Joel Schumacher

Joel T. Schumacher (August 29, 1939 – June 22, 2020) was an American film director, screenwriter, producer, and costume designer. He was raised in New York City by his mother and suffered from substance abuse at a young age. He became a fashion designer after graduating from Parsons School of Design, but would continue suffering from substance abuse and high levels of debt until the early 1970s. He first entered film-making as a production and costume designer before gaining writing credits on Car Wash, Sparkle, and The Wiz. He received little attention for his initial theatrically released films, The Incredible Shrinking Woman and D.C. Cab, but rose to prominence after directing St. Elmo's Fire (1985), The Lost Boys (1987), and The Client (1994). Schumacher was selected to replace Tim Burton as director of the Batman franchise and oversaw Batman Foreve (1995) and Batman & Robin (1997). After the Batman franchise Schumacher directed smaller-budgeted films, including Tigerland (2000) and Phone Booth (2002). He directed The Phantom of the Opera, which was released to mixed reviews in 2004. His final directorial work was for two episodes of House of Cards (2013).

Works

BRATS

In the 1980s, Andrew McCarthy was part of a young generation of actors who were set to take over Hollywood after a string of successful teen movies. However, when the New York magazine cover story in 1985 dubs them the Brat Pack, stars in the making suddenly find themselves losing control over the trajectory of their careers. Now, almost forty years later, McCarthy looks to reconnect with peers and co-stars so that together they can reflect on their respective legacies.

Release Date: 2024-06-07

Character: Self (archive footage) (uncredited)

Vote Count: 47

Val

For over 40 years Val Kilmer, one of Hollywood’s most mercurial and/or misunderstood actors has been documenting his own life and craft through film and video. He has amassed thousands of hours of footage, from 16mm home movies made with his brothers, to time spent in iconic roles for blockbuster movies like Top Gun, The Doors, Tombstone, and Batman Forever. This raw, wildly original and unflinching documentary reveals a life lived to extremes and a heart-filled, sometimes hilarious look at what it means to be an artist and a complex man.

Release Date: 2021-07-23

Character: Self (archive footage)

Vote Count: 192

The Binge

In the not-so-distant future, all drinking and drugs have been made completely illegal by the government, except for one night a year. High school seniors Griffin, Hags, and Andrew make a pilgrimage to get to the best party in town where all their dreams will come true. They will have to avoid their crazed principal, violent siblings, and the wild animals roaming the streets.

Release Date: 2020-08-28

Department: Crew

Job: In Memory Of

Vote Count: 92

Very Ralph

The first documentary portrait of fashion icon Ralph Lauren, reveals the man behind the icon and the creation of one of the most successful brands in fashion history.

Release Date: 2019-11-12

Character: Self

Vote Count: 12

Halston

From Iowa to Studio 54, this investigation into the rags-to-riches story of America’s first superstar designer uncovers the cautionary tale of an artist who sold his name to Wall Street.

Release Date: 2019-06-07

Character: Self

Vote Count: 20

Michael Jackson's Journey from Motown to Off the Wall

Director Spike Lee chronicles Michael Jackson's early rise to fame.

Release Date: 2016-02-06

Character: Self

Vote Count: 76

Do Not Disturb: Hotel Horrors

Full of salacious acts, secret trysts and cold-blooded murder, the series peeks behind closed doors to shocking crimes that happened inside hotels.

Release Date: 2015-10-21

Department: Production

Job: Executive Producer

Episode Count: 3

Everything Is Copy

A candid portrait of writer/director Nora Ephron, directed by her son, journalist Jacob Bernstein.

Release Date: 2015-09-29

Character: Self

Vote Count: 33

House of Cards

Set in present day Washington, D.C., House of Cards is the story of Frank Underwood, a ruthless and cunning politician, and his wife Claire who will stop at nothing to conquer everything. This wicked political drama penetrates the shadowy world of greed, sex and corruption in modern D.C.

Release Date: 2013-02-01

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Episode Count: 2

Vote Count: 2873

Radioman

The extraordinary story of 'Radioman', a New York film set mascot who overcame homelessness and alcoholism to become a fixture of the New York film industry, with over 100 small parts to his name.

