Joel Schumacher

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, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Director, screenwriter, and producer
Years active	1972–present

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

Contents 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 Filmography 5 References 6 External links

Early life

Schumacher 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.

Career

The Brat Pack

St. 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. This is mentioned several times.

John Grisham

Schumacher 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.

Batman

Schumacher would later replace Tim Burton as the director of the Batman film franchise. After Burton's second film in the franchise, Batman Returns (1992), proved to be too controversial for Warner Bros. to market (due to critics and parental groups complaining that the film was too dark and violent for children), the studio wanted the next film to be more family-friendly and mainstream. Schumacher had a reputation with studios for making hit films with a relatively small budget. His work on The Lost Boys (1987) and Flatliners (1990) showed Warner Bros. that he was capable of creating his own visual style. In addition, his controversial hit Falling Down (1993) showed that he could handle darker material.

He directed Batman Forever (1995), starring Val Kilmer as the Caped Crusader (replacing Michael Keaton, who was Batman in the first two films), which was a major commercial success despite receiving mixed reviews. He later directed Batman & Robin (1997), starring George Clooney as Batman, Chris O'Donnell as Robin, Arnold Schwarzenegger as Mr. Freeze, Uma Thurman as Poison Ivy, and Alicia Silverstone as Batgirl, which was a critical disaster, and remains the least financially successful Batman film. The film prompted Warner Bros. to place the series of movies on hiatus, canceling the next Batman movie Batman Triumphant (after seven years, Batman Begins was released, in a comprehensive reboot of the franchise, directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Christian Bale as Batman).

Batman & Robin had a detrimental effect on Schumacher's reputation, forcing him to take on less ambitious projects. 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]

Many fans have complained about the "artistic license" Schumacher took with the Batman franchise. The tone of the films became far more camp (akin to the 1960s live-action TV series starring Adam West) under Schumacher's direction and overt sexual elements began to rear their head. One of the more persistent complaints was Schumacher's stylistic approach in putting nipples on the Batsuit, which Schumacher would later claim was inspired by statues of the Greek gods. Others included shots focusing on Batman and Robin's buttocks while suiting up and a Gotham City filled with giant stone statues of nude men (one memorable fight with Mr. Freeze takes place across one). He dismissed these issues in the 2005 special edition DVD of Batman Forever, saying that these people should "get out more."

He served as the director for the music videos, "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). These songs appeared in Batman Forever and Batman & Robin, respectively. Since 1998, Schumacher has said he is interested in re-editing Batman Forever to make it closer to as it was originally conceived.

Schumacher has since apologized for Batman & Robin.^[5]

Post-Batman career

Following Batman & Robin, Schumacher went on to direct lower budget films (stepping down from $100 million budget films) like 8MM with Nicolas Cage, and Flawless with Robert De Niro. Neither were big hits, and reviews were mostly negative. 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 further due to the Beltway sniper attacks. It received generally positive reviews, earning a 71 percent "Fresh" rating on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.^[6]

Schumacher directed a film version of the musical The Phantom of the Opera in 2004. The film earned mixed reviews, gaining harsh criticism from fans of Andrew Lloyd Webber's original stage musical for casting and directorial choices. However, it turned out to be a moderate success. The film was nominated for three Academy Awards and three Golden Globes including Best Motion Picture-Musical or Comedy which it did not win.

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 began shooting in March 2007.

In August 2008, Schumacher directed the music video for American rock band Scars on Broadway, for their upcoming single "World Long Gone".^[7]

In August 2010 production will begin on his next film, Trespass. The action-thriller will star Nicole Kidman.^[8]

Sexuality

Schumacher has been openly gay through most of his career.^[9] In Liz Smith's memoir, Natural Blonde, she states that "He called himself 'A Sexual Outlaw'" and discusses their love affair and subsequent friendship.

Batman Forever, and moreso its 1997 sequel Batman & Robin attracted attention for their many homo-erotic innuendos.^[10] As previously mentioned, Batman's and Robin's costumes were inspired by ancient Greek art and had significant nipples and codpieces, which featured in many close-ups.

Filmography

References

External links

• Joel Schumacher at the Internet Movie Database
• Joel Schumacher interview

Films directed by Joel Schumacher 1980s The Incredible Shrinking Woman (1981) · D.C. Cab (1983) · St. Elmo's Fire (1985) · The Lost Boys (1987) · Cousins (1989) 1990s 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) 2000s Tigerland (2000) · Bad Company (2002) · Phone Booth (2003) · Veronica Guerin (2003) · The Phantom of the Opera (2004) · The Number 23 (2007) · Blood Creek (2009) 2010s Twelve (2010) · Trespass (2011)

Preceded by Tim Burton

Batman film director 1995–1997

Succeeded by Christopher Nolan