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Katt Shea | |
|---|---|
| Born | Kathleen Ann Shea October 9, 1959 |
| Other names | Katt Shea Ruben |
| Alma mater | University of Michigan |
| Occupation(s) | Actress, director |
| Spouse | Andy Ruben (m. 1979;div. 1992) |
| Website | www |
Kathleen Ann Shea (born October 9, 1959) [1] is an American actress, film director, and acting teacher. She is best known for directing the erotic thriller Poison Ivy , which was nominated for the 1992 Sundance Grand Jury Prize.
Shea was born in Detroit, Michigan to an artist father and nurse mother. [2] She studied teaching at the University of Michigan from which she graduated with honors. After graduating, she spent six months teaching blind children, [3] before taking off at age 19 to Hollywood, California where she started her early modeling career and for a short time attended University of California, Los Angeles. [4]
"I was directing plays I'd written in my back yard when I was twelve", she said later. "I was a total misfit and didn't have any friends, so that's what I did instead. I recruited younger kids from the neighborhood, and their parents paid me to put them in my productions. I made some pretty good money, actually. Helped put me through college. Yay for being a misfit! Yay for not having friends!" [5]
Shea worked as an actor and model for a number of years, including appearing in a small role in Scarface and Psycho III . [6] [7]
"I was never comfortable being an actress", she said in a 1992 interview. "It was the most ridiculous thing; I am like the antithesis of that. I really, truly am very shy. ... I did it for seven years, and I can't believe I lived through that".
In 1986, she was on location in the Philippines when she struck up a friendship with Andy Ruben. The two of them started writing scripts together, and succeeded in getting The Patriot (1986) made for Roger Corman. Corman agreed to finance another Ruben-Shea script with Shea directing, Stripped to Kill . The resulting movie was successful and launched her directorial career. [7]
Shea made a number of films for Corman based on scripts by herself and Ruben. Corman later described her as a ""talented director. She's particularly good with actors, having been an actress herself. She's taught herself about the camera and has gotten better with each picture." [8]
In a 1990 review of Streets, the Los Angeles Times said Shea "continues to show that she is a first-rate talent, as terrific at handling hard action with style and dispatch as a drawing the best from her casts." [9]
According to Corman, the films she made for him cost less than $500,000 on average and made between $5–10 million. [10] She was then hired by New Line to make Poison Ivy which was a critical and popular hit.
In 1992, her films were honoured with a four-day retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art including the New York premiere of Poison Ivy. [11] According to Larry Karidish, a curator of film at the museum:
Katt's work is distinctive for its style, rhythm, the progression of its narrative. Her movies touch something deep in the psyche. They have a consistent and coherent sensibility and I thought it would make sense to show her work as a body. [10]
In 2019, she directed Sophia Lillis and Linda Lavin in the feature film Nancy Drew and The Hidden Staircase for Warner Bros. In 2022, she directed Rescued By Ruby for Netflix.
Between directing jobs, she works as an acting coach, [12] where her past clients have included Christina Applegate, Alison Lohman, Sophia Lillis, and Drew Barrymore. [13]
Katt Shea married collaborator Andy Ruben. They divorced in 1992 after 13 years of marriage. [10]
Roger William Corman was an American film director, producer and actor. Known under various monikers such as "The Pope of Pop Cinema", "The Spiritual Godfather of the New Hollywood", and "The King of Cult", he was known as a trailblazer in the world of independent film.
Poison Ivy is a 1992 American erotic thriller film directed by Katt Shea. It stars Drew Barrymore, Sara Gilbert, Tom Skerritt and Cheryl Ladd. The original music score is composed by David Michael Frank. The film was shot in Los Angeles.
