Joel Schumacher

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

Contents

[edit] Career

Schumacher was born in New York City. His mother Marian, of Swedish descent, was widowed when Schumacher was 4. He studied at Parsons The New School for Design. After first working in the fashion industry, he began his media work as a costume designer and developed his skills with television work. 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 three "brat pack" works.

[edit] 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.

[edit] Batman

Schumacher would later replace Tim Burton as the director of the Batman film franchise. He directed Batman Forever in 1995, which was a major summer success despite receiving mixed reviews. He later directed Batman and Robin, which was a critical disappointment, and did poorly at the box office. The film prompted Warner Brothers to place the series of movies on hiatus, canceling the next Batman movie Batman Triumphant. (After seven years, the much darker Batman Begins was released, in a comprehensive reboot of the franchise).

Batman and 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 and kid-friendly. Schumacher, however, is a devoted Batman fan himself and actually would have personally preferred an adaptation of the comic, Batman: Year One.

Many fans have complained about what Schumacher did with the Batman franchise. One of the more persistant complaints was Schumacher's stylistic approach in putting nipples on the Batsuit. He address these issues on the 2005 special editions of Batman Forever, saying that these people should 'get out more'.

[edit] 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 2000, Schumacher changed gears radically and garnered the best reviews of his career with the Vietnam-era boot camp drama Tigerland, which introduced Hollywood to 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."

He lowered the budget and scale once again with the controversial Phone Booth, which reteamed Schumacher with Colin Farrell. The film, already shelved for almost two years, was delayed months further due to the Beltway sniper attacks. Upon release, the film performed well due to the recent popularity of Colin Farrell (who at the time of filming in 2000 was still relatively unknown). Schumacher returned to big-budget Hollywood in 2002 with Bad Company starring Anthony Hopkins and Chris Rock. Phone Booth, although produced before Bad Company, was released afterwards.

Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera was seen as Joel's comeback in 2004. It was received fairly well at the box office and was generally well received by critics.[citation needed]

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.

The director is currently working on The Number 23, which stars Jim Carrey and is set for release on February 23, 2007.

His next project is vampire thriller Town Creek, with shooting to begin in March 2007.

[edit] Sexuality

Schumacher has been openly gay through most of his career. He is subtly criticized by Vito Russo in his book The Celluloid Closet for contributing to the negative Hollywood image of gay people.

[edit] Parodies

  • In "Legends of the Dark Knight", an episode of The New Batman Adventures, three teenagers discuss their ideas about what Batman is really like. They briefly meet an effeminate youth called Joel (in front of a shoemaker's shop, no less) whose idea of Batman consists mainly of a fascination with the tight rubber suits and a Batmobile that can drive up walls (as seen in Batman Forever). The other three kids treat Joel's ideas with utter disdain. The piece received mixed reviews from Bat-fans; some love what was done, while others consider it a "low blow" from the producers of the animated series. Joel has since reaffirmed that he wanted to produce an adaptation of Batman: Year One. The animated series' creator Bruce Timm stated in the DVD commentary for the episode that Batman Forever is one of his favorite Batman films.
  • In an episode of Robot Chicken, a riot breaks out at a comic/sci fi convention, where Joel Schumacher is trying to flee the scene, only to get lynched by a rampaging mob of Batman fans and one in particular dressed as Robin who says, "Joel Schumacher is history's greatest monster!".
  • In another episode of Robot Chicken, Joel Schumacher pitches his idea for a Batman Begins parody, "Heimlich Begins" (based on the Heimlich maneuver) in which Heimlich battles a villain called "The Choker"(a parody of Batman villain Joker). The skit ends attacking Joel's sexuality by saying "Its always sausage with you is'nt it?".
  • In Episode 4 of Clerks: The Animated Series, Randal demands his money back from Joel Schumacher after seeing Batman and Robin, saying, "Man, Batman and Robin was so gay!"
  • In Hitman & Lobo, Tommy calls Section 8 while Lobo is tearing apart a group of gangsters. When Sixpack asks about the screaming in the background, Tommy replies that he is in a cinema and the audience is watching a Joel Schumacher retrospective.

[edit] Filmography

[edit] External links

Batman in popular media
Actors: Lewis Wilson • Robert Lowery • Adam West • Olan Soule • Michael Keaton • Kevin Conroy • Val Kilmer • George Clooney • Rino Romano • Christian Bale • Casts
Live-action television: Batman • Legends of the Superheroes • Birds of Prey • Return to the Batcave
Film: 1940s serials • Batman (1966) • Batman (1989) • Batman Returns • Batman Forever • Batman & Robin • Batman Begins • The Dark Knight
Animation: Batman/Superman Hour • New Adventures of Batman • Batman: The Animated Series/New Batman Adventures • Mask of the Phantasm • SubZero • Batman Beyond • Return of the Joker • Mystery of the Batwoman • The Batman • The Batman vs. Dracula
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