Marc Meyers

Last updated

Marc Meyers is an American feature film director and screenwriter. He is best known for his fourth feature film My Friend Dahmer and the previous How He Fell in Love .

Contents

Early life and education

Meyers is a 1994 graduate of Franklin & Marshall College, where he majored in English and studied abroad at Oxford University. [1]

Career

His first feature film was Approaching Union Square. Based on his stage monologues, this debut is a collage of eleven tales capturing thirty-something New Yorkers struggling to find love and connection in the big city. Among the elegantly drawn characters whose lives briefly intersect on a New York City bus are a tourist, an immigrant, a sex addict, and a woman who is newly awakened to her own psychic powers and senses imminent tragedy. The film had its International Premiere at the Montreal World Film Festival. Variety wrote, "thought-provoking... touches with skilled insight. Based on his stage work 'Love & Sex: Tales From the Trenches', reps a fine calling card for a clear, even voice in urban angst." It aired on Sundance Channel.

Meyers then went on to write and direct the New York Times Critics Pick [2] Harvest, starring Robert Loggia, Barbara Barrie, Jack Carpenter, Victoria Clark, Arye Gross, and Peter Friedman. [2] The film portrays three generations of the Italian-American Monopoli family who come together one summer around the eventual passing of their patriarch, a WWII veteran. Gathered at the family home and around their beautiful shoreline town in Madison, Connecticut, years of resentment and betrayal within the family surface, and the grandson, a college-aged student, does his part to hold them all together, growing up in the process. Winner of the Best Narrative Feature Award at various American film festivals, it had a limited theatrical release in 2011. Then it aired on Showtime.

Meyers's third feature How He Fell in Love premiered at the LA Film Fest in 2015. The film revolves around Travis, a young struggling musician, who crosses paths with Ellen at a wedding. She's an older married yoga teacher who is trying to adopt a child with her husband. Travis and Ellen begin an affair that slowly deepens into something more intimate and profound. As their encounters continue, Ellen is confronted with her failing marriage while Travis must face the consequences of his actions. The film stars Matt McGorry, Amy Hargreaves, Britne Oldford, and Mark Blum. It was theatrically released by Orion Pictures and Monument Releasing in the summer of 2016.

Meyers's fourth film, My Friend Dahmer, is based on the 2012 graphic novel of the same name by cartoonist John "Derf" Backderf, who had been friends with Jeffrey Dahmer in high school in the 1970s, soon before Dahmer began his killing spree. Dahmer is played by Ross Lynch, while Derf is played by Alex Wolff. The film premiered at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival, and was theatrically released in the fall of 2017 in North America by FilmRise, followed by Altitude Films in UK, and other territories.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shannyn Sossamon</span> American actress (born 1978)

Shannon Marie Kahololani "Shannyn" Sossamon is an American actress. She has appeared in the films A Knight's Tale (2001), 40 Days and 40 Nights (2002), The Rules of Attraction (2002), The Order (2003), Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005), The Holiday (2006), Wristcutters: A Love Story (2006), Road to Nowhere (2009), The End of Love (2012), and Sinister 2 (2015).

<i>But Im a Cheerleader</i> 1999 film by Jamie Babbit

But I'm a Cheerleader is a 1999 American satirical teen romantic comedy film directed by Jamie Babbit in her feature directorial debut and written by Brian Wayne Peterson. Natasha Lyonne stars as Megan Bloomfield, a high school cheerleader whose parents send her to a residential in-patient conversion therapy camp to "cure" her lesbianism. At camp, Megan realizes that she is indeed a lesbian and, despite the "therapy", comes to embrace her sexuality. The supporting cast includes Clea DuVall, RuPaul, and Cathy Moriarty.

Jennifer Chambers Lynch is an American filmmaker. The daughter of filmmaker David Lynch, she made her directorial debut with the film Boxing Helena in 1993. Following a troubled production, the film was a critical and commercial failure, with Lynch receiving a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Director. The negative reception to her feature debut and controversy surrounding its release led to Lynch taking a 15-year hiatus from filmmaking.

John McNaughton is an American film and television director, originally from Chicago, Illinois, whose works encompass the horror, thriller, drama and comedy film genres. His films include Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986), The Borrower (1991), Mad Dog and Glory (1993), Normal Life (1996), Wild Things (1998), Speaking of Sex (2001) and The Harvest (2013).

<i>Old Yeller</i> (film) 1957 American film

Old Yeller is a 1957 American Western drama film directed by Robert Stevenson and produced by Walt Disney. It stars Dorothy McGuire and Fess Parker, with Tommy Kirk, and Kevin Corcoran. It is about a boy and a stray dog in post-Civil War Texas. The film is based upon the 1956 novel of the same name by Fred Gipson. Gipson also co-wrote the screenplay along with William Tunberg.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sexploitation film</span> Genre of independently produced, low-budget feature films

A sexploitation film is a class of independently produced, low-budget feature film that is generally associated with the 1960s and early 1970s, and that serves largely as a vehicle for the exhibition of non-explicit sexual situations and gratuitous nudity. The genre is a subgenre of exploitation films. The term "sexploitation" has been used since the 1940s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Derf Backderf</span> American cartoonist

John Backderf, also known as Derf or Derf Backderf, is an American cartoonist. He is most famous for his graphic novels, especially My Friend Dahmer, the international bestseller which won an Angoulême Prize, and earlier for his comic strip The City, which appeared in a number of alternative newspapers from 1990 to 2014. In 2006 Derf won the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for cartooning. Backderf has been based in Cleveland, Ohio, for much of his career.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bill Rebane</span> American politician and film director

Bill Rebane is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is best known for low budget movies such as Monster a Go-Go and The Giant Spider Invasion. Rebane also ran for Governor of Wisconsin in 1979 and 2002 as the American Reform Party candidate.

