David F. Sandberg was born on 21 January 1981 in Jönköping, Sweden. In the fifth grade, Sandberg says he transferred to Torpa School in Jönköping, where he met his future wife Lotta Losten, and they later both attended Junedal School in the same city.[2][3] According to Sandberg, he grew up watching films and making his own using his dad's VHS-C camera. He worked in a video store as a teenager, and saved up money to buy his own camcorder for filmmaking.[4][5]
Sandberg was diagnosed with atypical autism when he was a child, but has said he is unsure if the diagnosis was correct.[6][7]
Beginning with animation and documentaries (2006–2013)[edit]
In his late teens or early twenties, Sandberg began working at Film i Jönköping, a local film center in Jönköping, initially as an intern. He learned more about filmmaking from Svante Rosberg, the film commissioner who ran Film i Jönköping when he started, and whom Sandberg considers his mentor.[5]
Starting in 2006, Sandberg found moderate online success making animated short films; according to Sandberg, his first online successes were his films För Barnen and Vad Tyst Det Blev, the latter of which garnered 1.7 million views on YouTube. As a result of his increased visibility, he began to receive offers for animation work; his first job was working as a consultant on the TV show Myggan [sv] on the Swedish Channel 5.[8]
He continued working at Film i Jönköping, primarily working on documentary projects. From 2006 to 2009, he worked on several documentaries for the Swedish Inheritance Fund.[9] His last collaboration with Rosberg before his retirement was Animera = Göra Livlig, a 2010 documentary about senior citizens creating animated films.[10]
In 2009, he moved to the city of Gothenburg. He continued working on animation and documentaries, and began collaborating with producer Claes Lundin. In 2011, they completed and sold an animated documentary series called Earth Savers, and in 2013, their documentary short Ladyboy premiered at Cinequest Film Festival.[4][11]
In 2013, he began to shift his focus away from animation and documentary works and towards short horror films. According to Sandberg, his original goal with filmmaking had been to make horror and sci-fi films, and he felt he needed to have some existing work in that field in order to get funding for future work. Lacking any funding of his own, his shorts were made with no budget: his equipment and props consisted mostly of items he already had or could buy very cheaply, and his only cast and crew were himself and Lotta Losten, his wife. He released his films on both Vimeo and YouTube, using his alias "ponysmasher".[5]
In 2013, he released his second horror short, Lights Out, which centered around a monster that only exists when the lights are turned out. The film was a viral success, and quickly garnered millions of views. According to Sandberg, his life changed "in every way imaginable" after Lights Out; he began receiving tons of messages from film industry people who wanted to work with him.[12]
One of these contacts was Lawrence Grey, a producer who wanted to adapt Lights Out into a feature-length film. Grey brought screenwriter Eric Heisserer and producer James Wan on board to collaborate and produce a script with Sandberg, who would also direct the new feature.[13] The film (also titled Lights Out) began production in mid-2015, and premiered at LA Film Festival in June 2016. The film was a massive box office success, grossing $148 million on a $5 million budget,[14] and a moderate critical success, earning a 76% approval score on Rotten Tomatoes and a 58 out of 100 score on Metacritic.[15][16]
In 2023, after the release of Shazam! Fury of the Gods, Sandberg stated he was "done" with the superhero genre and expressed a desire to return to horror.[26]
Sandberg is attached to direct a film adaptation of the 2015 video game, Until Dawn.[27]
Sandberg married actress, designer and photographer Lotta Losten in 2013. She has featured in many of his short films, including Lights Out.[28] Sandberg and Losten moved to Los Angeles around 2015.[29]
His younger brother is Joakim Sandberg, creator of the Iconoclasts video game.[30]
Sandberg has been open about his struggles with depression.[31][32]
