Biography for
Joel Schumacher

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Movies will have scenes in a seedy grocery store, e.g. _Flatliners (1999)_, Falling Down (1993), A Time to Kill (1996).

His characters are often people who take matter into their own hands. (Batman Forever (1995), 8MM (1999), Falling Down (1993), Flawless (1999)...)

Frequently casts Kiefer Sutherland, Oliver Platt, and 'Colin Farrel'.

Trivia

He directed the music video "The End is the Beginning is the End" performed by Smashing Pumpkins.

Directed the video for Devil Inside by INXS.

His mother is Swedish.

Worked as a store window dresser before getting into films.

Attended Parsons School of Design at New School University (New York).

Shares a birthday with directors Lord Richard Attenborough and William Friedkin.

On the interviews and audio commentary for the Batman And Robin 2-Disc Special Edition DVD released in 2005, he says that he was under pressure from toy companies and Warner Brothers management to deliver a family-friendly film and admits he went too far in that direction, but takes full responsibility for the end result and, at one point during the interviews, flat-out apologizes to fans that were disappointed.

Personal Quotes

(1997) "I felt I disappointed a lot of older fans by being too conscious of the family aspect.... Now, I owe the hardcore fans the Batman movie they would love me to give them."

"I am one of Lars von Trier's fans and like the Dogma movement"

"Val did me two great favors. When I wanted him to be Batman, he said yes. Then he created a situation which allowed me not to have him play Batman again. They were both happy, happy instances, for which I will always be grateful." -- Premiere magazine (April 1997), in an article on Val Kilmer.

"The only good advice you can give anyone is the witness of what you have learned in your own life. If I were living with someone and confused about whether I should be staying with them, it usually means I should be leaving. Because when you're really happy, you don't sit around thinking, 'Should I leave?'"

On directing "8mm": "It was fun to get it. No, nobody wanted to touch it. I don't think they could get anyone stupid enough to direct it, other than me. A lot of people were afraid of it. A lot of people don't want to go to a place like that as a director. They want everyone to love them."

"Yes, but you'd be surprised how many people didn't know who Philip Seymour Hoffman was. Only if you said, "the fat guy in Boogie Nights" would people know who you were talking about because they didn't know his name then."

"The surreal images in some of my films have been blamed on my drug days, I've heard that from certain sources. I don't know ... it's pretty far behind me now and that was quite a while ago. That was my path and when you come to terms with being a drug addict and an alcoholic, you realise that it's all about you."

Well, here's the problem. If you accept a lot of money to do a film in Hollywood and you have a huge budget, they're going to expect a lot of asses in seats, as you would if you had to write a cheque for a lot of money. You want your money back; it's a business. If you work on a small budget with stars who are willing to cut prices and do interesting work with you, they'll take a risk on a smaller budget because they figure, "Well, maybe with video and DVD we'll make our money back."

"...it is show business and it's more business now than it is show because all the studios now are owned by huge conglomerates and corporations, unlike the old Hollywood where everybody knew each other by their first names."

"Probably no country has spent as much money as my country on drug wars and I'm not sure who's winning except for the drug dealers."

"Sometimes I'm asked if there's homophobia in Hollywood. There's homophobia everywhere on Planet Earth, just like there's racism and sexism and anti-Semitism, and such stupidity isn't checked at the gate at the movie studio. But the difference in show business is, if you can make money for people they don't care what you do. They don't care if you screw yaks in the middle of the street. They'll even buy you a yak. They'll give you their yaks."

"I think people always think success in show business gives them the right to be moral political arbiters. I'm not in that camp. I think you can privately do whatever you want, but I'm always suspicious of how much ego is involved. I think the government will survive no matter what Ed Norton thinks of it."

Akiva Goldsman was blamed a lot for this sort of lightness and humor and fun and games of "Batman & Robin" but that's not fair. I take full responsibility. I mean Akiva did write the script but I shot it and worked with Akiva, so you know, if you love a movie, there are hundreds of people who made it lovable for you. If you don't like it, blame the director. That what our name's there for.

(on Batman & Robin (1997)) "If there's anyone that let's say loved Batman Forever and went into Batman & Robin with great anticipation, if I disappointed them in anyway, then I really want to apologize, cause it wasn't my intention. My intention was just to entertain them".

Where Are They Now

(April 2003) Pre-production of the filmed version of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera

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