<i>The Opposite Sex</i> 1956 film by David Miller

The Opposite Sex is a 1956 American musical romantic comedy film shot in Metrocolor and CinemaScope. The film was directed by David Miller and stars June Allyson, Joan Collins, Dolores Gray, Ann Sheridan, and Ann Miller, with Leslie Nielsen, Jeff Richards, Agnes Moorehead, Charlotte Greenwood, Joan Blondell, and Sam Levene.

<i>Dahmer</i> (film) 2002 film by David Jacobson

Dahmer is a 2002 American drama film written and directed by David Jacobson, and co-written by David Birke. A limited theatrical release, it is based on the crimes of Jeffrey Dahmer, a serial killer, who killed seventeen young men and boys in Bath, Ohio and Milwaukee, Wisconsin between 1978 and 1991. It stars Jeremy Renner as Dahmer, and co-stars Artel Great, Matt Newton, Dion Basco and Bruce Davison.

<i>Freaky Friday</i> (1976 film) 1976 film by Gary Nelson

Freaky Friday is a 1976 American fantasy-comedy film directed by Gary Nelson, with the screenplay written by Mary Rodgers based on her 1972 novel of the same name. The film stars Barbara Harris and Jodie Foster in the lead roles. John Astin, Patsy Kelly and Dick Van Patten are featured in supporting roles. In the film, a mother and her daughter switch their bodies, and they get a taste of each other's lives. The cause of the switch is left unexplained in this film, but occurs on Friday the 13th, when Ellen and Annabel, in different places, say about each other at the same time, "I wish I could switch places with her for just one day." Rodgers added a water skiing subplot to her screenplay.

<i>One Potato, Two Potato</i> (film) 1964 American film directed by Larry Peerce

One Potato, Two Potato is a 1964 black-and-white American drama film directed by Larry Peerce and starring Barbara Barrie and Bernie Hamilton. The film centers on an interracial romance and was produced and released at a time which such were very rarely openly conducted in the United States, and violated the prevailing social norms of the time.

<i>Something to Sing About</i> (1937 film) 1937 film by Victor Schertzinger

Something to Sing About (1937), re-released in 1947 as Battling Hoofer, is the second and final film James Cagney made for Grand National Pictures – the first being Great Guy – before mending relations with and returning to Warner Bros. It is one of the few films besides Footlight Parade and Yankee Doodle Dandy to showcase Cagney's singing and dancing talents. It was directed by Victor Schertzinger, who also wrote the music and lyrics of the original songs, as well as the story that Austin Parker's screenplay is based on. Cagney's co-stars are Evelyn Daw and William Frawley, and the film features performances by Gene Lockhart and Mona Barrie.

Lawrence "Larry" Peerce is an American film and TV director whose work includes the theatrical feature Goodbye, Columbus (1969), the early rock and roll concert film The Big T.N.T. Show (1965), One Potato, Two Potato (1964), The Other Side of the Mountain (1975) and Two-Minute Warning (1976).

<i>My Friend Dahmer</i> Graphic novel and memoir about serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, by the artist Derf

My Friend Dahmer is a 2012 graphic novel and memoir by artist John "Derf" Backderf about his teenage friendship with Jeffrey Dahmer, who later became a serial killer. The book evolved from a 24-page, self-published version by Backderf in 2002.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emmanuelle</span> Fictional character

Emmanuelle is the lead character in a series of French erotic films based on the protagonist in the novel of the same name, by Emmanuelle Arsan, written in 1959 and published in 1967.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sex in film</span> Sex in mainstream film

Sex in film, the presentation of aspects of sexuality in film, specially human sexuality, has been controversial since the development of the medium. Films which display or suggest sexual behavior have been criticized by religious groups or have been banned or censored by governments, although attitudes have changed much along the years and a more permissive social environment has developed in certain parts of the world, notably in Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand. In countries with a film rating system, films which contain explicit sex scenes typically receive a restricted classification. Nudity in film may be regarded as sexual or as non-sexual.

<i>My Friend Dahmer</i> (film) 2017 film

My Friend Dahmer is a 2017 American biographical psychological drama film written and directed by Marc Meyers about American serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. The film is based on the 2012 graphic novel of the same name by cartoonist John "Derf" Backderf, who had been friends with Dahmer in high school in the 1970s, until the time Dahmer began his killing spree in 1978. The film stars Ross Lynch as Dahmer, Alex Wolff as Derf, Dallas Roberts as Jeffrey's father, and Anne Heche as Jeffrey's mother.

<i>Fear No Evil</i> (1981 film) 1981 American film

Fear No Evil is a 1981 American horror film directed by Frank LaLoggia, and starring Stefan Arngrim, Elizabeth Hoffman, and Kathleen Rowe McAllen. Its plot involves a seventeen-year-old student in 1980 realizing that he is the Antichrist, and his subsequent battle with two female-incarnate archangels. Fear No Evil was the directorial debut for LaLoggia, who personally raised $150,000 of the film's budget.

<i>How He Fell in Love</i> 2015 American film

How He Fell in Love is a 2015 American romantic drama film written and directed by Marc Meyers and starring Matt McGorry, Amy Hargreaves, Britne Oldford, and Mark Blum. It premiered at the LA Film Fest on June 11, 2015 and was released theatrically by Orion Pictures and Monument Releasing on July 15, 2016.

References

  1. https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcmeyers/ [ self-published source ]
  2. 1 2 Holden, Stephen (2011-05-05). "'Harvest,' With Robert Loggia and Barbara Barrie - Review". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2017-08-09.