Joel Schumacher

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Joel Schumacher

Schumacher in Taormina during the Taormina Film Fest in 2003, for the Italian premiere of Phone Booth
Born Joel T. Schumacher
August 29, 1939 (1939-08-29) (age 71)
New York City, New York, U.S.
Occupation Director, screenwriter, producer
Years active 1972–present
Notable works The Lost Boys, Falling Down, Batman Forever, A Time to Kill, 8mm, Tigerland, Phone Booth

Joel T. Schumacher (born August 29, 1939) is an American film director, screenwriter and producer.

Contents [hide]
1 Early life
2 Career
2.1 The Brat Pack
2.2 John Grisham
2.3 Batman
2.4 Post-Batman career
3 Sexuality
4 Recurring collaborators
5 Filmography
5.1 Director
6 References
7 External links


[edit] Early lifeSchumacher was born in New York City, the son of Marian (née Kantor) and Francis Schumacher.[1] His mother was a Swedish Jew, and his father was a Baptist from Knoxville, Tennessee, who died when Joel was four years old.[2] Schumacher studied at Parsons The New School for Design and The Fashion Institute of Technology in New York.[3] After first working in the fashion industry, he realized his true love was in filmmaking. He moved out to Los Angeles, where he began his media work as a costume designer in films such as Sleeper and developed his skills with television work while earning an MFA from UCLA. He wrote the screenplay for the 1976 low-budget hit movie Car Wash and a number of other minor successes. He also wrote 1978's The Wiz, an adaptation of the stage play of the same name. His film directorial debut was The Incredible Shrinking Woman in 1981, which starred Lily Tomlin, and he quickly made more successful films, including two "brat pack" works.

[edit] Career[edit] The Brat PackSt. Elmo's Fire and The Lost Boys, considered to be archetypal movies of the 1980s, were two of Schumacher's biggest hits. Their style impressed audiences and their financial success allowed studios to trust him with ever larger projects. He states in the director's commentary for St. Elmo's Fire that he resents the "Brat Pack" label, as he feels it misrepresents the group.

[edit] John GrishamSchumacher has also directed two adaptations of the books of John Grisham, The Client (1994) and A Time to Kill (1996), the latter as the personal choice of Grisham.

[edit] Batman This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2011)

Schumacher would later replace Tim Burton as the director of the Batman film franchise due to the reaction by parental groups to Batman Returns (1992). He directed Batman Forever (1995), replacing Michael Keaton with Val Kilmer; the film would go on to score the highest-grossing opening weekend of 1995, and would finish as the second highest-grossing film of the year.

Inspired by this success, Warner Bros hired Schumacher to direct a sequel, Batman & Robin, in 1997. But after scathing reviews and a drop in ticket sales from the first film, Warner Bros put the series of movies on hiatus, canceling Schumacher's next planned Batman movie Batman Triumphant. On the DVD commentary, Schumacher has admitted that his movie disappointed fans of darker Batman adaptations, saying that the film was made intentionally marketable (or "toyetic") and kid-friendly. He claims to have been under heavy pressure from the studio to do so; however, he admits full responsibility and, at one point, apologizes to any fans who were disappointed. Schumacher, however, is a devoted Batman fan himself and actually would have personally preferred an adaptation of the comic Batman: Year One.[4]

Schumacher also served as the director for the music videos of two songs appearing in the franchise, "Kiss from a Rose", by Seal and "The End Is the Beginning Is the End" by The Smashing Pumpkins (co-directed with Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris).

[edit] Post-Batman careerAfter back-to-back Grisham and Batman films, Schumacher decided to reinvent his career with darker, lower-budget fare like 8MM with Nicolas Cage, and Flawless with Robert De Niro. In 1999, Schumacher also directed the music video for "Letting the Cables Sleep" by English rock band Bush. In 2000, Schumacher directed the Vietnam-era boot camp drama Tigerland, which introduced Hollywood to a young Colin Farrell. Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter praised the film as such: "Tigerland lands squarely in the top tier of best movies about America's Vietnam experience."

Schumacher returned to big-budget Hollywood with Bad Company starring Anthony Hopkins and Chris Rock. The film was originally slated to be released in November 2001 but because of the September 11 attacks, it was pushed back to the summer of 2002 because of its theme about terrorist attacks in New York City. The film was panned by most critics and was a box office failure. In 2003, he released the controversial Phone Booth, which reteamed Schumacher with Farrell. The film was also delayed months not only due to 9/11, but later, the Beltway sniper attacks. It received generally positive reviews, earning a 71 percent "Fresh" rating on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.[5] Buoyed by Farrell's recently new-found fame, the film would earn $98.7 million worldwide.

In 2002, he directed Cate Blanchett in the Jerry Bruckheimer-produced biopic Veronica Guerin. It is about the eponymous Irish journalist, who was murdered by drug dealers in 1996.

Schumacher directed a film version of the musical The Phantom of the Opera in 2004, an adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's original stage musical. Despite mixed reviews, the film earned $154.6 million worldwide (Schumacher's biggest hit of the 21st Century to date) and was nominated for three Academy Awards, as well as three Golden Globes including Best Motion Picture-Musical or Comedy.

