Profile: Simon West/ Director/ The Expendables 2/ Stolen

British born, director West spent his early years in Hertfordshire. By the age of 20 he had joined the BBC in London as an apprentice film editor. For the next four years West worked on a number of award-winning documentaries and series. After leaving the BBC, West began freelancing as a director. During his freelancing years he was given a grant to write and direct the half hour film, Dolly Mixtures. The work led him to a contract with Limelight London to direct music videos and commercials. His excellence in commercial work continued on this side of the pond, winning him the Golden Lion and a Clio from two advertising festivals. In 1993 he joined Satellite Films to continue his successful run in commercial work. Clients included Miller Beer, Ford, Budweiser, Sprite and AT&T. The work continued to attract more awards from festivals around the world. West took a giant leap of faith into feature work with the film Con Air. The film, which starred Nicholas Cage, Monica Potter and John Cusack. West continued to work on feature films at the start of the new millennium with Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. and recently with the upcoming  Expendables 2, with Sylvester Stallone, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren and Bruce Willis. He just wrapped up production on Stolen a film with Nicolas Cage and Danny Huston. You can email your questions to 123filmeasy@gmail.com Link: www.123FilmEasy.com. Follow us on Twitter @123Film