Joe Dante | |
|---|---|
 Dante in 2023 | |
| Born | Joseph James Dante Jr.[1] (1946-11-28)November 28, 1946 (age 78)[2] Morristown, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Alma mater | |
| Occupation(s) | Director, producer, editor, actor |
| Years active | 1968–present |
| Spouse | Elizabeth Stanley |
| Website | renfieldproductions |
Joseph James Dante Jr. (/ˈdɑːnteɪ/; born November 28, 1946) is an American film director. His films—notablyGremlins (1984) alongside its sequel,Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990)—often mix the 1950s-styleB movie genre with1960s radicalism andcartoon comedy.
Dante's output includes the filmsPiranha (1978),The Howling (1981),Explorers (1985),Innerspace (1987),The 'Burbs (1989),Matinee (1993),Small Soldiers (1998), andLooney Tunes: Back in Action (2003). His work for television and cable include thesocial satireThe Second Civil War (1997), episodes of theanthology seriesMasters of Horror ("Homecoming" and "The Screwfly Solution") andAmazing Stories, as well asPolice Squad! andHawaii Five-0.
Dante was born inMorristown, New Jersey, and grew up in nearbyLivingston. His father was an Italian-American professional golfer who encouraged him to play sports; however, Dante was more interested in drawingcartoons and frequenting Saturday matinees at thecinema.[3] Dante was 12 whenFamous Monsters of Filmland, a magazine dedicated to horror films, came onto news shelves. He soon wrote to the magazine with reviews of certain horror films, which he did for a number of years.[4][5]
Dante had originally planned on becoming a cartoonist, but was told that it wasn't a real art form and that he should try something else.[3] While attending thePhiladelphia College of Art, Dante realized he was more inclined toward filmmaking:[6]
"I was told that cartooning isn't an art form and if I was smart I would take something else. So I took film. This was back in the days when everything wasblack and white,16mm,silent – we were essentially makingunderground art films, so I can't say my filmmaking acumen derived from my teachings at the Philadelphia College of Art. Almost all of it came from the school ofRoger Corman"[3]
In his free time as a student, Dante began assemblingThe Movie Orgy, an epic collection ofB movie clips,16mm films, cartoons, commercials, and trailers that was seamlessly edited together into one 7-hour compilation.[3]
I didn't really learn much about making films, but I did spend as much time as I could at the localgrindhouses where I caught up with old movies from the '30s on, most of which I could never have seen elsewhere. When it came time to try actual movie directing, I found I had a wellspring of images and ideas in my head to draw on.
After a stint as a film reviewer, Dante began his filmmaking apprenticeship in 1974 when producerRoger Corman offered him a job in the trailer-cutting department atNew World Pictures, where he edited the trailers for such films asCover Girl Models andAmarcord.[7][8] Other established directors such asFrancis Ford Coppola,Martin Scorsese andPeter Bogdanovich had already emerged fromCorman's de-facto film school.[3]
In 1975, Dante moved up to directing when he collaborated with fellow Corman school alumniAllan Arkush to make the satiricalexploitation filmHollywood Boulevard. The film was conceived when Corman made a bet that he could produce a movie within ten days on a budget of only $54,000 (equivalent to $315,551 in 2024)[9].[citation needed] Although producer John Davison reported the budget was approximately $50,000,[10] it was the cheapest made by New World Pictures.[citation needed] The filmmakers achieved this by coming up with a story about aB movie studio which could incorporate footage from other movies that Corman owned.[10]
Two years later, Dante directedPiranha, written byJohn Sayles. The film was shot inTexas "in a rush" on a budget of $600,000, and was considered quite ambitious for the time and cost.[6] Dante, who was convinced the film would be a disaster, spent a month in the editing room. People came to visit him, but as Dante recalled he was in "such a fog" that he didn't even recognize who they were at first.[11] The film won the attention ofSteven Spielberg who, unbeknownst to Dante, preventedUniversal from blocking the film's release, convincing them thatPiranha was aparody and that it wasn't in competition withJaws 2.[3]
In 1979, Dante directed some scenes ofRock 'n' Roll High School when Allan Arkush fell ill due to exhaustion, but remains uncredited. Dante also helped plot the premise of the film with Arkush.[12]
Dante again collaborated withJohn Sayles when he enlisted him to rewrite the previously adapted draft ofGary Brandner's werewolf taleThe Howling. Sayles rewrote the script with the same self-aware, satirical tone that he gavePiranha, and his finished script bears only a slight resemblance to Brandner's novel.[13] Dante said that at the time he madeThe Howling,werewolves were considered by many to be "corny and old hat". His approach was to disguise it as long as possible and make it look like aslasher film — which was a lot more popular at the time — "and then bring in the supernatural elements slowly so that the audience could get acclimated and not immediately reject it as something old-fashioned."[14] The film's special effects, which at the time were considered state-of-the-art, were completed byRob Bottin afterRick Baker left to work onAn American Werewolf in London.
