Joel Schumacher

	From Comics to Film: The Evolution of Batman: We delve into the Shadow of the Bat to do a ...
	Interview with the Cast of The Number 23: Time for another interview! This time it’s w...

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Born and raised in working-class New York City, versatile Hollywood director Joel Schumacher started out as an art student. After graduating from Parsons School of Design, he worked for several fashion design firms and dressed window displays at a department store. He found work as a costume designer (Woody Allen's Sleeper and Interiors) and screenwriter (Car Wash and The Wiz) before turning to full-time directing.

After a few TV movies, he made his feature-length directorial debut with the Lily Tomlin comedy The Incredible Shrinking Woman, followed by the Mr. T vehicle D.C. Cab. He finally hit mainstream success in 1985 with the Brat Pack classic St. Elmo's Fire, starting the careers of Rob Lowe, Demi Moore, Andrew McCarthy, Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy, and Emilio Estevez, among others.

This was soon followed by the beloved teen vampire flick The Lost Boys, starring both Corey Haim and Corey Feldman. He also directed music videos at the end of the '80s, including "Devil Inside" by INXS. With the exception of the Americanized romantic comedy remake Cousins, he seemed to cater almost exclusively to the youth market during this time. The medical student thriller Flatliners introduced him to starlet Julia Roberts, whom he quickly cast in his next movie, the aptly named Dying Young. Both films failed at the box office, so he tried a bit of social commentary with the psychological drama Falling Down starring Michael Douglas.

The success of his John Grisham adaptation The Client led to a TV-series spin-off and another Grisham adaptation, A Time to Kill. Unfortunately, Schumacher had already become commonly known as The Man Who Destroyed the Batman Film Franchise with the widely panned Batman Forever and Batman & Robin. He tried to make a comeback with the disturbing and brutal crime thriller 8MM starring Nicolas Cage. Fortunately, he made a wiser move back to writing and directing comedy dramas with Flawless, starring Robert De Niro and Philip Seymour Hoffman.

After doing some producing, the director teamed up with action extravaganza producer Jerry Bruckheimer for Bad Company, a box-office dud featuring the odd pairing of Chris Rock and Anthony Hopkins. His Vietnam drama Tigerland marked the breakthrough performance of Irish actor Colin Farrell, whom he cast again in his next two features: the crime drama Veronica Guerin and the blockbuster suspense thriller Phone Booth. Schumacher then began work on a film version of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Broadway musical Phantom of the Opera, slated for release in 2004.

Filmography: 8MM, Batman and Robin, Batman Forever, Creek (2008), Falling Down, Flatliners, Phone Booth, The Client, The Lost Boys, The Number 23, The Phantom of the Opera (2004), Tigerland,

Latest Joel Schumacher News, Opinion & Discussion:

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Friday the 13th Screenwriters Interview
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Tune in to Starz this October for the fourth annual “Fear Fest,” a creepy collection of spine-tingling movies kicking off with the world telev... Lost Boys 2 Begins Shooting
Corey Feldman returns to familiar turf in the Warner Premiere event, “Lost Boys 2: The Tribe,” the direct-to-DVD sequel to the 1987 cult hit “Th... Rory Cochrane Interview, Right at your Door
MoviesOnline had a chance to sit down last week with the versatile and talented actor Rory Cochrane at the Los Angeles press day to talk about... Win Copies of Lost Boys Special Edition DVD
This is a reminder you can still get in on winning one of three copies of Lost Boys Special Edition on dVD Our good looking compadres at TerrorFee... Win1 of 3 Copies of Lost Boys Special Edition DVD
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Dude here again, coming at you with an exciting set of numbers on this lovely Oscar weekend. Out here in kinda cloudy California, you'd think God ... Virginia Madsen Interview, The Astronaut Farmer
MoviesOnline recently caught up with actress Virginia Madsen at the Los Angeles press day to promote her new film, "The Astronaut Farmer,” i... Interview with the Cast of The Number 23
Time for another interview! This time it’s with Joel Schumacher, Jim Carrey, Virginia Madsen and Danny Huston who tell us about their ne... The Number 23 - The First Official Images
New Line Cinema provided us with the first movie photos for "The Number 23", which is coming to cinemas February 23rd. The movie stars Jim Ca... No Robin for Nolan's Batman
Christopher Nolan has made it clear that the new "Batman" film franchise will not bring Robin into the mythology as long as he is directing, appar... The Television Seriality Boom
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With "Poseidon" on its way, Josh Lucas is becoming more and more high profile. And, with all kinds of casting possibilities running around the Hollywo... 6 Batman Flicks Re-Released on DVD
With Batman Begins now being out on DVD it seems there is awhole lot of Batman to be had. Six Batman flicks are getting re-released onto DVD. So Robin... Rosario Dawson Judging Film Festival
Rosario Dawson is going to be a judge in the upcoming New York Minute Film Festival (http://www.nymff.com/) is the first major online film compe... Batman Begins Movie Review
Batman Begins is the start of a new era of my favorite superhero. Tim Burton's Batman and Batman Returns are perfect. Then Joel Schumacher took over a... Phantom of the Opera Movie Reviews Mixed
Users at MoviesOnline are giving the Phantom of the Opera mixed Reviews. One reviewer gave it a 1/5 and another gave it a 5/5.  The Phantom ... Phantom of the Opera: Gallery Update!
7 new pictures have been added to the "Phantom of the Opera" photo gallery.  Now this may not be my type of film, but I have to admit, ... Phantom of the Opera: Site, Trailer and More
Based on the stage musical. The Phantom of the Opera tells the story of a disfigured musical genius (Gerard Butler) who haunts the catacombs beneath t... New Christian Bale interview about Batman Begins !
IESB has posted a new interview with Christian Bale, who stars as Bruce Wayne/Batman, in the upcoming movie "Batman Begins". Q: Is your... Joel Schumacher to helm Wake the Dead
Joel Schumacher has signed to direct Dimension's "Wake the Dead". The film reportedly tells of four college kids who attempt to re-animate the de... Phone Booth Review
Colin Farrell has a proto-mullet in "Phone Booth." Perhaps this is to signify that, as publicist Stu Shepard, he’s too busy providing sleazy clients... The Phantom of the Opera Teaser
The Phantom of the Opera teaser trailer is now online at moviefone. This film is being directed by Joel Schumacher and is set for a limited release on...