Filmmaking (often referred to in an academic context as film production) is the process of making a film, from an initial story, idea, or commission, through scriptwriting, casting, shooting, directing, editing, and screening the finished product before an audience that may result in a theatrical release or television program. Filmmaking takes place all over the planet in a huge range of economic, social, and political contexts, and using a variety of technologies and cinematic techniques. Typically, it involves a large number of people, and takes from a few months to several years to complete, although it may take longer if there are production issues, and the record for the longest production time for a major film is ''The Thief and the Cobbler'''s 28 years development.

Parts

Film production occurs in three stages:

Pre-production—Preparations are made for the shoot, in which cast and film crew are hired, locations are selected, and sets are built. This is also the stage in which the ideas for the film are created, rights to books/plays are bought, etc.

Production—The raw elements for the finished film are recorded.

Post-Production—The film is edited; production sound (dialogue) is concurrently (but separately) edited, music tracks (and songs) are composed, performed and recorded, if a film is sought to have a score; sound effects are designed and recorded; and any other computer-graphic 'visual' effects are digitally added, all sound elements are mixed into "stems" then the stems are mixed then married to picture and the film is fully completed ("locked").

Pre-production

In this stage, the project's producer finds a story, which may come from a book, play, another film, a true story, original idea, etc. After identifying a theme or underlying message, the producer works with writers to prepare a synopsis. Next they produce a step outline, which breaks the story down into one-paragraph scenes that concentrate on dramatic structure. Then, they prepare a treatment, a 25 to 30 page description of the story, its mood, and characters. This usually has little dialogue and stage direction, but often contains drawings that help visualize key points. Another way is to produce a scriptment once a synopsis is produced.

Next, a screenwriter writes a screenplay over a period of several months. The screenwriter may rewrite it several times to improve dramatization, clarity, structure, characters, dialogue, and overall style. However, producers often skip the previous steps and develop submitted screenplays which investors, studios, and other interested parties assess through a process called script coverage. A film distributor may be contacted at an early stage to assess the likely market and potential financial success of the film. Hollywood distributors adopt a hard-headed business approach and consider factors such as the film genre, the target audience, the historical success of similar films, the actors who might appear in the film, and potential directors. All these factors imply a certain appeal of the film to a possible audience and hence the number of "A.I.S." (or "Asses in Seats") during the theatrical release. Not all films make a profit from the theatrical release alone, so film companies take DVD sales and worldwide distribution rights into account.

The producer and screenwriter prepare a film pitch, or treatment, and present it to potential financiers. If the pitch is successful, the film receives a "green light", meaning someone offers financial backing: typically a major film studio, film council, or independent investor. The parties involved negotiate a deal and sign contracts. Once all parties have met and the deal has been set, the film may proceed into the pre-production period. By this stage, the film should have a clearly defined marketing strategy and target audience.

In pre-production, every step of actually creating the film is carefully designed and planned. The production company is created and a production office established. The production is storyboarded and visualized with the help of illustrators and concept artists. A production budget is drawn up to plan expenditures for the film. For major productions, insurance is procured to protect against accidents.

The producer hires a crew. The nature of the film, and the budget, determine the size and type of crew used during filmmaking. Many Hollywood blockbusters employ a cast and crew of hundreds, while a low-budget, independent film may be made by a skeleton crew of eight or nine (or fewer). These are typical crew positions:

The director is primarily responsible for the storytelling, creative decisions and acting of the film.

The assistant director (AD) manages the shooting schedule and logistics of the production, among other tasks. There are several types of AD, each with different responsibilities.

The casting director finds actors to fill the parts in the script. This normally requires that actors audition.

The location manager finds and manages film locations. Most pictures are shot in the controllable environment of a studio sound stage but occasionally, outdoor sequences call for filming on location.

The production manager manages the production budget and production schedule. They also report, on behalf of the production office, to the studio executives or financiers of the film.

The director of photography (DoP) is the cinematographer who supervises the photography of the entire film

The director of audiography (DoA) is the audiographer who supervises the audiography of the entire film. For productions in the Western world this role is also known as either sound designer or supervising sound editor.

The production sound mixer is the head of the sound department during the production stage of filmmaking. They record and mix the audio on set - dialogue, presence and sound effects in mono and ambience in stereo. They work with the boom operator, Director, DoA, DoP, and First AD.

The sound designer creates the aural conception of the film, working with the supervising sound editor. On some productions the sound designer plays the role of a director of audiography.

The composer creates new music for the film. (usually not until post-production)

The production designer creates the visual conception of the film, working with the art director.

The art director manages the art department, which makes production sets

The costume designer creates the clothing for the characters in the film working closely with the actors, as well as other departments.

The make up and hair designer works closely with the costume designer in addition to create a certain look for a character.

The storyboard artist creates visual images to help the director and production designer communicate their ideas to the production team.

The choreographer creates and coordinates the movement and dance - typically for musicals. Some films also credit a fight choreographer.

Production

In production, the video production/film is created and shot. More crew will be recruited at this stage, such as the property master, script supervisor, assistant directors, stills photographer, picture editor, and sound editors. These are just the most common roles in filmmaking; the production office will be free to create any unique blend of roles to suit the various responsibilities possible during the production of a film.

A typical day's shooting begins with the crew arriving on the set/location by their call time. Actors usually have their own separate call times. Since set construction, dressing and lighting can take many hours or even days, they are often set up in advance. The grip, electric and production design crews are typically a step ahead of the camera and sound departments: for efficiency's sake, while a scene is being filmed, they are already preparing the next one.

While the crew prepare their equipment, the actors are wardrobed in their costumes and attend the hair and make-up departments. The actors rehearse the script and blocking with the director, and the camera and sound crews rehearse with them and make final tweaks. Finally, the action is shot in as many takes as the director wishes. Most American productions follow a specific procedure:

The assistant director (AD) calls "picture is up!" to inform everyone that a take is about to be recorded, and then "quiet, everyone!" Once everyone is ready to shoot, the AD calls "roll sound" (if the take involves sound), and the production sound mixer will start their equipment, record a verbal slate of the take's information, and announce "sound speed" when they are ready. The AD follows with "roll camera", answered by "speed!" by the camera operator once the camera is recording. The clapper, who is already in front of the camera with the clapperboard, calls "marker!" and slaps it shut. If the take involves extras or background action, the AD will cue them ("action background!"), and last is the director, telling the actors "action!".

A take is over when the director calls "cut!", and camera and sound stop recording. The script supervisor will note any continuity issues and the sound and camera teams log technical notes for the take on their respective report sheets. If the director decides additional takes are required, the whole process repeats. Once satisfied, the crew moves on to the next camera angle or "setup," until the whole scene is "covered." When shooting is finished for the scene, the assistant director declares a "wrap" or "moving on," and the crew will "strike," or dismantle, the set for that scene.

At the end of the day, the director approves the next day's shooting schedule and a daily progress report is sent to the production office. This includes the report sheets from continuity, sound, and camera teams. Call sheets are distributed to the cast and crew to tell them when and where to turn up the next shooting day. Later on, the director, producer, other department heads, and, sometimes, the cast, may gather to watch that day or yesterday's footage, called ''dailies'', and review their work.

With workdays often lasting 14 or 18 hours in remote locations, film production tends to create a team spirit. When the entire film is ''in the can,'' or in the completion of the production phase, it is customary for the production office to arrange a wrap party, to thank all the cast and crew for their efforts.

Post-production

Here the video/film is assembled by the video/film editor. The modern use of video in the filmmaking process has resulted in two workflow variants: one using entirely film, and the other using a mixture of film and video.

This is the final stage, where the film is released to cinemas or, occasionally, to consumer media (DVD, VCD, VHS, Blu-ray) or direct download from a provider. The film is duplicated as required for distribution to cinemas. Press kits, posters, and other advertising materials are published and the film is advertised and promoted.

Film distributors usually release a film with a launch party, press releases, interviews with the press, press preview screenings, and film festival screenings. Most films have a website. The film plays at selected cinemas and the DVD typically is released a few months later. The distribution rights for the film and DVD are also usually sold for worldwide distribution. The distributor and the production company share profits..

Independent filmmaking

Filmmaking also takes place outside of the mainstream and is commonly called independent filmmaking. Since the introduction of DV technology, the means of production have become more democratized. Filmmakers can conceivably shoot and edit a film, create and edit the sound and music, and mix the final cut on a home computer. However, while the means of production may be democratized, financing, traditional distribution, and marketing remain difficult to accomplish outside the traditional system. In the past, most independent filmmakers have relied on film festivals to get their films noticed and sold for distribution. However, the Internet has allowed for relatively inexpensive distribution of independent films. As a result several companies have emerged to assist filmmakers in getting independent movies seen and sold via mainstream internet marketplaces, oftentimes adjacent to popular Hollywood titles. With internet movie distribution, independent filmmakers who fail to garner a traditional distribution deal now have the ability to reach global audiences.

See also

Audiography

Cinematic techniques

Cinematography

Director of audiography aka Sound Director, Director of Sound

Film crew

Film director

Film editing

Film producer

Film school

Film studies

Film

List of film-related topics

Movie production incentives in the United States

Post-production

Pre-production

Screenplay

Screenwriter

Television studies

References

Campbell, Drew: Technical Film and TV for Nontechnical People. Allworth Communications 2002.

