Page 30 - bon-dia-aruba-20200623

A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Tuesday 23 June 2020
Joel Schumacher, director of 'St. Elmo's Fire,' dies at 80

By JAKE COYLE fice smash but the second
AP Film Writer fizzled and remains most
NEW YORK (AP) — Joel often remembered for its
Schumacher, the eclectic infamous suits.
and brazen filmmaker who "It was like I had murdered
dressed New York depart- a baby," Schumacher said
ment store windows before of the response to "Batman
shepherding the Brat Pack & Robin." Yet it, too, has
to the big screen in "St. El- developed a small cult fol-
mo's Fire" and steering the lowing for those who prefer
Batman franchise into its the antithesis of Christopher
most baroque territory in Nolan's more grim Batman
"Batman Forever" and "Bat- movies.
man & Robin," has died. He Schumacher was raised
was 80. in Queens by his mother
A representative for Schum- after his father died when
acher said the filmmaker he was four-years-old. As
died Monday in New York a youngster, he quickly
after a yearlong battle with became enmeshed in the
cancer. city's nightlife.
A native New Yorker, "The street was my educa-
Schumacher was first a sen- tion," Schumacher told
sation in the fashion world Vulture earlier this year.
after attending Parsons "You could ride your bike
School of Design and dec- over the 59th Street Bridge
orating Henri Bendel's win- In this Nov. 3, 2011 file photo, director Joel Schumacher waves during a photo call for Cinema then. So I rode my bike ev-
dows. His entry to film came and Advertising: Joel Schumacher directs Campari, at the Rome International Film Festival. erywhere. I was in Manhat-
first as a costume designer. Associated Press tan all the time and all over
Schumacher dressed a pair Queens. If you're a kid on
of Woody Allen movies in and 10 and there's no one perpetual adolescence of April Wolfe of LA Weekly a bike, anything can hap-
the 1970s: "Interiors" and in the audience when that "Peter Pan." wrote that it "remains one pen, and predators come
"Sleeper." movie runs — what's the Schumacher then made of Hollywood's most overt out of the woodwork, my
As a director, he estab- point?" Schumacher once "Flatliners," about morbidly yet morally complex depic- God. I looked very inno-
lished himself as a film- told Charlie Rose. obsessed medical students, tions of the modern white- cent, but I wasn't."
maker of great flare, if not The success of his first hit, and a pair of John Grisham victimization narrative, one Schumacher would often
often good reviews, in a "St. Elmo's Fire," with Rob adaptations in "The Client" both adored and reviled say he was fortunate to
string of mainstream films in Lowe, Demi Moore, Emilio and "A Time to Kill." "Fall- by the extreme right." have survived the '60s at
the '80s and '90s. To the fre- Estevez and Ally Sheedy ing Down," with Michael The slickness of those pro- all. He made habits of liq-
quent frustration of critics not only helped make a Douglas as a Los Angeles ductions helped Schum- uid Methadrine, acid and
but the delight of audienc- name for the Brat Pack man whose anger from acher inherit the DC uni- sex. Out long before many
es, Schumacher favored but made Schumacher in- minute every-day interac- verse from Tim Burton. In in Hollywood, Schumacher
entertainment over taste- demand in Hollywood. He tions steadily builds in vio- Schumacher's hands, Bat- pegged his lovers in "the
fulness — including those followed it up with 1987's lence, was maybe his most man received a garish double-digit thousands."
infamous sensual Batman "The Lost Boys," with Jason critically acclaimed film, overhaul that resulted in He was a warm and gossipy
and Robin suits with visible Patric, Corey Haim, Kief- though its depictions of mi- two of the the franchise's raconteur though Schum-
nipples — and he did so er Sutherland and Corey norities — particularly a Ko- most cartoonish movies in acher said he "never kissed
proudly. Feldman. A vampire horror rean grocer — were from 1995's "Batman Forever" and told about anybody
"A movie that's in a movie comedy, it gave a darker, the start hotly debated. and 1997's "Batman & Rob- who gives me the favor of
theater that runs at 2, 4, 6, 8 contemporary view of the On its 25th anniversary, in." The first was a box-of- sharing a bed with me." q

Viggo Mortensen's career to be honored by Spanish festival

MADRID (AP) — The career of Viggo and has been selected for the Cannes
Mortensen, Aragorn in the popular trilogy Festival. It stars Lance Henriksen in the role
"Lord of the Rings" and a protagonist in the of an aging father whose world collides
Academy Award-winning "Green Book," with that of his estranged, homosexual
will be honored at this year's San Sebastian son, played by Mortensen himself.
Film Festival. The festival announced Mon- Mortensen, 61, has featured in around 50
day that this year's recipient of its "Don- movies in a career spanning more than
ostia Award" will be Mortensen. For the three decades. He has been nominated
moment, organizers are planning to hold for Oscars three times — for "Eastern Promis-
the festival as normal, with film stars flying es," "Captain Fantastic," and "Green Book,"
in from around the world. Spain has lifted in which he portrays the prejudiced driver
most of its restrictions amid the coronavi- of classical pianist Don Shirley, played by
rus pandemic, which has left more than Mahershala Ali, during a tour of the Deep
28,000 dead in the country. South in the early 1960s.q
The Danish-American actor will also pres-
In this Saturday, May 25, 2019 file photo, actor Viggo Mortensen ent the European premiere of "Falling," his
poses for photographers upon arrival at the awards ceremony directorial debut, at the prestigious festival
of the 72nd international film festival, Cannes, southern France. in northern Spain between Sept. 18-26.
Associated Press The movie closed the Sundance Festival