On June 23, Hollywood director Joe Schumacher died of cancer at the age of 80. Schumacher entered Hollywood as a costume designer in his early years, then moved to screenwriting, where he embarked on the path of directing with the encouragement of the great director Woody Allen. In 1981, after Schumacher directed his film debut "Shapeshifter", he successively directed "City Hero", "8 mm", "Batman and Robin", "Batman Forever", "Sniper Phone Booth", "Phantom of the Opera" and other films. Schumacher is good at amplifying his multi-angle cognition of society and the extension and sublimation of the personality of the characters, which can be called a generation of artistic masters. Here are a few creative tidbits of Schumacher's director's masterpieces, showing 8 wonderful behind-the-scenes stories of Schumacher's filming that you may not know. >>> Hollywood director Joe Schumacher died of illness and worked with Cage, Schwarzenegger and others
Keep a Lover, 1991
Tailor-made for Julia Roberts
Hillary is given the opportunity to take care of victor, a leukemia patient, and the two have feelings for each other in the day and night, but they have to face life and death... A few years after the release of Keep a Lover, Joe Schumacher admitted that he didn't think he was the best director for the film, and that he had made the film to do Julia Roberts a personal favor, first of all, the film's producer, Sally Field, insisted that Roberts play the heroine Hillary, and the two formed a deep friendship because they had starred in the film "Steel Magnolia" with her in 1989. In addition, Schumacher also said that when he was shooting the sci-fi thriller "Don't Break into the Yin and Yang World" (1990), he found Roberts to be a very good and spiritual actor, and he thought Roberts was very suitable for starring in romance films.
Under Schumacher's calm and restrained lens, this film with a faint sad theme has a strong aesthetic literary atmosphere. The film's music is also classic, with the theme song being played by saxophonist Kenny Kee, who joe Schumacher said impressed him with his 1985 film Seven Graduates.
City Heroes 1993
Michael Douglas should thank him the most
After a series of suffocating incidents such as a traffic jam, not receiving an invitation to his daughter's birthday party, and being harassed by a grocery store, a man who has just been fired gradually loses control of his emotions and begins to be violent about everything.
It is said that Jack Nicholson, Robert De Niro, Dustin Hoffman and Al Pacino were all nominated to star in bill Foster, the protagonist of the film "City Heroes", but Schumacher insisted on asking his friend Michael Douglas to play the main role, believing that Douglas had the kind of determination hidden in the silence. However, Douglas has just made two films in a row, and he plans to leave show business for a while to spend some time with his family. At Schumacher's urging, Douglas agreed to read the script, immediately stating that it was one of the best scripts he had ever read, and immediately accepted the role.
City Hero is a tribute to Straw Dog (below).
In order to pay tribute to his favorite film of the same theme, "Straw Dog", Schumacher specially referred to the glasses worn by Dustin Hoffmann in "Straw Dog", and designed the same glasses for Foster, even the broken right lens. When the film was released, Michael Douglas's father, Kirk, thought it was his son's best performance. Michael Douglas still considers it his favorite performance of all the films he's been in.
Batman Forever (1995).
Clash with "Batman" and "Two-Faced"
Batman must battle The Two-Faced man and the Riddle Man with the help of an amorous psychologist Dr. Chase Meridien and a young circus acrobat, Dick Grayson, and Robin will be his partner.
During the filming of the film, director Schumacher and Fang Kimmer, who played Batman, were in conflict, believing that the latter was naïve and intolerable, often had disputes with the cast and crew, and after receiving the director's advice, Kimmer refused to speak to Schumacher for two weeks. Tommy Lee Jones, who plays the two-faced man, is also fond of getting into trouble, and Schumacher often can't stand it, saying that he is tired of mediating disputes between these big-name actors and is reluctant to cooperate with them anymore.
Batman and Robin (1997).