LA 411 Production Directory New York 411 Production Directory

External links

Wikibooks

Movie Making Manual

Wikiversity

Wikiversity Courses in Filmmaking

Category:Film Category:Film making Category:Film production Category:Film techniques

cs:Filmová produkce da:Filmproduktion de:Filmproduktion es:Producción audiovisual fr:Réalisation id:Pembuatan film it:Produzione cinematografica no:Filmproduksjon pt:Produção cinematográfica ro:Procesul de producție a unui film ru:Кинопроизводство si:චිත්‍රපට නිර්මාණය sv:Filmproduktion uk:Кіновиробництво

Coordinates	41°52′55″N87°37′40″N
Birth name	Quentin Jerome Tarantino
Birth date	March 27, 1963
Birth place	Knoxville, Tennessee, U.S.
Occupation	Film director, producer, screenwriter, cinematographer, actor
Years active	1988–present
Notable works	''Pulp Fiction'', ''Kill Bill'', ''Inglourious Basterds'', ''Reservoir Dogs''
influences	Sergio Leone, Brian De Palma, Howard Hawks, John Woo, Jim Jarmusch, Jean-Luc Godard, Elmore Leonard, Samuel Fuller, Martin Scorsese, Stanley Kubrick, David Lynch, Jean-Pierre Melville, Sergio Corbucci, Takashi Miike }}

Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence. His films include ''Reservoir Dogs'' (1992), ''Pulp Fiction'' (1994), ''Jackie Brown'' (1997), ''Kill Bill'' (2003, 2004), ''Death Proof'' (2007), ''Inglourious Basterds'' (2009), and the upcoming feature ''Django Unchained'' (2012). He has earned an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a BAFTA and the Palme d'Or, as well as Emmy and Grammy nominations. His movies are generally characterized by stylistic influences from grindhouse, kung fu, and spaghetti western films. Tarantino also frequently collaborates with his friend and fellow filmmaker Robert Rodriguez.

Early life

Tarantino was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, the son of Tony Tarantino, an actor and amateur musician who was born in Queens, New York, and Connie McHugh, a nurse. Tarantino's father is of Italian descent and his mother is of Irish and Cherokee ancestry. He was raised by his mother, as his parents separated before his birth. When he was two years old, he moved to Torrance, California and later to the Harbor City neighborhood where he went to Fleming Junior High School in Lomita and took drama classes. He attended Narbonne High School in Harbor City for his freshman year before dropping out of school at age 15, to attend an acting class full time at the James Best Theater Company in Toluca Lake.

At age 22 he worked with epic film maker Joshua Dymond on a short project called, El Visto Paradiso Three. As an employee of the Video Archives, a now-defunct video rental store in Manhattan Beach, he and fellow movie enthusiasts, including Roger Avary, discussed cinema and customer video recommendations at length. He paid close attention to the types of films people liked to rent and has cited that experience as inspiration for his directorial career. Tarantino has been quoted as saying, "When people ask me if I went to film school I tell them, 'no, I went to films.'"

Film career

After Tarantino met Lawrence Bender at a Hollywood party, Bender encouraged him to write a screenplay. Tarantino directed and co-wrote a movie called ''My Best Friend's Birthday'' in 1987. The final reel of the film was almost fully destroyed in a lab fire that occurred during editing but its screenplay would form the basis for ''True Romance''. In January 1992, Tarantino's ''Reservoir Dogs'' screened at the Sundance Film Festival and was an immediate hit. The film garnered critical acclaim. ''Reservoir Dogs'' was a dialogue-driven heist movie that set the tone for his later films. Tarantino wrote the script in three and a half weeks and Bender forwarded it to director Monte Hellman. Hellman helped Tarantino to secure funding from Richard Gladstein at Live Entertainment (which later became Artisan). Harvey Keitel read the script and also contributed to funding, taking a co-producer role, and a part in the movie.

Tarantino's screenplay ''True Romance'' was optioned and eventually released in 1993. The second script that Tarantino sold was ''Natural Born Killers'', which was revised by Dave Veloz, Richard Rutowski and director Oliver Stone. Tarantino was given story credit, and wished the film well. Following the success of ''Reservoir Dogs'', Tarantino was approached by Hollywood and offered numerous projects, including ''Speed'' and ''Men in Black''. He instead retreated to Amsterdam to work on his script for ''Pulp Fiction''. After ''Pulp Fiction'' was completed, he then directed Episode Four of ''Four Rooms'', "The Man from Hollywood", a tribute to the ''Alfred Hitchcock Presents'' episode that starred Steve McQueen. ''Four Rooms'' was a collaborative effort with filmmakers Allison Anders, Alexandre Rockwell, and Robert Rodriguez. The film was very poorly received by critics. He appeared in and wrote the script for Robert Rodriguez's ''From Dusk till Dawn'', which saw mixed reviews from the critics yet led to two sequels, for which Tarantino and Rodriguez would only serve as executive producers.

Tarantino's third feature film was ''Jackie Brown'' (1997), an adaptation of ''Rum Punch'', a novel by Elmore Leonard. A homage to blaxploitation films, it starred Pam Grier, who starred in many of that genre's films of the 1970s. He had then planned to make the war film provisionally titled ''Inglourious Bastards'', but postponed it to write and direct ''Kill Bill'' (released as two films, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2), a highly stylized "revenge flick" in the cinematic traditions of ''Wuxia'' (Chinese martial arts), ''Jidaigeki'' (Japanese period cinema), Spaghetti Westerns and Italian horror. It was based on a character (The Bride) and a plot that he and ''Kill Bill's'' lead actress, Uma Thurman, had developed during the making of ''Pulp Fiction''. In 2004, Tarantino returned to Cannes, where he served as President of the Jury. Although ''Kill Bill'' was not in competition, Vol. 2 had an evening screening, while it was also shown on the morning of the final day in its original 3-hour-plus version with Quentin himself attending the full screening. Tarantino then went on to be credited as "Special Guest Director" in Robert Rodriguez's 2005 neo-noir film ''Sin City'' for his work directing the car sequence featuring Clive Owen and Benicio del Toro.

The next film project was ''Grindhouse'', which he co-directed with Rodriguez. Released in theaters on April 6, 2007, Tarantino's contribution to the ''Grindhouse'' project was titled ''Death Proof''. It began as a take on 1970s slasher films, but evolved dramatically as the project unfolded. Ticket sales were low despite mostly positive reviews.

Among his current producing credits are the horror flick ''Hostel'' (which included numerous references to his own ''Pulp Fiction''), the adaptation of Elmore Leonard's ''Killshot'' (for which Tarantino was credited as an executive producer although Taratino was no longer associated with the film after its 2009 release.) and ''Hell Ride'' (written and directed by Larry Bishop, who appeared in ''Kill Bill Vol. 2'').

Tarantino's summer 2009 film ''Inglourious Basterds'' is the story of a group of guerrilla U.S. soldiers in Nazi-occupied France during World War II. Filming began in October 2008. The film opened on August 21, 2009 to very positive reviews and the #1 spot at the box office worldwide. It went on to become Tarantino's highest grossing film, both in the United States and worldwide.

Producer

In recent years, Tarantino has used his Hollywood power to give smaller and foreign films arguably more attention than they would otherwise have received. These films are usually labeled "Presented by Quentin Tarantino" or "Quentin Tarantino Presents". The first of these productions was in 2001 with the Hong Kong martial arts film ''Iron Monkey'' which made over $14 million in the United States, seven times its budget. In 2004 he brought the Chinese martial arts film ''Hero'' to U.S. shores. It ended up having a #1 opening at the box office and making $53.5 million. In 2006, the latest "Quentin Tarantino presents" production, ''Hostel'', opened at #1 at the box office with a $20.1 million opening weekend, good for 8th all time in January. He presented 2006's ''The Protector'', and is a producer of the (2007) film ''Hostel: Part II''. in 2008 he produced the Larry Bishop helmed ''Hell Ride'', a revenge biker film.

In addition, in 1995 Tarantino formed Rolling Thunder Pictures with Miramax as a vehicle to release or re-release several independent and foreign features. By 1997, Miramax shut down the company due to "lack of interest" in the pictures released. The following films were released by Rolling Thunder Pictures: ''Chungking Express'' (1994, dir. Wong Kar-wai), ''Switchblade Sisters'' (1975, dir. Jack Hill), ''Sonatine'' (1993, dir. Takeshi Kitano), ''Hard Core Logo'' (1996, dir. Bruce McDonald), ''The Mighty Peking Man'' (1977, dir. Ho Meng-Hua), ''Detroit 9000'' (1973, dir. Arthur Marks), ''The Beyond'' (1981, dir. Lucio Fulci) and ''Curdled'' (1996, dir. Reb Braddock).

Other potential projects

Before ''Inglourious Basterds'', Quentin Tarantino had considered making ''The Vega Brothers''. The film would have starred Michael Madsen and John Travolta reprising their roles of Vic (Mr. Blonde) from ''Reservoir Dogs'' and Vincent from ''Pulp Fiction''. But in 2007, because of the age of the actors and the onscreen deaths of both characters, he claimed that the project (which he intended to call ''Double V Vega'') is "kind of unlikely now".

In 2009, in an interview for Italian TV, after being asked about the success of the two ''Kill Bill'' films, Tarantino said "You haven't asked me about the third one", and that he would be making a third ''Kill Bill'' film with the words "The Bride will fight again!" Later that year, at the Morelia International Film Festival, Tarantino announced that ''Kill Bill: Vol. 3'' would be his ninth film, and would be released in 2014. He said he intends to make another unrelated film before that date as his eighth film. He confirmed that he wanted ten years to pass between The Bride's last conflict, to give her and her daughter a period of peace.

In a 2007 interview with ''The Daily Telegraph'', he discussed an idea for a form of spaghetti western set in America's Deep South which he called "a southern", stating that he wanted "to do movies that deal with America's horrible past with slavery and stuff but do them like spaghetti westerns, not like big issue movies. I want to do them like they're genre films, but they deal with everything that America has never dealt with because it's ashamed of it, and other countries don't really deal with because they don't feel they have the right to". On May 2, 2011, it was confirmed that the title of this film will be ''Django Unchained'', and feature the revenge of a slave on his former master. Tarantino finished the script on April 26, 2011, and handed in the final draft to The Weinstein Company. Agency William Morris Endeavor reported Christoph Waltz was cast to play a German bounty hunter, with Stacey Sher producing. Although Will Smith and Idris Elba were heavily rumored to be up for the title role, Jamie Foxx has since been confirmed to play Django. Tarantino regular Samuel L. Jackson will play Stephen, a wise, proud house slave. Leonardo DiCaprio has also been officially cast in the role of "Calvin Candie", the primary antagonist in the film. Kevin Costner has been cast as Ace Woody, a "vile and sadistic trainer of slaves who are forced to fight in death matches for a plantation owner (DiCaprio)". The film is said to be inspired by the 1966 film ''Django'', directed by Sergio Corbucci. The film is scheduled to be released on Christmas Day 2012.

