Matthew Bright | |
---|---|
Born | United States | June 8, 1952
Other names | Toshiro Boloney |
Occupation(s) | Producer, film director, writer, actor |
Years active | 1978–2003 |
Matthew Bright (born June 8, 1952) is a former film director, writer and actor.
His first credits were as writer and actor in Richard Elfman's 1980 film Forbidden Zone , portraying the twins Squeezit and René Henderson. The film includes his two sado-masochistic characters living in a garbage can, spit on, raped and tortured in an alternate dimension's kingdom and decapitated by Satan (played by Bright's real-life friend, composer Danny Elfman). [1]
Bright wrote and directed the 1996 exploitation film Freeway and its 1999 direct-to-video sequel. [2] [3]
In his last work, Tiptoes, Bright's original 150-minute cut was reduced to 90 minutes by his producers without his consent, leading to him vocally criticizing the producers on stage.[ citation needed ] Following this 2003 production's negative reception, he has not directed any further films.
Daniel Robert Elfman is an American film composer, singer, songwriter, and musician. He came to prominence as the lead vocalist and primary songwriter for the new wave band Oingo Boingo in the early 1980s. Since scoring his first studio film in 1985, Elfman has garnered international recognition for composing over 100 feature film scores, as well as compositions for television, stage productions, and the concert hall.
Timothy Walter Burton is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and animator. Known for pioneering Goth culture in the American film industry, Burton is famous for his gothic horror and fantasy films. He has received numerous accolades including an Emmy Award as well as nominations for two Academy Awards, a Golden Globe Award and three BAFTA Awards. He was honored with the Venice International Film Festival's Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in 2007 and was given the Order of the Arts and Letters by Culture Minister of France in 2010.
Oingo Boingo was an American new wave band formed by songwriter Danny Elfman in 1979. The band emerged from a surrealist musical theatre troupe, The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo, that Elfman had led and written material for in the years previous. Their highest-charting song, "Weird Science", reached No. 45 on the US Billboard Hot 100.
Richard Donner was an American film director, producer and actor. Described as "one of Hollywood's most reliable makers of action blockbusters", Donner directed some of the most financially-successful films of the 1970s and 1980s. His 50-year career crossed genres and influenced trends among filmmakers across the world.
Forbidden Zone is an American absurdist musical fantasy comedy film produced and directed by independent filmmaker Richard Elfman, and co-written by Elfman and Matthew Bright. Shot in 1977 and 1978, the film premiered in 1980 and was distributed in 1982. Originally shot on black-and-white film, Forbidden Zone is based upon the stage performances of the Los Angeles theater troupe The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo, of which Elfman, Bright and many of the cast and crew were a part, and revolves around an alternate universe accessed through a door in the house of the Hercules family.
Ivan Reitman was a Canadian film director and producer. He was known for his comedy films, especially in the 1980s and 1990s. Reitman was the owner of The Montecito Picture Company, founded in 1998.
Freeway is a 1996 American black comedy crime thriller film written and directed by Matthew Bright and produced by Oliver Stone. It stars Kiefer Sutherland, Reese Witherspoon and Brooke Shields. The film's plot is a dark take on the fairy tale "Little Red Riding Hood".
The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo was an American surrealist street theatre troupe, formed by performer and director Richard Elfman in 1972. The group was led by Richard until 1976, when his brother Danny Elfman took over. The group evolved into an experimental musical theatre group, performing songs from the 1930s-40s and original material.
Freeway II: Confessions of a Trickbaby is a 1999 black comedy crime thriller film and the sequel to Freeway (1996), written and directed by Matthew Bright. It stars Natasha Lyonne as Crystal "White Girl" Van Meter and María Celedonio as Angela "Cyclona" Garcia. While the first film was partly inspired by "Little Red Riding Hood", the second film is somewhat based on "Hansel and Gretel". It was an international co-production between the United States and Mexico.
Syncro-Vox is a filming method that combines static images with moving images, the most common use of which is to superimpose talking lips on a photograph of a celebrity or a cartoon drawing. It is one of the most extreme examples of the cost-cutting strategy of limited animation. The method was developed by cameraman Edwin "Ted" Gillette in the 1950s in order to simulate talking animals in television commercials. Gillette filed the technique on February 4, 1952, and obtained patent #2,739,505 on March 27, 1956.
Timothy Busfield is an American actor and director. He played Elliot Weston on the television series thirtysomething; Mark, the brother-in-law of Ray Kinsella, in Field of Dreams; and Danny Concannon on the television series The West Wing. In 1991 he received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for thirtysomething. He is the founder of the 501(c)(3) non-profit arts organization Theatre for Children, Inc. In 2024 he was inducted into the Sacramento Baseball Hall of Fame as a pitcher.
Jim Wynorski is an American screenwriter, director, and producer. Wynorski has been making B-movies and exploitation movies since the early 1980s, and has directed over 150 feature films. His earliest films were released to film theaters, but his later works have predominantly been released through the cable or straight-to-video market. He often works under pseudonyms such as "Jay Andrews," "Arch Stanton," "H.R. Blueberry," "Tom Popatopolis," and "Noble Henry." His adult films often spoof popular horror movies: Cleavagefield, for example, parodies Cloverfield, The Bare Wench Project parodies The Blair Witch Project, and Para-Knockers Activity parodies Paranormal Activity.
Richard Elfman is an American actor, musician, director, producer, screenwriter, journalist, author and magazine publisher.
Gil Kenan is a British–American filmmaker. He is best known for directing Monster House (2006), which earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature. He has also collaborated with director Jason Reitman in co-writing the Ghostbusters films Afterlife (2021) and Frozen Empire (2024), the latter he also directed, as well as Saturday Night (2024).
Tiptoes is a 2003 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Matthew Bright. The film stars Gary Oldman, Kate Beckinsale, Patricia Arquette, and Matthew McConaughey. The film's plot revolves around an average-sized man (McConaughey) who struggles with revealing to his pregnant fiancée (Beckinsale) that his entire family are little people, as he worries that their unborn child may be born with dwarfism. The film attracted controversy for the casting of non-dwarf actor Gary Oldman as a dwarf. Oldman plays McConaughey's character's twin brother despite being eleven years older than him.
Forbidden Zone (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the soundtrack album to Forbidden Zone, the 1982 cult film directed by Richard Elfman, with music by his brother Danny Elfman and performed by The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo.
Jérôme Savary was an Argentine-French theater director and actor. His work has democratized and widened the appeal of musical theater in France, drawing together and blending such genres as opera, operetta, and musical comedy.
Kevin Dowling is an American film, television director and producer. Throughout his career, Kevin has worked in over 60 projects.
Ted Kurdyla is an American film, television and stage producer.
Music for a Darkened Theatre: Film & Television Music Volume One is a compilation album of select film scores and television themes written by American composer Danny Elfman from the early 1980s to 1990.