Mark Christopher (director)

Mark Christopher (born July 8, 1963 in Fort Dodge, Iowa) is a screenwriter, and director most known for directing "54" (1998), starring Ryan Phillippe, Mike Meyers, Salma Hayek, Neve Campbell, and Mark Ruffalo.
Within the film community, he is better known for the success of the director's cut of the film that premiered at the 2015 Berlin International Film Festival. With over 30 minutes of re-shoots cut out of the 1998 version, and over 40 minutes re-instated, the film was universally lauded by critics and hailed as a "jubilant resurrection" and "a lost gay classic." The story of the films destruction and resurrection was featured on "New York" magazine's Vulture.com website. and "The Guardian" and Elvis Mitchell's interview with Mark Christopher on KCRW's "The Treatment".
Christopher also directed three short films, all of them theatrically distributed: "The Dead Boys Club" (1992), an influential short of the New Queer Cinema wave as cited by B. Ruby Rich in her "Sight & Sound" article that defined the genre; "Alkali, Iowa" (1995), winner of the Teddy at the Berlin International Film Festival (1996); and "Heartland," Strand Releasing (2007). He is also known for his television writing and creation of musical programming, including "Real Life: The Musical" that premiered on OWN in 2012.