Joseph Kosinski

Joseph Kosinski (born May 3, 1974) is an American film director. He is best known for directing the films Tron: Legacy (2010), Oblivion (2013), Only the Brave (2017), Top Gun: Maverick, Spiderhead (both 2022), and F1 (2025). His previous work in computer graphics and computer-generated imagery (CGI) was primarily with CGI-related television commercials including the "Starry Night" commercial for Halo 3 and the award-winning "Mad World" commercial for Gears of War.

Kosinski grew up in Marshalltown, Iowa, the son of Patricia (née Provost) of Skokie, Illinois, and Joel Kosinski, a doctor of Polish descent. After graduating from Marshalltown High School in 1992, he studied mechanical engineering at Stanford University and architecture at Columbia University.

While teaching at Columbia after graduating in 1999, Kosinski co-founded a design firm, KDLAB, with a classmate, Dean Di Simone, where he made digital short films, and went into directing commercials. Kosinski signed with Anonymous Content after moving to Los Angeles and meeting David Fincher.

His first major film was the special effects-heavy Tron: Legacy. The film was in Disney Digital 3-D and IMAX 3D, with a release of December 2010 and grossed $400 million worldwide.

After moving to Los Angeles in 2005, he began writing a film treatment which would eventually develop into an unpublished graphic novel by the title Oblivion for Radical Comics. In August 2010, Walt Disney Pictures acquired the rights to the work. William Monahan worked on the screenplay for a film adaptation. In March 2011, it was reported that Karl Gajdusek would rewrite the screenplay. Attempts to keep the film with a PG rating were unsuccessful, leading to Disney giving up the rights which were acquired by Universal Pictures, and agreed to a PG-13 rating. The $120-million-budgeted Oblivion began filming in March 2012, with Tom Cruise in the lead role, and was released in April 2013 to mixed reviews and grossed $286 million worldwide.

In 2017, he directed Only the Brave, originally titled Granite Mountain, based on the true story of the Granite Mountain Hotshots (wildland firefighters). In June 2017, it was announced he was set to direct the sequel to Top Gun, titled Top Gun: Maverick, reuniting with Oblivion star Tom Cruise. The film was released in theatres on May 27, 2022, by Paramount Pictures and grossed $1.496 billion worldwide, becoming Cruise's highest-grossing film at the box office.

Kosinski also directed a Formula One racing film named F1, reteaming with Top Gun: Maverick producer Jerry Bruckheimer and screenwriter Ehren Kruger, with racing driver Lewis Hamilton also serving as producer. The project, acquired by Apple Studios in June 2022, stars Brad Pitt and will receive an exclusive theatrical run "of at least 30 days" starting internationally on June 25, 2025, and in North America on June 27, 2025, before streaming on Apple TV+.

On February 18, 2025, it was announced that Kosinski and Bruckheimer would reunite on an untitled conspiracy thriller film centred around UFOs, with Zach Baylin writing the screenplay. On March 24, it was announced that the project had been acquired by Apple Studios.