Jonathan Demme

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Robert Jonathan Demme (DEM-ee), an American director, producer, and screenwriter, born in 1942, was born in Los Angeles, Texas.

He is best known for directing The Silence of the Lambs (1991), for which he received the Academy Award for Best Director.

He also shot Melvin and Howard (1980), Something Wild (1986), Something Wild (1988), Married to the People (1988), and Rachel Getting Married (2008).

Early life

Demme was born in Baldwin, New York, on February 22, 1944, the son of Dorothy Louise (née Rogers) and Robert Eugene Demme, a public relations professional. He grew up in Rockville, New York, and Miami, where he graduated from Southwest Miami High School before attending the University of Florida.

Personal life

Demme was married twice, first to Evelyn Purcell and then Joanne Howard, with whom he had three children: Ramona, Brooklyn, and Jos. He was the uncle of film producer Ted Demme, who died in 2002. The Rev. Demme's cousin was the Rev. Robert Wilkinson Castle Jr., an Episcopal priest who appeared in several of Demme's films, was a priest named Robert Wilkinson.

Demme, alongside Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman, was a member of the Friends of the Apollo Theater in Oberlin, Ohio. He returned to Oberlin as part of an alumni reunion in 2013 and received the accolade for Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts.

Demme signed a petition in support of filmmaker Roman Polanski, who had been detained while on vacation to a film festival in 1977, which the petition said would jeopardize the art of film festivals as a place for works to be seen "freely and safely," and that arresting filmmakers travelling to foreign countries could mean that no one knows the results."

Demme was an avid collector and devotee of Haitian art, particularly Hector Hyppolite; so much so that he called it "an addiction." In 2014, he held an auction in Philadelphia selling thousands from his collection, much of which was donated to a cultural center in Port-au-Prince.

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Career

Demme transitioned to feature filmmaking early in his career, co-writing and directing Angels Hard as They Come (1971), a motorcycle film loosely based on Rashomon and The Hot Box (1972). He went on to direct three films for Corman's studio New World Pictures: Caged Heat (1974), Crazy Mama (1975), and Fighting Mad (1976). Demme produced Handle with Care, the comedy film that was originally published as Citizens Band, 1977) for Paramount Pictures after Fighting Mad. Critics loved the film, but there was no promotion, and it did poorly at the box office. He also supervised a 1978 episode of Columbo.

Melvin and Howard (1980), Demme's next film, did not get a wide audience, but it did receive a slew of critical and film award nominations, including Academy Award nominations for Best Supporting Actress and Best Original Screenplay, and Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay – Bo Goldman). This acclaim resulted in Demme's appointment as the acting artist on Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell's Swing Shift (1984). It was initially intended as a prestige photograph for Warner Bros. as well as a major commercial vehicle for Demme, but it turned into a difficult production due to Demme's contradicting visions. Demme ended up renouncing the finished product, and critics and moviegoers generally condemned the film when it was released in May 1984. Demme stepped back from Hollywood to make the Talking Heads concert film Stop Making Sense (also 1984), which received the National Society of Film Critics Award for best documentary; the unconventional screwball action-romantic comedy Something Wild (1986); and the New York Mafia-by-way-of-Mob (1988).

Demme founded Clinica Estetico in 1987, alongside producers Edward Saxon and Peter Saraf. They had been based out of New York City for fifteen years.

Demme received the Academy Award for her 1991 film The Silence of the Lambs (1991), one of only three films to win all major categories (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Actress). Demme later made Philadelphia (1993), one of the first major films to address the AIDS epidemic and inspired by his companion Juan Suárez Botas' illness with AIDS and fuelled by his own moral convictions, earning actor Tom Hanks his first Best Actor award. He co-directed (with his nephew Ted) the music video for Bruce Springsteen's Best Song Oscar-winning "Streets of Philadelphia" from the film's soundtrack. Jonathan used several of the same actors in both films.

Following in the sequels, he produced a version of Toni Morrison's Beloved (1998), based on Charade, and two 1960s films, The Truth About Charlie (2002), starring Mark Wahlberg in the Cary Grant role; and The Manchurian Candidate (2004), with Denzel Washington and Meryl St. ep. The documentary film Man from Plains (2005), a documentary about former US President Jimmy Carter's promotional tour promoting his book Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, had its premiere at the Venice Film Festival and Toronto International Film Festival.

Many commentators compared Rachel Getting Married (2008) to Demme's films of the late 1970s and 1980s. It was included in several "best of" lists in 2008, and it has received numerous accolades and accolades, including an Academy Award nomination for Lead Anne Hathaway. Demme directed Family Week, Beth Henley's first foray into theater in 2010. MCC Theater and co-starred Rosemarie DeWitt and Kathleen Chalfant in the play.

Demme had promised to produce, produce, and write an adaptation of Stephen King's sci-fi book 11/22/63, but she was later voted off because of differences with the King over what should be included in the script.

Justin Timberlake + the Tennessee Kids (2016), a "performance film but also a portrait of an artist at a certain point in his career's timeline," and his last project, a history of rock and roll, was scheduled to premiere in summer 2017.

Demme produced music videos for musicians such as Suburban Lawns, New Order, and KRS-One's H.E.A.L. Bruce Springsteen and the project were both involved. In addition, he produced Konbit: Burning Rhythms of Haiti, a Haitian music collection that was released in 1989. (Lou Reed selected Konbit as one of his 'picks of 1989').

Demme served on the board of directors of Jacob Burns Film Center in Pleasantville, New York. Rarely Seen Cinema, he curated and produced a monthly series in addition to his board service.

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