Release Date: 2012-12-07

Character: Self

Vote Count: 5

Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel

This intimate and loving portrait of the legendary arbiter of fashion, art and culture illustrates the many stages of Vreeland's remarkable life. Born in Paris in 1903, she was to become New York's "Empress of Fashion" and a celebrated Vogue editor.

Release Date: 2012-09-21

Character: Self

Vote Count: 35

Side by Side

Since the invention of cinema, the standard format for recording moving images has been film. Over the past two decades, a new form of digital filmmaking has emerged, creating a groundbreaking evolution in the medium. Keanu Reeves explores the development of cinema and the impact of digital filmmaking via in-depth interviews with Hollywood masters, such as James Cameron, David Fincher, David Lynch, Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese, George Lucas, Steven Soderbergh, and many more.

Release Date: 2012-08-19

Character: Self

Vote Count: 294

A 100 year history of the development of movie marketing, reflecting technical improvements, audience taste and cultural sensibilities.

Release Date: 2009-01-01

Character: Self

Vote Count: 4

Animal control officer Walter Sparrow becomes obsessed with a novel that he believes was written about him, as more and more similarities between himself and his literary alter ego seem to arise.

Release Date: 2007-02-23

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Vote Count: 3290

Holy the Sabbath

A chilling portrait of loss and redemption when men create their own gods.

Release Date: 2006-08-12

Character: Narrator

The Phantom of the Opera

A young soprano becomes the obsession of a disfigured and murderous musical genius who lives beneath the Paris Opera House.

Release Date: 2004-12-08

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Vote Count: 1666

Veronica Guerin

In this true story, Veronica Guerin is an investigative reporter for an Irish newspaper. As the drug trade begins to bleed into the mainstream, Guerin decides to take on and expose those responsible. Beginning at the bottom with addicts, Guerin then gets in touch with John Traynor, a paranoid informant. Not without some prodding, Traynor leads her to John Gilligan, the ruthless head of the operation, who does not take kindly to Guerin's nosing.

Release Date: 2003-07-11

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Vote Count: 316

Phone Booth

A slick New York publicist who picks up a ringing receiver in a phone booth is told that if he hangs up, he'll be killed... and the little red light from a laser rifle sight is proof that the caller isn't kidding.

Release Date: 2003-04-04

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Vote Count: 3841

Making of Phone Booth

Behind the scenes documentary of the Joel T. Schumacher film Phone Booth.

Release Date: 2003-03-25

Character: Self

Vote Count: 1

Stupidity

An exploration into the nature of stupidity in Western society and its history of our perception of it.

Release Date: 2003-01-01

Character: Self

Vote Count: 12

Bad Company

When a Harvard-educated CIA agent is killed during an operation, the secret agency recruits his twin brother.

Release Date: 2002-06-07

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Vote Count: 792

Tigerland

A group of recruits go through Advanced Infantry Training at Fort Polk, Louisiana's infamous Tigerland, last stop before Vietnam for tens of thousands of young men in 1971.

Release Date: 2000-10-06

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Vote Count: 569

Gossip

For a class project, three college students decide to invent an unfounded rumor about the most popular girl on campus. But as the rumor spreads, it begins to spiral out of control.

Release Date: 2000-04-21

Department: Production

Job: Executive Producer

Vote Count: 250

What the Folk?... Behind the Scenes of 'Queer as Folk'

Behind the scenes of the filming of the sequel to the ground breaking drama Queer As Folk.

Release Date: 2000-04-09

Character: Himself

Vote Count: 3

Flawless

An ultraconservative police officer suffers a debilitating stroke and is assigned to a rehabilitative program that includes singing lessons - with the drag queen next door.

Release Date: 1999-11-26

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Vote Count: 268

8MM

A small, seemingly innocuous plastic reel of film leads surveillance specialist Tom Welles down an increasingly dark and frightening path. With the help of the streetwise Max, he relentlessly follows a bizarre trail of evidence to determine the fate of a complete stranger. As his work turns into obsession, he drifts farther and farther away from his wife, family and simple life as a small-town PI.

