Albert and Allen Hughes began making movies at age 12, but their formal film education began their freshman year of high school when Allen took a TV production class. They soon made a short film entitled How To Be A Burglar and people began to take notice. Their next work, Uncensored videos, was broadcast on cable, introducing them to a wider audience. After high school Albert began taking classes at LACC Film School: two shorts established the twins’ reputation as innovative filmmakers and allowed them to direct Menace II Society (1993), which made its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival and grossed nearly 10 times as much as its $3 million budget. After following up with Dead Presidents (1995) they directed the feature-length documentary American Pimp (1999) .
The Hughes brothers were born in Detroit, Michigan to an African American father, Albert Hughes, and an Armenian American mother, Aida, whose family were Iranian Armenians from Tehran. Albert is the older of the twins by nine minutes; although they originally believed themselves to be fraternal twins, they suspect they may be identical despite not having had a DNA test. Their parents divorced when they were two years old. The twins moved with their mother to Pomona, California, east of Los Angeles, when they were nine. Their mother raised Albert and Allen alone while putting herself through school and starting her own business, a vocational center. Supportive of her sons’ ambitions as filmmakers, she gave them a video camera when they were 12. The boys spent their free time making short films. When a teacher suggested that they make a “How To” film for an assignment, they complied with a short film, “How to Be a Burglar.
In 2005, it was announced that Albert would direct a feature film called Art Con, although no further news was reported on its development.
In December 2012, Albert Hughes announced that he would be producing an online video series using the Crysis 3 game engine called The 7 Wonders of Crysis 3.
In 2018, Albert Hughes directed his first solo feature film, Alpha. The film was written by Daniele Sebastian Wiedenhaupt, based on a story written by Hughes, and holds an approval rating of 79% and is “certified fresh” on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes.
Below are all the screenplays available online. If you find any of his missing screenplays please leave the link in the comment section.
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(NOTE: For educational and research purposes only).
MENACE II SOCIETY (1993)
Screenplay and Directed by Albert and Allen Hughes – Buy the Screenplay!
DEAD PRESIDENTS (1995)
Screenplay and Directed by Albert and Allen Hughes – Buy the Screenplay!
FROM HELL (2001)
Directed by Albert and Allen Hughes- Read the screenplay!
BOOK OF ELI (2010)
Directed by Albert and Allen Hughes – Read the screenplay!
ALPHA (2018)
Screenplay and Directed by Albert Hughes – Read the screenplay!