Dwight H. Little

Dwight Hubbard Little (born January 13, 1956) is an American film and television director, known for directing the films Marked for Death, Rapid Fire, Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home, Murder at 1600 and Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers. He has also directed several episodes of acclaimed television series such as 24, Prison Break, Dollhouse, Bones and Nikita. Little was born in Cleveland, Ohio. He studied film at USC. Career Dwight Little got his first break in the film business when producer Sandy Howard asked him to shoot additional material for Triumphs of a Man Called Horse. Howard needed the film to be longer in order to be able to sell it oversees. When Little was finished, Howard asked him to make him an action film for the video market. Little made KGB: The Secret War for a budget of 300,000 dollars. From that film, Little edited a show-reel that got him the attention of several members of the Hunt-Hill family from Texas who asked him to make an action film. This became Getting Even. According to Little, the film was devised around everything the family members owned: helicopters, a ranch, a Learjet. Little was then asked by Nico Mastorakis to direct the action adventure film Bloodstone in India. Little's first chance at directing a union film was Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers. Little rejected the treatment that was written by John Carpenter and Debra Hill and pitched producer Moustapha Akkad the idea for what became Halloween 4. On the basis of Halloween 4, Steven Seagal asked Little to direct his next film, which was Hard to Kill. But the studio (Warner) vetoed Seagal's choice of director and went for Bruce Malmuth instead. Little went on to make The Phantom of the Opera for producer Menahem Golan. Little got offered Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers, but declined. He worried he would be trapped in the horror genre. Little got a chance to do another action film when Steven Seagal asked Little to direct Marked for Death. The film became a modest hit and Little got a chance to make Rapid Fire for the same studio (Fox), which was an attempt to launch the career of Brandon Lee as an in-house action star for Fox. While reading an article on how the Navy had a term for when they lose a nuclear missile, Little got the idea for Broken Arrow. He pitched it at Fox. The studio asked writer Graham Yost to develop the script with Little, with Little being attached to direct.