Despite only a handful of films under his belt, writer-director Craig Brewer had developed a reputation for being a master Southern storyteller, working in the grand tradition of authors Flannery O’Connor and William Faulkner, as well as playwright Tennessee Williams, to whom he was routinely compared. Brewer’s touch was distinctly modern, however, and with his breakout feature, “Hustle & Flow” (2005), he wowed both critics and audiences with his ability to paint empathetic portraits of typically unappealing characters, while linking past and present generations of the South.

Brewer was born