Hideo Nakata

is a Japanese filmmaker. Life and career Nakata was born in Okayama, Japan. He is most familiar to Western audiences for his work on Japanese horror films such as Ring (1998), Ring 2 (1999) and Dark Water (2002). Several of these were remade in English as The Ring (2002), Dark Water (2005), and The Ring Two. Nakata was scheduled to make his English-language debut with True Believers, but later pulled out. He was later offered by DreamWorks to direct the movie The Ring Two (2005), which he accepted, making his English-language debut with a sequel to a remake of his own film. Nakata made his initial breakthrough into film with Ghost Actress a.k.a. Don't Look Up (1996). Although failing to attain any large-scale success, the film was responsible for leading to his directing of Ring.