Biography
A versatile screenwriter with a knack for fast-paced action, realistic dialogue and wry humor, Ehren Kruger got his start on the small screen before making his feature debut with 1999's "Arlington Road." A former script assistant at Fox TV and Sandollar Productions, Kruger received his first screen credit with the 1998 USA Network TV-movie "Killers in the House," a nail-biting hostage drama in which a family is held in their own home by ruthless bank robbers. Next his 1996 Nicholl Fellowship-winning script for "Arlington Road" was produced in feature form. Directed by Mark Pellington, the film was both an action-packed thriller and a psychodrama, a disturbing look at the smiling evil of domestic terrorism and one man's struggle with potential paranoia. "Arlington Road" starred Jeff Bridges, Tim Robbins and Joan Cusack and opened with a portrait of mindless destruction that succeeds both as a momentary jolt and an image that haunts for the entire film. Kruger's script for the high-tech espionage drama "New World Disorder" never reached the big screen, but debuted on HBO. He lightened up a bit with his next feature foray, the last installment of the "Scream" trilogy. Faster paced, with more appropriate, less verbose dialogue and lots of surprises, "Scream 3" (2000) was a suitable sequel, capturing the former films' chills as well as tongue-in-cheek attitude, making fun not only of the horror genre as a whole, but the previous "Scream" entries specifically.
