fiction.wikisort.org - Actor

Abel Ferrara (born July 19, 1951)[1] is an American filmmaker, known for the provocative and often controversial content in his movies and his use of neo-noir imagery and gritty urban settings. A long-time independent filmmaker, some of his best known movies include Ms .45 (1981), King of New York (1990), Bad Lieutenant (1992) and The Funeral (1996).

Abel Ferrara
Abel Ferrara at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival
Born	(1951-07-19) July 19, 1951 (age 71) The Bronx, New York City, U.S.
Other names	Jimmy Boy L, Jimmy Laine
Occupation	Director, screenwriter, actor, producer, editor, cinematographer
Years active	1971–present
Spouse(s)	Nancy Ferrara ​ ​ (m. 1982, divorced)​ Cristina Chiriac

Early life

Ferrara was born in the Bronx of Italian and Irish descent.[2] He was raised Catholic, which subsequently influenced much of his work.[3] At 8 years old, he moved to Peekskill in Westchester County, New York, where he started making movies at Rockland Community College.[4] Later, he attended the film conservatory at SUNY Purchase, where he directed several short films.[5]

Career

Early work

Ferrara studied at the San Francisco Art Institute; one of his teachers there was the famous avant-garde director Rosa von Praunheim. In the early 1970s, while still in art school, Ferrara directed a number of independently produced short films which included The Hold Up and Could This Be Love. Finding himself out of work after leaving film school in 1976, Ferrara directed his first feature film which was an adult pornographic film titled, 9 Lives of a Wet Pussy, using a pseudonym.[6] Starring with his then-girlfriend, he recalled having to step in front of the camera for one scene to perform in a hardcore sex scene: "It's bad enough paying a guy $200 to fuck your girlfriend, then he can't get it up."[7]

Ferrara first drew a cult following with his second feature film, a grindhouse movie titled The Driller Killer (1979), an urban slasher film about an artist (played by the director himself) who goes on a killing spree with a power drill. In the United Kingdom, the movie made it on a list of "video nasties" created by moral crusaders that led to prosecutions under the Obscene Publications Act 1959 and to the passing of new legislation which forced all video releases to appear before the British Board of Film Classification for rating.[8]

The director's next feature was Ms .45 (1981), a "rape revenge" movie about a mute garment worker turned murderer (Zoë Tamerlis). Reviewers called it "a provocative, disreputable movie, well worth seeing."[9]

Rise

In 1984, Ferrara was hired to direct Fear City, starring Melanie Griffith, Billy Dee Williams, Rae Dawn Chong and María Conchita Alonso. When a "kung fu slasher" stalks and murders young women who work in a seedy Times Square strip club, a disgraced boxer portrayed by Tom Berenger uses his fighting skills to defeat the killer.[10]

Ferrara worked on two Michael Mann-produced television series, directing the two-hour pilot for Crime Story (aired September 18, 1986), starring Dennis Farina,[11] and two episodes of the series Miami Vice.[12]

King of New York (1990) stars Christopher Walken as gangster Frank White, Laurence Fishburne, Wesley Snipes, David Caruso and Giancarlo Esposito. The movie received overall mixed reviews, but Ferrara was praised for his strong command of mood and style. Critic Roger Ebert wrote, "What Ferrara needs for his next film is a sound screenplay."[13]

Bad Lieutenant (1992) credits Ferrara and actress Zoë Tamerlis, who plays the woman who helps the Lieutenant freebase heroin in the movie, as co-writers of the script, but Tamerlis claimed that she wrote it alone.[14][15] Bad Lieutenant received Spirit Awards nominations for Best Director and Best Actor, and despite its controversial content, the movie was lauded by critics. Director Martin Scorsese named it one of his top 10 films of the 1990s.[16]

In 1993, Ferrara was hired for two Hollywood studio movies: another remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, titled Body Snatchers (1993), for Warner Bros.; and Dangerous Game (1993), starring Keitel and Madonna, for MGM.

In the mid-1990s Ferrara directed two well-received independent movies: The Addiction (1995),[17] photographed in black-and-white, stars Lili Taylor as a philosophy student who succumbs to a vampire as she studies the problem of evil and philosophical pedagogy, represented by the most violent events of the 20th century. The movie also features Christopher Walken, Annabella Sciorra, Edie Falco, Kathryn Erbe and Michael Imperioli. It was co-produced by Russell Simmons.

