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Samuel Marshall Raimi (born October 23, 1959) is an
American film director, producer, and writer. He is best known for directing the
classic cult-horror film The Evil Dead and the blockbuster Spider-Man films.
Raimi was born in Royal Oak, Michigan to a
conservative Jewish family of Polish ancestry; his father was Leonard Ronald
Raimi and his mother was Celia Barbara Raimi. His family's original surname was
Reingewertz, but was shortened Raimi after his grandfather immigrated to the
United States. His father's close cousin was Harry Margolis who played for the
St. Louis Cardinals in the 1941 season. Raimi is the fourth of five children.
His eldest sibling, Sander, died in a swimming accident in 1968 at age 15, while
on a trip to Israel. He attended Michigan State University and majored in
English.
****
Born: October 23, 1959
Royal Oak, Michigan
Occupation: director, producer, writer
Spouse: Gillian Greene
****
Film
He became fascinated in making films when his
father brought a camera home one day and he began to make Super 8 movies with
friend Bruce Campbell. At college, he teamed up with his brother's room-mate
Robert Tapert and Campbell to raise money for a low-budget horror film. The Evil
Dead (1981) became a major hit and he began work on his second film Crimewave
(1985), intended as a live-action comic book - the film was not successful, due
in part to unwanted studio intervention. Raimi returned to the horror genre with
the seminal Evil Dead II (which toned down the savageness of the original in
favour of slapstick, showcasing his love of the Three Stooges). A long-time
comic book buff, he attempted to adapt "The Shadow" into a movie, but was unable
to secure the rights. So he created his own super-hero, Darkman (1990). The film
was his first major studio picture, and was only moderately successful, but he
was still able to secure funding for Evil Dead 3: Army of Darkness, which turned
away almost totally from horror in favour of fantasy and comedy elements.
In the 1990s Raimi moved into other genres,
directing such films as A Simple Plan (1998) (starring Bill Paxton and Billy Bob
Thornton) and For Love of the Game (1999) (starring Kevin Costner). Raimi
achieved great commercial success with the blockbuster Spider-Man (2002), which
was adapted from the comic book series of the same name. The movie has grossed
over $800 million USD worldwide, and has spawned a sequel. Raimi is currently
working on Spider-Man 3, and has signed up to direct a film adaptation of The
Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett afterwards. Prior to directing the Spider-Man
films, Raimi lobbied to direct Batman Forever when Tim Burton was ousted from
the director's chair, but was rejected in favor of Joel Schumacher, whose
reputation at the time outshone Raimi's.
He has also worked in front of the camera with
Miller's Crossing as an ill-fated gunman, The Stand as a dimwitted hitman who
pays a fatal price for a mistake, John Carpenter's Body Bags in an unusual role
as a gas station attendant, and Indian Summer in what is perhaps his biggest
role as a bumbling assistant to Alan Arkin. He also produced The Grudge and The
Grudge 2
Television
In addition to film, Raimi has worked in
television, producing such series as Xena: Warrior Princess, featuring his
younger brother Ted Raimi and long-time friend Bruce Campbell, Hercules: The
Legendary Journeys, American Gothic (TV series), and Jack of All Trades. He has
just agreed to direct a TV mini-series of Terry Goodkind's novel Wizard's First
Rule.
Trademarks
In his film and television projects, Sam Raimi's
brother Ted Raimi and his friend Bruce Campbell often appear in on-screen roles,
though these appearances are often just short cameos. He has included a 1973
yellow Oldsmobile Delta 88 automobile (nicknamed "The Classic") in most of his
films. A bottle of Maker's Mark appears regularly in his movies.
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Other director trademarks include: a distinctive
type of camera shot where the camera follows a moving object such as an arrow at
high speeds in first person or side view; dolly zooms; and shots of smoke or fog
in the first few minutes of most of his films. The montage effect he uses
(choppy montage-style sequences to cover a lengthy set of actions in a short
space of time) can be seen, like Sergei Eisenstein's methods of montage, to be
both metric and rhythmic, therefore containing elements of the tonal and
overtonal.
Raimi often borrows scenes and ideas from Hong Kong
films, especially A Chinese Ghost Story for use in at least one of the Evil Dead
movies and in some episodes of Xena. [1][2][3]
Personal
Raimi is married to Gillian Greene, the daughter of
actor Lorne Greene. They have four children.
On occasion, Raimi collaborates with his elder
brother, Ivan Raimi, who works as a doctor. Together, they co-wrote the
screenplays for "Darkman" and "Army of Darkness". Ivan Raimi also contributed to
story and script development for the three "Spider-Man" films.
Filmography
As director:
It's Murder! (1977)
Within the Woods (1978)
Clockwork (1978)
The Evil Dead (1981)
Crimewave (1985)
Evil Dead II (1987)
Darkman (1990)
Army of Darkness (1993)
The Quick and the Dead (1995)
A Simple Plan (1998)
For Love of the Game (1999)
The Gift (2000)
Spider-Man (2002)
Spider-Man 2 (2004)
Spider-Man 3 (2007)
The Wee Free Men
****
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URL of Original Article:
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Date Article Copied:
October 2006
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