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Alan Jacobs (filmmaker)

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For persons of a similar name, see Alan Jacobs (disambiguation).

Alan Jacobs is an American independent film director, screenwriter and producer.[1] His films have been acquired by major distributors, including Miramax and Columbia Pictures and have been invited to several major festivals, including Sundance and Toronto.[2] His career began at Apple Inc., where he was the in-house filmmaker. Jacobs is a graduate of Wesleyan University and the Stanford Business School.

Early life

Jacobs was born to Sara and Bernard Jacobs, in Tappan, New York. He grew up in Tappan NY and attended Tappan Zee High School, in Orangeburg, New York.[3] Jacobs studied writing and literature at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut from which he graduated in 1980.[4] He received an MBA from the Stanford Business School in 1988.[5]

After graduation, he began his career at Apple Inc., where he was the in-house filmmaker.[6] He wrote his first screenplay in his mid-20s before which he had almost no interest in movies.[7]

Career

Jacobs realized early on that independent[6] filmmaking offered the creative freedom that best suited his lifestyle.[8] His first feature, Nina Takes a Lover (1994), was a purely independent[5] film that Jacobs wrote, directed and produced for $600,000. Both the Sundance Film Festival[9] and the Toronto International Film Festival[10] accepted the film. Soon after Sundance, Columbia Pictures bought the rights to Nina Takes a Lover and distributed it theatrically. Sundance that year launched the careers of a distinguished group of filmmakers, including, David O. Russell (Silver Linings Playbook), Kevin Smith (Chasing Amy), Boaz Yakin (Remember the Titans) and the team of Scott McGehee and David Siegel (What Maisie Knew).[11]

Jacobs demonstrated his versatility as a director in his next film, Just One Night (2000), a screwball comedy about the crazy exploits of an earnest groom-to-be. The film stars Oscar-winning actor Timothy Hutton. Critics described the film as “romantic, lively, sexy, original, flawlessly produced.”[12]

Following Just One Night, Jacobs co-directed the animated film Sinbad: Beyond the Veil of Mists (2000) with Evan Ricks.[13] It was the first movie ever created solely from the motion capture process. The film, described by critics as “[an] adventure story created with state-of-the-art computer technology,”[14] stars Brendan Fraser, Leonard Nimoy and Mark Hamill.

In 2002, Miramax Films released American Gun (2002), written and directed by Jacobs. Starring James Coburn, Virginia Madsen, and Barbara Bain, the film tells interwoven stories centering on a fatal shooting.[15][16] It would be Coburn's final screen appearance.[16] Critics generally praised Coburn's lead role, with Andrew Wright of The Portland Mercury writing, "Coburn is the whole show [here]."[17]

Jacobs' directing and screenplay drew a variety of reactions. David Hunter of The Hollywood Reporter wrote that Jacobs was "getting a lot of quality cinema out of a tight budget" and praised the "risky" storytelling,[17] while David Nusair at Reel Film Reviews called it a "mostly engaging and intriguing character study".[16] However, Chris Hewitt of the St. Paul Pioneer Press criticized the film's "anti-gun message, warm family drama … and its fake-out structure."[17]

His most recent film, Down for Life (2009), is based on a true story about a Hispanic teenage girl who was a gang leader in South Central Los Angeles. The film stars Jessica Romero, who was discovered on a lunch line at Manual Arts High School in Los Angeles, with a supporting cast that includes Danny Glover, Kate del Castillo, Laz Alonso, Elizabeth Peña and Snoop Dogg. The producers of the film visited several inner city schools and conducted brief auditions with approximately 600 teenage girls before casting Romero and her co-stars, Sheila Ochoa, Isamar Guijarro, Ilene Trujillo, and Andrea Valenzuela.[18] Jacobs was inspired by the Italian Neorealist tradition of casting non-actors to heighten a film's authenticity and grittiness.[19] Jacobs cites films like Open City, The Bicycle Thief, and City of God – all of which combined trained actors with authentic amateurs – as blazing a trail for others to make unconventional directorial decisions.[20] Down for Life was invited to both the Toronto and Sundance Film Festivals (though it was not completed in time to screen at the latter). Critics described the film as “moving, motivating, and a must-see.”[21]

Jacobs recently started "Archer Entertainment Group," an integrated media company which manages talent in addition to producing films.

Filmography

References

  1. ^ Alan Jacobs, Filmbug, Retrieved 4 June 2013 <http://www.filmbug.com/db/36498>
  2. ^ Alan Jacobs, IMDB, Retrieved 4 June 2013 <https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0414312/>
  3. ^ Tappan Zee High School, Retrieved 4 June 2013 <http://www.socsd.org/tzh/tappanzeehigh.htm Archived 2014-01-06 at the Wayback Machine>[dead link‍]
  4. ^ "Alumni Films Shown at Toronto International Film Festival". Retrieved 2022-12-12.
  5. ^ a b Klein, Don (22 February 2012). "Independent Streak". STANFORD magazine. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
  6. ^ a b LaSalle, Mick (22 February 1999). "Renewing an Affair With San Francisco, Alan Jacobs, Ex-Local Gone Hollywood, Returns to Film 'SFO'". San Francisco Chronicle. filminamerica.com. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
  7. ^ Alan Jacobs Filmography, Fandango, Retrieved 4 June 2013 <http://www.fandango.com/alanjacobs/filmography/p277041> [dead link‍]
  8. ^ “Alan Jacobs Video” Online Video Guide, Retrieved 4 June 2013 <http://www.ovguide.com/alan-jacobs-9202a8c04000641f800000000092c3fe Archived 2014-01-06 at the Wayback Machine>
  9. ^ Sundance Film Festival, Retrieved 4 June 2013 <http://www.sundance.org/festival/>
  10. ^ Toronto International Film Festival, Retrieved 4 June 2013 <http://tiff.net/>
  11. ^ 1994 Sundance Film Festival, Sundance Archives, Retrieved 4 June 2013 "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-11-07. Retrieved 2010-10-28.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  12. ^ Just One Night Review, TopTenREVIEWS, Retrieved 7 June 2013 <http://movies.toptenreviews.com/reviews/mr162521.htm Archived 2014-01-06 at the Wayback Machine>
  13. ^ Evan Ricks IMDB, Retrieved 7 June 2013 <https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0725572/?ref_=tt_ov_dr>
  14. ^ Sinbad: Beyond the Veil of Mists, Rotten Tomatoes, Retrieved 7 June 2013 , http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/sinbad_beyond_the_veil_of_mists/>
  15. ^ "American Gun". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved March 15, 2023.
  16. ^ a b c Nusair, David (15 February 2004). "American Gun (February 15/04)". ReelFilm. Retrieved 19 June 2015.
  17. ^ a b c "American Gun". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved March 15, 2013.
  18. ^ Lending ‘Down for Life’ Their LA Authenticity, LA Times, Retrieved 17 June 2013
  19. ^ Down for Life, Retrieved 4 June 2013 <http://www.downforlifemovie.com/directors-statement.html Archived 2012-08-11 at the Wayback Machine>
  20. ^ Down for Life, TIFF Reviews, Retrieved 4 June 2013 <http://exclaim.ca/Reviews/TIFF/down_for_life-directed_by_alan_jacobs/?>
  21. ^ Down for Life, The Voice, Retrieved 17 June 2013
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