|
Joel Schumacher
 Biography:
Joel T. Schumacher was born on August 29th, 1939 in New York City, New York. He grew up an only child with his widowed mother in Queens and went to work at an early age delivering meat for a butcher's shop. During this time he began to develop an aptitude for window dressing and would volunteer his services to local retail businesses. In his teenage years he attended the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York and would go on to dress windows for Macy's, Saks, and Lord & Taylor. In the 1960's he moved with some friends to Miami where he was introduced to the dark side of the drug culture. Quickly identifying the danger on the horizon, Schumacher moved back to New York and took a window dressing job at Bendel's. He was granted a scholarship to the Parsons School of Design and graduated with honors.
Schumacher may have left the Miami to evade a hazardous, narcotic-rich environment, but he took an equally risky drug habit back home with him to New York. While he struggled with his addiction, he designed clothes, helped run a trendy boutique, and eventually accepted a position at Revlon. In 1970 Schumacher had finally hit rock-bottom and, in an effort to wipe the slate clean, quit both his drug dependence and the fashion industry. He began to focus his professional attention on film and television and, after a building a modest resume as an art director on a handful of commercials, was offered the role as costume designer on Frank Perry's Play It As It Lays. Shortly thereafter he moved to Los Angeles and continued working in costume design for such films as The Last of Sheila, Interiors, and Sleeper.
Now that Schumacher had developed a foothold in Hollywood, he began to explore some of the other creative avenues of the business. He started by writing screenplays, which resulted in films like Sparkle, Car Wash, and The Wiz, and moved into directing with the television projects "The Virginia Hill Story" and "Amateur Night at the Dixie Bar and Grill". In 1981 he helmed his first feature film, The Incredible Shrinking Woman. The project was a complete disaster, both with the critics and in the box office, and Schumacher was left reeling. He sharpened his directing skills with continuing education at UCLA and after one more slip with D.C. Cab, he finally found success with St. Elmo's Fire and The Lost Boys.
The rest of Joel Schumacher's career can be defined by alternating highs and lows. The 1990's saw such incredible films as A Time to Kill, The Client, and Flatliners, and Falling Down. But the same decade saw such cinematic garbage as Batman Forever and Batman & Robin. In the twenty first century he has provided us treasures like Tigerland, Phone Booth, and Veronica Guerin and trash like Bad Company. Throughout his filmmaking tenure Schumacher has most certainly seen his ups and downs, but by and large he has provided far more treats than tricks.
Films:
Sparkle (1976)
Car Wash (1976)
The Wiz (1978)
The Incredible Shrinking Woman (1981)
D.C. Cab (1983)
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)
Flawless (1999)
Tigerland (2000)
Bad Company (2002)
Phone Booth (2002)
Veronica Guerin (2003)
Phantom of the Opera (2004)
The Number 23 (2007)
Upcoming Projects:
1:30 Train (2008)
Creek (2008)
The Crowded Room (2008)
Other Feature Film Credits:
Play It As It Lays (1972) (costume designer)
The Last of Sheila (1973) (costume designer)
Sleeper (1973) (costume designer)
Blume in Love (1973) (costume designer)
The Prisoner of Second Avenue (1974) (costume designer)
Interiors (1978) (costume designer)
The Babysitter (1995) (executive producer)
Gossip (2000) (executive producer)
Short Films:
none
Music Video Projects:
"Devil Inside" by INXS
"Kiss from a Rose" by Seal
"Letting the Cables Sleep" by Bush
"The End is the Beginning is the End" by Smashing Pumpkins
Television Projects:
"Killer Bees" (1974) (production designer)
"The Virginia Hill Story" (1974) (director and writer)
"Amateur Night at the Dixie Bar and Grill" (1979) (director and writer)
"Code Name: Foxfire" (pilot 1985) (creator and executive producer)
"Slow Burn" (1986) (executive producer)
"2000 Malibu Road" (series 1992) (director)
Non Film Projects:
none
Production and Other Companies:
Joel Schumacher Productions
Film Award Ratios (wins/nominations):
Academy Awards – 0/12 (0.0%)
Golden Globes – 0/7 (0.0%)
Sundance Film Festival – 0/0 (0.0%)
Cannes Film Festival – 2/4 (50.0%)
Writers Guild of America – 0/0 (0%)
Directors Guild of America – 0/0 (0.0%)
AFI Top One Hundred Films of All Time – 0
Quote:
"I'm trying to grow and I think that as soon as you get good at something you have to change it because the tendency is that any form of success breeds a fear of form and conservatism."
|
