Longtime producer Stuart Cornfeld, 67, died June 26 of cancer, but left a mark on Hollywood with collaborations with iconic directors and a run of hit movies dating back to 1980.
As a film student at the AFI Conservatory in the 1970s he worked with Anne Bancroft, who went on to introduce him to Mel Brooks. Cornfeld was an assistant on Brooks’ 1977 comedy “High Anxiety,” and the two men teamed as executive producers on David Lynch’s 1980 “The Elephant Man.”
Cornfeld went on to produce David Cronenberg’s “The Fly,” which put the Canadian body-horror master on the map. Cornfeld also produced Steven Soderbergh’s “Kafka,” the young filmmaker’s first movie after the 1989 indie sensation “Sex, Lies, and Videotape,” Guillermo del Toro’s “Mimic,” and the Vince Gilligan-scripted “Wilder Napalm.”
But Cornfeld’s closest collaboration was with filmmaker and actor Ben Stiller, with whom he launched Red Hour Productions and turned...
As a film student at the AFI Conservatory in the 1970s he worked with Anne Bancroft, who went on to introduce him to Mel Brooks. Cornfeld was an assistant on Brooks’ 1977 comedy “High Anxiety,” and the two men teamed as executive producers on David Lynch’s 1980 “The Elephant Man.”
Cornfeld went on to produce David Cronenberg’s “The Fly,” which put the Canadian body-horror master on the map. Cornfeld also produced Steven Soderbergh’s “Kafka,” the young filmmaker’s first movie after the 1989 indie sensation “Sex, Lies, and Videotape,” Guillermo del Toro’s “Mimic,” and the Vince Gilligan-scripted “Wilder Napalm.”
But Cornfeld’s closest collaboration was with filmmaker and actor Ben Stiller, with whom he launched Red Hour Productions and turned...
- 6/27/2020
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
Stuart Cornfeld, who worked with Ben Stiller’s Red Hour Films to produce movies including “Tropic Thunder,” “Dodgeball” and “Zoolander,” has died of cancer.
Several of his friends posted about his death on social media.
At Red Hour, which he founded with Stiller in 1999, he also produced “Duplex” starring Stiller and Drew Barrymore, “Starsky & Hutch,” “Blades of Glory” and “The Ruins.” One of the last films he produced was “The Polka King,” starring Jack Black. Stiller said on Twitter, “Stuart Cornfeld was as funny, smart, talented & cool as a person gets.”
A really great person left the planet today. Stuart Cornfeld was as funny, smart, talented & cool as a person gets. He was my friend, producing partner, and creative confidant. He knew movies, made movies and loved movies. World=less better without him. IMDb him. He was the best. pic.twitter.com/sOx85UvxC4
— Ben Stiller (@RedHourBen) June 27, 2020
Earlier in his career,...
Several of his friends posted about his death on social media.
At Red Hour, which he founded with Stiller in 1999, he also produced “Duplex” starring Stiller and Drew Barrymore, “Starsky & Hutch,” “Blades of Glory” and “The Ruins.” One of the last films he produced was “The Polka King,” starring Jack Black. Stiller said on Twitter, “Stuart Cornfeld was as funny, smart, talented & cool as a person gets.”
A really great person left the planet today. Stuart Cornfeld was as funny, smart, talented & cool as a person gets. He was my friend, producing partner, and creative confidant. He knew movies, made movies and loved movies. World=less better without him. IMDb him. He was the best. pic.twitter.com/sOx85UvxC4
— Ben Stiller (@RedHourBen) June 27, 2020
Earlier in his career,...
- 6/27/2020
- by Pat Saperstein
- Variety Film + TV
There are many writers, great writers, who excel in one form but not in another. Vince Gilligan will not be remembered ultimately as the writer of "Wilder Napalm" and "Home Fries," but rather as the brain behind "Breaking Bad." David Chase probably doesn't have to worry about "Not Fade Away" eclipsing "The Sopranos" as his crowning accomplishment. Those guys have television in their DNA. They understand how to use that form, that storytelling rhythm, to maximum effect, and with their voices turned to something as fundamentally different in style as a 100-minute movie, they seem constricted. Cormac McCarthy is a hell...