Personal life

Tarantino has been romantically linked with actress Mira Sorvino, directors Allison Anders and Sofia Coppola, actresses Julie Dreyfus and comedians Kathy Griffin and Margaret Cho. There have also been rumors about his relationship with Uma Thurman, whom he has referred to as his "muse". However, Tarantino has stated that their relationship is strictly platonic. Tarantino stated "I'm not saying that I'll never get married or have a kid before I'm 60. But I've made a choice, so far, to go on this road alone. Because this is my time to make movies." He also has said that he plans to retire from filmmaking at age 60, to focus on writing novels and film literature. He also is skeptical of the film industry going digital, saying, "If it actually gets to the place where you can't show 35 mm film in theatres anymore and everything is digital projection, I won't even make it to 60."

On, February 18, 2010, it was announced that Tarantino had bought the New Beverly Cinema. Tarantino allowed the current owners to continue operating the theater, but he will be making programming suggestions from time to time. He was quoted as saying: "As long as I'm alive, and as long as I'm rich, the New Beverly will be there, showing double features in 35mm."

His favorite music writers are Bob Dylan and Ghostface Killah from the Wu-Tang Clan.

Influences and style of filmmaking

In an awards ceremony in the Critics Choice Awards celebrating Tarantino, he said he got his start in filmmaking in his 20s. Music is an important part of his filmmaking style. He said he would listen to music in his bedroom and create scenes that correlated to the music playing.

In the 2002 ''Sight & Sound'' Directors' poll, Tarantino revealed his top-twelve films: ''The Good, the Bad and the Ugly''; ''Rio Bravo''; ''Taxi Driver''; ''His Girl Friday''; ''Rolling Thunder''; ''They All Laughed''; ''The Great Escape''; ''Carrie''; ''Coffy''; ''Dazed and Confused''; ''Five Fingers of Death''; and ''Hi Diddle Diddle''. In 2009, he named Kinji Fukasaku's violent action film ''Battle Royale'' as his favorite film released since he became a director in 1992.

In August 2007, while teaching a four-hour film course during the 9th Cinemanila International Film Festival in Manila, Tarantino cited Filipino directors Cirio Santiago, Eddie Romero, and Gerardo de León as personal icons from the 1970s, citing De Leon's "soul-shattering, life-extinguishing" movies on vampires and female bondage, particularly ''Women in Cages''. "It is just harsh, harsh, harsh," he said, and described the final shot as one of "devastating despair".

Tarantino's different style of film making earned him many accolades worldwide. According to Tarantino, a recurring hallmark in all his movies is that there is a different sense of humour in all his movies, which gets the audience to laugh at things that aren't funny. Michael Winner, whilst appearing on an episode of Piers Morgan's life stories (an ITV production), stated that Quentin Tarantino was a "big fan" of Death Wish.

Racial epithets in Tarantino's work

Spike Lee questions Tarantino's use of racial epithets in his films, particularly the racially offensive epithet, "nigger". In a ''Variety'' interview discussing ''Jackie Brown'', Lee said: "I'm not against the word... and I use it, but Quentin is infatuated with the word. What does he want? To be made an honorary black man?" Tarantino responded on ''Charlie Rose'' by stating:

|}}

In addition, Tarantino retaliated on ''The Howard Stern Show'' by stating Lee would have to "stand on a chair to kiss my ass." Samuel L. Jackson, who has appeared in both directors' films, defended Tarantino's use of the word. At the Berlin Film Festival, where ''Jackie Brown'' was being screened, Jackson responded to Lee's criticism by saying:

|}}

Tarantino has defended his use of the word, arguing that black audiences have an appreciation of his blaxploitation-influenced films that eludes some of his critics, and, indeed, that ''Jackie Brown'', another oft-cited example, was primarily made for "black audiences".

According to a 1995 ''Premiere'' magazine article, actor Denzel Washington also confronted Tarantino on his usage of racial slurs in his pictures, but mentioned that Tarantino was a "fine artist."

Recurring collaborators

Awards

''Reservoir Dogs'' was given the Critic's Award at the 4th Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival in 1993.

''Pulp Fiction'' won the ''Palme d'Or'' (Golden Palm) at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival. The film was nominated for seven Oscars, winning one for Best Original Screenplay, which was shared jointly by Tarantino and co-writer Roger Avary.

In 1996, Tarantino was nominated for a Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actor in ''From Dusk Till Dawn'', but lost against Marlon Brando in ''The Island of Dr. Moreau''.

In 2005, Quentin Tarantino won the Icon of the Decade award at the Sony Ericsson Empire Awards.

On August 15, 2007, Philippine president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo presented Tarantino with a lifetime achievement award at the Malacañang Palace in Manila.

In 2009, his film ''Inglourious Basterds'' was nominated for eight Oscars including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay, winning one for Best Supporting Actor.

In March 2010, Tarantino was awarded the ''Order of Merit of the Hungarian Republic'' along with Lucy Liu and Andy Vajna for producing the 2006 movie ''Freedom's Fury''.

In February 2011, Tarantino received an honorary César from the Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma.

Filmography

Although Tarantino is best known for his work behind the camera, he has appeared on the large screen, on the small screen, and onstage, in a variety of roles.

Year	Film	Functioned as					Notes
		! width="65"	! width="65"	! width="65"	Actor	! Role
1987	''My Best Friend's Birthday''					Clarence Pool	Short Film
1992	''Reservoir Dogs''					Mr. Brown
1993	''True Romance''
	''Pulp Fiction''					Jimmie Dimmick
''Natural Born Killers''						Story
''Sleep With Me''					Sid	Cameo appearance
''Killing Zoe''						Executive producer
	''Four Rooms''					Chester Rush	segment ''The Man from Hollywood''
					Pick Up Guy	Cameo appearance
''Destiny Turns on the Radio''					Johnny Destiny
	''From Dusk Till Dawn''					Richard Gecko
''Girl Six''					Himself
						Executive Producer
1997						Answering Machine Voice (voice)
							Executive Producer
						Executive Producer
2000	''Little Nicky''					Deacon	Cameo appearance
2003 2004	''Kill Bill'' (Vol. I & II)					Crazy 88 Member	Cameo appearance
2004	''My Name Is Modesty''						Executive Producer
	''Daltry Calhoun''						Executive Producer
						Executive Producer
2006	''Freedom's Fury''						Executive Producer
						Warren the bartender Lewis/Rapist #1	Segment: ''Death Proof'' Segment: ''Planet Terror''
''Sukiyaki Western Django''					Ringo	Cameo
''Hostel: Part II''						Executive Producer
2008	''Hell Ride''						Executive Producer
2009	''Inglourious Basterds''					First scalped victim American GI	Cameo appearance Film within a film: ''Nation's Pride''
2011	''The Man with the Iron Fists''
2012	''Django Unchained''

Stage actor

Beginning on April 5, 1998, Tarantino starred in a revival of ''Wait Until Dark'' at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre on Broadway, where it ran for 97 performances.

Television appearances

Tarantino appeared as Desmond, a bootleg video salesman, on the short-lived sitcom ''All-American Girl'', starring then-girlfriend Margaret Cho, in the episode "Pulp Sitcom," a parody of ''Pulp Fiction''.

Tarantino appeared in the first and third seasons of the TV show ''Alias'', as McKenas Cole.

Tarantino played an Elvis impersonator in a season four episode of ''The Golden Girls''.

In November 2006, an episode of the Sundance Channel's ''Iconoclasts'' features Quentin Tarantino interviewing and spending time with singer Fiona Apple.

Tarantino hosted an episode of ''Saturday Night Live'' in season 21 (1995–1996 season) with musical guest The Smashing Pumpkins.

Tarantino was featured as a guest judge on the televised singing competition, ''American Idol'', for one episode during its third season in 2004. He later served as a mentor during the eighth season's top 7 round, featuring "songs of the cinema."

Television directing

Tarantino has directed and been called to direct numerous television episodes.

Tarantino directed the season 20 (1994–1995 season) episode of ''Saturday Night Live'' hosted by John Travolta (musical guest: Seal), which featured a sketch called "Quentin Tarantino's ''Welcome Back, Kotter''", a hybrid of the 1970s sitcom, ''Welcome Back, Kotter'' and Tarantino's film ''Reservoir Dogs''.

Tarantino directed the season 1, episode 24, of ''ER'' titled "Motherhood", that aired May 11, 1995.

In 1997, Tarantino was originally slated to direct the ''The X-Files'' episode, "Never Again" (episode 4x13, which originally aired February 2, 1997), but was prevented from doing so by the Directors Guild of America. The episode features Scully heading to Philadelphia, while Mulder is on vacation, to interview a man who claims his tattoo talks to him. Although the episode was written specifically for Tarantino to direct, the DGA contended that Tarantino, who is not a member, failed to compensate the union for lost revenue as a result of his directorial work on ''ER''. Tarantino directed an April 20, 2004 episode of ''Jimmy Kimmel Live!''

Tarantino earned an Emmy nomination for directing the fifth season finale of ''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'', which first aired May 19, 2005. The highly rated episode, entitled "Grave Danger", shared a similar situation to one in Tarantino's second ''Kill Bill'' film; CSI Nick Stokes is captured and buried alive in a Plexiglas coffin while an Internet camera broadcasts the entire ordeal to CSI headquarters. (In ''Kill Bill Vol. 2'', The Bride was also captured and buried alive in a coffin.) The broadcast was delayed in the UK as the broadcast date coincided with the 7/7 terrorist attacks in London and it was felt that the depiction of a suicide bomber could cause offense. This double-length episode was released on DVD on October 10, 2005.

See also

Quentin Tarantino Film Festival, a film festival in Austin, Texas hosted by Tarantino.

References

Further reading

. .

