Rodman Flender

Last updated

Rodman Flender
Born (1962-06-09) June 9, 1962 (age 62)
New York City, U.S.
Alma mater Harvard University
Occupations
  • Actor
  • writer
  • director
  • producer
Spouse Amy Lippman
Children1
Relatives

Rodman Flender (born June 9, 1962) is an American actor, writer, director and producer. Born and raised in a Jewish family in New York, Flender's early experiences in the arts included roles on Broadway and PBS series. He honed his acting skills at New York's High School of Performing Arts and the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London, before pursuing higher education at Harvard University. At Harvard, he contributed to The Harvard Lampoon and studied documentary filmmaking, which laid the foundation for his diverse career in entertainment.

Contents

Starting his professional journey in the advertising department of Roger Corman's Concorde-New Horizons Films, Flender transitioned into production and direction, making his debut with the thriller "The Unborn." His directing credits include feature films such as "Leprechaun 2" and "Idle Hands," as well as television episodes for shows like "The Office," "Ugly Betty," and "Gilmore Girls." Flender's documentary work includes "Let Them Eat Rock," a musical portrait of the band The Upper Crust, and "Conan O'Brien Can't Stop," which documents Conan O'Brien's tour following the 2010 Tonight Show conflict. The latter was recognized by Roger Ebert as one of the best documentaries of 2011.

In addition to directing, Flender has returned to character-based drama and ventured into romantic comedy and horror, as seen in his feature film "Eat, Brains, Love," which premiered at the London FrightFest Film Festival to positive reviews and won Best Picture at the 2019 Screamfest Horror Film Festival. Flender's personal life includes his marriage to writer and producer Amy Lippman, and he is the uncle to actors Timothée and Pauline Chalamet.

Early life and education

Flender was born and raised in New York City, the son of Enid (née Rodman) (1927–2022), a former Broadway dancer, and Harold Flender (1924–1975), a writer and screenwriter, whose book "Paris Blues" (1957), was adapted into the 1961 film of the same name, starring Sydney Poitier and Paul Newman. [1] [2] He is of half Russian Jewish descent on his mother's side and half Austrian Jewish on his father's side. [3] [4] He grew up in the Upper West Side with his older sister Nicole. [5] Flender's early acting roles included Mischa in the Broadway production of Zalmen or the Madness of God [6] [7] and Charles Francis Adams in the PBS series The Adams Chronicles . [8]

He graduated from the drama department of New York's High School of Performing Arts and studied acting at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London, United Kingdom. Flender attended Harvard University where he majored in Visual and Environmental Studies, and studied documentary filmmaking with Ed Pincus and Ross McElwee, who inspired him with an enthusiasm for the documentaries. [9] [10] During this time Flender was a writer for The Harvard Lampoon , where he met close friend Conan O'Brien. [11] [12] [13] He graduated in 1984. [14]

Career

Independent filmmaker Roger Corman hired Flender out of college to run the advertising department of his Concorde-New Horizons Films. With his goal toward directing, Flender moved into production and was Corman's Vice President of Production for two years. [15] He produced or co-produced titles including Body Chemistry, Streets , and Full Fathom Five . Flender made his feature directing debut with the Corman-produced thriller The Unborn , which received favorable reviews. [16] Flender next wrote and directed In The Heat of Passion, also for Roger Corman.

Over the next decade, Flender's feature directing credits included Leprechaun 2 for Trimark, and the Columbia Pictures release Idle Hands . Flender became a busy director of television episodes and pilots. TV credits include multiple episodes of the comedies The Office and Ugly Betty ; dramas that include Chicago Hope , Gilmore Girls and The O.C. ; and horror with HBO's Tales From The Crypt . As a writer, Flender's credits include Tales From The Crypt and the feature film Roger Corman’s Dracula Rising.

In 1998, he began filming a musical portrait of the Boston-based rock band The Upper Crust, and directed Dawson's Creek episode "The Scare", a parody of Scream . Developments within the band led Flender to continue shooting on and off for the next five years. The resulting documentary, Let Them Eat Rock , played film festivals in 2005 and 2006 [17] to mostly positive notices. [18] [19] Following the 2010 Tonight Show conflict, Flender joined Conan O'Brien (whom he knew since their days at Harvard) on the road, as part of the Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour, and filmed the ongoings behind-the-scenes, onstage and between shows. The documentary, titled Conan O'Brien Can't Stop , was released in select theatres on June 24, 2011, which Roger Ebert featured on his list of best documentaries of 2011. [20]

With the documentary completed, Flender returned to directing television in multiple genres, including episodes of the comedies Suburgatory and Super Fun Night in 2014, the drama Finding Carter and multiple episodes of the thriller Scream in 2015 and 2016. Flender directed two episodes of the 2016-2017 science fiction series People of Earth and returned to character-based drama in 2019, directing Kirsten Dunst in the Showtime original series On Becoming a God in Central Florida . [21]

Rodman Flender completed his next feature film in 2019, when he mixed romantic comedy, horror and the road movie with Eat, Brains, Love . It premiered at the London FrightFest Film Festival [22] to positive reviews [23] [24] and won Best Picture at the 2019 Screamfest Horror Film Festival. [25] In 2022, footage from "The Scare" was incorporated into the Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett film Scream .

