Issa López
Born
Issa Laura López Lozano

Mexico City, Mexico
Alma materNational School of Film Arts (BA)
Occupations
  • Film director
  • screenwriter
  • writer
  • producer
Years active1994–present

Issa Laura López Lozano is a Mexican producer, writer and film director. Eleven Spanish language features have been produced from her scripts, four of them directed by herself. She has won several literary awards, including the National Novel Award granted by Mexico's Institute of Fine Arts and Literature in 2007.[1]

In 2017, Tigers Are Not Afraid (Vuelven in Spanish) premiered at Fantastic Fest, in Austin, Texas. Written and directed by López, the film received the Best Horror Director Award, and went on to collect fifty-one awards in film festivals around the world, three Diosas de Plata, including Best Picture and Best Director, and received ten Ariel Awards nominations, of which it won two. The film earned multiple positive reviews by major trades and critics, and a rating of 97% on Rotten Tomatoes. Currently, López is developing projects with Guillermo del Toro, Noah Hawley and Jason Blum. She wrote and directed all episodes of the fourth installment of HBO's TV series True Detective, which will air in January 2024, as True Detective: Night Country.

Early life

Issa Laura López Lozano was born in Mexico City,[2][3] where she was raised by her father after her mother died when she was eight years old. Her father was a semiotics academic and a college professor. During her childhood her family faced economic hardships, since academia is not a high-paying job in Latin America. This was a defining aspect of her life, inspiring much of her later work, since her dad would try to keep her and her sister entertained in spite of their economic situation. Lopez explained in one of her interviews that she, her sister and her dad would "go every weekend on some road trip through Mexico, from small town to small town, sitting to watch kung fu and horror movies in traveling cinemas, eating street food, visiting archeological sites, jungles, deserts and the most haunted little towns in the country". Those memories were the inspiration for many of her stories.

Life and career

Issa López studied Archeology for about two years, until "the pull of cinema was too strong to resist". She abandoned Archeology and enrolled in Mexico's National University Filmschool, where she obtained a BA in Film Directing and Screenwriting. After her BA, she completed a two-year graduate program for dramatic writing. López began co-writing telenovelas and TV shows at Televisa. In 2003, she wrote the film Ladies' Night which was a box-office success, becoming the 5th biggest grossing Mexican film of 2003 and 2004.

López has won several literary awards, including the National Novel Award granted by Mexico's Institute of Fine Arts and Literature.[1] In addition to her literary work, she penned multiple TV shows, some of them reaching the highest audience ratings in Mexican prime-time TV, and wrote the scripts for several film features, three of them produced in Mexico by the Major Hollywood Studios, and two of those directed by herself; Efectos Secundarios (Warner Bros., 2006) and Casi Divas (Sony Pictures, 2008). In 2015, López shot her third feature as a director, and tenth as a writer, Tigers Are Not Afraid. In March 2018, Todo Mal, her fourth feature film as a director, 11th as a writer, opened in Mexico.

In 2005, López was selected as one of the 50 Latino Impact Players in Entertainment, by Variety.

In Mexico, López' movies have ranked among the highest grossing local productions: Ladies' Night (Disney, 2003) ranked fifth, Niñas Mal (Sony Pictures, 2007) seventh, and Efectos Secundarios fifteenth. Casi Divas opened in first place in the box office and went on to a limited theatrical run in the U.S.

Casi Divas received enthusiastic reviews from Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, and the Los Angeles Times, among others. The film is the only Mexican movie to be scored by acclaimed Hollywood composer Hans Zimmer, who only charged $1 for his extensive work on the film.[4]

In 2015, 600 Millas, a film with a script co-written by López, was nominated for the Mexican Film Academy Ariel Award for Best Script.[5]

In September 2017, Tigers Are Not Afraid (Vuelven in Spanish) Premiered at Fantastic Fest, in Austin Texas, and received the Best Horror Director Award. Issa López directed, wrote, and was Executive Producer of the film, a dark fable about the children surviving the Mexican drug war, and the ghosts that haunt them.

Tigers Are Not Afraid collected a total of fifty-one awards in Film Festivals around the world, three Diosas de Plata (the Mexican equivalent of the Golden Globes), including Best Picture and Best Director, and has received 10 nominations for the Ariel, (the Mexican Film Academy Award), of which it won two, has earned a large amount of positive reviews by major trades and critics, and a rating of 97% from Rotten Tomatoes. It also got a Best Latin American Director Award in 2019 from NALIP (National Association of Latino Producers) and Fangoria Magazine, specialised in Horror Cinema, awarded it Best Foreign Language Movie in 2020. Stephen King, Neil Gaiman and Guillermo Del Toro expressed their enthusiasm for the movie via social media and interviews.[6][7]

Currently, López is working with Guillermo del Toro, who announced that he'd produce Lopez' next film,[8] a haunted western about the werewolf mythology,[9] Searchlight Pictures signed her to write and direct The Book of Souls,[10] to be produced by Noah Hawley, and Blumhouse is developing Our Lady of Tears,[11] written and directed by López. She will also write, produce and direct the fourth season of cult HBO series True Detective. [12]