Dante had been previously offered the chance to directAirplane! byZucker, Abrahams and Zucker. Although he turned it down, Dante agreed to direct two episodes of theirpolice proceduralspoofPolice Squad!, which was his first experience shooting something on a studio lot.[15]
It's the movie I'm going to be remembered for. If I get hit by a bus tomorrow, the headline is going to be "Gremlins Director Hit By Bus". I'll never do something that'll outlast that in terms of the public image of who I am – which is fine with me. It's not my favorite movie that I've ever made, but I'm perfectly happy with it and I think it does what it was supposed to do. It's strange that it's outlasted so many other pictures that were much more prestigious at the time. It expresses my personality too, which is the one thing that's the most difficult to get across in an expensive film.
Due to their work onThe Howling, Dante and producerMichael Finnell received the opportunity to make the filmGremlins bySteven Spielberg.[17] Spielberg also brought Dante on as one of the directors onJohn Landis'Twilight Zone: The Movie.[15] Dante's segment, a remake of the originalTwilight Zone episode "It's a Good Life",[18] featurescartoon-style special effects, revolving around a woman played byKathleen Quinlan who is 'adopted' by anomnipotent boy. Dante also took over editing duties onGeorge Miller's segment of the film, after he left the project feeling repulsed by the news of the fatalhelicopter accident.[19]Chris Columbus' original draft ofGremlins went through several rewrites before a shooting script was finalized. According to Dante, it was a gruelling shoot ("The whole thing was so exhausting") and once the design of the gremlins were finalized, the studio's reaction was divisive.[16] The film follows a teenager, played byZach Galligan, who inadvertently breaks three important rules concerning his new pet and unleashes a horde of malevolently mischievous monsters on a small town. It proved to be one of Dante's biggest hits to date, being the third highest-grossing film of 1984.[20] "I'd never seen a reaction like that," Dante said of the film's first preview. "They thought it was the greatest thing ever andWarner Brothers was I think shocked, frankly, by how popular the picture became."
After the success ofGremlins, Dante took on the offer to directExplorers, about a group of friends who build a working spacecraft and encounterextraterrestrial life. Dante liked the script, but felt the film needed a betterthird act. After being denied extra time byParamount executives, Dante and the film's writer,Eric Luke, then improvised the story whilst filming commenced.[21] In the spring of 1985, Paramount changed the film's initial release date from late August to early July, telling Dante and the editors to stop editing and deliver a shorter rough cut. As a result, about an hour and a half worth of footage was left on the editing room floor.Explorers marked the film debuts of bothEthan Hawke andRiver Phoenix, and has only grown in its reputation over time, developing acult following.[22] Dante reflected on the film by saying that he is appreciative of the warm reception it has earned over the years, but continued by saying "the problem is for me is that the movie you'll see is not the movie I wanted to make. It's the movie I got to make up to a certain point and then had to stop. It's hard for me to look at it, cause it's not the film I quite had in mind." The missing and cut scenes are presumably lost, as Dante tried searching for them in recent years.
