Joel Schumacher

Joel Schumacher
Schumacher in 2003
Born	(1939-08-29)August 29, 1939 New York City, U.S.
Died	June 22, 2020(2020-06-22) (aged 80) New York City, U.S.
Alma mater	Fashion Institute of Technology Parsons School of Design
Occupation	Filmmaker
Years active	1970–2017

Joel T. Schumacher (/ˈʃuːmɑːkər/; August 29, 1939 – June 22, 2020) was an American film director, screenwriter, producer, and costume designer. Raised in New York City by his mother, Schumacher graduated from Parsons School of Design and became a fashion designer. He first entered film-making as a production and costume designer before gaining writing credits on Car Wash, Sparkle, and The Wiz.

Schumacher received little attention for his first theatrically-released films, The Incredible Shrinking Woman and D.C. Cab, but rose to prominence after directing St. Elmo's Fire, The Lost Boys, and The Client. Schumacher was selected to replace Tim Burton as director of the Batman franchise and oversaw Batman Forever and Batman & Robin. Later, Schumacher directed smaller-budgeted films, including Tigerland and Phone Booth. In 2004, he directed The Phantom of the Opera, which was released to mixed reviews. His final directorial work was for two episodes of House of Cards.

Critical reaction to Schumacher's films ranged from accolades for The Lost Boys, Falling Down, Tigerland and Phone Booth to disdain for Batman & Robin.

Early life and education[]

Joel T. Schumacher was born on August 29, 1939 in New York City. His parents were Francis Schumacher, a Baptist from Knoxville, Tennessee who died from pneumonia when he was four, and Marian (Kantor), a Swedish Jew. He was raised by his mother in Long Island City. During his youth, he used LSD and methamphetamine and started drinking alcohol by age nine. In 1965, he graduated from Parsons School of Design, after having studied at the Fashion Institute of Technology, and later became a designer for Revlon in 1966.^[1][2][3][4]

At the time of his mother's death in 1965, Schumacher stated that his "life seemed like a joke" as he was $50,000 in debt, lost multiple teeth, and only weighed 130 pounds. However, in 1970, he stopped using drugs and became employed at Henri Bendel. He later stated that "I got my self-respect back getting a good day’s pay for a good day’s work."^[3]

Career[]

Production designer[]

In 1972, Schumacher served as a costume designer for Play It as It Lays and designed the wardrobes of Dyan Cannon, Joan Hackett, and Raquel Welch for the film The Last of Sheila.^[5] In 1973, he served as a costume designer for Woody Allen's Sleeper, and Paul Mazursky's Blume in Love.^[6] In 1974, he served as the production designer of Killer Bees. He later served as a costume designer for The Time of the Cuckoo, The Prisoner of Second Avenue and Interiors.^[7][8]

Early filmmaking[]

In 1974, Schumacher wrote a script for an eponymous biographic made-for-television movie based on the life of Virginia Hill. He was selected to serve as the movie's director and started filming on September 9.^[9][10]

In 1974, he and Howard Rosenman wrote the script for Sparkle which later went into production in 1975, and was released in 1976.^[11][12] His original plan for the movie was for the movie to be a "black Gone with the Wind", but had to be modest due to the limited budget given to the production by Warner Bros. According to Schumacher the film represented his "personal fascination" with Jesse Jackson, Angela Davis, Tammi Terrell, and Diana Ross.^[13] He was later selected to write the screenplays for Car Wash and The Wiz.^[14]

In 1978, Schumacher was selected to serve as the director of Amateur Night at the Dixie Bar and Grill which was later released in 1979.^[15][16][17] On January 31, 1980, he submitted a script for A Chorus Line, but the film underwent rewrites in development hell.^[18][19]

In 1979, he was selected to serve as the director of The Incredible Shrinking Woman, his first theatrically released film, to replace John Landis, who had left after Universal Pictures had reduced the movie's budget.^[20][21] In 1981, the film was released to negative reviews, and was a box office bomb.^[22][23] The movie was initially given a $30 million budget, but it was reduced to $11–13 million although it would later rise to over $20 million due to the cost of special effects.^[24][25]

In 1983, he directed D.C. Cab starring Mr. T, but later stated that he only worked on the movie as he needed a job.^[26]

St. Elmo's Fire and The Lost Boys[]

In 1984, Schumacher was selected by Columbia Pictures to direct St. Elmo's Fire and was secretive during the production of the movie.^[27][28] In 1987, he directed The Lost Boys. Both movies were successful among young people and were his first major critical and commercial successes.^[29][30][31]

Following The Lost Boys, Schumacher directed Cousins (a remake of the French film Cousin Cousine), Flatliners, Dying Young, Falling Down, and The Client.^[29][30][31]

Batman[]

Schumacher was selected by Warner Bros. in 1993 to replace Tim Burton as the director of the Batman franchise. He directed Batman Forever, which was a stylistic departure from Burton's Batman and Batman Returns. Batman Forever was released to mixed reviews, but was more financially successful than Batman Returns.^{[29][30][31][32]}

He later directed Batman & Robin, which was rushed into production following Batman Forever and was intentionally made toyetic and light-hearted to appeal to children and sell merchandise. The film was released to mostly negative reviews and did not perform as well at the box-office as any of its predecessors causing a planned sequel, Batman Unchained, to be cancelled. Schumacher later approached Warner Bros. to pitch concepts for a new Batman movie which were inspired by Frank Miller's graphic novels, Batman: Year One and The Dark Knight Returns. But due to the critical failure of Batman & Robin along with the negative impact that the film had on his reputation, Warner Bros. refused to let him develop another Batman film.^[33] Schumacher later apologized for the quality of Batman & Robin in 2017.^{[34][29][30][31]}

