Film-maker, Joel Schumacher passes away in New York City on Monday morning, after suffering a year-long battle with cancer. A statement from his publicist said that he “passed away quietly” and will be “fondly remembered by his friends and collaborators”. The filmmaker gave hits like Batman Forever, St Elmo’s Fire, and The Lost Boys.
Schumacher started his career working in the fashion industry before entering film as a costume designer for Woody Allen’s Sleeper and Interiors. His first screenplay was for 1976’s musical drama Sparkle, which starred Irene Cara and was later remade with Whitney Houston. His directorial debut was in 1981 with The Incredible Shrinking Woman starring Lily Tomlin.
His first hit came in 1985 with the Brat Pack drama St Elmo’s Fire, which then led him to make The Lost Boys, which became an even bigger hit in the summer of 1987. As the 90s began, he made supernatural thriller Flatliners and romantic drama Dying Young with Julia Roberts before scoring his most acclaimed film to date with 1993’s Falling Down starring Michael Douglas.
The decade also saw him make two John Grisham dramas, The Client and A Time to Kill, and enter franchise film-making with Batman Forever and Batman & Robin. His work since included the drama Tigerland, the thriller Phone Booth with Colin Farrell, and the Jim Carrey horror The Number 23. His last film was 2011’s Trespass starring Nicole Kidman. In 2013, he also directed two episodes of House of Cards for friend David Fincher.
Schumacher certainly had a tireless career in the business, turning out a long list of movies, some of them miss like the Nicolas Cage-starring 8MM (1999) and Jim Carrey thriller The Number 23 (2007), but many other big hits.
He also directed Oscar-winners including Cate Blanchett in Veronia Guerin (2003) and Robert De Niro and Philip Seymour Hoffman in the crime drama Flawless (1999)