Personal life

Flender lives in Los Angeles with his wife, American writer and producer, Amy Lippman. [26] They also own a house in Carpinteria, California. [27] [28] They have a son, Haskell, who also attended Harvard University and was a member of the Harvard Lampoon. [29] He was named after cinematographer Haskell Wexler. [30] Flender's nephew is Academy Award-nominated actor Timothée Chalamet, and his niece, actress Pauline Chalamet. [31]

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References

  1. ↑ Flender, Harold (1957). Paris Blues. Ballantine Books.
  2. ↑ Hajdenberg, Jackie (December 22, 2024). "Timothée Chalamet doesn't talk much about his Judaism. But it turns out his grandfather was an important Jewish writer from the Bronx". Jewish Telegraphic Agency . Archived from the original on January 1, 2025. Retrieved January 23, 2025.
  3. ↑ Bloom, Nate (November 27, 2014). "Celebrity Jews". Jweekly . Archived from the original on April 21, 2023.
  4. ↑ Kellaway, Kate (October 15, 2017). "Call Me By Your Name's Oscar-tipped double act on their summer of love". The Guardian . London. Archived from the original on September 19, 2018. Retrieved April 13, 2018.
  5. ↑ Holt, Brianna (March 6, 2022). "'I planted seeds': Timothée Chalamet's mother on her children's success". The Guardian . Archived from the original on June 17, 2024. Retrieved January 23, 2025.
  6. ↑ Barnes, Clive (March 18, 1976). "'Zalmen', Wiesel's Parable of Silence". The New York Times . Archived from the original on January 23, 2025.
  7. ↑ "Zalmen, or The Madness of God". Playbill . Archived from the original on September 15, 2024.
  8. ↑ Singer, Mark (July 6, 1975). "Family Story". The New Yorker . Archived from the original on September 28, 2021. Retrieved January 23, 2025.
  9. ↑ Casavant, Mary Anderson (March 13, 2011). ""Conan O'Brien Can't Stop" Director Rodman Flender". Filmmaker Magazine . Archived from the original on June 13, 2024. Retrieved January 22, 2025.
  10. ↑ Hu, Cherie (December 19, 2016). "Murder most filmable!". Office for the Arts at Harvard. Archived from the original on April 10, 2023. Retrieved January 23, 2025.
  11. ↑ Wilner, Norman (July 7, 2011). "Interview: Rodman Flender". Now Toronto . Retrieved January 22, 2025.
  12. ↑ Itzkoff, Dave (March 10, 2011). "Conan in the Wilderness". The New York Times . Archived from the original on February 21, 2022. Retrieved May 25, 2022.
  13. ↑ Keegan, Rebecca (March 14, 2011). "SXSW 2011: 'Conan O'Brien Can't Stop' is hard for him to watch". Los Angeles Times . Archived from the original on July 1, 2022. Retrieved January 22, 2025.
  14. ↑ Newman, David C. (June 7, 2000). "'Poonster Gets the Last Laugh". The Harvard Crimson . Archived from the original on June 4, 2015. Retrieved January 22, 2025.
  15. ↑ Allon, Yoram; Cullen, Del; Patterson, Hannah (2002). Contemporary North American Film Directors. Wallflower Press. ISBN   9781903364529.
  16. ↑ THOMAS, KEVIN (May 10, 1991). "MOVIE REVIEWS : 'The Unborn' Works Off Genetic Fears". Los Angeles Times. ISSN   0458-3035 . Retrieved May 13, 2016.
  17. ↑ "Punk Turns 30: Don't Knock the Rock - June 29 in LA". June 2, 2006.
  18. ↑ Ben Nieporent. "Movie Review - Let Them Eat Rock - eFilmCritic".
  19. ↑ "Film Shorts". Portland Mercury.
  20. ↑ Roger Ebert. "The best documentaries of 2011".
  21. ↑ "Rodman Flender". IMDb.
  22. ↑ "Eat Brains Love world premiere". Arrow Video FrightFest.
  23. ↑ ""Eat Brains Love" Review". Entertainment Focus. August 25, 2019.
  24. ↑ "Eat Brains Love review Dir: Rodman Flender". The Hollywood News. August 25, 2019.
  25. ↑ "LA 2019: EAT BRAINS LOVE Wines 'Best Picture Award". October 21, 2019.
  26. ↑ Boone, Lisa (April 25, 2019). "A boring lawn is now a lush Mediterranean garden that provides privacy". Los Angeles Times . Archived from the original on February 18, 2024. Retrieved January 22, 2025.
  27. ↑ Boone, Lisa (July 16, 2011). "A boxy stucco eyesore in Carpinteria is transformed into a modern, spacious charmer". Los Angeles Times . Archived from the original on January 22, 2025. Retrieved January 22, 2025.
  28. ↑ Boone, Lisa (July 9, 2013). "Amy Lippman and Rodman Flender's modern beach house". Los Angeles Times . Archived from the original on December 10, 2024.
  29. ↑ "The Hey You, Yeah You, Quit Pulling My Leg #". The Harvard Lampoon . Vol. CXLII. March 3, 2019. p. 6. Retrieved January 24, 2025.
  30. ↑ Siegel, Tatiana (August 15, 2023). "Reinventing Anna Delvey: How House Arrest, Being Hated and Yearning for Freedom Is Changing the Scammer". Variety . Archived from the original on January 10, 2024.
  31. ↑ "Timothée Chalamet on Twitter". Twitter. October 20, 2014. Archived from the original on December 23, 2015.
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