James Schamus

Last updated

James Schamus
James Schamus 2016.jpg
Schamus in 2016
Born
James Allan Schamus

(1959-09-07) September 7, 1959 (age 65)
Education University of California, Berkeley (BA, MA, PhD)
Occupations
  • Producer
  • screenwriter
  • director
Spouse Nancy Kricorian
Children2

James Allan Schamus (born September 7, 1959) is an American screenwriter, producer, business executive, film historian, professor, and director. He is a frequent collaborator of Ang Lee, the co-founder of the production company Good Machine, and the co-founder and former CEO of motion picture production, financing, and worldwide distribution company Focus Features, a subsidiary of NBCUniversal. He is currently president of the New York–based production company Symbolic Exchange, [1] and is Professor of Professional Practice at Columbia University, where he has taught film history and theory since 1989.

Contents

Life and career

Schamus was born in Detroit, Michigan, to a Jewish family. [2] He is the son of Clarita (Gershowitz) Karlin and Julian John Schamus, and was raised in Los Angeles. He is married to writer Nancy Kricorian, with whom he has two children.

His output includes writing or co-writing The Ice Storm , Eat, Drink, Man, Woman , Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Hulk (all directed by Ang Lee), and producing Brokeback Mountain and Alone in Berlin . At Focus he oversaw the production and distribution of Lost in Translation , Milk , Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind , Coraline , and The Kids Are All Right . In addition to his tenure at Columbia University, he has also taught at Yale University and at Rutgers University. He is the author of Carl Theodor Dreyer's Gertrud: The Moving Word, published by the University of Washington Press. He earned his BA, MA, and Ph.D. in English from University of California, Berkeley. [3]

Schamus made his feature directorial debut with Indignation , an adaptation of Philip Roth's novel of the same name. Schamus also wrote the script for the film, which stars Logan Lerman, Sarah Gadon, and Tracy Letts, and is the story of a Jewish student at an Ohio college in 1951. [4] The film premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival, and was theatrically released by Roadside Attractions on July 29, 2016. [1]

He was president of the jury for the 64th Berlin International Film Festival. [5] He has also been on the jury of the New York International Children's Film Festival, [6] and has served on the editorial boards of Film Quarterly and Cinema Journal , as well as on the board of Creative Capital and the Heyman Center for the Humanities. [7] In 2016, Outfest established the James Schamus Ally Award to honor individuals who give prominence to LGBTQ narratives, with winners including James Franco, [8] Rita Moreno, [9] Sandra Oh, [10] Octavia Spencer, [11] Andra Day, [12] Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone, [13] and Shirley MacLaine. [14]

Filmography

YearTitle Producer Writer DirectorNotes
1990 The Golden Boat YesNo Raúl Ruiz
1991 Pushing Hands YesYes Ang Lee Also additional scenes
Poison ExecutiveNo Todd Haynes
Keep It For Yourself YesNo Claire Denis
AngryYesNo Nicole Holofcener Short film
Homage By AssassinationYesNo Elia Suleiman
Thank You and Good NightCo-producerNo Jan Oxenberg Documentary
I Was on MarsCo-producerNoDani LeviAlso line producer
Chicken DelightYesNoAdam IsidoreShort film
Warrior: The Life of Leonard PeltierExecutiveNoSuzie BaerDocumentary
1992 Swoon ExecutiveNo Tom Kalin
Punch and Judy Get Divorced [15] YesNoDavid Gordon and Mark Pellington
Ambition [16] YesNo Hal Hartley Short film
Surviving Desire ExecutiveNo
In the Soup AssociateNo Alexandre Rockwell
1993 Terminal USA ExecutiveNo Jon Moritsugu
Dottie Gets SpankedExecutiveNoTodd HaynesAlso line producer
Night RideExecutiveNoAndy GarrisonAlso line producer
The Secret Life of Houses [17] ExecutiveNoAdrian Velicescu
A Psychic MomExecutiveNoSteve Busa
Love PotionExecutiveNo Ayoka Chenzira
Family RemainsExecutiveNo Tamara Jenkins
The Wedding Banquet YesYesAng Lee
1994 Eat Drink Man Woman AssociateYes
Dark WatersYesNo Kutluğ Ataman
Roy Cohn/Jack SmithYesNo Jill Godmilow
What Happened Was ExecutiveNo Tom Noonan
1995 Sense and Sensibility Co-producerNoAng Lee
Greetings from AfricaYesNo Cheryl Dunye
Safe ExecutiveNoTodd Haynes
The Brothers McMullen ExecutiveNo Edward Burns
1996 She's the One YesNo
Walking and Talking YesNo Nicole Holofcener
1997 Love God ExecutiveNoFrank Grow
The Myth of Fingerprints ExecutiveNo Bart Freundlich
Arresting Gena ExecutiveNo Hannah Weyer
Wonderland ExecutiveNoJohn O'HaganDocumentary
Office Killer ExecutiveNo Cindy Sherman
The Ice Storm YesYesAng Lee
1998 Happiness ExecutiveNo Todd Solondz
1999 Lola and Billy the Kid ExecutiveNoKutluğ Ataman
The Lifestyle ExecutiveNoDavid SchisgallDocumentary
Ride with the Devil YesYesAng Lee
2000 Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon ExecutiveYesAlso songwriter
2001 Buffalo Soldiers ExecutiveNo Gregor Jordan
2002 Auto Focus ExecutiveNo Paul Schrader
2003 Hulk YesYesAng Lee
2005 Brokeback Mountain YesNo
2007 Lust, Caution YesYesAlso songwriter
2009 Taking Woodstock YesYes
2014That Film About Money [18] YesYesHimselfShort film
2015 Alone in Berlin YesNo Vincent Perez
Suffragette ExecutiveNo Sarah Gavron
Junction 48 ExecutiveNo Udi Aloni
2016 Indignation YesYesHimself Directorial debut
2017 Casting JonBenet [19] YesNo Kitty Green Documentary
Dayveon [20] ExecutiveNoAmman Abasi
A Prayer Before Dawn [21] ExecutiveNo Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire
2018 Benji ExecutiveNoBrandon Camp
Furlough ExecutiveNo Laurie Collyer
2019 Adam YesNo Rhys Ernst
The Tomorrow Man YesNoNoble Jones
Driveways YesNo Andrew Ahn
The Assistant YesNo Kitty Green
Frames [22] YesYesHimselfShort film
2022 The King's Daughter NoYes Sean McNamara
2024 We Grown Now ExecutiveNo Minhal Baig
2025 The Wedding Banquet YesYes Andrew Ahn Post-production

