John Byrum | |
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Occupation(s) | Director, screenwriter |
Spouses |
John Byrum is an American film director, and writer known for The Razor's Edge , Heart Beat , Duets and Inserts . [2]
Raised in Winnetka, Illinois, on the North Shore of Chicago, Byrum attended New Trier High School, and later studied at New York University in the late 1960s. His instructors included Haig P. Manoogian and graduate student Martin Scorsese, and classmates Oliver Stone and Eric Jenkins. At NYU, he co-wrote Item 72-D, The Adventures of Spa and Fon with director Edward Summer.
As a student, Byrum interned with Jim Henson on early appearances of The Muppets and was later hired by Henson as one of the original writers of Sesame Street . Henson took a special interest in Byrum's talent, and hired him to write freelance projects. Byrum left New York for Hollywood after Byrum's original script Inserts received positive reaction, and he was tapped to write the script Harry and Walter Go to New York by producers and mentors Don Devlin, Tony Bill, and Harry Gittes.
After that script was sold for a then-record-breaking amount, Byrum was hired to write the Diana Ross vehicle Mahogany . He passed on the chance to write the script for Jaws to work on Mahogany with one of his idols, director Tony Richardson, only to have Richardson leave the film midproduction after clashing with producer Berry Gordy of Motown fame. Berry took over directing chores, and the true drama of Mahogany was said to be the behind-the-camera relationship between Gordy and Ross. [3]
Byrum directed his first feature film Inserts with stars Richard Dreyfuss, Jessica Harper, Veronica Cartwright, Stephen Davies, and Bob Hoskins.
Byrum did uncredited work on the script for Valentino because Ken Russell wanted an American co-writer. [4]
Byrum followed soon after as writer/director of Heart Beat, starring Nick Nolte, John Heard, and Sissy Spacek, as Neal Cassady, Jack Kerouac, and Carolyn Cassady, respectively. On this film, Byrum started his long collaborative relationship and friendship with composer Jack Nitzsche. [5]
Byrum teamed with Mahogany producer Rob Cohen, which resulted Scandalous and The Razor's Edge, the 1984 film directed by Byrum based on the W. Somerset Maugham novel starring Bill Murray in his first dramatic role as Larry Darrell, and co-starring Catherine Hicks, Theresa Russell, Denholm Elliott, and James Keach. Byrum and Murray co-wrote the screenplay. The film faltered with critics and audiences, as most were not ready to accept Murray in a noncomedic role. In later years, the film achieved cult status and many fans have traveled to its international locations, to replicate Larry's spiritual journey.
Following the box-office failure of The Razor's Edge, financially strapped Byrum directed the goofy comedy The Whoopee Boys starring Michael O'Keefe and Paul Rodriguez.
He was the original director of the TV movie Desperado (1987), but left the project during filming. [6]
Byrum created, wrote, and produced several television series, including Middle Ages starring Peter Riegert, Michael O'Keefe, Amy Brenneman, and William Russ, about a group of friends attempting to deal with the onset of their 40s on the North Shore of Chicago; [7] South of Sunset starring Glenn Frey of The Eagles fame, as an unconventional Los Angeles detective; and Winnetka Road starring Josh Brolin, Meg Tilly, Paige Turco, and Ed Begley, Jr., again, dealing with life on Chicago's North Shore. Byrum's television movie Murder in High Places starred Ted Levine as a Hunter Thompson-like character who is elected mayor of a Colorado ski resort, which showcased a young Lisa Kudrow in one of her first acting roles.
Byrum was scheduled to direct his original script of karaoke road-trip dramedy Duets when he was felled by a serious case of Lyme disease that had gone long undiagnosed. Byrum's friend Bruce Paltrow wanted to direct Duets with his daughter Gwyneth Paltrow as one of the six ensemble characters. Brad Pitt was attached to co-star with Paltrow, his fiancée at the time, but when their engagement ended, the film's financing faltered once again. Duets was filmed several years later with Scott Speedman in the role originally chosen by Pitt, along with Paul Giamatti, Maria Bello, Andre Braugher, and Huey Lewis.
John Byrum married actress Linda Fiorentino on June 23, 1992. Byrum and Fiorentino worked together on the movie The War at Home, [8] which began filming April 15, 1988; the two were in a relationship at that point. Byrum wrote the script, which was loosely based on the life of model and actress Edie Sedgwick; however, the film was never completed. The couple divorced in 1993, after a year of marriage, for reasons not known. In 1997, Byrum married his current wife, American screenwriter Karin Reznack.
In film, an insert is a shot of part of a scene as filmed from a different angle and/or focal length from the master shot. Inserts cover action already covered in the master shot, but emphasize a different aspect of that action due to the different framing. An insert differs from a cutaway as cutaways cover action not covered in the master shot.
Bruce Weigert Paltrow was an American television and film director and producer. He was the husband of actress Blythe Danner, and the father of actress Gwyneth Paltrow and screenwriter/director Jake Paltrow.
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Clorinda "Linda" Fiorentino is an American actress. Fiorentino made her screen debut with a leading role in the 1985 coming-of-age drama film Vision Quest, followed that same year with a lead role in the action film Gotcha! and an appearance in the film After Hours.
Zachary Israel Braff is an American actor and filmmaker. He portrayed John Michael "J.D." Dorian on the NBC/ABC television series Scrubs (2001–2010), for which he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series in 2005 as well as for three Golden Globe Awards from 2005 to 2007. He starred in The Broken Hearts Club: A Romantic Comedy (2000), The Last Kiss (2006), The Ex (2006), and In Dubious Battle (2016). He has done voice-work for Chicken Little (2005), Oz the Great and Powerful (2013), and the Netflix series BoJack Horseman.
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Duets is a 2000 American road trip film co-produced and directed by Bruce Paltrow and written by John Byrum. The motion picture features an ensemble cast with Gwyneth Paltrow, Huey Lewis, Paul Giamatti, Maria Bello, Angie Dickinson, Scott Speedman, and Andre Braugher among others. The movie "revolves around the little known world of karaoke competitions and the wayward characters who inhabit it."
Inserts is a 1975 British comedy-drama film written and directed by John Byrum in his directorial debut, and starring Richard Dreyfuss, Jessica Harper, Bob Hoskins and Veronica Cartwright.
The Razor's Edge is a 1984 American drama film directed and co-written by John Byrum starring Bill Murray, Theresa Russell, Catherine Hicks, Denholm Elliott, Brian Doyle-Murray, and James Keach. The film is an adaptation of W. Somerset Maugham's 1944 novel The Razor's Edge.
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Cheryl Lynn "Rainbeaux" Smith was an American actress and musician who appeared in a number of mainstream features, as well as exploitation and horror films throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Many of these films have become cult classics.
Ian Dalrymple was a British screenwriter, film director, film editor and film producer.
Moonlight and Valentino is a 1995 comedy-drama film directed by David Anspaugh starring Elizabeth Perkins, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kathleen Turner, Whoopi Goldberg and Jon Bon Jovi. The screenplay, by Ellen Simon, is based on her semi-autobiographical play of the same title, written after the death of her husband.
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The Whoopee Boys is a 1986 American comedy film directed by John Byrum and starring Michael O'Keefe and Paul Rodriguez. It was made by the writers and the producers of the 1984 hit film Revenge of the Nerds.
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