Release Date: 1999-02-26

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Vote Count: 2076

Welcome to Hollywood

A film director decides to chart the course of a young actor as he tries to make it in Hollywood...

Release Date: 1998-10-01

Character: Joel Schumacher

Vote Count: 10

Batman & Robin

Batman and Robin deal with relationship issues while preventing Mr. Freeze and Poison Ivy from attacking Gotham City.

Release Date: 1997-06-20

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Vote Count: 5110

A Time to Kill

A young lawyer defends a black man accused of murdering two white men who raped his 10-year-old daughter, sparking a rebirth of the KKK.

Release Date: 1996-07-24

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Vote Count: 2620

The Babysitter

Jennifer (Alicia Silverstone) is a lovely teen who has been hired to baby-sit the kids of Harry Tucker (J.T. Walsh) and his wife, Dolly (Lee Garlington). The Tuckers go to a party and proceed to get inebriated, with Mr. Tucker fantasizing about his beautiful baby sitter. Meanwhile, Jack (Jeremy London), her boyfriend, and Mark (Nicky Katt), another guy interested in her, decide to spy on Jennifer at the Tucker house, with each young man also fixated on her.

Release Date: 1995-10-17

Department: Production

Job: Executive Producer

Vote Count: 170

Batman Forever

In the looming shadows of Gotham City, two villainous souls devise twin schemes of revenge against the city's dark guardian. Two-Face, disfigured by chance and fueled by vengeance, is obsessed with destroying Batman, while the Riddler, a disillusioned genius, pursues the destruction of billionaire Bruce Wayne. Together they've hatched a plot to absorb and control the minds of all of Gotham City's residents, and only Batman and his new partner, Robin, can stop them! But the Dark Knight is hindered by a mystery from his own childhood. He must hope that a new found love can help him overcome the incident that made him what he is. In the end, he must decide: will he be Batman—forever?

Release Date: 1995-06-16

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Vote Count: 5278

Riddle Me This: Why Is Batman Forever?

How a new director and cast created a new version of Gotham's classic good and bad guys.

Release Date: 1995-06-14

Character: Self - Director

Vote Count: 17

The Client

A street-wise kid, Mark Sway, sees the suicide of Jerome Clifford, a prominent Louisiana lawyer, whose current client is Barry 'The Blade' Muldano, a Mafia hit-man. Before Jerome shoots himself, he tells Mark where the body of a Senator is buried. Clifford shoots himself and Mark is found at the scene, and both the FBI and the Mafia quickly realize that Mark probably knows more than he says.

Release Date: 1994-07-20

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Vote Count: 1167

Falling Down

An ordinary man frustrated with the various flaws he sees in society begins to psychotically and violently lash out against them.

Release Date: 1993-02-26

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Vote Count: 3768

2000 Malibu Road

2000 Malibu Road is a prime time American soap opera that aired on CBS in the summer of 1992. The series stars Drew Barrymore, Jennifer Beals, Brian Bloom, Scott Bryce, Lisa Hartman, Tuesday Knight, and Michael T. Weiss.

A group of friends graduates from the halls of Georgetown University into lives that revolve around sex and career aspirations. Kirby waits tables to pay for law school. His roommate Kevin struggles at a D.C. newspaper as he searches for the meaning of love. Jules may be an object of adoration and envy, but secretly she has problems of her own. Demure Wendy is in love with Billy—a loveable sax player and an irresponsible drunk. Alec wants it all: a career in politics and the appearance of a traditional home life. Alec’s girlfriend, Leslie, is an ambitious architect who doesn't know about his infidelity, but his new allegiance to the Republican Party is already enough to put her off marriage.

Release Date: 1985-06-28

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Vote Count: 551

Code Name: Foxfire

An unorthodox trio of female government agents perform secret missions for the brother of the president of the United States.

Release Date: 1985-01-27

Department: Creator

Job: Creator

D.C. Cab

The tale of a hapless group of cabbies and a rundown cab company owned by Harold. Albert comes to town with a dream of starting his own cab company but needs to motivate Harold's employees to want to make something out of themselves. It is only when Albert is kidnapped that the cabbies must decide whether or not they are loyal to Albert and his cause.

