Nick Gomez

Gomez was born to an American advertising copywriter mother, Adeline, and Chilean artist, Andres Monreal, in Providence, Rhode Island.

He grew in New York City and the outskirts of Boston. Not much of a student, he was a nomadic spirit who struck out on his own at an early age, often getting into trouble and ended up ditching Boston for London when he turned 16. He bounced back and forth between London and Boston, worked odd jobs, took up the saxophone, played in a few bands and got to know quite a few street characters in these nomadic years. It was these characters who helped form the consciousness Gomez would then bring to his movies and life's work.

Realizing he was not going anywhere fast with his life, he obtained his GED, moved to New York and attended State University of New York at Purchase with an interest in sound design, music, and movies. It was there he met a group of filmmakers, producers, and actors that he would work with for the next decade; producer Bob Gosse, director Hal Hartley,[1] actors Edie Falco, Paul Schulze, Saul Stein, Adam Trese, all of whom Gomez would use in his films.

After SUNY, Gomez worked on commercials and features in NYC and wrote a few scripts that caught some attention around NYC. In the early 1990s Gomez's SUNY friend, Bob Gosse and Larry Meistrich started TSG Pictures in downtown New York to be a home for independent filmmakers. With them, Gomez would make Laws of Gravity (1992) starring Edie Falco, Adam Trese, and Paul Schulze – heralding a return of American (specifically, New York City, and Brooklyn) cinema verité, for the first time since Sidney Lumet and Martin Scorsese in 1970s.

A reviewer for The Washington Post, De Segonzac, said Laws of Gravity "fills the screen with beautifully framed scenes that need little verbal underpinning."

From there, Gomez made New Jersey Drive (1995) starring Shar-Ron Corley, Gabriel Cassius, Saul Stein, and Donald Faison. Spike Lee, and his company; 40 Acres and A Mule, produced. Gomez received Independent Spirit Award nominations for best director on both the critically acclaimed, Laws of Gravity and New Jersey Drive. New Jersey Drive would also receive the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance in 1995 along with a nomination and win at the Torino and Berlin festivals.

Next, Gomez directed the feature Illtown, starring Michael Rapaport, Lili Taylor, Adam Trese, Kevin Corrigan, Angela Featherstone, Tony Danza, Isaac Hayes, Paul Schulze, Oscar Isaac, and Saul Stein. Of his third, and most experimental feature, Gomez told the Village Voice "The mood and tempo of Illtown express what I felt like at the time. I had to make it come out the other end. It was incredibly hard, but it was really satisfying working on a more intimate scale again."

Former NYC mayor, Ed Koch is claimed to have said of Illtown, "It's like a Picasso. You don't always understand it, but you know it's a masterpiece" .

In 1995, after a screening of Laws of Gravity, Gomez was approached by Tom Fontana and Barry Levinson to create with them a look and tone for their new series for NBC; Homicide: Life on the Street. Gomez would, in turn, direct the pilot for the series and subsequent episodes. In 1997, Gomez would again collaborate with Fontana in the creation of his new series, Oz for HBO.

Following Oz, Gomez, now deeply ensconced in the world of television – a place he felt comfortable to express his ideas and flourish, found himself on the crest of the golden age of television with the explosion of cable. He has directed some of the best episodic television of the past two decades and enjoyed close collaborative relationships with the creators of Chicago P.D. along with countless others.

Gomez, a prolific episodic director, recently inspired by the wealth of up-and-coming artists, will produce television and bring projects through his company, Eidophusikan Productions.

• Nick Gomez at IMDb
• https://www.nytimes.com/1992/08/23/movies/up-and-coming-nick-gomez-ex-knucklehead-makes-good.html
• https://www.filmcomment.com/blog/bombast-williamsburg-on-screen/
• https://www.villagevoice.com/2001/07/17/the-shooting-gallery-19912001/: