We at the Watchers are saddened to hear about the death of Joel Schumacher. The filmmaker passed away on Monday (June 22nd) at the age of 80.
It's almost inevitable that he will be remembered for his Batman movies, but there was so much more to him as a director, and as a filmmaker, than Bat-nipples and neon-splashed cityscapes. In an eclectic career spanning over five decades, Schumacher helmed coming-of-age dramas, legal thrillers, big screen musicals, biopics, and vampire features, in addition to comic-book movies, and also took several other production roles.
Born in Queens, New York, in 1939, Schumacher initially attended the Parsons School of Design and the Fashion Institute of Technology, and designed clothing and packaging for Revlon. He was also a window dresser at Bendel's department store in New York, coming up with "shocking, interesting, exciting windows" (including a display which made it look like the store had been broken into). In 1972, he made his way to Los Angeles to start working in the film business. The first film Schumacher had ever seen was David Lean's atmospheric and haunting version of Great Expectations (1946) and it made a big impression on him, sparking his desire to become a filmmaker.
Schumacher initially worked as a costume designer, working on films including Play It As It Lays (1972), Blume In Love (1973), and Woody Allen's Sleeper (also 1973). He credits Allen as the first person to encourage him to become a director, later saying: "The dream seemed so far away, and for someone like that to say, 'You've got it, you're going to do it,' it meant the world to me." He would work with Allen again, designing costumes for Interiors (1978), and was also costume designer for the big screen adaptation of Neil Simon's The Prisoner Of Second Avenue (1975).
In 1974, Schumacher both wrote and directed his first TV movie, Virginia Hill, starring
Dyan Cannon as the eponymous girlfriend of gangster Bugsy Siegel. He wrote (or co-wrote) the screenplays for several of his own films, but is also credited as screenwriter for several others, including musical drama Sparkle (1976, remade in 2012, for which Schumacher received a story credit); comedy-drama Car Wash (1976), starring Richard Pryor; and The Wiz (1978)- an adaptation of The Wizard Of Oz- starring Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, and Lena Horne.
After a second well-received TV movie- Amateur Night At The Dixie Bar And Grill (1979), starring Candy Clark, Louise Latham, Don Johnson, and Dennis Quaid- which he also wrote and directed, Schumacher made the step to cinema and directed his first feature film in 1981: The Incredible Shrinking Woman, a sci-fi comedy starring Lily Tomlin in the title role as a regular suburban housewife who is exposed to a series of chemicals and begins to shrink. His second film as director was the action comedy Street Fleet [originally known as D.C. Cab] (1983) which was a vehicle (excuse the pun) for Mr. T.
Schumacher was behind the lens for two iconic 1980s movies. The first was St. Elmo's Fire (1985), which he also co-wrote with Carl Kurlander. A romantic drama about the lives of seven friends- played by Judd Nelson, Rob Lowe, Demi Moore, Andrew McCarthy, Emilio Estevez, Ally Sheedy, and Mare Winningham- who have just graduated from Georgetown University and start to negotiate the complexities of life after college. It's a smart look at that odd period when you leave the relative security of university and have to go... now what? The film is also famous for John Parr's equally iconic song 'St. Elmo's Fire (Man In Motion)', which gets played to evoke the mid-Eighties zeitgeist even now.
The second was The Lost Boys (1987), a riproaring comedy-horror about two brothers (Jason Patric and Corey Haim) who move to a new town and find out that the area is swarming with vampires. A wonderfully twisted take on Peter Pan, Schumacher stepped in to direct when original director (and eventual executive producer) Richard Donner moved on to direct Lethal Weapon. This is the first time that Kiefer Sutherland (who plays David, leader of the vampires) worked with Schumacher; Schumacher would cast him several times throughout his filmography. Along with Kathryn Bigelow's Near Dark (1987), The Lost Boys has influenced how vampires look and act on screen and made a massive cultural impact.
A cross between a medical thriller and a sci-fi horror, Flatliners (1990) defies easy categorisation but is- even 30 years later- a damn good watch. Five medical students- played by Kiefer Sutherland, Julia Roberts, Kevin Bacon, William Baldwin, and Oliver Platt- conduct experiments into near death experiences; what lies beyond? Anything? Nothing? Each of them has their heart stopped and then are revived. But what they bring back with them is the stuff of nightmares... An interesting meditation on forgiveness, and a cautionary tale about the pitfalls of playing God, it's one of Schumacher's strongest films.
After reuniting with Roberts for the soapy, melodramatic romance Dying Young (1991), Schumacher pulls another interesting turn with the critically-acclaimed Falling Down (1993), for which he was nominated for the Palme d'Or at that year's Cannes film festival. Described by The New York Times as " glitzy, casually cruel, hip and grim", Falling Down is an urban thriller chronicling the breakdown of Bill 'D-Fens' Foster- an ordinary man whose everyday frustrations with society spill over into psychotic violence- with a powerhouse performance by Michael Douglas as 'D-Fens'.
Schumacher's next film was The Client (1994), an adaptation of the John Grisham legal thriller of the same name. Starring Susan Sarandon, Tommy Lee Jones, and Brad Renfro, he directed Sarandon to an Oscar nomination for Best Actress as the lawyer tasked with helping out a child witness who has seen and heard too much. This is the only time Schumacher directed an actor to an Oscar nomination.
In between the Batman films, he returned for A Time To Kill (1996)- seemingly at John Grisham's behest- and was instrumental in casting Matthew McConaughey (who had been in several key supporting roles in other films such as Dazed And Confused and Boys On The Side up til then) as Jake Brigance, the lawyer who has to defend a black man (played by Samuel L. Jackson) accused of murdering two white men who raped his daughter. This would be the part to catapult McConaughey into starring roles. Schumacher was originally attached to direct Runaway Jury (2003) which was directed by Gary Fleder instead.
In 1995, Schumacher released the first of his Batman films: Batman Forever. Starring Val Kilmer as the Caped Crusader, with Chris O'Donnell introduced as Robin, Jim Carrey and Tommy Lee Jones as villains The Riddler and Two-Face, and Nicole Kidman as love interest Dr. Chase Meridian, the film scored the highest-grossing opening weekend of 1995. It finished as the second-highest-grossing film of the year in North America, and sixth-highest worldwide. With one foot still in the Burton-esque style of Batman Returns (Burton remained onboard as producer), Batman Forever doesn't tip all the way into the camptastic excesses of Batman & Robin, although there are hints of it (mostly in The Riddler's garb and lair).
Having done the business with Batman Forever, Schumacher was invited back to direct Batman & Robin (1997). With Val Kilmer dropping out at the eleventh hour to film The Island Of Dr. Moreau (citing the chance to work with Marlon Brando), the search was on for a new Batman. Enter George Clooney. With Chris O'Donnell back as Robin, and introducing Batgirl (Alicia Silverstone), the trio of crimefighters face the cold-hearted Mr. Freeze (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and the alluring Poison Ivy (Uma Thurman). Universally derided by critics and fans alike, the film bombed and put the kibosh on a planned fifth instalment to the series.
Schumacher has taken the criticism of Batman & Robin on the chin, saying in 2017: “I want to apologize to every fan that was disappointed because I think I owe them that.” He's made it clear that the studio pressured him to make it more "toyetic" (essentially making a 90-minute commercial) and undermining a lot of the film. Despite Schumacher's Razzie nomination for Worst Director [which he lost to Kevin Costner for The Postman], there's still a lot of fun to be had in Batman & Robin: George Clooney is suave as Bruce Wayne (although his Batman is lacking), Uma Thurman camps it up to eleven and is clearly having a ball as Poison Ivy, and some of Schwarzenegger's one-liners (as cheesy as they are) can't help but raise a smile.
So, what do you do as a film-maker coming off the back of a high-camp comic-book extravaganza? Well, if you're Schumacher, you make a lower-budget thriller about a private detective investigating a potential snuff film. 8mm (1999), starring Nicolas Cage, Joaquin Phoenix, James Gandolfini, and Peter Stormare, is light years away from Batman & Robin. It was nominated for the Golden Bear (ie. Best Picture) at the 1999 Berlin Film Festival. Schumacher later said that "8mm would never get made today. I think it's a really bold, really controversial film".
