Monday, June 22, 2020

Obituary: Director Joel Schumacher dies aged 80

I really didn't want to see this day. I knew it would come eventually but it feels cruel that it comes in the midst of Batman Forever's 25th anniversary celebration.

I'm very sad to report Joel Schumacher has died age 80 after a battle with cancer. Once again I feel ill-equipped to condense the man's life into a few paragraphs. I would hope if you've come to this site you already know what an AMAZING and TALENTED man Joel was.

The bad reviews of Batman & Robin have dogged his career since the film's release since 1997 but he was a director of extraordinary range who could turn his hand from a thrillers, to comedies, to horror, to musicals, to action and everything in between.

And every step of the way he was a complete gentleman. Everyone who worked with him has said how calm and assured he was on set. His consistent workload over the years shows what a reliable pair of hands he was.

Joel began his career as a costume designer in the 1970s, working on several films including Woody Allen's Sleeper. It was on Allen's suggestion that he tried his hand at script writing and quickly found success with his first script - Sparkle - a story about three sisters forming a band in 1950s Harlem.

The same year that Sparkle was made, 1976, also saw the release of another Schumacher script Car Wash, a loose day in the life comedy about a group of friends working in a car wash.

Joel continued to do more script work - notably the big screen adaptation of The Wiz in 1978 - but he yearned to direct. In 1981 he got his wish, directing Lily Tomlin in the quirky comedy The Incredible Shrinking Woman.

Although the film wasn't a big splash Joel's directing career took off and went from strength to strength. First returning to another blue collar comedy DC Cab and then hitting the big time with St Elmo's Fire - a glossy melodrama that took (some of) the stars of The Breakfast Club and placed them in life after college. The film was received poorly by film critics but audiences flocked to see the "Brat Pack" cast.

Two years later Joel directed probably one of his most famous films The Lost Boys. A tongue in cheek horror about a boy whose brother is seduced by a group of vampires that made Corey Haim and Corey Feldman household names.

It was here the Joel showed his ability to craft a crowd pleasing entertainment. Stylishly shot, expertly soundtracked, full of hot, young actors and actresses and nothing on its mind but keeping you entertained for 100 minutes.

After a brief attempt at romantic comedy with Cousins in 1989, Joel returned to horror territory with Flatliners, a neon drenched Gothic thriller about medical students trying to find out what comes after death. The production design seems to have heavily influenced Batman Forever.

The 1990s saw Joel bounce around between some very different genres. He directed two well received John Grisham adaptations The Client (where he first worked with Tommy Lee Jones) and A Time to Kill; two downbeat thrillers Falling Down (his first collaboration with production designer Barbara Ling) and 8mm; the romantic drama Dying Young and the comedy drama Flawless (his first script since St Elmo's Fire).

But it was his Batman movies that he was most noted for and would cast a long shadow over the rest of his career.

Warner Brothers had been disappointed with how downbeat and bleak Tim Burton's Batman Returns was and asked Burton to step down as director for any future installments. Burton was asked to recommend a successor and picked Joel - presumably based on his Gothic leanings in Flatliners.

Batman Forever suffered from a rushed production schedule, a last minute lead casting replacement and on set conflicts between (some of the) cast members. But despite this the film was a huge hit and Warner Brothers once again rushed Joel to make another.

1997's Batman & Robin would suffer from almost all the same behind the scenes problems - an even more rushed schedule, another lead casting replacement - but the result was much less well received. Seemingly Joel could not capture lightning in a bottle twice. Comic book fans in particular took umbridge at Joel not taking the material seriously and all manner of slurs were thrown at him for some of his design decisions.

The 2000s saw Joel initially retreat to lower budget fare, directing Colin Farrell in two movies: Tigerland and Phone Booth. Before working on two very different Jerry Bruckheimer movies, Bad Company, silly Chris Rock comedy thriller and Veronica Guerin,  a biopic of a murder Irish journalist.

Then came his big screen adaptation of Phantom of the Opera, the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical which although had mixed reviews managed to make $154 million at the box office.

In 2007 he reunited with Jim Carrey and gave him a rare straight dramatic leading role in The Number 23, a ludicrous horror thriller. And followed this with a low budget horror Blood Creek that starred Henry Cavill a couple of years before he was cast as Superman. His final film was Trespass in 2011, a kidnap thriller starring Nicolas Cage and Nicole Kidman that went straight to VOD.

