Patrick Read Johnson

Last updated
Patrick Read Johnson
Patrick Read Johnson.jpg
Patrick Read Johnson, on the set of 5-25-77
Born (1962-05-07) May 7, 1962 (age 62)
Wadsworth, Illinois, United States
Occupation(s) Film director, scriptwriter, film producer, actor, visual effects artist
Years active1980–present

Patrick Read Johnson (born May 7, 1962) is an American filmmaker, special effects artist and screenwriter. Born in Wadsworth, Illinois, he is best known for his directorial work on the films Spaced Invaders , Angus , Baby's Day Out , The Genesis Code and 5-25-77 . He also has written and produced such films as Dragonheart .

Contents

Career

Starting out in the field of practical special effects and models, Johnson was one of the first people outside of Industrial Light and Magic to see Star Wars (albeit in an incomplete form) as chronicled in his semi-autobiographical film 5-25-77 . He first saw the film during Spring Break, sometime between late March and early April 1977, when ILM was scrambling to complete VFX shots. [1] He had also visited the set of Close Encounters of the Third Kind at Future General Corporation a few days before and found Douglas Trumbull's work to be "engineered, intimidating and mature" compared to John Dykstra's "shooting-from-the-hip" style.

Johnson ascended into mainstream Hollywood filmmaking following the modest success of Spaced Invaders, invited by John Hughes to work on his adaptation of Dennis the Menace , and then later, the comedy Baby's Day Out . Baby's Day Out was tremendously popular in South Asia, including India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. In India, it was played at the largest theater in Calcutta for over a year. [2]

He also wrote the fantasy film Dragonheart , which spawned a franchise. He proposed the idea for the film to producer Raffaella De Laurentiis. Johnson described it as " The Skin Game with a dragon in it...or Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Dragon ", and that he wanted "the idea of a dragon and a knight conning villages for money" because he thought that the concept was "not only funny, but kind of sweet". [3]

Up until 2021 Johnson served as a filmmaking instructor at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. [4]

5-25-77

Johnson began developing 5-25-77 in 1999 after he met Gary Kurtz. In 2001, Johnson began seeking funding for 5-25-77, and didn't start shooting the film until 2004. [5] An incomplete "preview cut" was exhibited in 2007 at Star Wars Celebration IV [6] and at the Hamptons International Film Festival in 2008, where 5-25-77 won the Heineken Red Star Award. [7]

On May 25, 2012, the 35th anniversary of the release of Star Wars , Johnson began a cross-country road trip in his 1975 Ford Pinto to attract the funding needed to finish the film's remaining post-production work. [8] Johnson spent the summer of 2012 test-screening 5-25-77, his trip also becoming the subject of a documentary called Hearts of Dorkness , by filmmaker Morgan Flores . [9] [10]

In 2013, the TIFF Next Wave film festival invited Johnson to show 5-25-77 as a "work in progress", the attention from the festival Johnson attributed to the bid of his promotional tour the summer before. [11]

In 2017, it was announced Johnson had completed the film and that it would receive a limited theatrical release on May 25. [12]

Filmography

Films

Filmmaking credits

TitleYearDirectorWriterExecutive
producer
Notes
Spaced Invaders 1990YesYes
Baby's Day Out 1994Yes
Angus 1995Yes
Dragonheart 1996StoryYes
The Genesis Code 2010Yes
5-25-77 2022YesYesYesAlso wrote title music

Acting credits

TitleYearRole(s)Notes
Spaced Invaders 1990Commander / Enforcer Drone (voice)
Joey's Last Wish2014Awards PresenterShorts
The Roma Project2015Dr. Towns
Gilded2016Steven Henderson
TelemetryNASA Official
5-25-77 2022Dr. Johnson

Technical credits

TitleYearCreditsNotes
Deal of the Century 1983Model makerUncredited
2010: The Year We Make Contact 1984Miniatures crew
An American Tail 1986Miniature model maker
King Kong Lives Crew leader: special effects miniatures
Dead Heat 1988Second unit director / special effects / video graphic animation / Songwriter (song Deat Heat)
Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure 1989Miniature construction: Perpetual Motion Pictures
Warlock Visual effects coordinator / miniature construction: Perpetual Motion Pictures
Dark Country 2009Visual effects producer: Moonwalker

Television

Filmmaking credits

TitleYearDirectorWriterProducerNotes
Dinosaurs 1991YesEpisode: "When Food Goes Bad"
When Good Ghouls Go Bad 2001YesYesTelevision movie
LazyTown 2004Supervising2 episodes
StarsailorTBAYesYesYes