The director has since filmed The Number 23, which was a critical flop but a financial success.

His next project was vampire thriller Blood Creek, which filmed in the spring of 2007 in rural Romania.

In August 2008, Schumacher directed the music video for American rock band Scars on Broadway, for their upcoming single "World Long Gone".[6]

In August 2010, production began on his next film, Trespass. The action-thriller will reunite Schumacher with stars Nicole Kidman and Nicolas Cage.[7]

[edit] SexualitySchumacher has been openly gay through most of his career.[8] In Liz Smith's memoir, Natural Blonde, she states that "He called himself 'A Sexual Outlaw'".

Batman Forever, and to an even greater degree its 1997 sequel Batman & Robin, generated controversy for what conservative fans considered to be homo-erotic innuendos.[9]

[edit] Recurring collaboratorsSchumacher often casts the same actors in different films. Kiefer Sutherland, Colin Farrell, Shea Whigham are among his more frequent acting collaborators.

Harry Gregson-Williams often composes the music for his movies and Mark Stevens often serves as editor.

Actors and actresses
Karina Arroyave
Arian Ash
Chris Bauer
Patricia Belcher
Nicolas Cage
Jim Carrey
Michael Paul Chan
Lynn Collins
John Diehl
John Enos III
Colin Farrell
Maile Flanagan
Brenda Fricker
John Glover
Michael Gough
Beth Grant
Anthony Heald
Ciarán Hinds
Pat Hingle
Doug Hutchison
Chris Huvane
Tommy Lee Jones
Nicky Katt
Nicole Kidman
Tory Kittles
James MacDonald
Jim McMullan
Gerard McSorley
Amy Morton
Benjamin Mouton
Chris O'Donnell
Oliver Platt
Julia Roberts
Luis Saguar
Elizabeth Sanders
Kimberly Scott
Peter Stormare
Kiefer Sutherland
Nico Tortorella
Shea Whigham
Bob Zmuda
Film crew
Andrzej Bartkowiak - Cinematographer
Robert Brown - Editor
Jerry Bruckheimer - Producer
David Buckley - Composer
Marion Dougherty - Casting Director
Mali Finn - Casting Director
Beau Flynn - Producer
Stephen Goldblatt - Cinematographer
Elliot Goldenthal - Composer
Akiva Goldsman - Screenwriter
Harry Gregson-Williams - Composer
James Newton Howard - Composer
Jessica Kelly - Casting Director
Ted Kurdyla - Producer
Andrew Laws - Production Designer
Matthew Libatique - Cinematographer
Barbara Ling - Production Designer
Marci Liroff - Casting Director
Peter Macgregor-Scott - Producer
Benjamin Melniker - Producer
Arnon Milchan - Producer
Eli Richbourg - Second Unit Director/Producer
Jan Roelfs - Production Designer
Suzanne Smith - Casting Director
Mark Stevens - Editor
Michael Uslan - Producer
Dennis Virkler - Editor


[edit] Filmography[edit] DirectorThe Incredible Shrinking Woman (1981)
D.C. Cab (a.k.a. Street Fleet) (1983) (also Writer)
St. Elmo's Fire (1985)
The Lost Boys (1987)
Cousins (1989)
Flatliners (1990)
Dying Young (1991)
Falling Down (1993)
The Client (1994)
Batman Forever (1995)
A Time to Kill (1996)
Batman & Robin (1997)
8mm (1999) (also Producer)
Flawless (1999) (also Producer and Writer)
Tigerland (2000)
Bad Company (2002)
Phone Booth (2003)
Veronica Guerin (2003)
The Phantom of the Opera (2004) (also Writer)
The Number 23 (2007)
Blood Creek (2009)
Twelve (2010)
Trespass (2011)
[edit] References1.^ Joel Schumacher Biography (1939-)
2.^ Weinraub, Bernard (March 3, 1993). "With 'Falling Down,' Director Savors A New Success". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/1993/03/03/movies/with-falling-down-director-savors-a-new-success.html. Retrieved May 6, 2010.
3.^ Joel Schumacher Biography at Yahoo! Movies
4.^ "Long ago, when this whole thing started, Batman: Year One... was always my favorite, and I was always hoping that I would do that one. There was no desire to do that the first time around, and there was definitely no desire to do that the second time around." – Joel Schumacher, Shadows of the Bat Part 5: Reinventing a Hero, Batman Forever Special Edition DVD
5.^ Phone Booth Movie Reviews, Pictures – Rotten Tomatoes
6.^ SCARS ON BROADWAY Taps JOEL SCHUMACHER For 'World Long Gone' Video Shoot - Aug. 19, 2008
7.^ Nicole Kidman and Nicolas Cage to co-star for first time in Trespass The Guardian. June 16, 2010
8.^ "Gay directors bring home the bacon". The Advocate. May 13, 2003. Archived from the original on November 21, 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20071121192436/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1589/is_2003_May_13/ai_102453324. Retrieved July 8, 2007.
9.^ Joel Schumacher, Peter MacGregor-Scott, Chris O'Donnell, Val Kilmer, Uma Thurman, John Glover, Shadows of the Bat: The Cinematic Saga of the Dark Knight Part 6-Batman Unbound, 2005, Warner Home Video