External links

Main reference sites

Quentin Tarantino at Rotten Tomatoes

Quentin Tarantino discography at Discogs

Quentin Tarantino at Last.fm

Quentin Tarantino on AnyClip

Interviews and essays

Anatomy of a Tarantino Film at BrokenProjector

FilmFocus Interview

"I call the shots here" by Quentin Tarantino, March 4, 2007

Remaking History: An Interview with Quentin Tarantino by Rene Rodriguez, August 18, 2009

Quentin Tarantino: A Life in Pictures, filmed career retrospective by BAFTA, January 11, 2010

Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez discuss their double feature, "Grindhouse", on Charlie Rose April 5, 2007

''The Unbearable Lightness of Being Cool: Appropriation and Prospects of Subversion in the Works of Quentin Tarantino''

Category:1963 births Category:American cinematographers Category:American film actors Category:American film directors Category:American film producers Category:American screenwriters Category:American people of Cherokee descent Category:BAFTA winners (people) Category:Best Original Screenplay Academy Award winners Category:Edgar Award winners Category:American people of Irish descent Category:Obscenity controversies Category:American film directors of Italian descent Category:American people of Italian descent Category:Living people Category:People from Knoxville, Tennessee Category:People from Torrance, California Category:American television actors

ar:كوينتن تارانتينو an:Quentin Tarantino ast:Quentin Tarantino az:Kventin Tarantino bn:কোয়েন্টিন টারান্টিনো be-x-old:Квэнцін Таранціна bs:Quentin Tarantino bg:Куентин Тарантино ca:Quentin Tarantino cs:Quentin Tarantino da:Quentin Tarantino de:Quentin Tarantino et:Quentin Tarantino el:Κουέντιν Ταραντίνο es:Quentin Tarantino eo:Quentin Tarantino eu:Quentin Tarantino fa:کوئنتین تارانتینو fr:Quentin Tarantino gv:Quentin Tarantino gl:Quentin Tarantino ko:퀜틴 타란티노 hy:Քվենտին Տարանտինո hr:Quentin Tarantino id:Quentin Tarantino it:Quentin Tarantino he:קוונטין טרנטינו jv:Quentin Tarantino ka:კვენტინ ტარანტინო ku:Quentin Tarantino la:Quintinus Tarantino lv:Kventins Tarantīno lb:Quentin Tarantino lt:Quentin Tarantino li:Quentin Tarantino lmo:Quentin Tarantino hu:Quentin Tarantino mk:Квентин Тарантино nl:Quentin Tarantino ja:クエンティン・タランティーノ no:Quentin Tarantino pl:Quentin Tarantino pt:Quentin Tarantino ro:Quentin Tarantino ru:Тарантино, Квентин sq:Quentin Tarantino simple:Quentin Tarantino sk:Quentin Tarantino sl:Quentin Tarantino sr:Квентин Тарантино sh:Quentin Tarantino fi:Quentin Tarantino sv:Quentin Tarantino ta:குவெண்டின் டேரண்டினோ roa-tara:Quentin Tarantino tt:Квентин Тарантино th:เควนติน แทแรนติโน tg:Квентин Тарантино tr:Quentin Tarantino uk:Квентін Тарантіно vi:Quentin Tarantino zh:昆汀·塔伦蒂诺

Coordinates	41°52′55″N87°37′40″N
Birth name	Kevin Patrick Smith
Birth date	August 02, 1970
Birth place	Red Bank, New Jersey, United States
Occupation	Director, Screenwriter, Producer, Actor, Comedian, Author, Podcaster
Years active	1994–present
Spouse	Jennifer Schwalbach Smith (1999–present) }}

Kevin Patrick Smith (born August 2, 1970) is an American screenwriter, actor, film producer, and director, as well as a popular comic book writer, author, comedian/raconteur, and internet radio personality best recognized by viewers as Silent Bob. His films include ''Clerks'', ''Chasing Amy'', ''Dogma'',''Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back'', ''Zack and Miri Make a Porno'', ''Cop Out'', and the horror film ''Red State''. His first several films were mostly set in his home state of New Jersey, and while not strictly sequential, they frequently feature crossover plot elements, character references, and a shared canon in what is known by fans as the "View Askewniverse", named after his production company View Askew Productions, which he co-founded with Scott Mosier.

He is also the owner of Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash comic book and novelty store in Red Bank, New Jersey. He hosts a weekly podcast with Scott Mosier known as SModcast. Smith is well-known for participating in long, humorous Q&A; sessions that are often filmed for DVD release, beginning with ''An Evening with Kevin Smith''.

Early life

Kevin Smith was born in Red Bank, New Jersey, the son of Grace, a homemaker, and Donald E. Smith (1936–2003), a postal worker. He has an older sister, Virginia, and an older brother, Donald Smith, Jr. He was raised in an Irish Catholic household and attended Henry Hudson Regional High School in Highlands.

After high school, he met Jason Mewes, who would later become a recurring actor in his films. He then attended The New School and the Vancouver Film School, where he met Scott Mosier, his producer for almost every movie he has made. He majored in film, but dropped out of school halfway through his studies, electing to take a partial tuition reimbursement in order to help finance his first film.

Career

As a filmmaker

In an interview with Robert K. Elder for ''The Film That Changed My Life'', Smith attributes the film ''Slacker'' as his main inspiration to becoming a director.

It was the movie that got me off my ass; it was the movie that lit a fire under me, the movie that made me think, “Hey, I could be a filmmaker.” And I had never seen a movie like that before ever in my life.

His first film, ''Clerks'', was shot for the sum total of $27,575 in the exact same convenience store where Smith worked. It went to the Sundance Film Festival in 1994, where it won the Filmmaker's Trophy and was picked up by Miramax before the festival's end. In May 1994, it went to the Cannes International Film Festival where it won both the Prix de la Jeunesse and the International Critics' Week Prize. Released in November 1994 in two cities, the film went on to play in 50 markets, never playing on more than fifty screens at any given time. Despite the limited release, it was a critical and financial success, earning $3.1 million. Initially, the film received an NC-17 rating from the MPAA, solely for the graphic language. Miramax hired Alan Dershowitz to defend the film, and at an appeals screening, a jury consisting of members of the National Association of Theater Owners reversed the MPAA's decision, and the film was given an R rating instead.

Smith's second film, ''Mallrats'', did not fare as well as ''Clerks''. It received a critical drubbing and earned merely $2.2 million at the box office, despite playing on more than 500 screens. The film marked Jason Lee's debut as a leading man. While it later found its audience on home video, Smith has said of the movie "It was a six million dollar casting call for ''Chasing Amy'".

Widely hailed as one of Smith's best films, ''Chasing Amy'' marked what Quentin Tarantino called "a quantum leap forward" for Smith. Starring ''Mallrats'' alumni Jason Lee, Joey Lauren Adams and Ben Affleck, the $250,000 film earned $12 million at the box office and wound up on a number of critics' year-end best lists, and won two Independent Spirit Awards (screenplay and supporting actor for Lee).

In 1996, Smith worked on a script for a Superman movie. He did a couple of drafts but his script was dropped when Tim Burton was hired to direct. Burton brought his own people to work on the project. Smith still sees the whole experience on working on the Superman project as a positive one however; he has said that he was well paid and it was a lot of fun. In the end, neither Smith's nor Burton's vision for Superman was filmed. In the 2007 Direct-to-DVD animation release of ''Superman: Doomsday'', Smith has a cameo as an onlooker in a crowd. After Superman defeats The Toyman's giant mechanical robot, Smith scoffs, "Yeah, like we really needed him to defeat that giant spider. Heh. ''Lame!''" This was a reference to a giant spider that producer Jon Peters of the Superman movie wanted Smith to put in the movie when he was attached, that was later put into another movie tied to Peters called ''Wild Wild West''.

In 1997, Smith was hired by New Line to rewrite ''Overnight Delivery'', which was expected to be a blockbuster teen movie. Smith's then-girlfriend Joey Lauren Adams almost took the role of Ivy in the movie, instead of the female lead in ''Chasing Amy''. Eventually she lost out to Reese Witherspoon, and ''Overnight Delivery'' was quietly released directly to video in April 1998. Kevin Smith's involvement with the film was revealed on-line, but he remains uncredited. He has said that the only scene which really used his dialogue was the opening scene, which includes a reference to long-time Smith friend Bryan Johnson.

Smith's fourth film, ''Dogma'', featured an all-star cast and found itself mired in controversy. The religious-themed 1999 comedy, which starred a post-''Good Will Hunting'' Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, as well as Chris Rock, Salma Hayek, George Carlin, Alan Rickman, Linda Fiorentino, and Smith regulars Jason Lee and Jason Mewes, raised the ire of the Catholic League due largely to a reference about the Virgin Mary having post-Jesus intercourse with her husband, Joseph. Smith received over 10,000 pieces of protest/hate mail (some of which were showcased on the film's official website) and three death threats.

The film debuted at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival, out of competition. Released on 800 screens in November 1999, the $10 million film earned $30 million.

After the controversy surrounding ''Dogma'', Smith said he wanted to make a movie that could not be attacked for its content. Focusing the spotlight on two characters who'd appeared in supporting roles in his previous four films, ''Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back'' featured an all-star cast, with many familiar faces returning from Smith's first four films. Ben Affleck and Matt Damon appear as themselves filming a mock sequel to ''Good Will Hunting''. The $20 million film earned $30 million at the box office and received mixed reviews from the critics. It was meant to be the film that closed the book on the "Askewniverse" – the New Jersey-based, interconnected quintet of movies written and directed by Smith.

In 2004, Smith wrote a screenplay for a new film version of ''The Green Hornet'', and announced prematurely that he had originally intended to direct as well. The project, however died after the film was placed into turn around following the poor box office of ''Jersey Girl''. Smith's screenplay was turned into a ''Green Hornet'' comic book miniseries.

''Jersey Girl'' with Ben Affleck, Liv Tyler, George Carlin and Raquel Castro was meant to mark a new direction in Smith's career. However, the film took a critical beating as it was seen as a post-''Gigli'' vehicle for Affleck and his then-girlfriend, Jennifer Lopez, who also appeared in this movie. Budgeted at $35 million, it earned only $25 million.

