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John Carpenter

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For other people named John Carpenter, see John Carpenter (disambiguation).
John Carpenter
Carpenter in 2001
Born (1948-01-16) January 16, 1948 (age 76)
Carthage, New York, United States
NationalityAmerican
EducationWestern Kentucky University
Alma materUniversity of Southern California
Occupation(s)director, screenwriter, producer, composer
Years active1962 – present
Spouse(s)Adrienne Barbeau (1979–1984)
Sandy King (1990–)

John Howard Carpenter (born January 16, 1948) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, editor, composer, and occasional actor. Although Carpenter has worked in numerous film genres in his four-decade career, his name is most commonly associated with horror and science fiction.

Early life

Carpenter was born in Carthage, New York, the son of Milton Jean (née Carter) and Howard Ralph Carpenter, a music professor.[1] He and his family moved to Bowling Green, Kentucky in 1953.[2] He was captivated by movies from an early age, particularly the westerns of Howard Hawks and John Ford, as well as 1950s low budget horror and science fiction films, such as Forbidden Planet and The Thing from Another World [3] and began filming horror shorts on 8 mm film even before entering high school.[4] He attended Western Kentucky University where his father chaired the music department, then transferred to the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts in 1968, but later dropped out to make his first feature.[5]

Academy Award – Live Action Short Film

At USC Cinema, one of his projects as a co-writer, film editor and music composer, The Resurrection of Broncho Billy (1970), produced by John Longenecker, won an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film. The short film was blown-up to 35mm, sixty prints were made, and the film was theatrically released by Universal Studios for two years in the United States and Canada.

1970s: From student films to major theatrical releases

His first major film as director, Dark Star (1974), was a science fiction black comedy that he cowrote with Dan O'Bannon (who later went on to write Alien, borrowing freely from much of Dark Star). The film reportedly cost only $60,000 and was difficult to make as both Carpenter and O'Bannon completed the film by multitasking, with Carpenter doing the musical score as well as the writing, producing and directing, while O'Bannon acted in the film and did the special effects (which caught the attention of George Lucas who hired him to do work on the special effects for Star Wars). Carpenter's efforts did not go unnoticed as much of Hollywood marveled at his filmmaking abilities within the confines of a shoestring budget.[6]

Carpenter's next film was Assault on Precinct 13 (1976), a low-budget thriller influenced by the films of Howard Hawks, particularly Rio Bravo. As with Dark Star, Carpenter was responsible for many aspects of the film's creation. He not only wrote, directed and scored it, but also edited the film under the pseudonym "John T. Chance" (the name of John Wayne's character in Rio Bravo). Carpenter has said that he considers Assault on Precinct 13 to have been his first real film because it was the first movie that he shot on a schedule.[7] The film was also significant because it marked the first time Carpenter worked with Debra Hill, who played prominently in the making of some of Carpenter's most important films.

Working within the limitations of a $100,000 budget,[8] Carpenter assembled a main cast that consisted of experienced but relatively obscure actors. The two leads were Austin Stoker, who had appeared previously in science fiction, disaster and blaxploitation films, and Darwin Joston, who had worked primarily in television and had once been Carpenter's next-door neighbor.[9]

The film was originally released in the United States to mixed critical reviews and lackluster box-office earnings, but after it was screened at the 1977 London Film Festival, it became a critical and commercial success in Europe and is often credited with launching Carpenter's career. The film subsequently received a critical reassessment in the United States, where it is now generally regarded as one of the best exploitation films of the 1970s.[citation needed]

Carpenter both wrote and directed the Lauren Hutton thriller Someone's Watching Me! (aka High Rise) in 1978.[10] This TV movie is the tale of a single, working woman who, shortly after arriving in L.A., discovers that she is being stalked. Borrowing heavily from Alfred Hitchcock, Carpenter slowly builds the suspense and intrigue before the final confrontation.

Halloween (1978) was a smash hit on release and helped give birth to the slasher film genre. Originally an idea suggested by producer Irwin Yablans (titled The Babysitter Murders), who envisioned a film about babysitters being menaced by a stalker, Carpenter took the idea and another suggestion from Yablans that it take place during Halloween and developed a story.[11] Carpenter said of the basic concept: "Halloween night. It has never been the theme in a film. My idea was to do an old haunted house movie."[12] The film was written by Carpenter and Debra Hill with Carpenter admitting that the music, not the film, was inspired by both Dario Argento's Suspiria and William Friedkin's The Exorcist.