Filmography

Film

Year Title Credited as Notes Ref.
Director Producer Writer
1994 Tan callando Yes No Yes Short film
2003 Ladies' Night No No Yes
2006 Efectos secundarios Yes Associate Yes
2007 Bad Girls No No Yes
2008 Casi Divas Yes No Yes
2010 Sucedió en un día Yes No Yes Short film
2012 Viaje de Generación No No Yes
2013 Pulling Stings No No Yes
2015 600 Miles No No Yes
A la mala No No Yes
2017 Tigers Are Not Afraid Yes Executive Yes
2018 La Boda de Valentina No Executive Yes
2018 Todo Mal Yes Yes Yes
TBA Three Sundays Yes No No [13]

Television

Year Title Credited as Notes Ref.
Director Producer Writer
2000 Primer amor... a mil por hora No No Yes Telenovela
2023 True Detective Yes Yes Yes 6 episodes [14]

Awards

Fiction Writer awards

  • Mexico's National Institute of Fine Arts Novel Award, 2007.
  • Efraín Huerta Short Story Award, 1995.
  • Punto de Partida Short Story Award, 1995
  • Alica Short Story Award, 1994.
  • Finalist, Ricardo Pozas Short Story Award, 1996.
  • Finalist, Efren Hernández Short Story Award, 1994.
  • Finalist, New Writers Plaza y Valdes Award, 1992.

Movie awards

References

[17][18][19][20][15][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][16]

  1. 1 2 "Premio Bellas Artes de Novela José Rubén Romero". literatura.inba.gob.mx (in Spanish). Retrieved 2021-05-11.
  2. ↑ "La influencia mexicana en el séptimo arte es innegable". El Regio. 18 September 2017.
  3. ↑ "Los mexicanos más creativos de 2018". Forbes.com. 11 January 2019.
  4. ↑ de la Fuente, Anna Marie (19 January 2008). "Hans Zimmer opens heart for 'Divas'". Variety. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
  5. ↑ http://www.premioariel.com.mx/images/Franjas/NominadosPorPelicula.pdf
  6. ↑ Stephen King [@stephenking] (October 11, 2017). "TIGERS ARE NOT AFRAID, directed by Issa Lopez: this is one terrific film, both tough and touching. Two minutes in, I was under its spell" (Tweet). Retrieved 11 May 2021 – via Twitter.
  7. ↑ Guillermo del Toro [@realgdt] (November 2, 2017). "Es una gloria que la nueva voz del horror en México sea @IssitaLopez el horror con sensibilidad y mirada, siempre conmueve" (Tweet) (in Spanish). Retrieved 11 May 2021 – via Twitter.
  8. ↑ de la Fuente, Anna Marie (13 March 2018). "Guillermo del Toro to Produce Issa Lopez, Karla Castaneda's Next Films (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
  9. ↑ Topel, Fred (29 March 2019). "Guillermo del Toro Teases Upcoming Horror Projects With Jennifer Kent and Issa Lopez". Bloody Disgusting!. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
  10. ↑ Fleming, Mike Jr. (22 January 2020). "Issa López To Write/Direct Searchlight Adaptation Of Matthew Baker Short 'Lost Souls;' Noah Hawley Producing". Deadline. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
  11. ↑ D'Alessandro, Anthony (20 May 2020). "Blumhouse Developing 'Our Lady Of Tears' With Issa López Adapting & Directing". Deadline. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
  12. ↑ Haskoor, Michael (20 March 2022). "'True Detective' Season 4 In Development At HBO With Barry Jenkins". Decider. Retrieved 2022-04-15.
  13. ↑ Kit, Borys (6 April 2018). "Issa Lopez Makes English-Language Debut With 'Three Sundays' (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 10 May 2023.
  14. ↑ Hughes, William (18 March 2022). "HBO is bringing back True Detective with Issa López and Barry Jenkins at the helm". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 10 May 2023.
  15. 1 2 "" Best Screenplay Award for Ladies' Night, CYIIF, 2006, Accessed Nov 5 2013
  16. 1 2 ""Past Winners | Latino International Film Institute & festival, LALIFF |". Archived from the original on 2012-05-14. Retrieved 2012-05-29." Casi Divas Best Screenplay Award at Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival, 2008, Accessed Nov 7 2013
  17. ↑ ""Issa López National novel award, Accessed 5 Nov 2013
  18. ↑ "" Music Hans Zimmer for Casi Divas, Variety, Accessed Nov 5 2013
  19. ↑ "" Arieled Members of Mexican Motion Picture Academy, 1994, Accessed Nov 7 2013.
  20. ↑ "" Rotten Tomatoes rating and info, Rotten Tomatoes, 2013, Accessed Nov 7 2013
  21. ↑ " Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine" Ladies Night, Miravista Films, 2003, Accessed Nov 5 2013
  22. ↑ "" Casi Divas review by Variety, 2009, Accessed Nov 5 2013
  23. ↑ " Casi Divas Review by Los Angeles Times, 2009, Accessed Nov 5 2013
  24. ↑ "" Efectos Secundarios, Warner Bros., 2006, Accessed Nov 5 2013
  25. ↑ "" Charm School, Sony Pictures, 2007, Accessed Nov 5 2013
  26. ↑ ""Past Winners | Latino International Film Institute & festival, LALIFF |". Archived from the original on 2012-05-14. Retrieved 2012-05-29." Best Screenplay Award, Los Angeles Latino Film Festival, 2008, Accessed Nov 5 2013
  27. ↑ "" Efectos Secundarios, Awards on IMDb, Accessed Nov 5 2013
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