In the 2006 sequel, ''Clerks II'', Smith revisited the Dante and Randal characters from his first film for what was his final visit to the View Askewniverse. Roundly criticized before its release, the film went on to win favorable reviews as well as two awards (the Audience Award at the Edinburgh Film Festival and the Orbit Dirtiest Mouth Award at the MTV Movie Awards). It marked Smith's third trip to the Cannes International Film Festival, where ''Clerks II'' received an eight minute standing ovation. The $5 million film, starring Jeff Anderson, Brian O'Halloran, Rosario Dawson, Jason Mewes, Jennifer Schwalbach and Smith himself – reprising his role as Silent Bob – earned $25 million.

That same year, Smith was featured in ''This Film is Not Yet Rated'', a 2006 documentary about the Motion Picture Association of America process of rating films. Smith's interview was in reference to ''Jersey Girl'' receiving an R rating, and ''Clerks'' originally receiving an NC-17 rating.

''Zack and Miri Make a Porno'' was originally announced in March 2006 as Smith's second non-Askewniverse comedy. The film, which began shooting on January 18, 2008 in Monroeville, Pennsylvania, and wrapped on March 15, 2008, stars Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks as the title characters who decide to make a low-budget pornographic film to solve their money problems. The film, which was released on October 31, 2008, ran into many conflicts getting an "R" rating, with Rogen stating: Smith took the film through the MPAA's appeals process and received the R rating, without having to make any further edits. ''Zack and Miri Make a Porno'' was considered a box office "flop" in part because of "tepid media advertising for a movie with the title PORNO", and, in the aftermath of the film's "flaccid" performance, the business relationship between Smith and producer Harvey Weinstein became "frayed".

It was announced in 2009 that Smith had signed on to direct a buddy-cop comedy starring Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan called ''A Couple of Dicks'' and written by the Cullen Brothers. Due to controversy surrounding the original title, it was changed to ''A Couple of Cops'', before reverting back its original title, ''A Couple of Dicks'', due to negative reaction, before finally settling on the title ''Cop Out''. The film, which was shot between June and August 2009, involved a pair of veteran cops tracking down a stolen vintage baseball card, and was released on February 26, 2010 to poor reviews; it was the first film that Smith has directed but not written.

In September 2010, Smith started work on ''Red State'', an independently-financed horror film inspired by the Westboro Baptist Church and their Pastor Fred Phelps. In February 2010, he talked about his project with Cinssu, Film producers and moguls Bob and Harvey Weinstein who had thus far been involved in the distribution of most of Smith's films, with the exception of ''Mallrats'' and ''Cop Out'', declined to support ''Red State''. The film stars Michael Parks, John Goodman, Melissa Leo and Stephen Root. Smith had indicated that he would auction off rights to the $4 million film at a controversial event following the debut screening of the film at Sundance but instead, kept the rights to the film himself with plans to self-distribute the picture "under the Smodcast Pictures Banner" on a national tour in select cities before officially releasing the movie on October 19, 2011. Kevin Smith listed Mel Gibson as a role-model he looked up to, and his inspiration, for how he planned to distribute this movie, citing Gibson's ''The Passion of the Christ'' as an example of a successfully self-distributed movie. The film was released in January 2011. The premiere drew protests from a half-dozen members of the church, along with many more who counter-protested Westboro members. Smith embarked on a nationwide tour with the film.

Smith will direct a hockey drama-comedy based on the song "Hit Somebody (The Hockey Song)" by Warren Zevon. The song, which is about a hockey player famous for fighting on the rink, was co-written by ''Tuesdays With Morrie'' author Mitch Albom, who is working with Smith on the film. Smith announced that Nicholas Braun had been cast in the lead role of Buddy McCracken. Although Smith had previously mentioned other projects he had planned, he announced at the Sundance premiere of ''Red State'' that ''Hit Somebody'' will be the last movie he ever directs, and that he will continue to tell stories in other media.

Comics and magazines

Smith has been a regular contributor to ''Arena'' magazine. In 2005, Miramax Books released Smith's first book, ''Silent Bob Speaks'', a collection of previously published essays (most from ''Arena'') dissecting pop culture, the movie business, and Smith's personal life. His second book, ''My Boring-Ass Life: The Uncomfortably Candid Diary of Kevin Smith'', published by Titan Books, was another collection of previously published essays (this time blogs from Smith's website www.silentbobspeaks.com) and reached #32 on the ''New York Times'' Best Sellers List. Titan released Smith's third book ''Shootin' the Sh*t with Kevin Smith: The Best of the SModcast'' on September 29, 2009.

A life-long comic book fan, Smith's early forays into comic books dealt with previously established View Askew characters, and were published by Oni Press. He wrote a short Jay and Silent Bob story about Walt Flanagan's dog in ''Oni Double Feature'' #1, and followed it with a Bluntman and Chronic story in ''Oni Double Feature'' #12. He followed these with a series of ''Clerks'' comics. The first was simply ''Clerks: The Comic Book'', which told of Randal's attempts to corner the market on ''Star Wars'' toys. The second was ''Clerks: Holiday Special'', where Dante and Randal discover that Santa Claus lives in an apartment between the Quick Stop and RST Video. Third was ''Clerks: The Lost Scene'', showing what happened inside Poston's Funeral Parlor. This story was later animated in the TV series style and included as an extra on the 10th Anniversary ''Clerks'' DVD.

Smith then wrote the mini-series ''Chasing Dogma'', which tells the story of Jay and Silent Bob between the films ''Chasing Amy'' and ''Dogma''. He has also written the trade paperback ''Bluntman and Chronic'', published by Image, which purports to be a collection of the three issues of the series done by Holden McNeil and Banky Edwards (of ''Chasing Amy''). It includes a color reprinting of the story from ''Oni Double Feature'' #12, purported to be an early appearance by ''Chasing Amy'' characters Holden McNeil and Banky Edwards. These stories have all been collected in ''Tales From the Clerks'' (Graphitti Designs, ISBN 0936211784), which also includes a new "Clerks" story tying in to the ''Clerks 2'' material, and the story from ''Oni Double Feature'' #1. They were previously collected by Image Comics in three separate volumes, one each for ''Clerks'', ''Chasing Dogma'' and ''Bluntman and Chronic''. In 1999, Smith won a Harvey Award, for Best New Talent in comic books.

In 1999, Smith wrote "Guardian Devil", an eight-issue story arc of ''Daredevil'' for Marvel Comics, which was illustrated by Joe Quesada. Kevin Smith followed this by producing a 15-issue tenure on ''Green Arrow'' for DC Comics that saw the return of Oliver Queen from the dead and the introduction of Mia Dearden, a teenage girl who would become Speedy after Smith's run had ended.

Smith returned to Marvel for two mini-series: ''Spider-Man/Black Cat: The Evil That Men Do'' and ''Daredevil/Bullseye: The Target'', both of which debuted in 2002. The former was six issues long, but after the third issue was published two months after the initially scheduled release date, the final issues were delayed for at least three years, prompting Marvel to release an "in case you missed it" reprinting of the first three issues as one book prior to the remaining issues' release. The delay in part was due to Smith's movie production schedule (in this case, work on ''Jersey Girl'' and ''Clerks II'') causing him to shelve completion of the mini-series until the films were completed. In 2007 he was announced as the writer of an ongoing ''Black Cat'' series and ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' in early to mid-2002. However, because of the delays on ''Evil That Men Do'' and ''The Target'', the plan was switched so that Smith would start a third Spider-Man title, launched in 2004 by Mark Millar instead. While ''Spider-Man/Black Cat'' was ultimately completed in 2005, ''Daredevil/Bullseye: The Target'' remains unfinished, with one issue published.

Smith wrote the limited series ''Batman: Cacophony'', with art by friend Walt Flanagan, which ran from November 2008 to January 2009. As announced at the 2008 San Diego Comic-Con, the series featured the villains Onomatopoeia (a character created by Smith during his run at Green Arrow), The Joker, Maxie Zeus, and Victor Zsasz. The trade paperback of ''Batman: Cacophony'' became a New York Times Bestseller in their Hardcover Graphic Books section.

In 2010 Smith subsequently wrote a six-issue Batman mini-series called ''The Widening Gyre'' for DC, and a Green Hornet story for Dynamite Entertainment, the latter of which was based on an unused script he wrote for a ''Green Hornet'' film project that never came to fruition.

In 2011, Dynamite Entertainment announced they would publish ''The Bionic Man'' by Smith, based on a 1998 script he wrote that was rejected by Universal as being "more like a comic book than a movie."

Television

In 2000, Smith and Mosier teamed up with television writer David Mandel to develop an animated television show based on ''Clerks.'' called ''Clerks: The Animated Series'' that aired on ABC in May 2000. It aired only two episodes before being canceled as a result of poor ratings. The six produced episodes were released on DVD in 2001.

During the mid-1990s Smith directed and starred in a series of commercials for MTV, alongside Jason Mewes, in which they reprised their roles as Jay & Silent Bob. In 1998 he directed best friend Jason Mewes as "Gary Lamb – Ground Activist" in a series of Nike commercials. That same year, he also shot commercials for Diet Coke. Two years later, he directed "Star Wars" toy commercials for Hasbro. He has also directed and starred in commercials for Panasonic. In 2004 he also shot a public service announcement for the Declare Yourself organization. These advertisements brought Jay and Silent Bob out of their "semi-retirement."

On February 27, 2002 Kevin released a short film for ''The Tonight Show'' called "The Flying Car".

Acting roles and other appearances

As an actor, Smith is known for his role as Silent Bob in ''Clerks'', ''Mallrats'', ''Chasing Amy'', ''Dogma'', ''Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back'', and ''Clerks II''. He made a cameo appearance in the horror film ''Scream 3'', and was featured along with Jason Mewes in several ''Degrassi: The Next Generation'' episodes, including a special, "Jay and Silent Bob Do Degrassi" (also as a fictional version of himself).

Smith also appeared in an mtvU show titled ''Sucks Less With Kevin Smith''. The show gives college students ideas for things to do on the weekends. Smith also played the role of Paul, a cynical divorced man, in a Showtime television series pilot, "Manchild", filmed in December 2006. However, it was not picked up by the network.

From 1995 to 1997, Smith played small roles in the View Askew movies ''Drawing Flies'', ''Vulgar'', and ''Big Helium Dog''.