- 10/24/2013
- by Drew McWeeny
- Hitfix
On Sept. 10, 1993, a show called "The X-Files" premiered on Fox, and just over 20 years later "Breaking Bad" will air its series finale on AMC. Those events have a lot more in common than you might think.
Vince Gilligan, the creator of "Breaking Bad," got his start in television by writing for "The X-Files." He was toiling away as a film writer and living in Virginia when a meeting with "X-Files" creator Chris Carter changed his life.
"I learned everything I pretty much know about TV from 'The X-Files' and from working for Chris, and from working with ['X-Files writer/producers] Frank Spotnitz and John Shiban," Gilligan said in a phone interview with The Huffington Post. "It was a great learning experience, and one that I always liken to film school, except it was a film school that paid me to attend."
As part of our commemoration of the 20th anniversary of "The X-Files,...
Vince Gilligan, the creator of "Breaking Bad," got his start in television by writing for "The X-Files." He was toiling away as a film writer and living in Virginia when a meeting with "X-Files" creator Chris Carter changed his life.
"I learned everything I pretty much know about TV from 'The X-Files' and from working for Chris, and from working with ['X-Files writer/producers] Frank Spotnitz and John Shiban," Gilligan said in a phone interview with The Huffington Post. "It was a great learning experience, and one that I always liken to film school, except it was a film school that paid me to attend."
As part of our commemoration of the 20th anniversary of "The X-Files,...
- 7/11/2013
- by Maureen Ryan
- Huffington Post
Dennis Quaid says his "greatest mistake" was becoming addicted to cocaine.
The 57-year-old actor first started experimenting with the drug when he moved to Hollywood to try and make it as an actor in the early 1970s and, after becoming dependent on it, continued to use cocaine until the late '80s.
Now, decades later, he realizes his behavior was stupid and attributes his substance abuse with the massive changes that were happening in his life.
In an essay he wrote for Newsweek magazine, he revealed, "My greatest mistake was being addicted to cocaine. I started after I left college and came to Los Angeles in 1974. It was very casual at first. That's what people were doing when they were at parties . Coming from where I came from, from Houston into Hollywood, and all of a sudden this success starts happening to you, I just didn't know how to handle that.
The 57-year-old actor first started experimenting with the drug when he moved to Hollywood to try and make it as an actor in the early 1970s and, after becoming dependent on it, continued to use cocaine until the late '80s.
Now, decades later, he realizes his behavior was stupid and attributes his substance abuse with the massive changes that were happening in his life.
In an essay he wrote for Newsweek magazine, he revealed, "My greatest mistake was being addicted to cocaine. I started after I left college and came to Los Angeles in 1974. It was very casual at first. That's what people were doing when they were at parties . Coming from where I came from, from Houston into Hollywood, and all of a sudden this success starts happening to you, I just didn't know how to handle that.
- 4/11/2011
- by celebrity-mania.com
- Celebrity Mania
Perhaps it’s because I was a youth in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and therefore naive to the possibility that Hollywood life was anything less than glamorous. Or perhaps it’s because, back then, we dismissed most tabloid material as if it were as credible as the Weekly World News’ Bat Boy. But, for whatever reason, I can’t help but be shocked reading Dennis Quaid’s essay about his 1980s cocaine addiction in Newsweek.
Now don’t get me wrong: As an adult, I now know all the seedy details of the entertainment industry. And I was...
Now don’t get me wrong: As an adult, I now know all the seedy details of the entertainment industry. And I was...
- 4/11/2011
- by Kate Ward
- EW.com - PopWatch
Debra Winger's life has enough stories to fill a dozen movies. Want to hear about overcoming adversity? When Winger was 17, a car accident put her in a coma for weeks and left her partially paralyzed and blind for 10 months, during which time she vowed that if she recovered, she would become an actor. How about a great discovery story? As a struggling unknown actor, she crashed an audition and won the coveted role of the brash, sensual Sissy, opposite John Travolta, in Urban Cowboy, which made her an instant star. A hint of scandal? It's no secret Winger has had tense relationships on set, such as with her An Officer and a Gentleman director, Taylor Hackford, and her Terms of Endearment co-star Shirley MacLaine. And how about a tale with a surprise twist? After turning 40, with three Oscar nominations to her name, firmly ensconced as a sought-after actor, Winger...
- 10/3/2008
- by Jenelle Riley
- backstage.com
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