Carpenter again worked with a relatively small budget, $320,000.[13] The film grossed over $65 million initially, making it one of the most successful independent films of all time.[14]

Carpenter relied upon taut suspense rather than the excessive gore that would define later slasher films in order to make the menacing nature of the main character, Michael Myers, more palpable. At times, Carpenter has described Halloween in terms that appeared to directly contradict the more thoughtful, nuanced approach to horror that he actually used, such as: "True crass exploitation. I decided to make a film I would love to have seen as a kid, full of cheap tricks like a haunted house at a fair where you walk down the corridor and things jump out at you."[15] The film has often been cited as an allegory on the virtue of sexual purity and the danger of casual sex, although Carpenter has explained that this was not his intent: "It has been suggested that I was making some kind of moral statement. Believe me, I'm not. In Halloween, I viewed the characters as simply normal teenagers."[16] Of the later slasher films that largely mimicked Carpenter's work on Halloween, few have met with the same critical success.

In addition to the film's critical and commercial success, Carpenter's self-composed "Halloween Theme" remains a recognizable film music theme to this day.[17]

In 1979, John Carpenter began what was to be the first of several collaborations with actor Kurt Russell when he directed the TV movie Elvis. The made-for-TV movie was a smash hit with viewers and critics, and was also released as a feature film in cinemas outside the U. S. and revived the career of Russell, who was a child actor in the 1960s.

1980s: Continued commercial success

Carpenter followed up the success of Halloween with The Fog (1980), a ghostly revenge tale (co-written by Hill) inspired by horror comics such as Tales from the Crypt[18] and by The Crawling Eye, a 1958 movie about monsters hiding in clouds.[19]

Completing The Fog was an unusually difficult process for Carpenter. After viewing a rough cut of the film, he was dissatisfied with the result. For the only time in his filmmaking career, he had to devise a way to salvage a nearly finished film that did not meet his standards. In order to make the movie more coherent and frightening, Carpenter shot additional footage that included a number of new scenes. Approximately one-third of the finished film is the newer footage.

Despite production problems and mostly negative critical reception, The Fog was another commercial success for Carpenter. The film was made on a budget of $1,000,000, but it grossed over $21,000,000 in the United States alone.[20] Carpenter has said that The Fog is not his favorite film, although he considers it a "minor horror classic".[19]

Carpenter immediately followed The Fog with the science-fiction adventure Escape from New York (1981), which quickly picked up large cult and mainstream audiences as well as critical acclaim.

His next film, The Thing (1982), is notable for its high production values, including innovative special effects by Rob Bottin, special visual effects by matte artist Albert Whitlock, a score by Ennio Morricone and a cast including rising star Kurt Russell and respected character actors such as Wilford Brimley, Richard Dysart, Keith David, and Richard Masur. The Thing was made with a budget of $15,000,000,[21] Carpenter's largest up to that point, and distributed by Universal Pictures.

Although Carpenter's film was ostensibly a remake of the 1951 Howard Hawks film, The Thing from Another World, Carpenter's version is more faithful to the John W. Campbell, Jr. novella, Who Goes There?, upon which both films were based. Moreover, unlike the Hawks film, The Thing was part of Carpenter's Apocalypse Trilogy a trio of films with bleak endings for the film's characters, and being a graphic, sinister horror film,[22] it did not appeal to audiences in the summer of 1982, especially when E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, which would have illustrated a much more light-hearted picture of alien visitation, was released two weeks prior. In an interview, Carpenter stated that E.T.'s release could have been largely responsible for the film's disappointment.[23][24][25][26] As The Thing did not perform well on a commercial level, it was Carpenter's first financial disappointment. Later, the movie found new life in the home video and cable markets, and it is now widely regarded as one of the best horror films and remakes ever made.[citation needed]