In 2001, he appeared in friend Jeff Anderson's ''Now You Know''. After an August 2001 appearance on ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno'' to promote ''Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back'', Smith returned to the show for monthly segments as a correspondent. The "Roadside Attractions" segments featured Smith traveling to random locations around the country and showcased places like Howe Caverns in upstate New York and the Fish Market in Seattle. While five of these segments were included on the ''Jersey Girl'' DVD, at least twelve were aired on the actual show. Smith regularly appeared on the program to introduce the pre-taped pieces.

In 2003, Smith appeared in a cameo role as coroner Jack Kirby in the film ''Daredevil''. In 2006, he voiced the Moose in the CGI cartoon ''Doogal''.

In early 2005, Smith appeared in three episodes of the Canadian-made teen drama ''Degrassi: The Next Generation''. In the episodes, Smith, portraying a fictionalized version of himself, visited the school to work on the (fictional) film ''Jay and Silent Bob Go Canadian, Eh!'' Smith wrote all his dialogue for the shows he appeared in. All three episodes were collected on a DVD entitled ''Jay and Silent Bob Do Degrassi''. Smith and Mewes also appeared in two more episodes the following season, when they returned to Degrassi for the Toronto premiere of the fictional ''Jay and Silent Bob Go Canadian, Eh!'' movie.

From July 2006 on, Smith has guest reviewed on ''Ebert & Roeper'', in place of Roger Ebert, who was recovering from thyroid cancer treatment. These spots have been notable for the arguments between Smith and Richard Roeper over certain films, with Smith often citing Roeper's poor review of ''Jersey Girl'' to discredit his review of the film at hand. On his most recent appearance, Smith compared Craig Brewer's ''Black Snake Moan'' to the works of William Faulkner.

In addition to appearing on ''Degrassi: The Next Generation'', Kevin Smith is an avid fan of the original ''Degrassi'' series, ''Degrassi Junior High'' and ''Degrassi High'' and references to the original are present in some of his early films. He also appeared in the 2009 made for TV movie Degrassi Goes Hollywood.

Smith directed the pilot for The CW Television Network show ''Reaper''. TV.com's summary of the show is "A twenty-something slacker finally scores a job as the devil's bounty hunter." He describes it as "less ''Brimstone'' or ''Dead Like Me'' and more like ''Shaun of the Dead'' than anything else". He went on to say that the reason he took the job was that he has always wanted to direct something he did not write, but never had an interest in doing it on the big screen.

At the 2007 San Diego Comic-Con, it was announced that Kevin Smith would write and direct an episode of the ''Heroes'' spin-off, ''Heroes: Origins'', but the project was canceled because of the 2007 Writers Guild of America strike. That year, Smith appeared in a number of films. He co-starred as Sam in the film ''Catch and Release'', starring Jennifer Garner. Later that year, he appeared as a hacker called The Warlock in the fourth installment of the Die Hard franchise, ''Live Free or Die Hard''. At year's end, he appeared briefly in friend and fellow writer-director Richard Kelly's ''Southland Tales'', in which he played the legless conspiracy theorist General Simon Theory. That same year, Smith also did voicework for the CGI film ''TMNT'' as a diner chef. He was also seen as Rusty (a friend of lead Jason Mewes) in ''Bottoms Up'' with co-star Paris Hilton.

Smith has also cameoed in the second season premiere of the sitcom ''Joey'', where he played himself, on an episode of ''Law & Order'' in 2000 (episode "Black, White and Blue"), ''Duck Dodgers'' (2003 as Hal Jordan, voice only) and ''Yes, Dear'' (2004, as himself and Silent Bob). Smith appeared in the second episode of season two of ''Veronica Mars'', playing a store clerk. He stated on his Web site that ''Veronica Mars'' is some of the best television work ever produced.

In the third season of the HBO series ''Entourage'', Michael Bay and Kevin Smith are directing and writing ''Aquaman 2''. In ''Entourage'', the characters awkwardly react with obvious disappointment at Smith's involvement. Smith has speculated that, that jab and another from season two may have been motivated by a 1995 book in which he criticized Rob Weiss and his movie ''Amongst Friends''.

Smith has also done small roles on television in shows such as ''Law & Order'', ''Veronica Mars'', ''Joey'', ''Degrassi: The Next Generation'', ''Phineas and Ferb''. In an episode of ''Yes, Dear'', he appeared as Silent Bob, standing while smoking a cigarette as the end credits rolled.

Smith has appeared in four Q&A; documentaries: ''An Evening with Kevin Smith'', ''An Evening with Kevin Smith 2: Evening Harder'' and ''Sold Out: A Threevening with Kevin Smith''. The fourth installment, ''Kevin Smith: Too Fat for 40'' was broadcast on epix on October 23, 2010. The first is a collection of filmed appearances at American colleges, while the sequel was shot at two Q&A; shows held in Toronto and London. The third and fourth were filmed in Red Bank, New Jersey at the Count Basie Theater on Smith's 37th and 40th birthdays, respectively. The first two DVD sets were released by Sony Home Video, while the third was put out by the Weinstein Company. Smith appears with Marvel Comics guru Stan Lee in ''Marvel Then & Now: An Evening With Stan Lee and Joe Quesada, hosted by Kevin Smith''. The film is similar in tone to the ''Evening with Kevin Smith'' series. Proceeds from the sale of the film benefit The Hero Initiative, a charitable organization that aids ill or aging comic book creators.

Secret Stash

Smith owns and operates Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash in Red Bank, New Jersey, a comic book store largely dedicated to merchandise related to his films and comics. The current location is its second. The store was moved to a defunct ice cream parlor on Broad St. after Smith sold the Monmouth St. property. The New Jersey location is managed by Smith's long time friend Walt Flanagan, who appears frequently in Smith's films. A second Secret Stash in the Westwood section of Los Angeles was opened in September 2004 and was managed by long-time associate Bryan Johnson, who has appeared in Smith's films as Steve-Dave. Smith had announced that he would close after his lease expired and Johnson wanted to resign, but eventually relocated to Laser Blazer, a DVD store in Los Angeles. In January 2009 the West Coast Store closed, leaving the east coast store as Smith's only operating store.

On the Internet

Smith has a website, The View Askewniverse, which opened in late 1995. He also has an online blog, "My Boring-Ass Life", the contents of which were published in a book by the same name. ''Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back'''s fictional website MoviePoopShoot.com became real in 2002. It became Quick Stop Entertainment and was the home of SModcast until it was sold and Smodcast moved to a dedicated website Smodcast.com, which also carries the other Smodcast network podcasts in early 2010.

On February 5, 2007, Smith and Scott Mosier began SModcast (Smith-Mosier podcast), a regular comedy podcast. There have been several episodes with guest stars filling in for Scott Mosier, including Jennifer Schwalbach Smith, Jason Mewes, Walt Flanagan, Malcolm Ingram, Bryan Johnson, Jeff Anderson, his mother, Grace, and Smith's daughter, Harley Quinn Smith.

Controversies

2010 Southwest Airlines incident

On February 13, 2010, Kevin Smith was on board a Southwest Airlines flight in Oakland bound for Burbank when he was removed from the plane, allegedly over concerns he was too obese to fly safely. Per Smith, he was able to put both armrests down in accordance with Southwest Airlines policy, and both passengers on either side did not object to his presence. Smith was then removed from the flight after being told he was a safety concern. After being booked on a later flight and being offered a $100 Southwest Airlines voucher, which he turned down, Smith lashed out at Southwest Airlines on his Twitter account.

Southwest Airlines representatives later released two statements regarding the incident via their blog. In the first statement, Southwest claimed that Mr. Smith "has been known to (...) purchase two Southwest seats" and cited its "Customer of Size" policy which requires that customers who cannot put their armrests down purchase two seats. In his podcast, Smith stated that he regularly purchased two seats, and had done so the previous week, because he preferred not having to sit next to anyone, not due to his size. In releasing this statement, Southwest disclosed Smith's personal travel details without his permission. The first statement also claimed that the flight captain has personally determined that Smith was too large to fly. In its second statement, Southwest contradicted this claim, stating that the captain had not singled out Smith.

Smith later released an entire episode of SModcast devoted to the subject, giving a lengthy description of the incident, in which he claimed that he had been able to lower the armrests completely and comfortably and claimed to have been repeatedly lied to by airline personnel. He also referred to the airline as the "Greyhound of the Air" and vowed to never fly the airline again.

In his podcast, Smith stated that on his return flight a large female passenger was told to ask him if it was all right that she was sitting next to an empty seat he had bought between them, and it was suggested by Southwest staffers that she may need to purchase an additional seat due to her size, even though she had been placed next to an already-purchased empty seat. She was also the subject of an episode of SModcast.

Smith also released 24 video statements on YouTube further describing the incident. A year after the incident, he had lost 65 pounds through controlled diet and regular exercise, including walking up and down a hill near his home in the Hollywood Hills.

''Cop Out'' controversy

A talent rep associated with the production of ''Cop Out'' reported conflicts on set between Smith and Bruce Willis, saying of Smith, "He smokes way too much pot. He sat behind his monitor. He didn't interact with the actors. The actors felt they were on their own." Smith defended his use of marijuana while working, claiming "I dealt with every actor who wanted to be dealt with on that set" and pointed to the amount of projects he worked on while making "Cop Out" to counter claims he was unproductive because of marijuana. Smith admitted in an interview that heavy marijuana-smoking had become an integral part of his work ethic after claiming that he watched actor Seth Rogen on the set of ''Zack and Miri Make a Porno'' use marijuana as a tool to become a more creative and "productive" worker, saying "The moment I start smoking, I start working. ... That way, no one could ever take it away from you."

}}In response to the critical drubbing his 2010 film ''Cop Out'' received, Kevin Smith lashed out at the community of film critics on his Twitter account saying, "Writing a nasty review for ''Cop Out'' is akin to bullying a retarded kid. All you’ve done is make fun of something that wasn't doing you any harm and wanted only to give some cats some fun laughs." Smith also implied on Twitter that he may charge critics for advance screenings of his films, a service which has typically been provided free; this subsequently ignited a strong response from some critics condemning his stance as "dishonest" and "disingenuous".