In the mid-1980s, Dante was offered the script ofInnerspace written by Chip Proser, who called it "a rip off ofFantastic Voyage". Dante initially turned the film down until the script was later rewritten as a comedy byJeffrey Boam. Dante said he had a "wonderful experience" makingInnerspace, mainly because of the cast which included actorsDennis Quaid,Martin Short, andMeg Ryan among others. However, after one particular day of filming, Dante recalled that studio executives from Warner Brothers had invited him out to lunch and told him that what he was doing was not funny and described Short as being "not very attractive", wanting to recast the role. While this conversation left him with a lot of anxiety, Dante decided to "plow on" and just make the movie he always intended to make. Despite successful test screenings, the film ended up flopping at the box office in the summer of 1987. Dante said this was because the studio did not know how to promote it and that the original poster failed to include the movie's actors on it.[23]
In 1988, Dante agreed to direct the black comedyThe 'Burbs, intrigued by its premise and the blending of real-life situations with elements of the supernatural. Dante and producersLarry Brezner and Michael Finnell agreed thatTom Hanks would be the most suitable actor to portray the married Ray Peterson, a suburban homeowner who tries to introduce excitement into his life by investigating the activities of his mysterious neighbors. Dante referred to Hanks as "the reigningeveryman, a guy that everybody can identify with", comparing him toJames Stewart. Production onThe 'Burbs was filmed in chronological order (due to the1988 writer's strike[6]) over the course of ten weeks, mainly on theColonial Streetbacklot atUniversal Studios. "There was a lot of temptation to broaden it and go outside the neighborhood, but it seemed to violate the spirit of the piece," Dante said, "It's almost the kind of thing that could be astage play except that you could never do on-stage what we've done in this movie."[24]
Dante was asked many times to helm a sequel toGremlins, due to its financial success. Dante declined, because he saw that story as having a proper ending, and thus a sequel would only be meant to be profitable. The studio decided to proceed without him, approaching various directors and writers. Storylines considered included sending the gremlins toLas Vegas or even intoouter space. After those ideas fell through, the studio returned to Dante, who agreed to makethe sequel after receiving the rare promise of having complete creative control over the movie as well as a budget tripling that of the original film.[25] SinceChris Columbus was not available to write the sequel's script at the time, Dante brought on screenwriterCharles S. Haas to help plot the film.[26] Dante later claimed it was the film into which he had put the most of his personal influence. He referred to it as "one of the more unconventional studio pictures ever," imagining it as a satire ofGremlins and sequels in general,[27] resulting in a film with severalmeta-references andself-referential humor. BothZach Galligan andPhoebe Cates returned to star in the film. It also features several guest stars, includingChristopher Lee as amad scientist. The film was released to theaters in the Summer of 1990 but did not perform as well at the box office as the original.
Charles S. Haas wrote two more films for Dante; one an unproduced script aboutChuck Jones' early years atTermite Terrace[28] and the other,Matinee about theCuban Missile Crisis. In it,John Goodman stars asWilliam Castle-type filmmaker Lawrence Woolsey, who specializes in horror and sci-fiB movies. Originally written by Jerico Stone, Dante said his draft was "quite different than the film that eventually emerged."[29] The film opened in early 1993 and received positive reviews, but failed to turn a profit.
From 1993 to 1994, Dante was attached as the director ofThe Phantom, developing a draft of the script together withJeffrey Boam, which was originallytongue-in-cheek in tone. According to Dante, right when the film was to begin shooting,Paramount pulled the plug on the film over its budget. Later, it was put back into production, with the script rewritten under anew director who made it serious, despite the script's humorous tone.[15] Dante ended up with an executive producer credit.
In 1994, Dante directed the television filmRunaway Daughters (a loose remake of the1956 film), that aired as part of the anthology seriesRebel Highway which paid homage to 1950s "drive-in classic"B movies by revamping them "with a '90s edge". Dante also directed the 1997 made-for-television filmThe Second Civil War, a social satire aboutanti-immigration. The film was allegedly troubled with a "tremendous amount of interference during post-production" by a studio executive atHBO.[7] In 1998, he directed the made-for-television filmThe Warlord: Battle for the Galaxy, the intended pilot for an undeveloped sci-fi TV series,The Osiris Chronicles.