Acting credits

TitleYearRoleNotes
Masterpiece 2022Jac's Dad1 episode

Technical credits

TitleYearCreditsNotes
V 1983Mothership miniatureEpisode: "Part I", uncredited
Amazing Stories 1985Model makerEpisode: "The Mission", uncredited

Music videos and video concerts

PerformerTitleYearComposerDirectorProducer
Alan Parsons I Can't Get There from Here2019YesYes
As Lights FallYesYes
The Neverending Show: Live in the Netherlands2021Yes
One Note Symphony: Live in Tel Aviv2022Yes

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Cronenberg</span> Canadian filmmaker and film director (born 1943)

David Paul Cronenberg is a Canadian film director and screenwriter. He is a principal originator of the body horror genre, with his films exploring visceral bodily transformation, infectious diseases, and the intertwining of the psychological, physical, and technological. Cronenberg is best known for exploring these themes through sci-fi horror films such as Shivers (1975), Scanners (1981), Videodrome (1983) and The Fly (1986), though he has also directed dramas, psychological thrillers and gangster films.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Toronto International Film Festival</span> Annual film festival held in Toronto, Canada

The Toronto International Film Festival is one of the most prestigious and largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, founded in 1976 and taking place each September. It is also a permanent destination for film culture operating out of the TIFF Lightbox cultural centre, located in Downtown Toronto.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stellan Skarsgård</span> Swedish actor (born 1951)

Stellan John Skarsgård is a Swedish actor. He is known for his collaborations with director Lars von Trier, appearing in Breaking the Waves (1996), Dancer in the Dark (2000), Dogville (2003), Melancholia (2011), and Nymphomaniac (2013). Skarsgård's English-speaking film roles include The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988), The Hunt for Red October (1990), Good Will Hunting (1997), Ronin (1998), and King Arthur (2004).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bruce McDonald (director)</span> Canadian film director, film producer and film editor

Bruce McDonald is a Canadian film and television director, writer, and producer. Born in Kingston, Ontario, he rose to prominence in the 1980s as part of the loosely-affiliated Toronto New Wave.

<i>Dragonheart</i> 1996 film by Rob Cohen

Dragonheart is a 1996 fantasy adventure film directed by Rob Cohen and written by Charles Edward Pogue, based on a story created by him and Patrick Read Johnson. The film stars Dennis Quaid, David Thewlis, Pete Postlethwaite, Dina Meyer, and Sean Connery as the voice of Draco.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samuel Fuller</span> American screenwriter, novelist and director (1912–1997)

Samuel Michael "Sam" Fuller was an American film director, screenwriter, novelist, journalist, actor, and World War II veteran known for directing low-budget genre movies with controversial themes, often made outside the conventional studio system. Fuller wrote his first screenplay for Hats Off in 1936, and made his directorial debut with the Western I Shot Jesse James (1949). He would continue to direct several other Westerns and war thrillers throughout the 1950s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manoel de Oliveira</span> Portuguese film director, screenwriter and racing driver (1908–2015)

Manoel Cândido Pinto de Oliveira was a Portuguese film director and screenwriter born in Cedofeita, Porto. He first began making films in 1927, when he and some friends attempted to make a film about World War I. In 1931, he completed his first film Douro, Faina Fluvial, a documentary about his home city Porto made in the city-symphony genre. He made his feature film debut in 1942 with Aniki-Bóbó and continued to make shorts and documentaries for the next 30 years, gaining a minimal amount of recognition without being considered a major world film director.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abel Ferrara</span> American film director

Abel Ferrara is an American filmmaker, known for the provocative and often controversial content in his movies and his use and redefinition of neo-noir imagery. A long-time independent filmmaker, some of his best known movies include the New York-set, gritty crime thrillers The Driller Killer (1979), Ms .45 (1981), King of New York (1990), Bad Lieutenant (1992) and The Funeral (1996), chronicling violent crime in urban settings with spiritual overtones.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rob Cohen</span> American film director and producer

Robert Alan Cohen is an American director and producer of film and television. Beginning his career as an executive producer at 20th Century Fox, Cohen produced and developed numerous high-profile film and television programs, including The Wiz, The Witches of Eastwick, and Light of Day until he began focusing on full-time directing in the 1990s. He directed the action films The Fast and the Furious, and XXX.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ingrid Veninger</span> Canadian actress, film director and screenwriter

Ingrid Veninger is a Canadian actress, writer, director, producer, and film professor at York University. Veninger began her career in show business as a child actor in commercials and on television; as a teen, she was featured in the CBC series Airwaves (1986–1987) and the CBS series Friday the 13th: The Series (1987–1990). In the 1990s, she branched out into producing, and, in 2003, she founded her own production company, pUNK Films, through which she began to work on her own projects as a writer and director.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wisit Sasanatieng</span> Thai film director and screenwriter

