“The Warriors” and “48 Hrs.” director Walter Hill will receive Fantastic Fest‘s lifetime achievement award, followed by a nationwide retrospective of his work in January at select Alamo Drafthouse locations.
Hill will be honored with the award as part of Fantastic Fest’s opening weekend festivities at the Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar in Austin, Texas, followed by a screening of his 1987 western film “Extreme Prejudice” and Q&A. Hill is the first Fantastic Fest honoree to receive a retrospective screening of his films.
“Walter Hill is one of the American cinema’s greatest pulp artists,” Fantastic Fest programmer and Alamo Drafthouse director Jake Isgar said in a statement. “Showcasing his work to audiences coast-to-coast has long been a dream of ours, and one we can’t wait to fulfill.”
Hill’s directing credits include “Streets of Fire,” “Red Heat,” “Hard Times,” “Southern Comfort” and “The Long Riders,” along with a writing credit on “The Getaway,” which was directed by Sam Peckinpah. Hill won an Emmy for directing an episode of the drama series “Deadwood.”
Hill has been part of the “Alien” franchise since Ridley Scott’s 1979 classic, with an executive producer credit on “Aliens” and producer credits on “Alien 3,” “Alien: Resurrection,” “Alien vs. Predator,” “Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem,” “Prometheus,” “Alien: Covenant” and “Alien: Romulus.”
Before making his directorial debut in 1975 with “Hard Times,” Hill penned screenplays for “Hickey & Boggs,” “The Getaway,” “The Thief Who Came to Dinner,” “The MacKintosh Man” and “The Drowning Pool.”
Previous recipients of Fantastic Fest’s lifetime achievement award include Park Chan-wook, Bong Joon-ho, Yuen Woo-Ping, Clint Mansell, Takashi Miike, Jess Franco and Malcolm McDowell. Fantastic Fest’s full line-up will be announced in August.