The Rage: Carrie 2 is a 1999 American supernatural horror film directed by Katt Shea, and starring Emily Bergl, Jason London, Dylan Bruno, J. Smith-Cameron and Amy Irving. The film is a sequel to the 1976 horror film Carrie based on the 1974 novel of the same name by Stephen King, and serves as the second film in the Carrie franchise. The film was originally titled The Curse and did not have connections to the Carrie novel or film, but was eventually rewritten to be a direct sequel to the 1976 film. Its plot follows the younger half-sister of Carrie White (Bergl), also suffering with telekinesis, who finds that her best friend's suicide was spurred by a group of popular male classmates who exploited her for sexual gain.
The Terror is a 1963 American independent horror film produced and directed by Roger Corman. The film stars Boris Karloff and Jack Nicholson, the latter of whom portrays a French officer who is seduced by a woman who is also a shapeshifting devil.
Cirio Hermoso Santiago was a Filipino film producer, director and writer. He used the screen names Cirio Santiago, Cirio H. Santiago, Leonardo Hermoso, and Leonard Hermes.
Daryl Haney, also known by the pen names Duke Haney and D. R. Haney, is an American actor, screenwriter, novelist, and essayist.
Barbara Peeters, also known as Barbara Peters, is an American director and screenwriter of television and film. She is best known for her collaborations with producer-director Roger Corman on films such as Humanoids from the Deep, and directing episodes of television shows such as Remington Steele.
Jonathan Kaplan is an American film producer and director. His film The Accused (1988) earned actress Jodie Foster the Oscar for Best Actress and was nominated for the Golden Bear at the 39th Berlin International Film Festival. His film Love Field (1992) earned actress Michelle Pfeiffer an Oscar nomination for Best Actress and was nominated for the Golden Bear at the 43rd Berlin International Film Festival. Kaplan received five Emmy nominations for his roles directing and producing the television series ER.
Charles Byron Griffith was an American screenwriter, actor, and film director. He was the son of Donna Dameral, radio star of Myrt and Marge, along with Charles' grandmother, Myrtle Vail, and was best known for writing Roger Corman productions such as A Bucket of Blood (1959), The Little Shop of Horrors (1960), and Death Race 2000 (1975).
Gunslinger is a 1956 American Western film directed by Roger Corman and starring John Ireland, Beverly Garland and Allison Hayes. The screenplay was written by Mark Hanna and Charles B. Griffith.
Stripped to Kill is a 1987 American erotic thriller/sexploitation film directed by Katt Shea and starring Greg Evigan, Kay Lenz and Norman Fell. Its plot follows a female Los Angeles police detective who goes undercover posing as a stripper to investigate a series of slayings connected to a strip club near Skid Row.
Phedon Papamichael, ASC is a Greek cinematographer and film director, known for his collaborations with directors James Mangold, Alexander Payne and Wim Wenders. He has twice been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography and the BAFTA Award for Best Cinematography. He has been a member of the American Society of Cinematographers since 2000.
Five Guns West is a 1955 Western film set during the American Civil War directed by Roger Corman. It was Corman's first film as director although he had already made two as producer. It was the second film released by the American Releasing Company, which later became American International Pictures.
Teenage Doll is a 1957 film noir directed by Roger Corman, starring June Kenney and John Brinkley. It was financed by Lawrence Woolner, who had previously made Swamp Women with Corman. One writer called it Corman's "most impressive teen flick".
Steve Carver was an American film director, producer, and photographer.
Streets is a 1990 American drama film directed by Katt Shea and starring Christina Applegate and David Mendenhall.
Stripped to Kill II: Live Girls is a 1989 American film directed by Katt Shea and starring Maria Ford. It is a sequel to Stripped to Kill (1987).
Dance of the Damned is a 1989 American film directed by Katt Shea and executive produced by Roger Corman.
Last Exit to Earth is a 1996 American film directed by Katt Shea for Roger Corman. It stars Kim Greist and Costas Mandylor.
Dance with Death is an American film starring Barbara Alyn Woods and Maxwell Caulfield. It is a reworking of Stripped to Kill, a previous film from 1987 produced by Roger Corman's Concorde Pictures studio. It is notable for featuring an early acting role for Lisa Kudrow.
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