Early years After studying at the
University of Art and Design Helsinki, Harlin started his career in the film business in the beginning of the 1980s, directing commercials and company films for companies like
Shell. Later, he worked as a buyer for a Finnish
film distributor and met fellow Finn
Markus Selin in Los Angeles in 1982. They became friends and started writing a
screenplay called "Arctic Heat", which later evolved into
Born American, with
Mike Norris in the leading role. They secured financing from the U.S., and in 1986,
Born American became the most expensive Finnish film ever. It opened in the U.S. in over 1,000 theaters. By July 9, 1986, he set up his own production company with partner
Markus Selin, Larmark Productions, with the first two projects went low-budget, and it was a
Los Angeles-based production company. Harlin moved to Los Angeles and got a job from
Irwin Yablans, who offered him a script of
Prison to film. The film was made with a low budget and distributed with only 42 copies. In the same year, 1988, he got a job from
New Line Cinema to direct
A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988) after meeting producer
Robert Shaye, who at first did not want Harlin to direct the film. It became the highest-grossing film in the series until the 2003 release of
Freddy vs. Jason, and its budget was seven times greater than the original
A Nightmare on Elm Street.
Breakthrough and the 1990s After the success of
A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master, Harlin was set to direct the science-fiction thriller
Alien 3. He was attached to the project for a little over a year, but he left due to creative differences with the producers. The comedy
The Adventures of Ford Fairlane and the action thriller
Die Hard 2 were edited simultaneously and released a week apart in 1990. The former flopped, but the latter was a commercial success. Harlin achieved critical acclaim the following year when he produced
Rambling Rose through his own Midnight Sun Pictures for director
Martha Coolidge. The film won Best Feature at the 1992
Independent Spirit Awards and earned its star and Harlin's then-partner
Laura Dern a
Best Actress Oscar nomination at the
1992 Academy Awards. Harlin, Markus Selin and a number of other businessmen founded the
indoor amusement park Planet FunFun in
Kerava, Finland, in 1992, which included everything from a tropical park to a cinema park, the latter of which Harlin also gave his own special stamp to by loaning his film sets and props to special theme rooms. The park also hosted
sports competitions and filmed
television series. However Planet FunFun was short-lived, closing in 1995. 1993's action thriller
Cliffhanger was Harlin's first film with
Sylvester Stallone. Harlin's career suffered a blow with the pirate adventure film
Cutthroat Island in 1995, which starred Harlin's then-wife,
Geena Davis.
Cutthroat Island was one of the biggest
box-office bombs of all time, losing $147 million and leading to the bankruptcy of
Carolco Pictures. Harlin did go on to have moderate success with
Long Kiss Goodnight, starring
Samuel L. Jackson and Davis in 1996, and the science fiction horror film
Deep Blue Sea in 1999.
2000s Harlin wanted to direct a movie based on
Formula One, but unable to secure the rights, he instead produced the film
Driven in 2001, based on the American
Champ Car series. Harlin took over directing the action mystery film
Mindhunters when the original director
Peter Howitt dropped out, but the release was delayed by studio conflicts. Harlin went on to re-shoot a more traditional horror version of
Exorcist: The Beginning (2004), after the studio was unhappy with the version cut by director
Paul Schrader, which was more of a psychological drama.
Mindhunters was released in the US in 2005. Harlin directed the
WWE Studios action movie
12 Rounds, starring
John Cena. It was released in March 2009. In 2009, Harlin directed an independent war film in
Georgia. The film,
5 Days of War, was a story about the
2008 war between
Georgia and
Russia in the region of
South Ossetia. The film included real-life figures, including Georgian President
Mikheil Saakashvili, played by
Andy García.
2010s and move to China Harlin next directed the 2013 film ''
Devil's Pass'', set in Russia's
Ural Mountains and loosely based on the
Dyatlov Pass incident in 1959, when nine experienced hikers were found dead. Harlin then directed
The Legend of Hercules, which opened in theatres on 10 January 2014. One of two Hercules movies released in 2014 – the other being
Hercules, starring
Dwayne Johnson – it was critically panned and was a box-office bomb. Harlin directed the 2016 action comedy film
Skiptrace, which starred
Jackie Chan alongside
Johnny Knoxville and
Fan Bingbing. He then directed the 2018 film
Legend of the Ancient Sword for
Alibaba Pictures, based on a Chinese
role-playing video game. The film was a box-office bomb, grossing only $1.25 million against a budget of $11 million. More recently, his film
The Misfits received U.S. and international deals. In 2021, he was selected as jury member at
11th Beijing International Film Festival for
Tiantan Awards.
Unproduced and upcoming films From the late 1980s and going into the 1990s, Harlin was attached to multiple projects at
Carolco Pictures. Among them were
Child of the Dragon, a starring vehicle for
Brandon Lee written by Barry Beckerman about a leader of a Chinese student rebellion who comes to America to rescue his sister, and
Sandbox Club written by Tom DeCerchio. Harlin was interested in making a biopic about fellow Finnish personality, composer and national hero
Jean Sibelius.
