10.06.10 Jonathan Demme
Film writer, director and producer, was born in Baldwin, USA on 22 February 1944. Son of an actress and hotelier, Jonathan spent the first years of his childhood in New York. The family moved to Miami when he was fifteen. Initially he wanted to be a veterinary surgeon. He enrolled at the University of Florida and started writing film reviews in the college magazine. He later abandoned university and attempted to break into the film world. He worked as a press agent and was then taken on by United Artists. He then moved to London then back to the USA, whereupon he met Roger Corman who took him into his New World production company. After working on a few of Corman's films, Demme set out on his own directing path and made his debut in 1974 with "Caged Heat ". In 1979 he shot the thriller "Last Embrace " and the year after, "Melvin and Howard”, which won the Best Film of the Year Award from the New York Film Critics Circle. He garnered wide public acclaim in 1987 for "Something Wild " and "Married to the Mob ", but his greatest success was "The Silence of the Lambs", with an unforgettable performance from Anthony Hopkins. The film won an Oscar for Best Direction and also took the Golden Bear at the Berlin Festival, made Demme and lead actress internationally famous and also sealed the reputation of Hopkins. He followed this in 1993 with "Philadelphia", starring Tom Hanks, who received the Best Leading Actor Oscar. The film also got the Oscar for best sound track, written by Bruce Springsteen. Demme has shot various music videos over the years, not just for Springsteen but also Neil Young and New Order, who would in turn contribute to the sound tracks of his films. In 1984 he released a highly regarded video-documentary of a Talking Heads concert, entitled "Talking Heads. Stop Making Sense". His other big screen films include: "The Truth About Charlie", a remake of an old Stanley Donen film called "Sciarada" starring Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn; "The Agronomist", a tribute film on the human rights activist Jean Dominique, presented as a special event at the 2003 Venice Festival. He stuck with the social-political theme for “The Manchurian Candidate” with Denzel Washington and Meryl Streep. The central theme of the film (a remake of the John Frankenheimer's original work) is government abuse of power. Although there is a strong sci-fi element in the film, it remains very relevant to current issues. Demme then retuned to documentary, with “Neil Young: Hearts of Gold” and “New Home Movies From the Lower 9th Ward” on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, and “Man From Plains”, a lucid essay on the private and political life of form US president Jimmy Carter. In 2008 he cast Anne Hathaway in the intense family drama “Rachel Getting Married”, in which a girl with “issues” returns home for her sister's wedding and creates no end of havoc.
Towards the end of the 1980s Demme's commitment to social themes was manifested by his setting up of the organisation "Filmmakers United Against Apartheid" in support of Nelson Mandela. Bernardo Bertolucci and Woody Allen also joined up.
Films
1974 - Femmine in gabbia (Caged Heat)
1975 - Crazy Mama
1976 - Fighting Mad
1977 - Chroma Angel chiama Mandrake (Handle with Care)
1979 - Il segno degli Hannan (Last Embrace)
1980 - Una volta ho incontrato un miliardario (Melvin and Howard)
1982 - I commedianti (Who Am I This Time?)
1984 - Swing Shift - Tempo di swing (Swing Shift)
1986 - Qualcosa di travolgente (Something Wild)
1987 - Swimming to Cambodia
1988 - Una vedova allegra... ma non troppo (Married to the Mob)
1991 - Il silenzio degli innocenti (The Silence of the Lambs)
1993 - Philadelphia
1998 - Beloved
2002 - The Truth About Charlie
2004 - The Manchurian Candidate
2008 - Rachel sta per sposarsi (Rachel Getting Married)
Documentaries
1984 - Stop Making Sense
1992 - Mio cugino, il reverendo Bobby (Cousin Bobby)
2003 - The Agronomist
2006 - Neil Young: Heart of Gold
2007 - Jimmy Carter Man from Plains
2009 - Neil Young: Trunk Show