Shortly after completing post-production on The Thing, Universal offered him the chance to direct Firestarter, based on the novel by Stephen King. Carpenter hired Bill Lancaster to adapt the novel into a script, which was completed in mid-1982. Carpenter had ear-marked Burt Lancaster to star as "Rainbird" and 12-year-old Jennifer Connelly as "Charly" but when The Thing was a box-office disappointment, Universal replaced Carpenter with Mark L Lester. Ironically, Carpenter's next film, Christine, was the 1983 adaptation of the Stephen King novel of the same name. The story revolves around a high-school nerd named Arnie Cunningham (Keith Gordon) who buys a junked 1958 Plymouth Fury which turns out to have supernatural powers. As Cunningham restores and rebuilds the car, he becomes unnaturally obsessed with it, with deadly consequences. Christine did respectable business upon its release and was received well by critics; however, Carpenter has been quoted as saying he directed the film because it was the only thing offered to him at the time.[27]

One of the high points in Carpenter's career came in 1984 with the release of Starman, a film that was critically praised but was only a moderate commercial success.[28] Produced by Michael Douglas, the script was well received by Columbia Pictures, which chose it over the script for E.T. and prompted Steven Spielberg to go to Universal Pictures. Douglas chose Carpenter to be the director because of his reputation as an action director who could also convey strong emotion.[29] Starman was favorably reviewed by the Los Angeles Times, New York Times and LA Weekly and described by Carpenter as a film he envisioned as a romantic comedy similar to It Happened One Night only with a space alien.[30][31] The film received Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for Jeff Bridges' portrayal of Starman and received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Musical Score for Jack Nitzsche.

After seeing footage of Starman, the executive producer of the Superman movie series, Ilya Salkind, offered Carpenter the chance to direct the latest Alexander–Ilya Salkind fantasy epic Santa Claus: The Movie. Salkind made the offer to Carpenter over lunch at The Ritz, and while he loved the idea of breaking from his normal traditions and directing a children's fantasy movie, he requested 24 hours to think over the offer. The next day he had drawn up a list of requirements should he direct the movie; they were: 100 percent creative control, the right to take over scriptwriting duties, being able to co-compose the movie's musical score, total editorial control, the casting of Brian Dennehey as Santa Claus and a $5 million signing-on fee (the same amount that the movie's star Dudley Moore was receiving). Team Salkind were nonplussed by his demands and withdrew their offer for him to direct. Carpenter told Empire magazine ten years later that he wished he'd been less demanding and made the movie because he liked the idea so much and it would have changed critics' views on his limitations as a director.

Following the box office failure of his big-budget action–comedy Big Trouble in Little China (1986), Carpenter struggled to get films financed. He returned to making lower budget films such as Prince of Darkness (1987), a film influenced by the BBC series Quatermass. Although some of the films from this time, such as They Live (1988) did pick up a considerable cult audience, he never again realized his mass-market potential.

Carpenter was also offered "The Exorcist III" in 1989 and met with the writer (and author of the novel "Legion" on which it was based) William Peter Blatty over the course of a week. However, the two film-makers clashed on the film's climax and Carpenter passed on the project. Blatty directed the film himself a year later. Carpenter is quoted as saying that although they fought over the ending, they held a mutual respect for one another and talked endlessly about an interest they both shared: quantum physics![32]

John Carpenter, in an interview with Empire Magazine, stated that he was offered Top Gun and Fatal Attraction. He knocked back Top Gun because he did not like the dialogue and felt it was just a second unit directed film. With Fatal Attraction, he just did not like the script.

1990s: Criticism and commercial decline

His 1990s career is characterized by a number of notable misfires: Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992), Village of the Damned (1995) and Escape From L.A. (1996) are examples of films that were critical and box office failures. Also notable from this decade are:

  • In the Mouth of Madness (1994), yet another Lovecraftian homage, which did not do well either at the box-office or with critics.[33]
  • Vampires (1998) starred James Woods as the leader of a band of vampire hunters in league with the Catholic Church. It was the only film during the 90's which was a financial success for Carpenter.

2000s–present: Remakes and Masters of Horror

2001 saw the release of Ghosts of Mars. 2005 saw remakes of Assault on Precinct 13 and The Fog, the latter being produced by Carpenter himself, though in an interview he defined his involvement as, "I come in and say hello to everybody. Go home."[34]

More recently, Rob Zombie has produced and directed Halloween, a re-imagining of John Carpenter's 1978 film. It was released in 2007, and spawned a sequel two years later.

