Meet Eamon O’Rourke – 10 Things You Didn’t Know

If Eamon O’Rourke’s name sounds familiar, it should. The dynamic director has worked behind the scenes on blockbusters including Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street and Jay-Z’s 2017 music video “Smile.” The Brooklyn, New York, resident made a buzz with his 2021 directorial debut Asking for It (Vanessa Hudgens, Alexandra Shipp), but now O’Rourke says he’s setting his sights on his next big thing.

Here are 10 things you didn’t know about Eamon O’Rourke.

Eamon O’Rourke Is Planning a ‘Heist’
Er, on the big screen that is. O’Rourke says he has long dreamed of making a heist movie and has been quietly working on a script throughout 2022. And, in true fashion, he plans to put a futuristic spin on it. “It’s structured like a heist movie,” he says, “but takes place in the sort of near, but not completely defined, future. I love heist movies. I love the sort of structure of, ‘Let’s build a team, and figure out how we do something.’ [It’s] something I’ve always wanted to make.” He plans for the film to be highly entertaining and will navigate exaggerated versions of modern political issues in a surreal, not-too-distant future.

Eamon O’Rourke Is an Activist for Causes Close to His Heart

When he’s not calling the shots on set, you can find O’Rourke giving back to causes near to his heart. In 2016, he says he joined protesters against the Dakota Access Pipeline at Standing Rock Indian Reservation, which straddles North and South Dakotas. He recalls being hit with a rubber bullet — which left him with a “bruise the size of a grapefruit” — and sprayed with freezing water. He’s also known to roll up his sleeves to help homeless people and help distribute Narcan kits and fentanyl testing strips throughout New York City.

Eamon O’Rourke Has Epilepsy and Is Working To Raise Awareness

He says epilepsy, which affects 3 million people in the U.S., is a huge part of his identity and he wants to make others aware of neurological conditions. “It’s hard to describe, but the experience of having a seizure is unlike anything I have ever experienced in the perceptual reality we navigate day to day,” Eamon O’Rourke says.

Life Is a Chess Game for O’Rourke

When he has downtime, he stays sharp with a game of chess. “It’s helpful for work, it’s helpful for life,” he explains. “Chess just gives access to so many other parts of my life and people’s lives. I think it’s a great thing.” Being friends with so many fellow gamers when he’s not moving rooks, pawns, bishops, and knights on the chessboard, he can often be found playing video games. “I think that there’s a very interesting merging of video games and film,” he adds. “That’s something that I’m very interested in.” 

He Considers the Late, Great Director Jonathan Demme a Major Influence

Before Jonathan Demme died from cancer in 2017, he was a mentor to O’Rourke. “I always loved Jonathan’s movies because he made so many different kinds of movies,” O’Rourke says. “He wasn’t someone who found a genre or found a really specific style that he loved and just repeated that in different iterations. He made movies in all different genres and movies that are wildly, totally different.” O’Rourke recently revealed that it was Demme who was instrumental in the genesis of Asking for It. “I’d gotten to share the script with him and he really liked it,” Eamon O’Rourke says. “[Demme] was helping me put stuff together before his illness accelerated. It just wasn’t possible anymore, but he was a very, very sweet and tender guy.”

He Comes From a Family of Educators and Has Taught in the Classroom, Too

“My parents taught at a school in New York City called Saint Ann’s School, which is a private school with no grades and a lot of artistic stuff [that] prioritized small class size,” he says. “My mother was one of the essential people in building the institution and was set to take over after the headmaster was preparing to retire, but instead, she started the Pierrepont School [in Westport, Connecticut]. The school was similar in philosophy to Saint Ann’s but they prioritized ways to include people who can’t traditionally afford private school as a big part of it as well.” O’Rourke also worked as a teacher at the school for two years following his mother’s death.

He Lives by the Adage ‘Comparison Is the Thief of Joy’
Eamon O’Rourke says he avoids comparing himself to his peers and recommends others follow his lead. “In the earlier stages of my professional and entrepreneurial life, I used to compare my own personal progress with that of my peers,” he says. He says if he could do anything differently, he would’ve avoided going down the comparison route.

He Doesn’t View Death as Something That Should Be Feared

Losing both of his parents, he says, had a huge effect on his life and his art. “My mother passed when I was 20,” O’Rourke recalls. “She was 52. My father passed seven years later. I have also spent a lot of time working closely with people who are navigating the trauma of losing ones close to them, particularly their parents.”

O’Rourke Is a Big Fan of Jason Momoa’s
“You cannot find a bigger honey pie in the world,” says Eamon O’Rourke, who worked behind the scenes on The Bad Batch, starring Momoa and Jim Carrey. “[He is] just this wonderful, wonderful, superwarm guy who has no sense of superiority,” O’Rourke explains.

He Cherishes His Downtime

Spending 12 hours on a movie set can be daunting at times. The enthusiastic filmmaker says while he’s working he’s all in — but when it comes to time off the set, he makes an effort to try to unplug. “I’m a big relaxer,” Eamon O’Rourke says. “When I’m not doing the work, I really try to chill as much as possible. That often consists of watching movies.”