Public appearances

Smith's longest Q&A; session took place April 2, 2005, at the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank, New Jersey. The sold-out event was over seven hours long, took place from 8 pm through 3 am (which due to daylight saving time, was actually 4 am). Following the Q&A;, he opened Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash for a meet-and-greet with the numerous remaining audience members, which ended around 6:30 am. Smith then hopped a plane and did another Q&A; at the Raue Center For The Arts in Crystal Lake, Illinois, that night. Planned for two hours, it lasted just over five hours, ending a little after 1 am Central time.

On June 17, 2009 Smith made a sold out appearance at Carnegie Hall.

Personal life

Smith is married to Jennifer Schwalbach Smith, and photographed her for the magazine ''Playboy''. Their daughter, Harley Quinn, was born June 26, 1999, and was named after the character from ''Batman: The Animated Series'', who was created by friend and fellow writer Paul Dini. They live in the Hollywood Hills.

Although Smith was raised Catholic, he has said on "Back to the Well", the ''Clerks II'' documentary, that now he only goes to Mass on the day before he starts production of a movie, and the day before it premieres. He never smoked until his debut film, ''Clerks'', in which he used the cigarettes as a prop, but never actually inhaled. In fact, he has said that prior to filming ''Clerks'', he was a staunch non-smoker.

Kevin Smith is a hockey fan and loyal New Jersey Devils fan. Smith is also a fan of the Edmonton Oilers.

Filmography

Recognition

Bibliography

Books

Books by Smith include:

''Silent Bob Speaks''

''My Boring Ass Life: The Uncomfortably Candid Diary of Kevin Smith''

''Shootin' the Sh*t with Kevin Smith''

Comics

''Daredevil: Guardian Devil'' (with Joe Quesada, Marvel Comics, 1998–1999)

''Green Arrow: Quiver'' (with Phil Hester, DC Comics, 2001–2002)

''Green Arrow: Sounds of Violence'' (with Phil Hester, DC Comics, 2002)

''Spider-Man/Black Cat: The Evil that Men Do'' (with Terry Dodson, Marvel Comics, 2002, 2005–2006)

''Batman: Cacophony'' (with Walt Flanagan, DC Comics, 2008–2009)

''Batman: The Widening Gyre'' (with Walt Flanagan, DC Comics, 2009–2010)

''Green Hornet'' (with Jonathan Lau, Dynamite Entertainment, 2010)

Trade paperback introductions:

''Hitman: 10,000 Bullets'' (by Garth Ennis, DC Comics, 1996)

''Preacher: Until the End of the World'' (by Garth Ennis, Vertigo Comics, 1995)

References

External links

View Askew Productions

Smith's blog

Category:1970 births Category:Actors from New Jersey Category:American bloggers Category:American comics writers Category:American film actors Category:American film directors Category:American people of Irish descent Category:American podcasters Category:American screenwriters Category:American television actors Category:Harvey Award winners for Best New Talent Category:American writers of Irish descent Category:Living people Category:People from Monmouth County, New Jersey Category:People from Red Bank, New Jersey Category:The New School alumni Category:View Askewniverse Category:Writers from New Jersey Category:American Roman Catholics Category:Science fiction fans

bs:Kevin Smith ca:Kevin Smith cs:Kevin Smith da:Kevin Smith de:Kevin Smith es:Kevin Smith fa:کوین اسمیت fr:Kevin Smith (réalisateur) hr:Kevin Smith is:Kevin Smith it:Kevin Smith he:קווין סמית' hu:Kevin Smith nl:Kevin Smith (regisseur) ja:ケヴィン・スミス no:Kevin Smith nn:Kevin Smith uz:Kevin Smith pl:Kevin Smith pt:Kevin Smith ru:Смит, Кевин simple:Kevin Smith sr:Кевин Смит fi:Kevin Smith sv:Kevin Smith tr:Kevin Smith uk:Кевін Сміт

Coordinates	41°52′55″N87°37′40″N
Name	George Lucas
Birth date	May 14, 1944
Birth place	Modesto, California, U.S.
Residence	Marin County, California, U.S.
Nationality	American
Education	Modesto Junior College
Alma mater	University of Southern California (B.A. and B.S.)
Occupation	Chairman & CEO of LucasfilmFilm director, film producer, screenwriter
Years active	1965–present
Influences	*Frank Herbert Joseph Campbell
Net worth	US$3.2 billion (2011)
Home town	Central Valley, California, U.S.
Spouse	Marcia Lucas (1969–1983)
Partner	Mellody Hobson (2007–present) }}

George Walton Lucas, Jr. (born May 14, 1944) is an American film producer, screenwriter, and director, and the founder, chairman and chief executive of Lucasfilm. He is best known as the creator of the space opera franchise ''Star Wars'' and the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones. Lucas is one of the American film industry's most financially successful directors/producers, with an estimated net worth of $3.2 billion as of 2011.

Early life and education

George Lucas was born in Modesto, California, the son of Dorothy Ellinore (née Bomberger) and George Walton Lucas, Sr. (1913–1991), who owned a stationery store.

Lucas grew up in the Central Valley town of Modesto and his early passion for cars and motor racing would eventually serve as inspiration for his USC student film ''1:42.08'', as well as his Oscar-nominated low-budget phenomenon, ''American Graffiti''. Long before Lucas became obsessed with film making, he wanted to be a race-car driver, and he spent most of his high school years racing on the underground circuit at fairgrounds and hanging out at garages. However, a near-fatal accident in his souped-up Autobianchi Bianchina on June 12, 1962, just days before his high school graduation, quickly changed his mind. Instead of racing, he attended Modesto Junior College and later got accepted into a junior college to study anthropology. While taking liberal arts courses, he developed a passion for cinematography and camera tricks. George Lucas graduated from USC in California.

As a child, Lucas never learned to swim, which became a source of embarrassment and frustration as he became older. Lucas has expressed in several interviews that his inability to swim was "the passion that drove me to succeed in filmmaking... [It] gave me the chip on my shoulder that I think was critical to my later success"

During this time, an experimental filmmaker named Bruce Baillie tacked up a bedsheet in his backyard in 1960 to screen the work of underground, avant-garde 16 mm filmmakers like Jordan Belson, Stan Brakhage and Bruce Conner. For the next few years, Baillie's series, dubbed Canyon Cinema, toured local coffeehouses. These events became a magnet for the teenage Lucas and his boyhood friend John Plummer. The 19-year-olds began slipping away to San Francisco to hang out in jazz clubs and find news of Canyon Cinema screenings in flyers at the City Lights bookstore. Already a promising photographer, Lucas became infatuated with these abstract films.

"That's when he [George] really started exploring" Plummer recalled. "We went to a theater on Union Street that shows art films, we drove up to San Francisco State for a film festival, and there was an old beatnik coffeehouse in Cow Hollow with shorts that were really out there." It was a season of awakening for Lucas, who had been an uninterested slacker in high school. At an autocross track, Lucas met his first mentor in the film industry — famed cinematographer Haskell Wexler, a fellow aficionado of sleek racing machines. Wexler was impressed by the way the shy teenager handled a camera, cradling it low on his hips to get better angles. "George had a very good eye, and he thought visually," Wexler recalls.

Lucas then transferred to the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts. USC was one of the earliest universities to have a school devoted to motion picture film. During the years at USC, George Lucas shared a dorm room with Randal Kleiser. Along with classmates such as Walter Murch, Hal Barwood and John Milius, they became a clique of film students known as The Dirty Dozen. He also became very good friends with fellow acclaimed student filmmaker and future ''Indiana Jones'' collaborator, Steven Spielberg. Lucas was deeply influenced by the Filmic Expression course taught at the school by filmmaker Lester Novros which concentrated on the non-narrative elements of Film Form like color, light, movement, space, and time. Another huge inspiration was the Serbian montagist (and dean of the USC Film Department) Slavko Vorkapich, a film theoretician comparable in historical importance to Sergei Eisenstein, who moved to Hollywood to make stunning montage sequences for studio features at MGM, RKO, and Paramount. Vorkapich taught the autonomous nature of the cinematic art form, emphasizing the unique dynamic quality of movement and kinetic energy inherent in motion pictures.

Lucas saw many inspiring films in class, particularly the visual films coming out of the National Film Board of Canada like Arthur Lipsett's 21-87, the French-Canadian cameraman Jean-Claude Labrecque's cinéma vérité ''60 Cycles'', the work of Norman McLaren, and the documentaries of Claude Jutra. Lucas fell madly in love with pure cinema and quickly became prolific at making 16 mm nonstory noncharacter visual tone poems and cinéma vérité with such titles as ''Look at Life'', ''Herbie'', ''1:42.08'', ''The Emperor'', ''Anyone Lived in a Pretty (how) Town'', ''Filmmaker'', and ''6-18-67''. He was passionate and interested in camerawork and editing, defining himself as a filmmaker as opposed to being a director, and he loved making abstract visual films that create emotions purely through cinema.

''Star Wars'' quickly became the highest-grossing film of all-time, displaced five years later by Spielberg’s ''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial''. During the filming of ''Star Wars'', Lucas waived his up-front fee as director and negotiated to own the licensing rights (for novelizations, T-shirts, toys, etc.) —rights which the studio thought were nearly worthless . This decision earned him hundreds of millions of dollars , as he was able to directly profit from all the licensed games, toys, and collectibles created for the franchise. This accumulated capital enabled him to finance the sequel himself.