Though Joel had more or less retired since then, he did direct a few episodes of House of Cards for David Fincher with whom he was good friends.

I highly recommend checking out ANY interview with Joel that you can find on youtube. He was a sweet, witty, charming man who seemed to be able to take being the "worst" comic book movie director with grace and humour.

And I highly recommend you check out ANY of his films, even his "bad" ones are entertaining and worthwhile. If you want a run through his career I recommend checking out:-

https://schumacast.blogspot.com/

Here are my personal recommendations:-

FALLING DOWN - a powerhouse performance by Michael Douglas as a man who snaps in the middle of a traffic jam and attempt to walk home. Just don't misread Douglas as being the hero or the anti-hero. He IS the bad guy.

THE LOST BOYS - a super fun 80s adventure with a soundtrack to die for. Considering the script was rewritten so many times it's amazing that it still works so well. Haim and Feldman really bring the film to life and have fantastic chemistry.

PHONE BOOTH - a whole movie set in a phone booth!? starring Colin Farrell. Yep, and it's super underrated. Larry Cohen wrote a cracking script that utilises the tight location to create tight tension and Schumacher finds clever ways to make it visually interesting throughout.

Oh and of course I'm recommending BATMAN FOREVER but I'd hope you've already seen that one.

So that's it, I said I wouldn't try and condense Joel's life into a few paragraphs but I ended up doing it anyway. Sorry Joel. Thank you for all the movies.

33 comments:

  1. I hope that his friend Tim Burton will miss him.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm sorting hoping Tim will say something. Jim Carrey tweeted a sweet message.

      Delete
    2. Because Joel Schumacher met both Tim Burton and Jim Carrey back in the 1980's. Burton was visiting the set of The Lost Boys and he was preparing Beetlejuice so he asked Schumacher if he can borrow the same production crew that worked on The Lost Boys to work on Beetlejuice, and Schumacher said "Go right ahead", and that's their friendship began. And Schumacher knows Carrey when he started out as a stand-up comic.

      Delete
  2. That was beautiful.

    You know, I've been thinking lately about BATMAN FOREVER and was wondering what would it take for WB to finally release director's cut of BF. Do you think creating a petition would help?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. People are doing #releasetheschumachercut on twitter but I don't think it has the momentum. I think we need to wait and see if the Snyder Cut does well next year before asking for another director's cut.

      Delete
    2. They have been talking about it for a long time, but that's the way the film is.

      Delete
    3. Well, that petition he created was a great petition. They have talked about it since 1998, and nothing came of it.

      Delete
    4. On Prime Video, I watched Tim Burton's film, Big Fish, to honor his best friend's memory.

      Delete
  3. You see, back in 1993, Warner Bros. wanted Tim Burton to return for the third Batman, but only for a mainstream audience, but Burton refuse, so he stay on as producer. They approached Joel Schumacher, but only if Burton hired him, because he cannot make this movie without his best friend. The plan worked, and Burton hired Schumacher to direct the third Batman.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Holy obituary, Batman !
    No, seriously, that was very good...
    Besides, I'm one of those who NEVER really "hated" BF, nor B&R. Once I caught wind of Joel's 60's revival intentions- i noticed the two films work nicely ! (Despite WB making the way rockier than needed...)

    Charming, cheeky, smart Joel will live on in our hearts ❣️ Joel Forever...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And he will. Same as Wes Craven when he did with films like A Nightmare On Elm Street.

      Delete
    2. In case you haven't notice, I watched Schumacher's film, St. Elmo's Fire to honor Schumacher's memory.

      Delete
  5. And Val Kilmer said NOTHING about Joel's death. If you don't belive me check his social media. That says a lot about him.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know. I guess he's not obligated to say anything. Neither has Chris O'Donnell. It was one role he played a long time and he seemed to fall out with Joel during production (at least that's what Joel has said).

      Delete
    2. I hope that Nic Cage will say something, and so as Kiefer Sutherland.

      Delete
    3. Because both Schumacher and Kilmer had a bad working relationship.

      Delete
    4. Yes, I watched it on Netfilx back in between 2015 and 2017.

      Delete
    5. And I read that 1996 article about Kilmer's firing from the Batman role.