When Dante began pre-production work forSmall Soldiers, a film about toyaction figures who come to life, he was told to make an "edgy picture for teenagers." Later, afterBurger King became a sponsor to promote the film, he was told to soften it as a "kiddie movie" and as a result, several of the action and explosion scenes were edited out.[15][30] Dante also claimed there were 12 uncredited writers who did work on the film over the course of five years.[7] When released in 1998, it received mixed reviews and was a moderate box office success.
Dante directed the 2003live-action/animation hybridLooney Tunes: Back in Action.[31] The project was developed several other times before eventually being offered to Dante. He agreed to direct the film to pay tribute to his idolChuck Jones, and as somewhat of a placeholder for his unmade biographical comedyTermite Terrace. He and screenwriterLarry Doyle reportedly wanted the film to be the "anti-Space Jam" as Dante disliked how that film represented theLooney Tunes brand and personalities. While feeling that he and the film's animation directorEric Goldberg had managed to preserve the original personalities of the characters, the film's opening, middle and ending are different from what Dante initially envisioned. Dante stated that he had no creative freedom on the project, calling the experience "the longest year and a half of my life."[15] According to Dante, the studio executives grew tired of the film's jokes and wanted them to be changed. 25 gag writers were then brought in to try to write jokes that were short enough for the voice actors todub into an animated character's mouth. Despite this, Doyle remained the film's only credited writer.[32]
Following his experience working onLooney Tunes: Back in Action, Dante took a brief hiatus from movies, instead returning to television, directing two episodes of the horroranthology seriesMasters of Horror.[33]
In 2007, Dante launched theweb seriesTrailers from Hell,[34] which provides commentary by directors, producers and screenwriters on trailers for classic and cult movies. Dante also actively contributes to the website.[35]
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Dante returned to feature films several years later in 2009 with the independent3D horror comedyThe Hole, which received the Premio Persol award at theVenice Film Festival.[36] Dante citedDial M for Murder,Kill, Baby, Kill,The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari andKiller Klowns from Outer Space as influences on the film.[37]
WithRoger Corman producing, Dante directed theinteractiveweb seriesSplatter forNetflix. The series starsCorey Feldman as a rock star seeking revenge on those he thinks have wronged him.[38]
From 2011 to 2017, Dante directed ten episodes ofHawaii Five-0 reboot, which he joked was "to get the rent paid."[14] Also during this decade, various projects Dante was officially involved with struggled with funding. Among them were theanthology filmParis, I'll Kill You, the werewolf featureMonster Love, and theRoger CormanbiopicThe Man with Kaleidoscope Eyes.[39]
Subsequently, Dante directedAnton Yelchin andAshley Greene inBurying the Ex, adapted from Alan Trezza's 2008 short film. Principal photography ran through November–December 2013. The film follows a horror film buff whose controlling girlfriend suddenly dies in a freak accident but when he tries to move on with his life along with his new partner, he discovers that his ex has come back from the dead in the form of azombie. It was selected to be screened out of competition at the71st Venice International Film Festival,[40][41] and was released theatrically in 2015.
