Neil LaBute Neil LaBute was born in 1963 in Detroit, Michigan. He is the writer/director of the films In the Company of Men and Your Friends and Neighbors, and author of the stage-plays Bash, The Shape of Things (which he also adapted for te screen) and, most recently, The Mercy Seat. He has also directed the feature films Nurse Betty and Possession, the latter adapted from the novel by A. S. Byatt. Read More Read Less