J. D. Dillard

• 1. Introduction

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  J. D. Dillard grew up as a Navy brat, the son of a Naval flight officer. His father, Bruce Dillard, was the second African-American ever selected to fly for the Blue Angels. Born on the 26th of December 1987, Dillard spent his early years absorbing a world of flight, discipline, and institutional pride. His mother, Geri Dillard, was also part of that military life. What kind of filmmaker does that upbringing produce? And what does it mean to eventually make a war film when the cost of service was something you saw firsthand growing up?

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• 2. Character First

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  In March 2013, Dillard directed a trailer for Empire of the Sun's second album, Ice on the Dune. It was his first credited directorial work on record. Three years later, he brought Sleight to the screen for Blumhouse Tilt, a science fiction crime drama. At the 2016 Sundance Film Festival Awards, Sleight earned a nomination in the category "Best of Next!". In February 2018, the Black Reel Awards gave Dillard two nominations for Sleight. Those categories were "Best Emerging Filmmaker" and "Best First Screenplay". A 2017 interview with /Film brought another disclosure. Dillard revealed that he was in early negotiations to direct a remake of David Cronenberg's The Fly. He said he planned to work with Alex Theurer, the co-writer of Sleight. Dillard told the publication that the two of them "want to start with character" when approaching the project. By January 2019, Dillard had moved on to a new feature, which he both wrote and directed.

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• 3. Scripts and Cameos

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  In January 2019, Dillard wrote and directed Sweetheart, a horror film starring Kiersey Clemons. The following month, Legendary Entertainment won a bidding war for Mastering Your Past, a screenplay Dillard had written. By April 2019, he had completed another script, a supernatural noir titled Stray. In September 2019, he directed an episode of The CW anthology series Two Sentence Horror Stories. Then, in December 2019, Dillard appeared on screen as Stormtrooper FN-1226 in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. The cameo put Dillard inside one of the largest film franchises in the world. That appearance as FN-1226 came just as reports of larger franchise opportunities were beginning to surface.

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• 4. Between Franchises

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  The Outsider, an HBO miniseries, was among the television projects Dillard directed in 2020. In June 2020, he directed an episode of The Twilight Zone for CBS All Access. By September 2020, he had completed an episode of Utopia on Amazon Prime Video. In February 2020, reports placed Dillard in talks to direct The Return of the Rocketeer. The project was conceived as a sequel to the 1991 film The Rocketeer. He was also said to be developing an untitled Star Wars feature. By November 2022, Dillard confirmed he was not attached to either project. While those franchise conversations were ongoing, Dillard was also preparing a war film drawn from his own family history.

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• 5. His Father's Story

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  Jonathan Majors played Jesse L. Brown in Devotion, the action war film Dillard directed with production beginning in February 2021. Dillard has stated that his father's military service partly shaped his approach to the film. That influence was literal. Both of Dillard's parents visited the set during production. His father moved from visitor to active participant, serving as the film's Navy pilot technical consultant. In February 2024, Dillard became the showrunner, creator, and executive producer of Neuromancer for Apple TV+. The series was adapted from the novel of the same name. The source novel provided the world, but the ten-episode vision was Dillard's alone to shape.

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