Andrew M. Niccol (born 1964) is a screenwriter, producer, and director. He wrote and directed Gattaca, S1m0ne, and Lord of War. He also wrote and co-produced The Truman Show, which earned him an Academy Award nomination for best original screenplay in 1999.
Niccol was born in Paraparaumu, New Zealand and grew up in Auckland. He left New Zealand at age 21 and began directing commercials in London, England.
Many of his films, such as Gattaca, S1m0ne, and The Truman Show, view societal or political issues through a fantasy-sci-fi lens. Lord of War, however, was a contemporary, matter-of-fact exploration of gunrunning.
Despite a rise in awareness of New Zealander-directed films in the wake of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy, S1m0ne was released in one cinema on one day in Niccol's home country, with its proceeds going to help find a cure for multiple sclerosis, which his sister Fiona has suffered from for many years. The three showings in 2003 were sold out, despite being in a cinema located over an hour from Wellington, the nearest metropolitan centre.
During the production of S1m0ne, he met model Rachel Roberts, with whom he has one son, Jack.
New Zealand-born screenwriter-director Andrew Niccol began his career in London, successfully directing TV commercials before moving to Los Angeles in order to make films "longer than 60 seconds." He interested high-powered producer Scott Rudin in his Truman Show, The (1998) script, but Rudin was not willing to gamble on a rookie director, particularly when Jim Carrey came aboard, swelling the budget to about $60 million. Peter Weir helmed instead, bringing a complementary vision which lightened the material somewhat, and the clever satire, which followed a cheerful insurance man (Carrey) as he slowly realizes that all the people in his life are just actors in a TV show, opened to critical raves. Since the deal for "Truman" came together slowly, Niccol actually made his screenwriting and directing debut with Gattaca (1997) (1997), a superb, well-acted sci-fi movie that raised issues of genetic engineering in a totalitarian environment.
