Directing

Antal wrote and directed the Hungarian-language film Kontroll (2003), which won numerous awards, including the Award of the Youth at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival and the main prize at the Chicago International Film Festival, as well as a European Film Award nomination for Best Director and being selected as Hungary's submission to the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. The backdrop of the film is the Budapest Metro subway system. Kontroll, refers to the act of ticket inspectors checking to ensure a rider has paid their fare.^[1]

Antal's first American feature film, Vacancy, starring Kate Beckinsale and Luke Wilson, was released on April 20, 2007.^[2] His second American film, Armored, was released in December 2009.^[3] Robert Rodriguez hired him to direct the film Predators.^[4] He directed the Metallica 3D concert movie/narrative film titled Metallica: Through the Never (2013).

Antal began shooting a biopic about infamous Hungarian bank robber Attila Ambrus in 2016; the film, called A Viszkis, was released in 2017.^[5]

Antal has directed for three television series, two of which were executive produced by M. Night Shyamalan - first, as a guest director on Wayward Pines, then as a regular director for Servant. In 2022 he directed two episodes of Stranger Things season 4.

Acting

Antal has appeared in acting roles in some Hungarian films, the most known among these are András Salamon's Közel a szerelemhez (1999) and Balra a nap nyugszik (2000), directed by András Fésös. Antal had major supporting parts in both of these films. He also had a cameo in Robert Rodriguez's 2010 film Machete.