William Friedkin

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William Friedkin at the American Film Festival in Deauville (2012)

William Friedkin (born August 29, 1935 in Chicago , Illinois ) is an American director , screenwriter and producer . He had his greatest successes in the early 1970s in the era of " New Hollywood " cinema with The French Connection - Focal Point Brooklyn and The Exorcist .

Life

Friedkin's Jewish ancestors come from what is now Ukraine , from which they fled the pogroms to the USA in 1903 . William Friedkin started his career in the mail room of a local Chicago broadcaster, but soon began making live television programs and documentaries . His first documentary ( The People vs. Paul Crump ) from 1962 about Paul Crump, who had been on death row for eight years , earned him the Golden Gate Prize of the San Francisco Film Festival and Paul Crump commuted his death sentence to life imprisonment .

During this time, he also shot episodes of the popular programs The Alfred Hitchcock Hour and Alfred Hitchcock Presents for television . While filming it, he also met his idol Alfred Hitchcock .

Friedkin's final breakthrough came in 1971 with the action thriller French Connection - Focal Point Brooklyn with Gene Hackman , Fernando Rey and Roy Scheider . Shot with a budget of 1.8 million dollars , the film was a worldwide success in both the box office and with critics. He won a total of five Academy Awards , including best film and best director. French Connection is now seen as one of the most important films of the New Hollywood era because of its almost documentary style, the use of the hand-held camera and the lack of studio-setting . Friedkin even surpassed the success of French Connection in 1973 with the horror film The Exorcist . He became the first director to make a film in excess of $ 100 million. In 2001, The Exorcist landed in third place in a poll by the American Film Institute for the 100 best thrillers . His next films were received less unanimously by the critics. Sorcerer , a remake of Henri-Georges Clouzot's Wages of Fear , and the thriller Cruising starring Al Pacino , which plays in the New York gay and S&M scene, were less commercially successful and only later developed into reputable classics. It was a similar story for him in 1985 with life and death in LA .

After problems with production companies, it became increasingly quiet about his work on movies. For this, the television film CAT Squad , which he produced, was a success in 1986. With the movie Jade he tried in 1995 with moderate success in the genre of the erotic thriller and also his movies Rules - Seconds of Decision and The Hour of the Hunter were spurned by the audience and criticism. In 2000, The Exorcist was released in an expanded and restored version and again proved to be a box-office magnet.

In 2006 he made his debut as an opera director at the Bavarian State Opera with Salome by Richard Strauss and Das Gehege by Wolfgang Rihm . In 2011 Friedkin received his first invitation to compete at the 68th Venice International Film Festival for the black comedy Killer Joe .

Friedkin's first three marriages were divorced: from 1977 to 1979 he was married to actress Jeanne Moreau , from 1982 to 1985 with actress Lesley-Anne Down and from 1987 to 1990 with television journalist Kelly Lange . He has been married to the studio manager and producer Sherry Lansing since 1991 . The director has two sons.

Filmography

William Friedkin (2017)

As a director

  • 1962: The People vs. Paul Crump (television documentary)
  • 1965: The Bold Men (TV documentary)
  • 1965: Alfred Hitchcock Presents (TV series, episode Off Season )
  • 1965: Pro Football: Mayhem on a Sunday Afternoon (TV documentary)
  • 1965: Time-Life Specials: The March of Time (TV documentary)
  • 1966: US police cross-examination ( The Thin Blue Line ; television documentary, also screenwriter and producer)
  • 1967: Good Times
  • 1968: The Birthday Party
  • 1968: The Night They Raided Minsky's
  • 1969: Die Harten und die Zarten (The Boys in the Band)
  • 1971: Focal Point Brooklyn (The French Connection)
  • 1973: The Exorcist (The Exorcist)
  • 1975: Conversations with Fritz Lang (documentary)
  • 1977: Breathless with fear ( Sorcerer , also producer)
  • 1978: The Brink's Job (The Brink's Job)
  • 1980: Cruising (also screenwriter)
  • 1983: Deal of the Century
  • 1984: Self Control (music video for Laura Branigan's hit)
  • 1985: Live and Die in LA ( To Live and Die in LA , also screenwriter)
  • 1985: Twilight Zone (TV series, episode Nightcrawlers )
  • 1986: CAT Squad - The Elite Strikes Back ( CAT Squad ; TV film, also producer)
  • 1987: Rampage - mass murder charges ( Rampage , also screenwriter and producer)
  • 1988: CAT 2 - The Elite Strikes Back ( CAT Squad: Python Wolf ; TV film, also screenwriter and producer)
  • 1990: The Nanny ( The Guardian , also screenwriter)
  • 1992: Tales from the Crypt ( Tales from the Crypt , television series, Episode On a Deadman's Chest )
  • 1994: blue chips
  • 1994: Jailbreakers - Jung und Vogelfrei ( Jailbreakers ; TV movie)
  • 1995: Jade
  • 1997: The 12 Jurors ( 12 Angry Men ; TV movie)
  • 2000: Rules - Seconds of Decision (Rules of Engagement)
  • 2003: The Hunted (The Hunted)
  • 2006: bug
  • 2007: The Painter's Voice (short film)
  • 2007/2009: CSI: Vegas (TV series, episodes Mascara & Cockroaches )
  • 2011: Killer Joe
  • 2017: The Devil and Father Amorth (documentary, also screenwriter)

Honourings and prices

Anecdotes

  • When he went to a cinema for the first time with his mother at the age of four , William Friedkin was so shocked by the sudden darkening of the room and the loud music that he fled the cinema - even before the opening credits were over.
  • He is known for his perfectionism and often has individual scenes repeated several times, pushing his actors to their psychological and physical limits. For example, he had Gene Hackman repeat a torture scene in French Connection - Focal Point Brooklyn so many times that he actually slapped his victim in the face.

In the documentary (2018) by Francesco Zippel about Friedkin, however, he himself and all the actors who shot with him and were interviewed in the documentary claim the opposite in terms of Friedkin perfectionism or repetitions of the scenes on the set.

literature

  • Marcus Stiglegger: [Article] William Friedkin. In: Thomas Koebner (Ed.): Film directors. Biographies, descriptions of works, filmographies. 3rd, updated and expanded edition. Reclam, Stuttgart 2008 [1. Ed. 1999], ISBN 978-3-15-010662-4 , pp. 266-268 [with references].

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Friedkin, William
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American director, screenwriter and producer
DATE OF BIRTH August 29, 1935
PLACE OF BIRTH Chicago , Illinois