
  16. 2018Reimagining The Met GalaDirector
  17. 2018Ocean's Team 3.0Director
  18. 2016Moment by Moment - Averting Disaster on the HudsonDirector
  19. 2015Restoring SpartacusDirector
  20. 2015One Soldier's Story: The Journey of American SniperDirector
  21. 2013The Making of the Wonderful Wizard of OzDirector
  22. 2013The Fugitive: Thrill of the ChaseDirector
  23. 2012Casablanca: An Unlikely ClassicDirector
  24. 2012Michael Curtiz: The Greatest Director You Never Heard OfDirector
  25. 2011Clint Eastwood's WestDirector
  26. 2011Turning Like ClockworkDirector
  27. 2009Gone With The Wind: The Legend Lives OnDirector
  28. 2009The Master's Touch: Hitchcock's Signature StyleDirector
  29. 2009North by Northwest: One for the AgesDirector
  30. 2009Victor Fleming: Master CraftsmanDirector
  31. 2008Pure Cinema: Through the Eyes of HitchcockDirector
  32. 2008Breaking Barriers: The Sound of HitchcockDirector
  33. 2008Edith Head: Dressing the Master's MoviesDirector
  34. 2008Alma: The Master's MuseDirector
  35. 2008Bernard Herrmann: Hitchcock's MaestroDirector
  36. 2008Partners in Crime: Hitchcock's CollaboratorsDirector
  37. 2008Saul Bass: Title ChampDirector
  38. 2008In the Master's Shadow: Hitchcock's LegacyDirector
  39. 2008Whatever You Desire: Making 'L.A. Confidential'Director
  40. 2008Sunlight and Shadow: The Visual Style of 'L.A. Confidential'Director
  41. 2008Super Heroes United! The Complete Justice League HistoryDirector
  42. 2008A Moral Right: The Politics of Dirty HarryDirector
  43. 2008The Long Shadow of Dirty HarryDirector
  44. 2008The Business End: Violence in CinemaDirector
  45. 2008The Evolution of Clint EastwoodDirector
  46. 2008The Craft of Dirty HarryDirector
  47. 2008An Old Fashioned Love Story: Making 'The Bridges of Madison County'Director
  48. 2007Fog City MavericksDirector
  49. 2007Great Bolshy Yarblockos!: Making 'A Clockwork Orange'Director
  50. 2007Lost Kubrick: The Unfinished Films of Stanley KubrickDirector
  51. 2007View from the Overlook: Crafting 'The Shining'Director
  52. 2007The Visions of Stanley KubrickDirector
  53. 2007Full Metal Jacket: Between Good and EvilDirector
  54. 2007Vision of a Future Passed: The Prophecy of 2001Director
  55. 2007Standing on the Shoulders of Kubrick: The Legacy of 2001Director
  56. 2006Hollywood Helps the CauseDirector
  57. 2006The Maltese Falcon: One Magnificent BirdDirector
  58. 2006Prohibition Opens the FloodgatesDirector
  59. 2006Welcome to the Big HouseDirector
  60. 2006Gangsters: The Immigrant's HeroDirector
  61. 2006Film Noir: Bringing Darkness to LightDirector
  62. 2006Molls and Dolls: The Women of Gangster FilmsDirector
  63. 2006Woodward and Bernstein: Lighting the FireDirector
  64. 2006Telling the Truth About Lies: The Making of "All the President's Men"Director
  65. 2006Out of the Shadows: The Man Who Was Deep ThroatDirector
  66. 2006Emotional History: The Making of 'The Unbearable Lightness of Being'Director
  67. 2005Ben-Hur: The Epic That Changed CinemaDirector
  68. 2005By Any Means Necessary: The Making of 'Malcolm X'Director
  69. 2004A Legacy of Filmmakers: The Early Years of American ZoetropeDirector
  70. 2004Artifact from the Future: The Making of 'THX 1138'Director
  71. 1997Plan BDirector