Trivia

Thinks The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996) is his best film.

Does a director's commentary for the DVDs of every single one of his movies.

Worked on Alien³ (1992) for over a year and asked to leave the project after not being satisfied with any script and wanted to do something completely different, and the next day was offered The Adventures of Ford Fairlane (1990) by Joel Silver.

Edited his 1990 Fox films The Adventures of Ford Fairlane (1990) and Die Hard 2 (1990) at the same time.

When he was starting out in Hollywood, he would travel via the city bus system with reels of his work to show studio executives.

Was perhaps the first mainstream, American-based filmmaker to use Toronto for big-budget locational and shooting purposes (something that has become very commonplace for American films nowadays) with his film The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996).

His film Cutthroat Island (1995) resulted in as a massive failure because of the loss of money. The budget of the film was $92 million however the box office of the film was $10,017,322. As a result, the executive producer of the film Mario Kassar's production company, Carolco Pictures declared bankruptcy. This film also earned a place in the Guinness Book of World Records as the biggest loss of money for a film company ever.

Was offered to direct Speed (1994) but turned it down. Job went to Jan de Bont. The film was financially successful.

Was offered the chance to direct GoldenEye (1995) but turned it down because he felt he had made enough sequels.

A 14-year-old Renny Harlin wanted to became a film director after he saw Don Siegel and Charles Bronson in Helsinki while they were making the film Telefon (1977).

Mario Kassar thought Harlin was ideal director for "Gale Force," a film about hurricanes and starring Sylvester Stallone. After Harlin didn't accept the first offer, Kassar started offering more and more money, and in its way, it changed the pay scale of Hollywood directors. "Gale Force" was never made but, instead, Harlin directed Cliffhanger (1993).

Said that Deep Blue Sea (1999) was the most difficult film he had ever made (1999).

He is a friend of Sylvester Stallone.

As a child he went to see Alfred Hitchcock films with his mother.

He got a medal ("Kultainen ansiomerkki") from Finnish WWII veterans in 2004. He helped to organize "Kiitoksen paikka" concert which collected money to secure treatment and help to the old war veterans. Harlin said that helping the defenders of Finland is much more important that his other achievements.

Some of his favorite movies are Rosemary's Baby (1968), They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969), Apocalypse Now (1979), Lawrence of Arabia (1962) and Cinema Paradiso (1988).

One of his favorite movies is The Wild Bunch (1969).

In 1997 he was going to direct Frequency (2000) for New Line Cinema, but allegedly the film got in trouble after Sylvester Stallone asked too much for playing the lead. Eventually film was directed by Gregory Hoblit and starring Dennis Quaid.

Father of child born (in August 1997) to personal assistant Tiffany Bowne, who worked with the director on Speechless (1994), Cutthroat Island (1995) and The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996).

Worked as an commercial and company film director before directing his first feature film.

Mario Kassar and Renny made two films together, Cliffhanger (1993) and Cutthroat Island (1995). Cliffhanger (1993) resulted to a box office success while Cutthroat Island (1995) on the other hand resulted to a massive flopped. Which also resulted that Mario's production company Carolco Pictures bankrupted because of the loss of money for the film.

Had 2 films open one week apart in 1990: The Adventures of Ford Fairlane (1990) and Die Hard 2 (1990).

In 2001, he bought an apartment from former Formula One driver Eddie Irvine.

In a interview film in 1990 Harlin told about his future projects. He was going to shoot after "Die Hard 2" (1990) a modern remake of Humphrey Bogart film "Key Largo" (1948). Film was titled "Gale Force", but was never made. After "Gale Force" he was going to film "Torpedo" titled gangster film which would have been set in 1939 New York, but this film was never made either. He dreamed it would have become his "Godfather" film.

After those two films he planned to make the "Fade" with Steven Spielberg producing. Film would have told a story about teenage boy growing up in a small town in 1940's. Spielberg had offered him the film by sending him the book the script was based on.

"Don't Look Now" is his favorite film.

Was originally slated to direct Outlander (2008).

In 2006, Harlin was hired to direct a biography of Finnish Marshall and president Gustaf Mannerheim. The film is going to be produced by his old friend Markus Selin who produced his first film. The two men had announced initial plans as early as 2001. For a long time, there were major problems with funding, and the production was stopped. However, now the film has been rescheduled, and Mikko Nousiainen has been named as the leading star. The budget is estimated to be at around 10-14 million euros, which would make it the most expensive movie in Finnish film history.

On May 29, 1991 Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat wrote that Finnish director Renny Harlin had signed a contract with Paramount to direct the new film adaptation of The Saint (1997) with Robert Evans producing. Eventually the film was directed by Phillip Noyce.

Director Roger Vadim is a former neighbor.

In 1993 started building Hollywoodland to be the largest amusement park in Europe on the outskirts of Helsinki costing $40 million and would feature costumes , memorabilia and reconstructed sets from his films.

Father was a doctor, mother a nurse.

Dropped out of the University of Helsinki where he was studying film.