Dante served asexecutive producer on the independent feature lengththrillerDark, starringWhitney Able andAlexandra Breckenridge, directed byNick Basile. The film, set inNew York City during the 2003 blackout, was released byScreen Media Films on June 7, 2016.[42]
For years, Dante has tried to make a film about his mentor Corman and the making of his 1967 filmThe Trip, but has struggled to gather funding for it.[43] TitledThe Man with Kaleidoscope Eyes, the film went through several permutations over the years, including one starringColin Firth as Corman.[44][45] The film spent several years stuck in the development stage atSpectreVision.[46] In October 2016, Dante directed a livetable-reading of the film's script at theVista Theatre inLos Angeles, which starredBill Hader as Corman,Jason Ritter asPeter Fonda andEthan Embry asJack Nicholson.[47][48] Subsequently, a 2017 shoot was planned.[49] A cameo role featuring Corman was reportedly shot in case he died before production began.[50] Despite this, plans for a film were effectively shelved following the passing of Corman.[51] In 2022, the film's script was adapted and published in the form of a graphic novel.[52]
Dante directed a segment of the 2018 horroranthology filmNightmare Cinema starringMickey Rourke, which also featured shorts directed by Alejandro Brugués,Mick Garris,Ryūhei Kitamura, andDavid Slade.[53] The same month of its release, Dante launched his own weekly podcastThe Movies That Made Me, with screenwriterJosh Olson as his co-host, where filmmakers and entertainers are brought on to discuss the movies that inspired them.[54][55]
In 2020, Dante served as a consultant on theHBO Max prequel seriesGremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai.[56]
In 2024, it was announced that Dante would directLittle Shop of Halloween Horrors, a reboot ofRoger Corman'sThe Little Shop of Horrors, to be produced by Corman alongsideBrad Krevoy, CEO of theMotion Picture Corporation of America, and written byCharles S. Haas.[57] The following year, Dante updated that, like many of his past projects, the film had too been shelved.[58]
Dante has citedRoger Corman,Chuck Jones,Frank Tashlin,Ernst Lubitsch,Mario Bava,James Whale andJean Cocteau among his major influences.[59][60][6]
Some of Dante's favorite films include Ernst Lubitsch'sTo Be or Not to Be (1942),Sergio Leone'sOnce Upon a Time in the West (1968),Orson Welles'Touch of Evil (1958),Charles Laughton'sThe Night of the Hunter (1955) and James Whale'sBride of Frankenstein (1935).[61] He also loves the 1941 comedyHellzapoppin', a film from which he frequently steals gags.[26]
The director previously named his top five horror picks asThe Innocents,Rosemary's Baby,The Old Dark House,Blood and Black Lace andThe Black Cat.[62]
The moving image collection of Joe Dante andJon Davison is held at theAcademy Film Archive. The joint collection includes feature films, pre-production elements, and theatrical trailer reels.[63]
| Year | Title and description | Ref. |
|---|---|---|
| 1970s | Lovekill, ahorror film co-written withPaul Bartel and Mike Wakely | [64][65] |
| A film adaptation ofJames Tiptree Jr.'s short story "The Screwfly Solution" | [66] | |
| Jaws: 3, People: 0, an early attempt of anotherJaws sequel pitched as aspoof | [67][68][69] | |
| 1980s | Something Wicked This Way Comes | [70] |
| Halloween III: Season of the Witch | [71][72][73] | |
| Meltdown, a film written byCharles H. Eglee | [15][74] | |
| The Philadelphia Experiment | [75] | |
| Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers | [76] | |
| The Batman, a film based on theeponymous character written byTom Mankiewicz starringJohn Lithgow as theJoker | [73][77][78] | |
| The Good, the Bad and the Ugly 2, a proposedsequel to the 1966 film | [79] | |
| A remake of the 1954 filmCreature from the Black Lagoon | [80] | |
| A film adaptation of thetrading card seriesDinosaurs Attack! written byCharles S. Haas | [81] | |