Defending "Batgirl" for getting fat
Director Joe Schumacher was also related to Batman, who was born in 1939, the same year as Batman (in May 1939, Batman was born in Detective Comics No. 27). However, after the release of "Batman and Robin", the word of mouth suffered Waterloo, and was voted "the 50 worst movies" by Empire Magazine.
Most of the scenes related to Batgirl were cut out, as Alicia Silverstone, who played Batwoman, gained a few pounds during filming and the costume team had to change her costume. When the media found out the news, they lashed out at Silverstone's weight and mocked her for being "too fat" to put on a costume. Director Joe Schumacher publicly defended Silverstone at a press conference, "What's wrong with this girl just because she ate some pizza?" As the taunt continued, Schumacher lashed out at the reporter who taunted her.
8 mm, 1999
Trade Cage for more investment budget
It tells the story of Tom Wheeler who discovers some kind of secret in a seemingly uncanny eight-millimeter film and thus draws his life into the abyss of sin.
Initially, Russell Crow agreed to star in the film directed by Joe Schumacher, which at the time was classified as a "dirty, handheld thriller." Then, unexpectedly, Nicholas Cage's agent also called Schumacher and told him that Cage wanted to make the film too. Schumacher then contacted Sony's John Cali and told him we could choose Russell Crowe for a "low-budget, dirty handheld thriller" or Cage for a bigger one. Cali eventually agreed to star in the film by Cage, which eventually brought in a bigger budget.
According to Joe Schumacher, the filming location for the last scene of Nicholas Cage and Chris Ball was a good place because the neighbors and hosts of the house were very hospitable. In return, Schumacher gave them signed Batman movie posters, T-shirts, and various gifts in return for their hospitality.
Sniper Phone Booth(2002).
"Ignored" lunch breaks and extras
This is an 81-minute crime thriller about a staff member who is manipulated by a mysterious phone call when he is on the phone at a telephone booth on the street, and if he does not follow the instructions of the man on the phone, someone will be shot...
The film took only 12 days to shoot, of which 10 days to shoot the inside of the phone booth, 2 days to shoot the exterior, this high efficiency is actually "forced" by Schumacher, in the shooting schedule he formulated, even the crew members "lunch break for an hour" have consciously "ignored" it. In order to increase the sense of realism on the scene, he did not give any plot instructions to the extras, so that they could film their most realistic reactions to the "shooting" and "shouting" on the scene.
Phantom of the Opera, 2004
There was a real theater fire
A disfigured musical genius, after falling in love with the young actress Christine, decided to spare no effort to make Christine a dazzling star.
Originally, the production company was more inclined to direct Shega Keppel, who had previously directed Elizabeth, but as early as the planning period of the film in the 90s, Joe Schumacher had become the most suitable director candidate in the mind of producer and screenwriter Andrew Loy Weber, and at his insistence, Joe Schumacher eventually took over the directorship.
The fire in the theater at the end of the film is a real fire. Joe Schumacher destroyed the theater in order to represent the real scene.
Spirit Number 23, 2007
The director and the lead actor are fate
After a man with a happy life indulges in a suspense novel called "Lingnu 23", his life has completely changed, and the number "23" is like a nightmare.
Kim Carey and Joe Schumacher were on location in the filming of the filmIng 23.
It is said that Schumacher, who has always been interested in thrillers, insisted on directing this psychological thriller "Lingnu 23" and insisted on hiring Kim Carey to star because they had a fate with the number "23". First of all, the film was the 23rd project directed by Joe Schumacher; Kim Carey claimed to have been fascinated by the number 23 long before he starred in the film, so his production company name was "jc 23 Entertainment"; Kim Carey and Joe Schumacher last collaborated on Batman Forever, released in 1995, in which Carey played the guesser who showed an obsession with numbers, while Jim Carrey and Joe Schumacher (joel Schumacher's name adds up to exactly 23 letters...
Beijing News reporter Teng Chao Huang Jialing
Edited by Huang Jialing Proofreader Li Lijun