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thing you can never call Joel Schumacher is boring. With close to 20
movies to his credit, Schumacher is tired of being known as the
"blockbuster" director. Not that movies like Batman
Forever and Batman and Robin haven't been good to him
(grossing more than $100 million with domestic audiences alone), but
over the last few years Schumacher has put all of his attention on
smaller, moreindependent films (Flawless and 8mm). |
"I was riveted by the script. The story was based on real life experiences - the material was real and it focused on the human story, it wasn't going to be just another war film.
"You know, there were no privileges or perks on this set. You are seeing the actors without makeup, without the benefit of a hairdresser. There were no dressing rooms or trailers, no stunt doubles - not even a chair for us to sit on. NO tricks - what you see is what you get."
Not only was this bare bones film making, but instead of using big name actors, Schumacher was intent on casting unknowns.
"When you do an ensemble movie and if everyone is a star - it works. If everyone in it is unknown it works. If you have one star and everyone else is unknown it offsets the balance, so I thought it would be a wonderful opportunity to use all new talent. I was very lucky to get this cast."
"The entire budget for Tigerland (approximately $7 million) is what an A-list actor's entourage would get paid on a big budget film. It's going to be very hard to go back (to a big studio picture) and wait for actors to come out of hair and makeup."
Watch out for Irish actor Colin Farrell who plays Roland Bozz. For his lead role in Tigerland, Farrell hung out on a Texas ranch to perfect his Midwestern accent. "This guy is a gem," says Schumacher. "I know he's going to be a big star in the next few years."
The 62-year-old director has been in the movie business for most of his adult life. Born and raised in New York, he began his career in the entertainment industry as an art director for television commercials before becoming the costume designer for such films as Woody Allen's Sleeper and Interiors. Schumacher then turned to screenwriting with Sparkle and the funk driven hit comedy Car Wash.
He made his directorial debut with the television movie The Virginia Hill Story and was soon on his way with his first feature, The Incredible Shrinking Woman starring Lily Tomlin. What followed was a string of successes which helped launch the careers of many of today's brightest stars - St. Elmo's Fire (Demi Moore, Rob Lowe), The Lost Boys (Kiefer Sutherland, Jason Patric), Flatliners (Julia Roberts, Kevin Bacon) and A Time To Kill (Matthew McConaughey, Sandra Bullock). He also worked on Falling Down (Michael Douglas), The Client (Susan Sarandon), and of course Batman Forever (Nicole Kidman, Jim Carrey) and Batman and Robin (George Clooney, Chris O'Donnell.).
He's already cooking up his next few projects, including a thriller tentatively called Dare which he would like to shoot in Toronto early next year. He's writing a script about a group of young adults about to turn 30. Jerry Bruckheimer (Days of Thunder) has also offered him the Veronica Garrin story about a beautiful young journalist from Dublin who exposed the drug Mafia and was killed, and then there's Phonebooth.
"There will be a one week rehearsal schedule, and the film will be shot on a New York street with multiple cameras. It will focus on a man (still uncast) who picks up a ringing pay phone on the street and is told by the caller - who has trained an infrared dot from a sniper rifle on the phone booth - that he'll be shot dead if he hangs up. The entire movie will take place in this phone booth. That will be the end of my career - thank you!"
Sounds interesting - but are we seeing an on going trend of more independent film making from Mr. Schumacher?
"To tell you the truth, my agents are getting nervous. If I keep making too many 'small' pictures that don't make any money - they may throw me out of Hollywood."
- Bonnie Laufer-Krebs