 Born:29-Aug-1939
Birthplace:New York City
Gender: Male
Religion:Jewish
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation:Gay
Occupation:Film Director Nationality: United States
Executive summary:The Lost Boys Joel Schumacher grew up in a relatively poor neighborhood of New York City. His mother was widowed when Schumacher was 4, and worked six days and two nights a week to support the family. Adulthood came quickly for young Schumacher, as he started working part-time at a butcher shop at the age of nine, started drinking and smoking by 10, and lost his virginity to an older boy at 11. In his early 20s, Schumacher studied design and display at Parsons School of Design, designed window displays for New York department stores, and eventually worked for Revlon. He lost about five years addicted to red speed (liquid methamphetamine), but finally kicked the needle in 1970, once his trackmarks had helped him to sidestep the draft. Schumacher started in filmmaking as an art director for television commercials, and eventually a friend of a friend who knewDominique Dunne suggested Schumacher as costume designer for a low-budget film Dunne was producing,Play It As It Lays. For $200 a week, Schumacher created the clothes worn byTuesday Weld andAnthony Perkins in that rarely-seen Hollywood melodrama. Schumacher's masterpiece of costume design wasSleeper, the absurdist sci-fi comedy remembered as the high point ofWoody Allen's "funny period". He also did needle and pin- work onPaul Mazursky'sBlume in Love,Neil Simon'sPrisoner of Second Avenue, and Allen's first "serious" film,Interiors. But at the same time, Schumacher started writing screenplays, and a few sold. He wrote the classic 1970s comedyCar Wash, starringRichard Pryor,George Carlin, and the Pointer Sisters. He later wroteThe Wiz, based on the Broadway play. Schumacher directed a TV movie about the life ofBugsy Siegel's favorite moll, Virginia Hill, withDyan Cannon in the lead, but it got bad ratings and worse reviews. Five years later he got a second chance, with the talent show comedy-dramaAmateur Night at the Dixie Bar and Grill, with an all-B-star cast includingDon Johnson andHenry Gibson. In 1981 Schumacher directed his first big-screen film,Lily Tomlin'sThe Incredible Shrinking Woman. He co-wrote and directed theBrat Pack classicSt. Elmo's Fire. It drew lukewarm reviews but enough of an audience to make Schumacher a full-time director. His best films includeThe Lost Boys, the suburban vampire comedy/thriller, and twoJohn Grisham adaptations,The Client andA Time to Kill. Schumacher also directed the cardiac thrillerFlatliners, and the controversial dramaFalling Down, withMichael Douglas as the personification of "disgruntled". Always out of the closet, Schumacher wrote and directedFlawless, a drag queen comedy-drama withRobert De Niro andPhilip Seymour Hoffman, and he co-wrote the screen adaptation ofAndrew Lloyd Webber'sPhantom of the Opera with Webber. In the late 1990s and early 00s, Schumacher went through a cold streak where he earned the nickname "Joel Shitmaker". He pretty much destroyed theBatman movie franchise, with the popular but wildly overblownBatman Forever (Val Kilmer behind the mask) and the far worseBatman & Robin (withGeorge Clooney andChris O'Donnell). His twoBatman movies are the only times Schumacher has worked with a big budget. He delivered a thriller in8MM withNicolas Cage, but the ads promised a movie so depressing that the audiences stayed away. The rather daring low-budget thrillerPhone Booth, withColin Farrell, helped repair Schumacher's reputation. In a 2002 interview withSight & Sound, Schumacher listedSergei Eisenstein'sBattleship Potemkin,David Lean'sLawrence of Arabia, andPeter Greenaway'sThe Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover as his favorite films. Father: (d. 1944)
Mother: Marian Schumacher (Swedish, d. 1965)
University:Fashion Institute of Technology
University:Parsons School of Design, New School University (1965)
Revlon Product Designer (1970)
Alcoholics Anonymous
John Kerry for President
Wedding: George Stephanopoulos and Alexandra Wentworth (2001)
Swedish Ancestry Maternal
Risk Factors:Methamphetamine,Alcoholism
Trespass (1-Sep-2011)
Twelve (29-Jan-2010)
Blood Creek (18-Sep-2009)
The Number 23 (21-Feb-2007)
The Phantom of the Opera (9-Dec-2004)
Veronica Guerin (8-Jul-2003)
Phone Booth (10-Sep-2002)
Bad Company (26-Apr-2002)
Tigerland (13-Sep-2000)
Flawless (24-Nov-1999)
8MM (19-Feb-1999)
Batman & Robin (20-Jun-1997)
A Time To Kill (24-Jul-1996)
Batman Forever (16-Jun-1995)
The Client (20-Jul-1994)
Falling Down (26-Feb-1993)
Dying Young (21-Jun-1991)
Flatliners (10-Aug-1990)
Cousins (10-Feb-1989)
The Lost Boys (31-Jul-1987)
St. Elmo's Fire (28-Jun-1985)
D.C. Cab (16-Dec-1983)
The Incredible Shrinking Woman (30-Jan-1981)
Halston (26-Jan-2019) · Himself
Side by Side (Feb-2012) · Himself
Welcome to Hollywood (27-Oct-2000) · Himself
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