Die Hard 2 used Sibelius'
Finlandia in a crucial scene, but the
Sibelius movie was eventually directed by
Timo Koivusalo in 2003. In the late 1980s, Harlin was attached as the original director of
Alien 3, developing the film for a year before departing from the production due to creative differences. In August 1992, Harlin had lined up
Warriors of the Rainbow to be his next film following
Cliffhanger, reteaming with producer
Mario Kassar. The script was by
David Williamson and
John Briley and focused on
Greenpeace, specifically the early 1970s work of
Robert Hunter. "My life's mission is to make that movie," Harlin stressed to
Variety. "I hope it will attract a name star. I want to make movies of substance–that will entertain and make people think." He wanted to cast both
John Lithgow and
Laura Dern for undisclosed parts in the film. At the time, he planned to follow it up with a film for
Warner Bros.,
The Original Gangster, which deals with black
L.A. gangs in the 1960s and with one of the founders of the
Crips. Richard Dilello was writing the script. Harlin dubbed the story as one about "making peace instead of violence." Approximately $1.3 million in development costs was spent on
Warriors of the Rainbow, despite never going into production. but this never occurred. In June 1993, Harlin was attached to direct
John Milius' script of the
Sgt. Rock comics as his next film following
Cliffhanger, in which he was to reteam with producer
Joel Silver.
Arnold Schwarzenegger was to star in the title role. At the time, Harlin was also developing the directing vehicle
Love and Honor, an
epic in Russia. Neither film was ever made. In July 1993, Harlin was set to direct
Flies (also referred to as
The Fly III), a sequel to
Cronenberg's
The Fly with his then-wife
Geena Davis reprising her role. The script by
Richard Jefferies featured a story in which Davis' character gives birth to twin boys, and is later suspected of murder when she merges their untainted human genes into a single being, fearing that they both would begin developing fly-hybrid characteristics. Harlin and Davis were also going to collaborate on an adaptation of
Mistress of the Seas, but opted to do
Cutthroat Island instead. In April 1995,
HBO was reportedly developing a horror series called
Fear Itself, about
phobias, set to be directed by Harlin, written by
Shane Black and produced by
Michael De Luca. In May 1995, following
The Long Kiss Goodnight, Harlin and Davis intended to follow-up with
Exit Zero, a
spec script by
Kurt Wimmer about "what would happen if the Internet achieves consciousness and decides that the fate of the world is better off in its hands than it is in mankind's." Harlin was to direct and produce for
New Line Cinema. In 1996, he was attached to producer
Joel Silver's long-in-the-works project
Isobar. In 1997 he was going to direct
Frequency for
New Line Cinema, but allegedly the film got in trouble after
Sylvester Stallone asked too much for playing the lead. Eventually film was directed by
Gregory Hoblit and starring
Dennis Quaid. In 1998,
Warner Bros. acquired a pitch by Talley Griffith called
Time Out, which Harlin developed to direct into a film. In 1999, Harlin began developing the action-comedy
Nosebleed at
New Line Cinema, starring
Jackie Chan as a
window washer who foils a
terrorist attack to destroy the
World Trade Center. The film was delayed after changing studios to
MGM in May 2001. After the
September 11 attacks the plot was drastically rewritten ultimately before being completely shelved. Chan later told
Oriental Daily News that the film was scheduled to begin filming at the
North Tower less than two hours before it was hit by
American Airlines Flight 11, and that he only escaped the attack because he made a last-minute decision to travel to
Toronto to begin filming
The Tuxedo instead. Although the director was changed, Harlin was credited as a producer when the finished
film was released in 2005. In 2002, Harlin became attached to direct
Land of Legend for
Crusader Entertainment instead. The film, with screenplay by
Chris Hauty, was billed as an
epic set in the 9th century, that follows a Danish prince who is sold into slavery as a child and returns home fifteen years later to exact revenge on the people that did him wrong. Harlin was expected to start work on the project following
Mindhunters. In 2004, it was reported that Harlin was hired to develop and direct a feature based on the graphic novel
Full Moon Fever by
Joe Casey, for producers Adrian Askarieh and Daniel Alter. Production began in 2008 with
Mikko Nousiainen starring as Mannerheim, and the film was to premiere in
Helsinki on January 15, 2010. In 2007, it was announced that Harlin would direct an adaptation of the comic-book series ''
Brodie's Law''. In 2011, it was reported that he was planning a sequel to
The Long Kiss Goodnight. On 16 June 2017 it was announced Harlin will direct
Hanging Coffins for
Shanghai Film Group and Shanghai New Wave Films. On 18 June 2017, it was announced Harlin will direct
Operation Somalia. The film's story, based on true events, revolves around a rescue operation against
Somali pirates mounted by Chinese
Special Operations Forces. On 8 May 2018, it was announced Harlin will direct
Solara, a Chinese sci-fi epic revolving around an international team that must work together to save Earth from a global catastrophe. On 18 June 2018 it was announced Harlin will direct
Operation Wild. On January 19, 2021, it was announced that Harlin will direct the new
Inspector Palmu film, based on a character created by Finnish writer
Mika Waltari. Although the film is shot in Finland, unlike the previous Finnish-language
Palmu films, Harlin's film is becoming an international English-language production, where an actor is also being sought internationally for the title role. Filming of the new
Inspector Palmu should begin at the end of 2024. A sequel to
The Postcard Killings, entitled
The Postcard Killer, was announced in May 2024 with Harlin slated to direct. Filming was set to begin in fall 2024 in London, Madrid, Florence and Latvia, but was later pushed to January 2025. ==Personal life==