Carpenter returned to the director's chair in 2005 for an episode of Showtime's Masters of Horror series as one of the thirteen filmmakers involved in the first season. His episode, Cigarette Burns, aired to generally positive reviews, and positive reactions from Carpenter fans, many of whom regard it as on par with his earlier horror classics. He has since contributed another original episode for the show's second season entitled "Pro-Life", about a young girl who is raped and impregnated by a demon and wants to have an abortion, but whose efforts are halted by her religious fanatic, gun-toting father and her three brothers.

A remake of Escape from New York was planned starring Gerard Butler as Snake Plissken but he has since turned the role down.

In February 2009, It was announced that Carpenter had planned for his newest project, called The Ward, starring Amber Heard. It was his first movie since 2001's Ghosts of Mars, and it premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 13, 2010. Carpenter narrated the upcoming video game F.E.A.R. 3.[35] On 10 October 2010 Carpenter received the Lifetime Award from the Freak Show Horror Film Festival.[36]

The official John Carpenter Facebook fan page has revealed new images from a comic book series that will be championed by Carpenter. The comic book series will be titled John Carpenter's Asylum and it is said that Carpenter may write for the series too.

Techniques

His films are characterized by minimalist lighting and photography, static cameras, use of steadicam, and distinctive synthesized scores (usually self-composed). He describes himself as having been influenced by Howard Hawks, Alfred Hitchcock, Nigel Kneale and The Twilight Zone.

With the exception of The Thing, Starman, and Memoirs of an Invisible Man, he has scored all of his films (though some are collaborations), most famously the themes from Halloween and Assault on Precinct 13. His music is generally synthesized with accompaniment from piano and atmospherics.

Carpenter is an outspoken proponent of widescreen filming, and all of his theatrical movies (with the exception of Dark Star) were filmed anamorphic with a 2.35:1 or greater aspect ratio.

Legacy

With a career that has spanned over thirty years, John Carpenter has attained a reputation as a respected independent filmmaker. Although some of Carpenter's films have not been commercially or critically successful upon initial theatrical release, Carpenter has developed a large cult following through home video releases of his films. Many of his films, most notably The Thing, have been rediscovered on VHS, laserdisc and DVD and have since been embraced by many fans – interesting, as The Thing was initially Carpenter's first big setback. The film was considered excessively dark, and did not do well at the box office. Rob Bottin's effects were considered too grotesque for a mainstream audience. Retrospectively, the film has gained much critical appreciation.[citation needed]

Four years later, Big Trouble in Little China was also poorly received by audiences and critics alike, an eclectic mix of genres that was years ahead of its time. This film, like The Thing, found its audience on VHS and DVD years after its theatrical release.

Many of Carpenter's films have been re-released on DVD as special editions with numerous bonus features. Examples of such are: the collector's editions of Halloween, Escape From New York, Christine, The Thing, Assault on Precinct 13, Big Trouble In Little China and The Fog. Some have been re-issued recently with a new anamorphic widescreen transfer. In the UK, several of Carpenter's films have been released on DVD with audio commentary by Carpenter and his stars (They Live, with actor/wrestler Roddy Piper, Starman with actor Jeff Bridges and Prince of Darkness with actor Peter Jason) that have not been released in the United States.

In recent years, Carpenter has been the subject of the documentary film John Carpenter: The Man and His Movies, and his status as a respected filmmaker has been reinforced by American Cinematheque's 2002 retrospective of his films. Moreover, in 2006, the United States Library of Congress deemed Halloween to be "culturally significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry.[37]

The action filmmaker Robert Rodriguez credits John Carpenter with having one of the biggest influences on his directing career.

In 2010, writer and actor Mark Gatiss interviewed Carpenter about his career and films for his BBC documentary series A History of Horror. Carpenter appears in all three episodes of the series.[38]

Personal life

Carpenter met his future wife, actress Adrienne Barbeau, on the set of his 1978 television movie, Someone's Watching Me. Carpenter was married to Barbeau from January 1, 1979, to 1984. During their marriage, Barbeau starred in The Fog, and also appeared in Escape from New York. The couple had one son, John Cody Carpenter (born May 7, 1984).

Carpenter has been married to producer Sandy King since 1990. King produced a number of Carpenter's later feature films, including They Live, In the Mouth of Madness, Ghosts of Mars, and Escape from L.A. She also functioned as script supervisor for some of these films as well, such as Starman, Big Trouble in Little China and Prince of Darkness.[39]

He appeared in an episode of Animal Planet's Animal Icons titled "It Came from Japan."