Wisit Sasanatieng is a Thai film director and screenwriter of Chinese descent. Best known for his colourful debut feature film, Tears of the Black Tiger, he is among a "New Wave" of Thai directors that include Nonzee Nimibutr and Pen-Ek Ratanaruang.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Austin Film Festival</span> Film festival

Austin Film Festival (AFF), founded in 1994, is an organization in Austin, Texas, that focuses on writers' creative contributions to film. Initially, AFF was called the Austin Heart of Film Screenwriters Conference and functioned to launch the careers of screenwriters, who historically have been underrepresented within the film industry.

<i>5-25-77</i> 2022 film by Patrick Read Johnson

5-25-77, released as 25-5-77 in the United Kingdom, is a 2022 coming-of-age film written and directed by Patrick Read Johnson and produced by Fred Roos and Gary Kurtz. It stars John Francis Daley as a teenage director living in Wadsworth, Illinois, and his excitement for the premiere of Star Wars on May 25, 1977.

Gino M. Santos is a Filipino film director and producer. They also teach at CIIT College of Arts and Technology.

<i>Dragonheart 3: The Sorcerers Curse</i> 2015 film by Colin Teague

Dragonheart 3: The Sorcerer's Curse is a 2015 fantasy adventure film directed by Colin Teague and released direct-to-video. The third film in the Dragonheart franchise, it is a prequel to the original film.

Jeffrey St. Jules is a Canadian film director and screenwriter, who won the Claude Jutra Award in 2015 for his debut feature film Bang Bang Baby. The film also won the award for Best Canadian First Feature Film at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival.

Jasmin Mozaffari is a Canadian film director and screenwriter. She won the Canadian Screen Award for Best Director at the 7th Canadian Screen Awards in 2019 for her debut feature film Firecrackers.

<i>Shiva Baby</i> 2020 film by Emma Seligman

Shiva Baby is a 2020 American comedy film written and directed by Emma Seligman, in her feature directorial debut. The film stars Rachel Sennott as Danielle, a directionless young bisexual Jewish woman who attends a shiva with her parents, Joel and Debbie. Other attendees include her successful ex-girlfriend Maya, and her sugar daddy Max with his wife Kim and their screaming baby. It also features Jackie Hoffman, Deborah Offner, Rita Gardner and Sondra James in supporting roles.

<i>Dragonheart</i> (franchise) Film franchise about dragons that share their hearts with humans

Dragonheart, stylized as DragonHeart, is a Universal Pictures media franchise that began with the 1996 film of the same name, directed by Rob Cohen and written by Charles Edward Pogue, based on an original story by Pogue and Patrick Read Johnson. The film's moderate box office success and strong home media sales spawned the franchise, consisting of a straight-to-video sequel, three prequels, and various merchandise, including toys, trading cards, and books.

Dieudo Hamadi is a documentary filmmaker from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

References

  1. "PATRICK READ JOHNSON Drives to the Basement – Ain't It Cool with Harry Knowles". Nerdist. 2012-07-05. Retrieved 2012-08-17.[ dead YouTube link ]
  2. Ebert, Roger (August 6, 2009). "John Hughes: In Memory". Rogerebert.com. Retrieved February 23, 2015.
  3. Welkos, Robert W. (1996-06-12). "Screenwriters Want to Tell Own Stories". Los Angeles Times.
  4. "Patrick Johnson - School of Filmmaking".
  5. DeMara, Bruce (15 February 2013). "Star Wars-inspired 5-25-77 a long, long time in the making: Director Patrick Read Johnson brings his nearly finished love letter to his own idealistic filmmaking youth to TIFF's Next Wave Festival". Toronto Star . Retrieved 2 May 2013.
  6. Whittaker, Richard (1 July 2012). "Voyage to the 'Hearts of Dorkness': Patrick Read Johnson and the strange oddysey of 5-25-77". The Austin Chronicle . Retrieved 2 May 2013.
  7. IMDb
  8. "Wadsworht Director Has New Hope for Star Wars Flick". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on 2014-03-03. Retrieved 2013-05-01.
  9. "Star Wars-inspired 5-25-77 a long, long time in the making". The Star. Toronto. February 15, 2013.
  10. Dorkshelf.com
  11. Norman Wilner, "TIFF Next Wave Film Festival". Now , February 14, 2013.
  12. "The first fan to see 'Star Wars' made a new film about it".