      Delete
    6. I also watched the documentary on Amazon Prime Instant Video nights ago.

      Delete
  6. You see, both Schumacher and Kilmer had a terrible working relationship on the set of Batman Forever, not like what Burton and Keaton did on the first two films. Back in February of 1996, Schumacher fired Kilmer from the Batman role and it went to George Clooney for Batman & Robin.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What?! Kilmer has a very different version about that... He says that he rejected the role because he wanted to do something completely different (The Saint). I guess we are witnessing another of the many kilmer lies...

      Delete
    2. Well, Michael Keaton did not want to do the third Batman film because he found the film's script too campy, and Val Kilmer did not want to do the fourth Batman film because he and Schumacher had a disagreement.

      Delete
    3. Haha well, who didn't have a disagreement with Kilmer? All Hollywood hates him with good reasons. Did you see the documentary about Richard Stanley and the Island of Dr Moreau?

      Delete
    4. John Frankenheimer also do not like Kilmer. Even the star from Natural Born Killers, Tom Sizemore did not get along with Kilmer on the set of Red Planet. And back in 1996, Kilmer was dealing with a divorce.

      Delete
    5. Sorry, may I correct you?... The Island of Dr Moreau was recorded in 1995 not 96. Kilmer finished his divorce papers in Feb 96. So yes, he was dealing with it, but that doesn't mean he can be a jerk to his co-workers... Also, you see, he wasn't so depressed to invite his then lover Drew Barrymore to the IODM set... The real victim there was Brando who's daughter committed suicide at the time.
      Besides that, yes, he had a physical fight with Sizemore but Kilmer was the one who started it. I read the story some time ago but it is too long to write it here.
      And Frankenheimer also hated Val, but I think he has a stronger personality than Stanley.

      Delete
    6. Right, but you see, Brando became the victim, which is true, and during 1995 on the IODM set after it has been greenlit by New Line Cinema boss Bob Shaye, Frankenheimer calls it "The Val Kilmer Story" for which he hated that guy and he said, "Cut, now get that bastard off my set." Schumacher called Kilmer "childish and impossible", and Kilmer called Schumacher "a silly old man" on the BF set back in 1994.

      Delete
    7. ''A silly old man'' haha I didn't know that one...
      Val has always had that kind of behaviour, even with his own family. I don't know if this is true because I'm quite young and when these things happened I was in kindergarden, but I read somewhere on an old blog that he used to beat up Joanne Whalley while they were married, and other obscure things about him...

      Delete
    8. You see, Michael Keaton, Chris O'Donnell, Michael Gough, Pat Hingle, Michael Paul Chan, Kimberly Scott, and Elizabeth Sanders Kane, are the only ones of the Batman Anthology films that played the same and different characters. Keaton did the first two, and O'Donnell did the second, but final two. And I did not know that Kilmer was beating Whalley while they are still married. With Schumacher had problems with Kilmer on the set of Batman Forever, all hell's broken loose. And that's the story.

      Delete
  7. Here's to John Saxon, Heath Ledger, Dick Miller, Wes Craven, Pat Hingle, Marlon Brando, Michael Gough, Adam West, Elfrem Zimbilest Jr., Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Jerry Garcia, Anton Furst, and Joel Schumacher. R.I.P.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Besides, Wes Craven had a sense of humor on the set of A Nightmare On Elm Street, because I read Heather Langenkamp's interview from 1985, Tim Burton, Joel Schumacher, Michael Keaton, and Chris O'Donnell had a great time working on the Batman movies, Richard Donner, Gene Hackman, Marlon Brando, and Tom Mankiewicz had a good time working on two Superman movies, Joe Dante enjoy working on Gremlins at Burbank, California, Hilarie Burton and Sophia Bush are like sisters on the set of the show One Tree Hill in North Carolina, Ian Somerhalder and Kat Graham are like a brother and sister on the set of the show The Vampire Diaries in Georgia, and Mel Gibson, Danny Glover, and Joe Pesci are like The Three Stooges on the set of Lethal Weapon 2.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Dear ''Film Historian'': This conversation is senseless and stupid... I'm leaving.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Then leave, you doht. Great Caeser's Ghost! Who gives you the idea of me being senseless.

      Delete
  10. Here's to one of the directors that brought Batman to the big screen.

    ReplyDelete