Art Monterastelli

• Birth name:

  Arthur Thomas Monterastelli

• Date of Birth:

  24 October 1957 USA

Art Monterastelli attended the University of Wisconsin and San Francisco State University, majoring in Journalism and English Literature.His work has appeared in the Pacific Review and the Vintage/Black Lizard anthology of crime fiction.Steven Spielberg viewed his short film Working Stiffs (1994) before agreeing to let him direct the final episode of "High Incident" (1996) which was based on the infamous North Hollywood Bank Robbery. The episode garnered widespread media attention and was one o... more

Art Monterastelli attended the University of Wisconsin and San Francisco State University, majoring in Journalism and English Literature.His work has appeared in the Pacific Review and the Vintage/Black Lizard anthology of crime fiction.Steven Spielberg viewed his short film Working Stiffs (1994) before agreeing to let him direct the final episode of "High Incident" (1996) which was based on the infamous North Hollywood Bank Robbery. The episode garnered widespread media attention and was one of the highest rated episodes of the season.He spent nearly two years developing the TV series Total Recall (1999). Critical and popular reaction was sharply divided. Those expecting the extraterrestrial action/adventure of the film were disappointed, while fans of 'Philip K Dick''s original shorty story "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale" recognized it for the dark and paranoid psychological thriller it was meant to be. It was nominated for an Emmy Award, eight Gemini Awards and a Monitor Award for post-production excellence.He's collaborated with William Friedkin on several projects. The first of which was "Youngstown" an adaptation for HBO of the book "Journey To Nowhere" by Pultizer Prize winners Dale Maharidge and Michael Williamson. The project chronicled the death of the most famous steel town in America and the subsequent creation of a whole new under class in America society -- the book was also one of the inspirations for Bruce Springsteen's album "The Ghost of Tom Joad" (Springsteen wrote the introduction to the book). He also wrote and co-produced Friedkin's The Hunted which starred Tommy Lee Jones and Benicio Del Toro.