It was alleged that Schumacher, a gay man, had added homoerotic elements to the film with the most prominent being the rubber nipples, codpieces, and close-up camera shots of Batman and Robin's buttocks.^[35] Schumacher stated that the designs of the suits had been based on anatomically correct Greek statues and medical drawings. However, in 2005, Clooney said that Schumacher told him that Batman was gay.^[34][36]

Later career[]

Following Batman & Robin Schumacher directed 8mm, Flawless, Gossip, Tigerland, Bad Company, Phone Booth, Veronica Guerin, The Phantom of the Opera, The Number 23, Blood Creek, Twelve, and Trespass.^[29][30][31]

In August 2008, Schumacher directed the music video for American rock band Scars on Broadway, for their single "World Long Gone".^[37]

In 2013, he directed two episodes of the television series House of Cards.^[30]

Personal life[]

Schumacher described himself as "extremely promiscuous," saying in a 2019 interview that he became sexually active at age eleven, and estimating that he had sex with between 10,000 and 20,000 men over the course of his life. Schumacher said the first person he knew who died from the AIDS epidemic, in 1983, "was not promiscuous," leading Schumacher to believe he would die soon after, recalling that he thought at the time, "If he has it, I must have it quadrupled [...] I was sure I had it, I was planning my death," though he never contracted the disease.^[38]

In 1984, Schumacher purchased the horse stables that belonged to Rudolph Valentino from Doris Duke.^[39]

Schumacher donated to Democratic Party candidates, including multiple congressional campaigns as well as John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign.^[40]

Death[]

On June 22, 2020, Schumacher died from cancer. Following his death, he was praised by Jim Carrey and Matthew McConaughey, who credited Schumacher with launching their careers.^[41]

Filmography[]

Films[]

Filmmaking credits[]

Title	Year	Director	Writer	Producer	Notes	Ref.
Sparkle	1976		Yes		Directed by Sam O'Steen	[31]
Car Wash	1976		Yes		Directed by Michael Schultz	[14]
The Wiz	1978		Yes		Directed by Sidney Lumet	[14]
The Incredible Shrinking Woman	1981	Yes			Directorial debut	[31]
D.C. Cab (a.k.a Street Fleet)	1983	Yes	Yes			[31]
St. Elmo's Fire	1985	Yes	Yes			[14]
The Lost Boys	1987	Yes				[14]
Cousins	1989	Yes				[14]
Flatliners	1990	Yes				[14]
Dying Young	1991	Yes				[31]
Falling Down	1993	Yes				[14]
The Client	1994	Yes				[14]
Batman Forever	1995	Yes				[14]
The Babysitter	1995			Executive	Directed by Guy Ferland
A Time to Kill	1996	Yes				[31]
Batman & Robin	1997	Yes				[14]
8mm	1999	Yes		Yes		[14]
Flawless	1999	Yes	Yes	Yes		[14]
Gossip	2000			Executive	Directed by Davis Guggenheim
Tigerland	2000	Yes				[31]
Bad Company	2002	Yes				[31]
Phone Booth	2002	Yes				[14]
Veronica Guerin	2003	Yes				[31]
The Phantom of the Opera	2004	Yes	Yes			[14]
The Number 23	2007	Yes				[31]
Blood Creek	2009	Yes				[14]
Twelve	2010	Yes				[31]
Man in the Mirror	2011	Yes			Short film
Trespass	2011	Yes				[14]

Other credits[]

Title	Year	Role	Director	Notes	Ref.
Play It as It Lays	1972	Costume designer	Frank Perry		[31]
Blume in Love	1973	Costume designer	Paul Mazursky		[31]
The Last of Sheila	1973	Costume designer	Herbert Ross		[31]
Sleeper	1973	Costume designer	Woody Allen		[31]
The Prisoner of Second Avenue	1975	Costume designer	Melvin Frank		[31]
Interiors	1978	Costume designer	Woody Allen		[31]
Welcome to Hollywood	1998	Cameo appearance	Adam Rifkin	Mockumentary film
Halston	2019	Himself	Frédéric Tcheng

Television[]

Filmmaking credits[]

Title	Year	Director	Writer	Executive producer	Notes	Ref.
Virginia Hill	1974	Yes	Yes		TV film	[31]
Amateur Night at the Dixie Bar and Grill	1979	Yes	Yes		TV film	[31]
Now We're Cookin	1983		Yes	Yes	Unsold pilot, directed by Noam Pitlik	[42]
Code Name: Foxfire	1985		Creator & Story	Yes	Creator and producer (8 episodes) / Story (Episode: "Pilot")
Slow Burn	1986			Yes	TV film, directed by Matthew Chapman
2000 Malibu Road	1992	Yes		Yes	5 episodes
Choose or Lose	2008	Yes			TV special
House of Cards	2013	Yes			2 episodes	[30]
Do Not Disturb: Hotel Horrors	2015			Yes	3 episodes

Other credits[]

Title	Year	Role	Notes	Ref.
Killer Bees	1974	Production designer	TV film, directed by Curtis Harrington	[7]
Nightcap	2017	Cameo appearance	Episode: "Guest in a Snake"

Director music videos[]

Artist	Year	Title
INXS	1988	Devil Inside[43]
Lenny Kravitz	1993	Heaven Help (European Version)
Seal	1994	Kiss from a Rose (Version 1)[43]
The Smashing Pumpkins	1997	The End is the Beginning is the End
Bush	1999	Letting The Cables Sleep
The Killing Floor	2012	Star Baby

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Joel Schumacher.

• Joel Schumacher at IMDb
• Joel Schumacher at the TCM Movie Database
• Joel Schumacher interview