And after making a dark thriller about snuff movies, what do you do next? Well, how about an odd-couple comedy-drama about a homophobic security guard who ends up taking singing lessons from a drag queen after having a stroke? Because that's what Schumacher did with Flawless (1999), which he also wrote. Whilst the plot isn't particularly original, the performances by Robert De Niro and Philip Seymour Hoffman as the security guard and the drag queen respectively are excellent. In another shift of gear, Tigerland (2000) sees a bunch of young recruits- one of them played by Colin Farrell- preparing to go off to Vietnam by doing Advanced Infantry Training at Fort Polk, Louisiana (home to the titular 'Tigerland'). This was the first collaboration between Schumacher and Farrell, but not the last.
Farrell would take the lead in Phone Booth (2002), a claustrophobic thriller which mostly takes place within the confines of the titular booth. Smarmy publicist Stu Shepard finds himself trapped in the booth by a man (voiced by Kiefer Sutherland) with a sniper rifle who demands Stu comes clean about his many lies. It's a tense ride, which plays out in real-time, and has a lot of stellar performances (including Forest Whitaker, Radha Mitchell, and Katie Holmes). Schumacher then went on to direct Veronica Guerin (2003), a biopic of the Irish journalist who was murdered in 1996 for her exposés on Dublin's drug trade, with Cate Blanchett in the lead role and Ciarán Hinds as her informant.
From Irish journalists to a bastion of musical theatre, Schumacher went on to direct The Phantom Of The Opera (2004) next. He was the first and only choice to direct- and had been ever since the film version had been mooted; Andrew Lloyd Webber had chosen Schumacher based on his use of music in The Lost Boys. Working with Lloyd Webber on the screenplay, as well as acting as executive music producer, Schumacher brings the opulence of the Paris opera house and the labyrinths beneath to shimmering life.
Honestly, the film is a bit of a mixed bag: Gerard Butler's singing is fairly painful (a problem when he's playing the Phantom) and there's very little in the way of disfigurement when you see under the mask; crucially, there's also a lack of chemistry between the leads which undercuts the emotion of the end. That said, there's several great supporting turns- by Simon Callow and Ciarán Hinds as the new owners of the opera, Miranda Richardson as the enigmatic ballet mistress Madame Giry, and Minnie Driver as diva Carlotta- and Emmy Rossum is a convincing Christine.
For The Number 23 (2007), Schumacher reunited with Batman Forever star Jim Carrey. In this mystery thriller, Carrey plays a mild-mannered animal control officer who becomes obsessed with a mysterious red-covered book which seems to resemble his life. Schumacher's next films were 2009 occult horror Blood Creek- starring Henry Cavill, Dominic Purcell, and Michael Fassbender in a twisted revenge tale that takes in everything from zombie horses to the Third Reich; crime drama Twelve (2010), starring Chace Crawford, 50 Cent, and Kiefer Sutherland; and- what would be his final film- the 2011 thriller Trespass, which has Nicolas Cage and Nicole Kidman as a rich couple dealing with a home invasion. Schumacher's last official credit is directing two episodes of the TV series House Of Cards in 2013.
As well as directing for TV and film, Schumacher was also known as a music video director, directing videos for INXS ('Devil Inside'), Lenny Kravitz ('Heaven Help'), Seal ('Kiss From A Rose'), The Smashing Pumpkins ('The End Is The Beginning Is The End'), Bush ('Letting The Cables Sleep'), and The Killing Floor ('Star Baby'). Along with his co-directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, Schumacher was nominated for an MTV Video Music Award for Best Direction for "The End Is The Beginning Is The End" (which had been used in Batman & Robin).
When asked if he had any advice for first-time directors, Schumacher gave this response: "Be bold, take risks, follow your own instincts, listen to other people only when you really believe in your gut that they're right. Get a great cast. Get a cinematographer that isn't jealous that you're the director. Get an editor that's not jealous you're the director. You can do it."
In addition to screenwriting and costume design work, Schumacher took on many different genres of films as a director and always delivered what was required of him. I hope this tribute has gone to show he's so much more than just the man that stuck nipples on the Batsuit, and deserves to be remembered as a man of many talents. At a 2017 retrospective, Schumacher reflected on his career, stating: “I think I’m one of the luckiest people that ever lived. I got my dream. I got it so much bigger than even I could have dreamed it”
Our thoughts are with his friends and family at this time.
No comments:
Post a Comment