Awards and nominations

YearTitleAwards/Nominations
1997 The Ice Storm Prix du Scénario (Best Screenplay Award) [23]
Nominated – BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
Nominated – WGA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
2000 Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Nominated – Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
Nominated – Academy Award for Best Original Song
Nominated – BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
Nominated – WGA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay

Nominated – Grammy Award for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television, or Other Visual Media

2005 Brokeback Mountain BAFTA Award for Best Film
Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama [24]
Independent Spirit Award for Best Film [25]
Nominated – Academy Award for Best Picture
2007 Lust, Caution Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film
2016 Indignation Nominated – Berlin International Film Festival Best First Feature Award

Career recognition and honors

Writing

Books

Essays and articles

Profiles and interviews

Related Research Articles

<i>Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon</i> 2000 film by Ang Lee

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a 2000 wuxia martial arts film directed by Ang Lee and written for the screen by Wang Hui-ling, James Schamus, and Tsai Kuo-jung. The film stars Chow Yun-fat, Michelle Yeoh, Zhang Ziyi, and Chang Chen. It is based on the Chinese novel of the same name, serialized between 1941 and 1942 by Wang Dulu, the fourth part of his Crane-Iron Series. Set in 19th-century Imperial China, the plot follows two master warriors, Li Mu Bai (Chow) and Yu Shu Lien (Yeoh), who are faced with their greatest challenge when the treasured Green Destiny sword is stolen by the mysterious thief Jen Yu (Zhang).

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<i>Brokeback Mountain</i> 2005 film directed by Ang Lee

Brokeback Mountain is a 2005 neo-Western romantic drama film directed by Ang Lee and produced by Diana Ossana and James Schamus. Adapted from the 1997 short story by Annie Proulx, the screenplay was written by Ossana and Larry McMurtry. The film stars Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, Anne Hathaway, and Michelle Williams. Its plot depicts the complex romantic relationship between two American cowboys, Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist, in the American West from 1963 to 1983.

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Good Machine Productions was an American independent film production, film distribution, and foreign sales company started in the early 1990 by its co-founders and producers, Ted Hope and James Schamus. David Linde joined as a partner in the late 1990s and also started the international sales company Good Machine International. They sold the company to Universal Pictures, where it was then merged with USA Films and Universal Focus to create Focus Features. Hope, along with the heads of production development and business affairs then went on to form the independent production company This Is That Productions. Schamus and Linde became co-presidents of Focus Features.

Outfest is an LGBTQ-oriented nonprofit that produces two film festivals, operates a movie streaming platform, and runs educational services for filmmakers in Los Angeles. Outfest is one of the key partners, alongside the Frameline Film Festival, the New York Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender Film Festival, and the Inside Out Film and Video Festival, in launching the North American Queer Festival Alliance, an initiative to further publicize and promote LGBT film.

<i>The Ice Storm</i> (film) 1997 film by Ang Lee

The Ice Storm is a 1997 American independent drama film directed by Ang Lee and written by James Schamus. Based on Rick Moody's 1994 novel of the same name and set during Thanksgiving 1973 in New Canaan, Connecticut, the film features an ensemble cast of Kevin Kline, Joan Allen, Tobey Maguire, Christina Ricci, Elijah Wood, Katie Holmes, Glenn Fitzgerald, Jamey Sheridan and Sigourney Weaver as two neighbouring, dysfunctional upper-class families seeking escapism through alcohol, adultery, and sexual experimentation.

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Indignation is a 2016 American drama film written, produced, and directed by James Schamus. The film, based on the 2008 novel by Philip Roth, is set mostly in Winesburg, Ohio in the early 1950s, and stars Logan Lerman, Sarah Gadon, Tracy Letts, Linda Emond, and Danny Burstein.

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James Sweeney is an American actor, director, and screenwriter. He is most known for directing and starring in Straight Up (2019) and Twinless (2025).

References

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  2. Rotella, Carlo (November 26, 2010). "The Professor of Micropopularity". The New York Times . The story of America, of Western culture, is often the story of queer culture, of being Jewish" — Schamus is Jewish — "of being outsiders and refugees who find a place that is the not-place.
  3. "The Man Behind the Movies".
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  12. Ramos, Dino-Ray (April 7, 2021). "Michaela Coel And Andra Day To Be Honored At Outfest Fusion QTBIPOC Film Festival". Deadline. Retrieved January 7, 2025.
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