| Little Man Tate | [82][83] | |
| A film adaptation ofJonathan Swift's novelGulliver's Travels written byTerry Jones | [84][85] | |
| 1990s | Jurassic Park | [86][87][73] |
| A contemporary-set film adaptation ofJack London's novelThe Sea-Wolf starringTom Hanks orSteve Guttenberg | [88][44] | |
| A film adaptation ofMark Twain's novelAdventures of Huckleberry Finn | [89] | |
| Termite Terrace, abiopic aboutWarner Bros. animatorChuck Jones written byCharles S. Haas | [90][91][28][51] | |
| Milk Money | [92][93] | |
| The Brink, a thriller written by Nicholas Seldon andRobert Skotak set in the world ofvirtual reality | [94] | |
| An early attempt ofThe Mummy remake written byJohn Sayles set in contemporary times | [95][96][7][39] | |
| The Phantom | [97][15] | |
| Cat and Mouse, retitled fromRupert and Murdoch, alive-action/animated comedy | [98] | |
| My Favorite Martian starringMartin Short | [99] | |
| Alive-action film adaptation of the cartoon seriesThe Jetsons | [100] | |
| Intolerable Cruelty starringJeremy Irons andHeather Locklear | [101] | |
| Sacred Estates, a black comedy written byDavid Dean Bottrell | [102] | |
| A remake of the 1946film noirCrack-Up | [103] | |
| The Sixth Day | [104] | |
| 2000s | Godzilla Reborn, a sequel toGodzilla 2000 written by Michael Schlesinger | [105] |
| Mindhunters | [106] | |
| The Wylde Bunch, a TV series written byJohn Sayles about a fictional 1970s low-budget film producer | [107] | |
| A film adaptation ofJohn Brunner's novelThe Sheep Look Up | [108][66] | |
| The Man with Kaleidoscope Eyes, a biopic written byTim Lucas, Charlie Largent,Michael Almereyda and James Robison centering onRoger Corman's making ofThe Trip | [44][109][47][48] | |
| A film adaptation ofTom Holt's novelExpecting Someone Taller | [110] | |
| Bat Out of Hell, anindie horror film written by Drew McWeeny and Scott Swan aboutairplane hijackers who confront monstrous cargo | [111][112] | |
| 2010s | Ombra Amore, retitled fromMonster Love, a horror-comedy written byGreg Pak about awerewolf and avampire who fall in love | [113][39][114][115] |
| Fear Paris, retitled fromParis, I'll Kill You, a horroranthology film with segments directed by Dante,Xavier Gens andTimo Vuorensola | [116][117][118][119] | |
| Hart's Location, an independent drama written by Ashley Reed starringBruce Dern,Laura Dern andDiane Ladd | [120][121] | |
| O2, asci-fi thriller written by Ronnie Christensen | [122] | |
| Air Disturbance, a horror thriller written by Jeremy Sklar starringRobert Englund andDylan Walsh | [123] | |
| A film adaptation ofM. R. James' short story "Casting the Runes" starringSimon Pegg | [124][125] | |
| Labirintus, a supernatural thriller written byAlan Campbell starringMark Webber,Rachel Hurd-Wood andLorànt Deutsch | [126][127][77] | |
| Polybius, an adventure-thriller written by Barry Stiglets | [128] | |
| 2020s | Little Shop of Halloween Horrors, a reboot ofThe Little Shop of Horrors written byCharles S. Haas | [57][58] |
Dante has also turned down the opportunities to directHumanoids from the Deep (1980),[129]Airplane! (1980),[15]The Flintstones (1994),[77]Casper (1995),[7] andThe World Is Not Enough (1999).[130][73]
| Year | Title | Director | Editor | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 | Hollywood Boulevard | Yes | Yes | Co-directed withAllan Arkush |
| 1977 | Grand Theft Auto | No | Yes | |
| 1978 | Piranha | Yes | Yes | |
| 1979 | Rock 'n' Roll High School | Uncredited | No | Directed some scenes, also story co-writer |
| 1981 | The Howling | Yes | Yes | |
| 1983 | Twilight Zone: The Movie | Partial | Uncredited | Segment: "It's a Good Life" |
| 1984 | Gremlins | Yes | No | |
| 1985 | Explorers | Yes | No | |
| 1987 | Innerspace | Yes | No | |
| Amazon Women on the Moon | Partial | No | Various segments | |
| 1989 | The 'Burbs | Yes | No | |
| 1990 | Gremlins 2: The New Batch | Yes | No | |
| 1993 | Matinee | Yes | No | |
| 1998 | Small Soldiers | Yes | No | |
