Moon Township, Pa. -- Three years after graduating from Robert Morris University, Thomas Dixon already is an award-winning director.
Dixon’s first full-length action film, “The Korean” -- about a man hired to track down four people who have betrayed a crime kingpin -- won the Alan J. Bailey Award for best action feature at the Action On Film Festival in Pasadena, Calif., this year. Lead actor Josiah D. Lee also garnered two acting nominations at the festival, which features mostly new directors.
“The Korean” will have its Pittsburgh premiere this Friday at the Three Rivers Film Festival. The screening is at 9:30 p.m. at the Harris Theater in the downtown Cultural District.
Dixon, 25, shot “The Korean” on a bare-bones budget in Pittsburgh last year, with a largely local cast and crew. “I’m a Pittsburgh boy,” he said.
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Yes, but with Hollywood connections. Dixon’s journey into professional filmmaking got a kick start when he interned on the production of “10th & Wolf,” a film shot in Pittsburgh in 2004. He got to know producer Suzanne DeLaurentiis – a relative of legendary producer Dino De Laurentiis – and she ended up producing a Dixon short film, the post-apocalyptic “End of Road.”
“She heard me talking about my script in the office. So she gave me actors, equipment, crew, vehicles, resources, and money,” said Dixon.
After graduation, Dixon worked as an assistant in the camera department on the set of “Smith,” a Warner Bros. television pilot shot in Pittsburgh. CBS picked up the show, and Dixon had to move to Los Angeles. Though “Smith” didn’t last long, Dixon met Lee while they were apartment hunting in L.A., and Dixon wrote “The Korean” with Lee in mind for the title role. |
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At RMU, Dixon majored in communications and wrote and directed approximately 20 short films. “RMU was extremely supportive. They gave me whatever I needed – money, film, equipment, processing,” said Dixon.
The success of “The Korean” is no surprise to Jim Seguin, director of the RMU Center for Documentary Production and Study and a mentor to the young director. “Tom Dixon was one the most highly motivated students I've run into. Even as an undergraduate, he had the ability to create a concept for a film, write it, and then accomplish all the things required to get the film done,” said Seguin. “Tom is personable, creative, and driven to be a great filmmaker. It has been a pleasure to see him grow, and make better and better films.”
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette critic Barbara Vancheri declared Dixon “a filmmaker with great promise” and gave “The Korean” three out of four stars.
Dixon is hoping to land a distribution deal for “The Korean,” and anticipates that it will be in wide release next year. And he is now at work on his next script, for a sci-fi film.
He’s quick to tip his hat to RMU.
“I got a well-rounded communication degree. It helped me that I learned writing, that I learned literature, that I learned public speaking. All that stuff has been helpful to me in my career,” he said.