Over the two decades after the first ''Star Wars'' film, Lucas worked extensively as a writer and/or producer, including the many Star Wars spinoffs made for film, TV, and other media. He acted as executive producer for the next two ''Star Wars'' films, assigning the direction of ''The Empire Strikes Back'' to Irvin Kershner and ''Return of the Jedi'' to Richard Marquand, while receiving a story credit on the former and sharing a screenwriting credit with Lawrence Kasdan on the latter. Lucas also acted as executive producer and story writer on all four of the ''Indiana Jones'' films, which he convinced his colleague and good friend, Steven Spielberg, to direct. Other notable projects as a producer or executive producer in this period include Kurosawa's ''Kagemusha'' (1980), Lawrence Kasdan's ''Body Heat'' (1981), Jim Henson's ''Labyrinth'' (1986), Godfrey Reggio's ''Powaqqatsi'' (1986) and the animated film ''The Land Before Time'' (1988). There were also some less successful projects, however, including ''More American Graffiti'' (1979), the ill-fated ''Howard the Duck'' (1986), which was arguably the biggest flop of his career; ''Willow'' (1988, which Lucas also wrote); and Coppola's ''Tucker: The Man and His Dream'' (1988). Between 1992 and 1996, Lucas served as executive producer for the television spinoff ''The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles''. In 1997, for the 20th anniversary of ''Star Wars,'' Lucas went back to his trilogy to enhance and add certain scenes using newly available digital technology. These new versions were released in theaters as the Star Wars Trilogy: Special Edition. For DVD releases in 2004, this series has received further revisions to make them congruent with the prequel trilogy. Besides the additions to the Star Wars franchise, Lucas released Special Edition director's cuts of THX 1138 and American Graffiti containing a number of CGI revisions.

The animation studio Pixar was founded as the Graphics Group , one third of the Computer Division of Lucasfilm. Pixar's early computer graphics research resulted in groundbreaking effects in films such as ''Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan'' and ''Young Sherlock Holmes'', and the group was purchased in 1986 by Steve Jobs shortly after he left Apple after a power struggle at Apple Computer. Jobs paid U.S. $5 million to Lucas and put U.S. $5 million as capital into the company. The sale reflected Lucas' desire to stop the cash flow losses from his 7-year research projects associated with new entertainment technology tools, as well as his company's new focus on creating entertainment products rather than tools. A contributing factor was cash-flow difficulties following Lucas' 1983 divorce concurrent with the sudden dropoff in revenues from ''Star Wars'' licenses following the release of ''Return of the Jedi''.

The sound-equipped system, THX Ltd, was founded by Lucas and Tomlinson Holman . The company was formerly owned by Lucasfilm, and contains equipment for stereo, digital, and theatrical sound for films, and music. Skywalker Sound and Industrial Light & Magic, the sound and visual effects subdivisions of Lucasfilm, respectively, have become among the most respected firms in their fields . Lucasfilm Games, later renamed LucasArts, is well respected in the gaming industry .

In 1994, Lucas began work on the screenplay for the prequel ''The Phantom Menace'', which would be the first film he had directed in over two decades. ''The Phantom Menace'' was released in 1999, beginning a new trilogy of Star Wars films. Lucas also directed ''Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones'' and ''Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith'' which were released in 2002 and 2005, respectively. Numerous critics considered these films inferior to the previously released ''Star Wars'', ''The Empire Strikes Back'', and ''Return of the Jedi''.

In 2008, he reteamed with Spielberg for ''Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull''.

Lucas currently serves as executive producer for ''Star Wars: The Clone Wars'', an animated television series on Cartoon Network, which was preceded by a feature film of the same name. He is also working on a so-far untitled Star Wars live-action series.

For the film ''Red Tails'' (2010), Lucas serves as story-writer and executive producer. He also took over direction of reshoots while director Anthony Hemingway worked on other projects. Lucas is working on his first musical, an untitled CGI project being produced at Skywalker Ranch. Kevin Munroe is directing and David Berenbaum wrote the screenplay.

Awards

In 1991, The George Lucas Educational Foundation was founded as a nonprofit operating foundation to celebrate and encourage innovation in schools. The Foundation's content is available under the brand Edutopia, in an award-winning web site and via documentary films. Lucas, through his foundation, was one of the leading proponents of the E-rate program in the universal service fund, which was enacted as part of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. On June 24, 2008, Lucas testified before the United States House of Representatives subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet as the head of his Foundation to advocate for a free wireless broadband educational network.

The American Film Institute awarded Lucas its Life Achievement Award on June 9, 2005. This was shortly after the release of ''Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith'', about which he joked stating that, since he views the entire ''Star Wars'' series as one film, he could actually receive the award now that he had finally "gone back and finished the movie."

On June 5, 2005, Lucas was named among the 100 "Greatest Americans" by the Discovery Channel.

Lucas was nominated for four Academy Awards: Best Directing and Writing for ''American Graffiti'', and Best Directing and Writing for ''Star Wars''. He received the Academy's Irving G. Thalberg Award in 1991. He appeared at the 79th Academy Awards ceremony in 2007 with Steven Spielberg and Francis Ford Coppola to present the Best Director award to their friend Martin Scorsese. During the speech, Spielberg and Coppola talked about the joy of winning an Oscar, making fun of Lucas, who has not won a competitive Oscar.

In 2005, Lucas gave US$1 million to help build the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial on the National Mall in Washington D.C. to commemorate American civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. On September 19, 2006, USC announced that George Lucas had donated $175–180 million to his alma mater to expand the film school. It is the largest single donation to USC and the largest gift to a film school anywhere. Previous donations led to the already existing George Lucas Instructional Building and Marcia Lucas Post-Production building.

On January 1, 2007 George Lucas served as the Grand Marshal for the 2007 Tournament of Roses Parade, and made the coin toss at the 2007 Rose Bowl.

On August 25, 2009, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver announced that Lucas would be one of 13 California Hall of Fame inductees in The California Museum's yearlong exhibit. The induction ceremony was on December 1, 2009 in Sacramento, California.

On September 6, 2009, Lucas was in Venice to present to the Pixar team the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement during the 2009 Biennale Venice Film Festival.

Personal life

In 1969, Lucas married film editor Marcia Lou Griffin, who went on to win an Academy Award for her editing work on the original ''Star Wars'' film. George and Marcia adopted a daughter, Amanda, in 1981, and divorced in 1983. Lucas has since adopted two more children: Katie, born in 1988, and Jett, born in 1993. All three of his children have appeared in the three ''Star Wars'' prequels, as has Lucas himself. Lucas had been in a long relationship with and engaged to singer Linda Ronstadt. He has been dating Mellody Hobson, president of Ariel Investments, since 2006 and she has accompanied him to several events including the 79th Academy Awards ceremony in February 2007, an American Film Institute event in October 2007, the 2008 Cannes Film Festival held in May, and the 2010 Golden Globes.

Lucas was born and raised in a strong Methodist family. The religious and mythical themes in ''Star Wars'' were inspired by Lucas' interest in the writings of mythologist Joseph Campbell, and he would eventually come to identify strongly with the Eastern religious philosophies he studied and incorporated into his films, which were a major inspiration for "the Force." Lucas eventually came to state that his religion was "Buddhist Methodist". Lucas resides in Marin County.

Lucas has said that he is a fan of Seth MacFarlane's hit TV show ''Family Guy''. MacFarlane has said that Lucasfilm was extremely helpful when the ''Family Guy'' crew wanted to parody their works.

Lucas has pledged to give half of his fortune to charity as part of an effort called The Giving Pledge led by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett to persuade America's richest individuals to donate their financial wealth to charities.

Filmography

References

Sources

Rinzler, J.W. "The Making of Star Wars, The Definitive Story Behind the Original Film", Ebury Press, 2007.

Silberman, Steve "Life After Darth" Wired, November, 2005

"George Lucas: Interviews" University Press of Mississippi (February 16, 2007)

The Cinema of George Lucas (Hardcover) by Marcus Hearn, Publisher: Harry N. Abrams (March 1, 2005)

Michael Rubin, "Droidmaker: George Lucas and the Digital Revolution" (2005) [ISBN 0937404675]

External links

George Lucas biography at Lucasfilm.com

George Lucas biography at World Business Forum where Lucas is a featured speaker for the 2009 event

Category:1944 births Category:American billionaires Category:American Buddhists Category:American chief executives Category:American Cinema Editors Category:American cinematographers Category:American film actors Category:American film directors Category:American film editors Category:American film producers Category:American science fiction writers Category:American screenwriters Category:American Methodists Category:American voice actors Category:Businesspeople from California Category:Film directors from California Category:Film producers from California Category:Film theorists Category:Disney people * Category:Indiana Jones Category:Living people Category:Mythopoeic writers Category:People from Marin County, California Category:People from Modesto, California Category:Science fiction fans Category:Science Fiction Hall of Fame inductees Category:Special effects people Category:Star Wars Category:University of Southern California alumni

ar:جورج لوكاس an:George Lucas ast:George Lucas bn:জর্জ লুকাস be:Джордж Лукас be-x-old:Джордж Лукас bs:George Lucas br:George Lucas bg:Джордж Лукас ca:George Lucas cs:George Lucas cy:George Lucas da:George Lucas de:George Lucas et:George Lucas el:Τζορτζ Λούκας es:George Lucas eo:George Lucas eu:George Lucas fa:جورج لوکاس fo:George Lucas fr:George Lucas fy:George Lucas ga:George Lucas gd:George Lucas gl:George Lucas ko:조지 루커스 hi:ज्योर्ज लुकास hr:George Lucas ilo:George Lucas id:George Lucas is:George Lucas it:George Lucas he:ג'ורג' לוקאס ka:ჯორჯ ლუკასი sw:George Lucas la:Georgius Lucas lv:Džordžs Lūkass lb:George Lucas li:George Lucas hu:George Lucas mk:Џорџ Лукас ml:ജോർജ്ജ് ലൂക്കാസ് mr:जॉर्ज लुकास arz:جورج لوكاس ms:George Lucas mn:Жорж Лукас nl:George Lucas new:जर्ज लुकास ja:ジョージ・ルーカス no:George Lucas nn:George Lucas pl:George Lucas pt:George Lucas ro:George Lucas ru:Лукас, Джордж sq:George Lucas simple:George Lucas sk:George Lucas sl:George Lucas sr:Џорџ Лукас sh:George Lucas fi:George Lucas sv:George Lucas ta:ஜோர்ச் லூகாஸ் th:จอร์จ ลูคัส tr:George Lucas uk:Джордж Лукас vi:George Lucas vo:George Lucas war:George Lucas bat-smg:Džuordžos Lokasos zh:乔治·卢卡斯