In an interview Carpenter had said that he has been diagnosed with skin cancer several times and that he believes the reason for this was working on The Thing due to the sun's rays bouncing off the snow and onto his face.

Carpenter is also a known supporter of video games as a media and art form and has a particular liking for the FEAR franchise in general, even going as far as offering himself as a spokesman and helping direct F3AR cutscenes.

Filmography

See John Carpenter filmography

Further reading

  • Conrich, Ian & Woods, David. The Cinema of John Carpenter: The Technique of Terror (Directors' Cuts), Wallflower Press (2004). ISBN 1-904764-14-2.
  • Muir, John Kenneth. The Films of John Carpenter, McFarland & Company, Inc. (2005). ISBN 0-7864-2269-6.

References

  1. ^ John Carpenter Biography (1948–)
  2. ^ Kleber, John E., ed. (1992). "Carpenter, John Howard". The Kentucky Encyclopedia. Associate editors: Thomas D. Clark, Lowell H. Harrison, and James C. Klotter. Lexington, Kentucky: The University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 0813117720.
  3. ^ Marco Lanzagorta, "John Carpenter" at Senses of Cinema.
  4. ^ John Carpenter's profile at AMCtv.
  5. ^ Notable Alumni, USC School of Cinematic Arts.
  6. ^ The Official John Carpenter, The Times: March 8, 1978. The slow evolution of Dark Star.
  7. ^ SoundtrackNet article, "Having a Bite with John Carpenter": October 14, 1998
  8. ^ IMDb.com Business Data for Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)
  9. ^ Q & A session with John Carpenter and Austin Stoker at American Cinematheque's 2002 John Carpenter retrospective, in the Assault on Precinct 13 2003 special edition DVD.
  10. ^ John Carpenter at IMDb
  11. ^ Scifi.com, Interview: John Carpenter looks back at Halloween on its 25th anniversary
  12. ^ The Official John Carpenter, Rolling Stone: June 28, 1979
  13. ^ Audio commentary by John Carpenter and Debra Hill in The Fog, 2002 special edition DVD
  14. ^ House of Horrors Review: Halloween
  15. ^ The Official John Carpenter, Chic Magazine: August 1979, Dr. Terror stalks Hollywood
  16. ^ Scifil.com Interview
  17. ^ "Killing His Contemporaries: Dissecting The Musical Worlds Of John Carpenter".
  18. ^ Interview with John Carpenter in the 2005 documentary film, Tales from the Crypt from Comic Books to Television.
  19. ^ a b Audio commentary by John Carpenter and Debra Hill in The Fog, 2002 special edition DVD.
  20. ^ IMDb.com Business Data for The Fog (1980)
  21. ^ IMDb.com Business Data for The Thing (1982)
  22. ^ The Two Sides of John Carpenter
  23. ^ Steve Biodrowski. "John Carpenter's The Thing This Way Comes". Cinefantastique.
  24. ^ John Carpenter - Director - Films as Director:, Other Films:, Publications
  25. ^ John Carpenter’s The Thing
  26. ^ The Thing’s Monstrous Merchandise
  27. ^ Interview with John Carpenter on the DVD documentary film "Christine: Ignition"
  28. ^ IMDB: Business Data for Starman
  29. ^ Boston Globe December 9, 1984. Director John Carpenter talks about the movie biz big budgets and cold burgers
  30. ^ The Official John Carpenter: Los Angeles Herald Examiner: December 14, 1984
  31. ^ John Carpenter: Press: LA Weekly: 12-14/20-84
  32. ^ "John Carpenter: Prince of Darkness" by Gilles Boulenger/Page216
  33. ^ In the Mouth of Madness (1995)
  34. ^ John Carpenter, Staci Layne Wilson interview, quoted at Horror.com.
  35. ^ "Badass Announcement Trailer – F.E.A.R. 3". DreadCentral.
  36. ^ "John Carpenter to Receive Lifetime Achievement Award from the Freak Show Horror Film". DreadCentral.
  37. ^ Press Release for films inducted into National Film Registry on Dec. 27, 2006. National Film Registry 2006
  38. ^ "A History of Horror with Mark Gatiss - Q&A with Mark Gatiss". BBC. Retrieved 2010-11-12.
  39. ^ Sandy King at IMDb

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