Gareth Edwards was born to
Welsh parents. Edwards wanted to direct his own films since childhood, stating that "
Star Wars is definitely the reason that I wanted to become a filmmaker", having grown up in
England loving and studying
Steven Spielberg's films and learning to
storyboard and do special effects since watching a documentary about the making of
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom at age 10. He attended
Higham Lane School, followed by college at
North Warwickshire College of Technology and Art (now NWSLC), completing a
BTEC National Diploma in Audio Visual Studies under lecturers such as Graham Bird. Edwards studied film and video at the
Surrey Institute of Art & Design, University College in
Farnham, graduating in 1996. In 2012, he received an honorary Master of Arts from UCA. Edwards got his start in visual effects, creating digital effects for shows including
Nova,
Perfect Disaster and
Heroes and Villains, for which he created 250 visual effects. In 2008, he entered the
Sci-Fi-London 48-hour film challenge, for which a film had to be created start-to-finish in two days and within certain criteria. Edwards won the contest with his short film
Factory Farmed and went on to write and direct
Monsters, his first feature. Edwards created the visual effects for
Monsters using off-the-shelf equipment. Besides the two main actors, the crew consisted of just five people. '' in 2016 The success of
Monsters brought sufficient awareness in Hollywood to land first major projects. After the film's release, he had interviews with several studios, including
Legendary Pictures. In January 2011, Edwards got his first major feature deal, to direct the 2014
Godzilla reboot from
Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures. Edwards directed
Rogue One, the first
Star Wars stand-alone film, written by
Chris Weitz and
Tony Gilroy, based on a story by
John Knoll and
Gary Whitta, starring
Felicity Jones, and released on 16 December 2016. Three of his influences for filmmaking are
George Lucas,
Steven Spielberg and
Quentin Tarantino. In May 2016, Edwards exited
Godzilla: King of the Monsters in an amicable split with the studio to work on smaller scale projects. In February 2020, it was reported that Edwards was set to direct and write a film with the working titled
True Love for
New Regency, with
Rogue One co-producer Kiri Hart serving as producer for the project. The film has since been renamed and released in 2023 as
The Creator. The film stars
John David Washington. It marked his second collaboration with
Rogue One cinematographer
Greig Fraser and his first collaboration with composer
Hans Zimmer. It was released on 29 September 2023. On 29 January 2024, Edwards was named as an honorary
Freeman of the borough in his hometown of
Nuneaton by
Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council during a civic awards ceremony at the
Town Hall. In February 2024, it was reported that Edwards was set to direct
Jurassic World Rebirth for
Universal Pictures scheduled for 2 July 2025. Edwards replaced
David Leitch, who had left the project over creative differences with the studio. ==Filmography==