Penelope Spheeris

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Penelope Spheeris (1984)

Penelope Spheeris (born December 2, 1945 in New Orleans , Louisiana ) is an American film director , producer and screenwriter . She became known in the US as a documentary film director with the trilogy The Decline of Western Civilization .

In addition to her documentaries, she has also directed feature films. Her most successful film is Wayne's World .

Life

Spheeris was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, the first of four children. Her parents are Greek immigrants. Her father was the owner of the Magic Empire Show circus and her mother was a ticket seller. Spheeris is the sister of singer-songwriter Jimmie Spheeris and her cousin Costa-Gavras is also a director. Penelope traveled through America with her parents' circus for the first seven years until her father was killed. From then on, the mother supported the family with odd jobs.

She received her Masters of Fine Arts in Theater from UCLA in Los Angeles , California .

Career

Penelope Spheeris initially produced small projects for Albert Brooks for the first season of the American television series Saturday Night Live . Her first film, which she produced and directed in 1981, was the documentary about punk rock The Decline of Western Civilization . The sequel of it, The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years , is about the metal scene from Los Angeles and contains interviews from the bands Kiss , Ozzy Osbourne , Aerosmith , Megadeth and Motörhead . The third part of the trilogy is again about the punk rock scene in the streets of Los Angeles.

For her western - road movie dudes - hold me tight, the desert shakes! , in which Jon Cryer and Daniel Roebuck stood in front of the camera, it received mostly bad reviews. She then wrote some episodes for the television series Roseanne (1988-1997). Her breakthrough came with the comedy Wayne’s World (starring Mike Myers , who also wrote the screenplay) and is her most successful film to date. In 1996 she resumed a documentary, We Sold Our Soul for Rock 'n' Roll, about Ozzfest , with Sharon Osbourne as producer.

Penelope then returned to the cinema, producing and directing The Beverly Hillbillies Are Going , Die kleine Superstrolche (with screenwriting), Black Sheep (with Chris Farley ), Senseless (with Marlon Wayans ) and The Kid & I (with Tom Arnold ). In early 2010 she directed Who is Brad Lenz? and has two other projects for the 2010 film year , High School Sweethearts with Emma Roberts and the comedy Balls to the Wall .

Penelope Spheeris' films have been shown at feminist film festivals such as the Portland Oregon Womens Film Festival , to which she was invited as a guest of honor in 2013 and 2014.

Filmography (selection)

  • 1968: Uncle Tom's Fairy Tales
  • 1972: I Don't Know
  • 1979: Real Life
  • 1981: The Decline of Western Civilization
  • 1984: Suburbia
  • 1985: Blind Rage (The Boys Next Door)
  • 1986: Hollywood Cop (Hollywood Vice Squad)
  • 1987: Dudes - hold me tight, the desert shakes! (Dudes)
  • 1988: The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years
  • 1990: Thunder and Mud
  • 1992: Wayne's World
  • 1993: The Beverly Hillbillies are on the loose! (The Beverly Hillbillies)
  • 1994: The Little Rascals (The Little Rascals)
  • 1996: Black Sheep
  • 1998: Senseless
  • 1998: The Decline of Western Civilization Part III
  • 1998: The Thing in Bob's Garage
  • 1999: Hollyweird
  • 2001: Posers
  • 2001: Closers
  • 2001: We Sold Our Souls for Rock 'n Roll
  • 2003: The Crooked E: The Unshredded Truth About Enron
  • 2005: The Kid & I
  • 2008: Gospel According to Janis
  • 2011: Five (TV movie)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jamie Diamond: FILM; Penelope Spheeris: From Carny Life To 'Wayne's World' . In: The New York Times , April 12, 1992. Retrieved August 8, 2010. 
  2. ↑ Penelope Spheeris Biography (1945? -)
  3. ↑ Website of the Portland Oregon Womens Film Festival ( Memento of the original from February 22, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / powfest.com
  4. ^ Marc Mohan: The Portland Oregon Women's Film Festival with guest of honor Penelope Spheeris. In: The Oregonian, March 7, 2013
personal data
SURNAME Spheeris, Penelope
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American director
DATE OF BIRTH December 2, 1945
PLACE OF BIRTH New Orleans , Louisiana, United States