Robert Jonathan Demme (born February 22, 1944) is an
American filmmaker,
producer and
screenwriter.
Personal life
Demme was born in
Baldwin,
New York, the son of Dorothy Demme and a public relations executive father.
Demme has three children: Ramona, Brooklyn, Josephine. He is a graduate of the
University of Florida. He also was the uncle of director
Ted Demme, who died in 2002. He is currently a member of the steering committee of the Friends of the
Apollo, along with
Danny DeVito and
Rhea Perlman.
Career
Demme broke into feature film working for
exploitation film producer
Roger Corman from 1971 to 1976, co-writing and producing
Angels Hard as They Come and
The Hot Box, then directing three films (
Caged Heat,
Crazy Mama,
Fighting Mad) for Corman's studio
New World Pictures. After
Fighting Mad, Demme moved on to direct the comedy film
Handle with Care for
Paramount Pictures in 1977. The film was well-received by critics,
but received little promotion,
and performed poorly at the box office.
Demme's 1980 film
Melvin and Howard did not have a
wide release, but received widespread critical acclaim, and led to the signing of Demme to direct the
Goldie Hawn and
Kurt Russell star vehicle Swing Shift. A big-budget production intended to be a major prestige picture for
Warner Bros. as well as a commercial breakthrough for Demme,
was compromised by creative differences, with Demme renouncing the film. The film was released in May 1984, and was generally panned by critics and neglected by moviegoers.
After
Swing Shift, Demme started making
documentary films, making a notable series of
concert films with
Stop Making Sense and
Swimming to Cambodia.
In 1991, Demme won the Academy Award for
The Silence of the Lambs—one of only three films to win all the major categories (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actor, and Best Actress). Demme directed an Oscar-winning turn from
Tom Hanks in his next feature,
Philadelphia.
Since then, Demme's films have included remakes of two popular films:
The Truth About Charlie, a remake of
Charade that starred
Mark Wahlberg in the
Cary Grant role; and
The Manchurian Candidate, with
Denzel Washington and
Meryl Streep.
In 2007, Demme's film
Man from Plains, a
documentary about former U.S. President
Jimmy Carter's book tour in promotion of his book
Palestine: Peace not Apartheid, premiered at the Venice and Toronto Film Festivals.
In 2008, the alternative movie
Rachel Getting Married was released, which many critics compared to Demme's films of the late 1970s and 1980s.
It was included in many 2008 "best of" lists, and received numerous awards and nominations, including an
Academy Award nomination for
Best Actress by
lead Anne Hathaway.
In the Spring 2010, Demme will direct
Family Week, a play by
Beth Henley. The play will be produced by
MCC Theater and co-star
Rosemarie DeWitt and
Sarah Jones.
One of his common directorial motifs is to allow characters to look directly into the camera. Demme formed his production company, Clinica Estetico, with producers
Edward Saxon and Peter Saraf. They were based out of
New York City for fifteen years.
Filmography
Notes
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