| 2003 | Looney Tunes: Back in Action | Yes | No | |
| 2006 | Trapped Ashes | Partial | No | "Wraparound" segments |
| 2009 | The Hole | Yes | No | |
| 2014 | Burying the Ex | Yes | No | |
| 2018 | Nightmare Cinema | Partial | No | Segment: "Mirari" |
Executive producer
|
| Year(s) | Title | Director | Producer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | Police Squad! | Yes | No | Episode: "Ring of Fear" (E2) |
| Yes | No | Episode: "Testimony of Evil" (E6) | ||
| 1985 | The Twilight Zone | Yes | No | Episode: "The Shadow Man" (S1 E10a) |
| 1986 | Amazing Stories | Yes | No | Episode: "Boo!" (S1 E17) |
| Yes | No | Episode: "The Greibble" (S2 E6) | ||
| 1991–1992 | Eerie, Indiana | Yes | No | Episode: "Forever Ware" (S1 E1) |
| Yes | No | Episode: "The Retainer" (S1 E2) | ||
| Yes | No | Episode: "The Losers" (S1 E4) | ||
| Yes | No | Episode: "Heart on a Chain" (S1 E7) | ||
| Yes | No | Episode: "The Hole in the Head Gang" (S1 E13) | ||
| 1994 | Flesh and Blood: The Hammer Heritage of Horror | No | Associate | Made-for-television documentary |
| Runaway Daughters | Yes | No | Made-for-television film | |
| 1995 | Picture Windows | Yes | No | Episode: "Lightning" (E4) |
| 1997 | The Second Civil War | Yes | No | Made-for-television film |
| 1998 | The Warlord: Battle for the Galaxy | Yes | Executive | Made-for-television film |
| 2001 | Night Visions | Yes | No | Episode: "Quiet Please" (E3b) |
| Yes | No | Episode: "The Occupant" (E6b) | ||
| 2002–2003 | Jeremiah | No | Executive | |
| 2005–2006 | Masters of Horror | Yes | No | Episode: "Homecoming" (S1 E6) |
| Yes | No | Episode: "The Screwfly Solution" (S2 E7) | ||
| 2007–present | Trailers from Hell | No | Yes | |
| 2007 | CSI: NY | Yes | No | Episode: "Boo" (S4 E6) |
| 2011–2017 | Hawaii Five-0 | Yes | No | Episode: "Sacred Bones" (S2 E7) |
| Yes | No | Episode: "The Promise" (S3 E20) | ||
| Yes | No | Episode: "Fish Out of Water" (S4 E2) | ||
| Yes | No | Episode: "In Deep" (S4 E7) | ||
| Yes | No | Episode: "The Last Break" (S5 E3) | ||
| Yes | No | Episode: "Unmasked" (S5 E6) | ||
| Yes | No | Episode: "Embers" (S5 E16) | ||
| Yes | No | Episode: "The Chilling Storm Is on the Mountains" (S6 E3) | ||
| Yes | No | Episode: "Monsters" (S6 E6) | ||
| Yes | No | Episode: "The Deal" (S7 E12) | ||
| 2014 | Witches of East End | Yes | No | Episode: "When a Mandragora Loves a Woman" (S2 E6) |
| Yes | No | Episode: "Poe Way Out" (S2 E11) | ||
| 2015–2016 | Salem | Yes | No | Episode: "The Beckoning Fair One" (S2 E7) |
| Yes | No | Episode: "Night's Black Agents" (S3 E4) | ||
| 2016 | Legends of Tomorrow | Yes | No | Episode: "Night of the Hawk" (S1 E8) |
| MacGyver | Yes | No | Episode: "Wire Cutter" (S1 E4) | |
| 2023–present | Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai | No | Consulting | 20 episodes |
| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1968 | The Movie Orgy | Compilation of pre-existing clips |
| 1994 | The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror | Theme park pre-show film |
| 2003 | Haunted Lighthouse | Short4D film |
| 2009 | Splatter | Interactiveweb series |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1973 | Submersion of Japan | Unknown | U.S. version only |
| 1976 | Hollywood Boulevard | Party Waiter | Uncredited |
| Cannonball | Kid | ||
| 1978 | Piranha | Scuba Diver #2 | Uncredited |
| 1979 | Rock 'n' Roll High School | Riot Cop with Sunglasses | |
| 1982 | A Time to Die | Bodyguard | |
| Eating Raoul | Busboy | Uncredited | |
| 1985 | The Fantasy Film Worlds of George Pal | Himself | |
| 1987 | Innerspace | Vectorscope Employee | Uncredited |
| 1990 | Gremlins 2: The New Batch | Director | |
| 1991 | Oscar | Face on the Cutting Room Floor | |
| 1992 | Sleepwalkers | Lab Assistant | |
| The Magical World of Chuck Jones | Himself | ||
| 1994 | The Silence of the Hams | Dying Man | |
| Beverly Hills Cop III | Jailer | ||
| A Century of Cinema | Himself | ||
| 2002 | Cinerama Adventure | ||
