Richard Lester

Richard Lester
Born 19 January 1932 (1932-01-19) (age 79)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Occupation film director
Years active 1954–1991

Richard Lester (born 19 January 1932)[1] is an American-born British-based film director notable for his work with The Beatles in the 1960s and his work on the Superman film series in the 1970s and 1980s.

Contents

Early years and television

Lester was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. A child prodigy, he began studies at the University of Pennsylvania at the age of 15. He started in television in 1950, working as a stage hand, floor manager, assistant director, and then to director less than a year, because no one else was around that knew how to do the work.[2] In 1953, Lester moved to London and began work as a director in independent television, working for the legendary low cost television producers The Danziger Brothers on episodes of Mark Saber, a half-hour detective series.

A variety show he produced caught the eye of Peter Sellers, who enlisted Lester's help in translating The Goon Show to television as The Idiot Weekly, Price 2d. It was a hit, as were two follow-up shows, A Show Called Fred and Son of Fred.[2][3][4] Lester recalls that A Show Called Fred was "broadcast live and that's why I went into film directing where you can do a second take!"[5]

Film career

A short film Lester made with Spike Milligan and Peter Sellers, The Running Jumping & Standing Still Film (1960), was a favourite of The Beatles, and in particular John Lennon. When the band members were contracted to make a film in 1964, they chose Lester from a list of possible directors. A Hard Day's Night showed an exaggerated and simplified version of The Beatles' characters, and proved to be an effective marketing tool. Many of its stylistic innovations survive today as the conventions of music videos, in particular the multi-angle filming of a live performance. Lester was sent an award from MTV as "Father of the Music Video." See IMDB for full list of Films.

Lester directed the second Beatles film Help! in 1965.[6] He then went on to direct several quintessential 'swinging' films, including the sex comedy The Knack …and How to Get It, which won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and Petulia (both with scores by John Barry), as well as the darkly surreal anti-war movie How I Won the War co-starring John Lennon, which he referred to as an "anti-anti-war movie"; Lester noted that anti-war movies still took the concept of war seriously, contrasting "bad" war crimes with wars fought for "good" causes like the liberation from Nazism or, at that time, Communism, whereas he set out to deconstruct it to show war as fundamentally opposed to humanity. Although set in World War II, the movie is indeed an oblique reference to the Vietnam War and at one point, breaking the fourth wall, references this directly.

In the 1970s, Lester directed a wide variety of films, including the disaster film Juggernaut, Robin and Marian, starring Sean Connery and Audrey Hepburn and the period romance Cuba, also starring Connery. However his biggest commercial successes in this period were The Three Musketeers and its sequel The Four Musketeers. The films were somewhat controversial at the time because the producers, Alexander and Ilya Salkind, decided to split the first film into two after principal photography was completed. Many of the cast principals sued the Salkinds as a result, stating that they were only contracted to make one film.

Superman

As the release of Superman neared, production on Superman II was halted to concentrate on getting the first movie completed. After the first Superman film was released in late 1978, the Salkinds went back into production on Superman II without informing Superman's director Richard Donner and placing Lester behind the camera for the completion of the film. Although Donner had shot approximately 70% of the film, Lester jettisoned or reshot much of the original footage in order to be credited for the picture, resulting in his receiving sole credit for directing Superman II. Gene Hackman, who played Lex Luthor, did not return, and Lester instead used a stunt double and an impersonator to loop Luthor's lines into footage of Hackman shot during Donner's tenure on Superman II. Some of the additional footage filmed by Donner was later integrated into television versions of the film with Lester's footage. In November 2006, Donner's footage was reedited into Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut, using mostly his footage, with the only Lester footage being that which was necessary to cover scenes not shot during Donner's principal photography.

Lester also directed Superman III in 1983. The third Superman film was not rated as highly with critics, yet was considered a box office success much like the first two movies had been. The movie is one of the top 10 most successful films of 1983; the number of blockbuster sequels released that year (two 007 movies, Octopussy and Never Say Never Again, Return of the Jedi and Jaws 3) made for stiff competition for Superman III.

Later years

In 1988, Lester reunited the entire Musketeers cast to film another sequel, The Return of the Musketeers. However, during filming in Spain, the actor Roy Kinnear, a close friend of Lester's, died after falling from a horse. Lester finished the film, then unofficially retired from directing. He did make one return to the craft in 1991 to direct a concert film for friend Paul McCartney, Get Back.

In 1993, he presented Hollywood UK, a five-part series on British cinema in the 1960s for the BBC.

In recent years, director Steven Soderbergh has been one of many calling for a reappraisal of Lester's work and influence. Soderbergh wrote a 1999 book, Getting Away With It which consists largely of interviews with Lester.

Filmography

Personal life

In Soderbergh's Getting Away with it, Lester reveals that he is a committed atheist and debates with Soderbergh (then an agnostic), largely based on the arguments of Richard Dawkins.

Notes and references

  1. ↑ The Times 19 January 2009, Retrieved 2010-01-09
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Soderbergh, Steven (1999-11-08). "Richard Lester interviewed by Steven Soderbergh". The Guardian. http://film.guardian.co.uk/Guardian_NFT/interview/0,,110592,00.html. Retrieved 2008-04-06. 
  3. ↑ Scudamore, Pauline (1985). Spike Milligan: A Biography.. London: Granada. ISBN 0-246-12275-7.  pp.169-170
  4. ↑ Lewis, Roger (1995). The Life and Death of Peter Sellers.. London: Arrow Books. ISBN 0-09-974700-6. 
  5. ↑ Ventham, Maxine (2002). "Richard Lester". In …. Spike Milligan: His Part in Our Lives. London: Robson. p. 72. ISBN 1-86105-530-7. 
  6. ↑ Lewis (1995) provides citations for the t.v. shows & films: A Show Called Fred, Son of Fred, Hard Day's Night, Help!, Mouse on the Moon, Running, Jumping Standing Still, and Three Musketeers

External links

Films directed by Richard Lester
1960s
The Running Jumping & Standing Still Film (1960) • It's Trad, Dad! (1962) • The Mouse on the Moon (1963) • A Hard Day's Night (1964) • The Knack …and How to Get It (1965) • Help! (1965) • A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966) • How I Won the War (1967) • Petulia (1968) • The Bed-Sitting Room (1969)
1970s
The Three Musketeers (1973) • Juggernaut (1974) • The Four Musketeers (1974) • Royal Flash (1975) • Robin and Marian (1976) • The Ritz (1976) • Butch and Sundance: The Early Days (1979) • Cuba (1979)
1980s
Superman II (1980) • Superman III (1983) • Finders Keepers (1984) • The Return of the Musketeers (1989)
1990s
Get Back (1991)
Preceded by
Richard Donner
 Superman film director
1980-1983		 Succeeded by
Jeannot Szwarc