Jan de Bont

Jan de Bont
Jan de Bont in 1973
Born	(1943-10-22) 22 October 1943 (age 73) Eindhoven, Netherlands
Occupation	Film director, producer, cinematographer
Years active	1965–2012
Spouse(s)	Monique van de Ven (1977–1988) Trish Reeves (?–present)

Jan de Bont (born 22 October 1943) is a Dutch cinematographer, director and film producer. He is widely known for directing the 1994 action film Speed and the disaster film Twister. As a director of photography, he has shot numerous blockbusters and genre films, including Cujo, Flesh and Blood, Die Hard, The Hunt for Red October and Basic Instinct.

De Bont was born to a Roman Catholic family in Eindhoven, Netherlands, one of 17 children. His earliest work after studying at the Amsterdam Film Academy was with the Dutch avant garde director Adriaan Ditvoorst. He first came to fame in the Netherlands as the cinematographer for the 1973 film Turkish Delight, directed by Paul Verhoeven, starring Rutger Hauer and Monique van de Ven. Since the early 1980s, he worked frequently in Hollywood, often collaborating with directors including Verhoeven and John McTiernan.

While serving as cinematographer for the 1981 film Roar, De Bont experienced one of many on-set injuries during filming, where a lion lifted his scalp, requiring 220 stitches. After Roar, De Bont shot the 1983 horror film Cujo, the adaptation of the Stephen King novel of the same name. In 1988, he was director of photography on the critically lauded action film Die Hard. The following year, de Bont shot the Ridley Scott-directed action thriller Black Rain.