| 2004 | Edgar G. Ulmer: The Man Off-Screen | ||
| The Cutting Edge: The Magic of Movie Editing | |||
| 2006 | Coming Attractions: The History of the Movie Trailer | ||
| 2007 | Famous Monster: Forrest J. Ackerman | ||
| To My Great Chagrin: The Unbelievable Story of Brother Theodore | |||
| Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story | |||
| 2009 | Nightmares in Red, White and Blue | ||
| 2010 | American Grindhouse | ||
| Machete Maidens Unleashed! | |||
| The Man Who Saw Frankenstein Cry | |||
| 2011 | Corman's World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel | ||
| The Legend of Ivan Tors | |||
| Ray Harryhausen: Special Effects Titan | |||
| 2012 | The Butterfly Room | Taxi Driver | |
| Beast Wishes | Himself | ||
| The AckerMonster Chronicles! | |||
| Trailer War | |||
| 2013 | A Fuller Life | ||
| Clawing! A Journey Through the Spanish Horror | |||
| 2014 | That Guy Dick Miller | ||
| Out of Print | |||
| 2015 | Eaten Alive! The Rise and Fall of the Italian Cannibal Film | ||
| Tales of Halloween | Professor Milo Gottlieb | Segment: "Bad Seed" | |
| Creature Designers: The Frankenstein Complex | Himself | ||
| 2016 | 24x36: A Movie About Movie Posters | ||
| Long Live the King | |||
| Unspeakable Horrors: The Plan 9 Conspiracy | |||
| 2017 | King Cohen | ||
| Sad Hill Unearthed | |||
| 2018 | Hammer Horror: The Warner Bros Years | ||
| 2019 | Love, Antosha | ||
| Making Apes: The Artists Who Changed Film | |||
| Phil Tippett: Mad Dreams and Monsters | |||
| In Search of Darkness | |||
| 2020 | Frankenstein and the Two Faces of Eve | ||
| Skin: A History of Nudity in the Movies | |||
| In Search of Darkness: Part II | |||
| Tales of the Uncanny | |||
| The Birth of Hammer Horror | |||
| 2021 | Boris Karloff: The Man Behind the Monster | ||
| 2022 | Blood, Guts and Sunshine | ||
| In Search of Tomorrow | |||
| Razzennest | Narrator | ||
| In Search of Darkness: Part III | Himself | ||
| 2023 | Sharksploitation | ||
| 2024 | The Life and Deaths of Christopher Lee | ||
| Hammer: Heroes, Legends and Monsters | |||
| Ishiro Honda: Memoirs of a Film Director |
I was trying for years to make a movie out ofThe Sheep Look Up, which is byJohn Brunner. It's ascience fiction movie, about the future... which we're now in, so it's a little late. And I always wanted to make a movie out of "The Screwfly Solution", byJames Tiptree, and when I was atNew World, I had a sort of a take on a whole script for it. And later I had a chance to do it as an episode ofMasters of Horror, and it's only an hour long, but it turned out to be so depressing that I realized that if I had made it as a feature film nobody would have come to see it, at all!
I tried to get to doSomething Wicked This Way Comes—which was based on theRay Bradbury story—but, at the time, I didn't have enough experience, and theDisney people didn't trust me to do it. And then, unfortunately, I saw the movie that they made which was actually made by a great director,Jack Clayton, who they treated terrible, and the movie isn't really very good. So, that was probably a bullet dodged.
I wouldn't say toying... I'd say slogging, trying to get somebody to finance the movie for about the last ten years. But I haven't given up and I still think it's a great project and we're looking at all sorts of alternate ways of getting it done. It's a funny movie about Roger doing "The Trip". Everything in it is true, which makes it even funnier. We came within a hair of making it twice. I think if we can get that close twice, we can get that close again.
Dern's next outing will be "Hart's Location" with real life actress daughter Laura Dern, and her mother–Bruce's ex–the great Diane Ladd. Last fall the trio was the first family, Dern notes, to receive their Hollywood Walk of Fame stars all together. Joe Dante, Dern says, will direct "Hart's." It's a project that's been in the works for about five years, but now it seems like it may take off.