Release Date: 1983-12-16

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Vote Count: 98

The Incredible Shrinking Woman

After being exposed to a bizarre mixture of household chemicals, Pat Kramer begins to shrink. This baffles scientists, makes parenting difficult, warms the hearts of Americans, and captures the attention of a group of people who want to take over the world. This evil group plots to kidnap Pat and perform experiments on her so that they can eventually shrink everyone.

Release Date: 1981-01-30

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Vote Count: 112

Amateur Night at the Dixie Bar and Grill

A variety of people are drawn together through their participation in an amateur talent contest in a country roadhouse.

Release Date: 1979-01-08

Department: Writing

Job: Teleplay

Vote Count: 1

The Wiz

Dorothy Gale, a shy kindergarten teacher, is swept away to the magic land of Oz where she embarks on a quest to return home.

Release Date: 1978-10-24

Department: Writing

Job: Screenplay

Vote Count: 265

Interiors

When Eve, an interior designer, is deserted by her husband of many years, Arthur, the emotionally glacial relationships of the three grown-up daughters are laid bare. Twisted by jealousy, insecurity and resentment, Renata, a successful writer; Joey, a woman crippled by indecision; and Flyn, a budding actress; struggle to communicate for the sake of their shattered mother. But when their father unexpectedly falls for another woman, his decision to remarry sets in motion a terrible twist of fate…

Release Date: 1978-08-02

Department: Costume & Make-Up

Job: Costume Design

Vote Count: 358

Car Wash

This day-in-the-life cult comedy focuses on a group of friends working at Sully Boyar's Car Wash in the Los Angeles ghetto. The team meets dozens of eccentric customers -- including a smooth-talking preacher, a wacky cab driver and an ex-convict -- while cracking politically incorrect jokes to a constant soundtrack of disco and funk. Some of the workers find romance as the day moves along, but most are just happy to get through another shift.

Release Date: 1976-10-22

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Vote Count: 110

Sparkle

Three sisters start out singing in their church choir in Harlem in the late 1950s and become a successful girl group in the 1960s.

Release Date: 1976-04-07

Department: Writing

Job: Story

Vote Count: 20

The Prisoner of Second Avenue

Mel Edison has just lost his job after many years and now has to cope with being unemployed at middle age during an intense NYC heat wave.

Release Date: 1975-03-14

Department: Costume & Make-Up

Job: Costume Design

Vote Count: 67

Virginia Hill

The story of Virginia Hill, a former prostitute who was the girlfriend of '40s killer and gangster Bugsy Siegel.

Release Date: 1974-11-19

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Vote Count: 1

Killer Bees

A strong-willed woman not only dominates her family of California winegrowers, but also has a strange hold on a colony of bees in her vineyard.

Release Date: 1974-02-26

Department: Art

Job: Production Design

Vote Count: 17

Sleeper

Miles Monroe, a clarinet-playing health food store proprietor, is revived out of cryostasis 200 years into a future world in order to help rebels fight an oppressive government regime.

Release Date: 1973-12-17

Department: Costume & Make-Up

Job: Costume Designer

Vote Count: 795

Blume in Love

Lawyer Stephen Blume, who specializes in divorces, lives a paradoxical situation when, having his own marriage break up, is still in love with his ex-wife.

Release Date: 1973-06-17

Department: Costume & Make-Up

Job: Costume Design

Vote Count: 21

The Last of Sheila

A year after Sheila is killed in a hit-and-run, her multimillionaire husband invites a group of friends to spend a week on his yacht playing a scavenger hunt-style mystery game — but the game turns out to be all too real and all too deadly.

Release Date: 1973-06-14

Department: Costume & Make-Up

Job: Costume Design

Vote Count: 143

Play It as It Lays

Burned-out B-movie actress Maria, depressed and frustrated with her loveless marriage to an ambitious film director, Carter Lang, who would rather work on his career than on his relationship with her, numbs herself with drugs and sex with strangers. Only her friendship with a sensitive gay movie producer, B.Z., offers a semblance of solace. But even that relationship proves to be fleeting amidst the empty decadence of Hollywood.

Release Date: 1972-10-19

Department: Costume & Make-Up

Job: Costume Design

Vote Count: 20