The Funeral (1996),[18] starring Walken, Sciorra, Chris Penn, Isabella Rossellini, Benicio del Toro, Vincent Gallo and Gretchen Mol, was nominated for five Independent Spirit Awards including Best Director.

Following the success of The Funeral, Ferrara had an infamous interview with Conan O'Brien on October 23, 1996. Ferrara was believed to be intoxicated and struggled through the interview, often slurring and covering his face as well as waving around a cigarette. O'Brien would later state that Ferrara was his "worst guest ever".[19] Eventually, O'Brien revealed to Ferrara's frequent collaborator Willem Dafoe that Ferrara "ran away" and that the segment producer had to "run down the street" to catch him and bring him back to the set. Dafoe said to O'Brien, "You did your best...and so did he!"

Later career

After making The Blackout (1997) with Matthew Modine and Dennis Hopper, he contributed to the omnibus television movie Subway Stories. Ferrara then made New Rose Hotel (1998), which reunited him with Christopher Walken.

Ferrara returned three years later with 'R Xmas (2001), which starred Drea de Matteo and Ice-T. He recorded commentaries for Driller Killer[20] and King of New York[21] and made Mary (2005), a religious-themed multi-plot movie starring Juliette Binoche, Matthew Modine, Forest Whitaker, Heather Graham, Marion Cotillard, and Stefania Rocca. Mary premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2005. It swept the awards ceremony, garnering the Grand Jury Prize, SIGNIS Award and two others. It was shown at the Toronto International Film Festival.[22]

In 2007, Ferrara directed Go Go Tales a comedy with Modine, Bob Hoskins and Willem Dafoe that premiered at the Cannes Film Festival but was not shown in the United States until a special screening at the Anthology Film Archives in 2011.[23]

In 2009, Jekyll and Hyde was set to star Forest Whitaker and 50 Cent. After disagreements with Warner Bros., the movie was shelved in 2010.[24]

In 2009, Napoli, Napoli, Napoli premiered out of competition at the 66th Venice International Film Festival.[25] The docudrama received little attention and poor reviews but Werner Herzog's reboot Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans was selected for competition at the prestigious festival. Asked about the Herzog film, Ferrara was quoted widely saying "I wish these people die in hell."[26]

In September 2011, 4:44 Last Day on Earth, starring Willem Dafoe and Shanyn Leigh, premiered at the 68th Venice International Film Festival.[27]

Ferrara's Welcome to New York, a fictionalized version of the Dominique Strauss-Kahn sexual assault case starring Gérard Depardieu and Jacqueline Bisset, was released on video on demand in 2014.[28][29] Ferrara's Pasolini (2014) about the titular Italian director stars Willem Dafoe.[30]

With Siberia, Ferrara and Dafoe collaborated for a sixth time in a movie. Inspired by Carl Jung's The Red Book, the script was written by Ferrara and Chris Zois.[31][32]

Personal life

Ferrara is married to Cristina Chiriac and they have a daughter, Anna.[33][34][35] He was previously married to Nancy Ferrara.[36] Ferrara has two adopted children: Endira and Lucy.[37][38] He was also in a relationship with actress Shanyn Leigh.[39][40]

Ferrara lives in Rome, Italy.[41] He moved there following the 9/11 attacks because it was easier for him to find financing for his movies in Europe.[42]

Raised Catholic, Ferrara started describing himself as Buddhist in 2007.[43] When asked if he had converted, Ferrara responded,

It’s not a conversion, you’re not a card-carrying Catholic, you’re brought up Italian, so you’re brought up with those images. All the great art is financed by the Church so they have a monopoly on the paintings, and they’re powerful images, the whole nine yards of it. But Jesus was a living man, and so were Buddha and Muhammad. These three guys changed the fucking world, with their passion and love of other human beings. All these guys had was their word, and they came from fucking nowhere. I’m not saying Nazareth is nowhere – I’m sure Jesus came from a very cool neighbourhood.

— Abel Ferrara[44]

Ferrara said in 2020 that Buddhism "is a practice for me, not a religion."[45]

Influences

Artists and filmmakers who influenced Ferrara's work include "the Stones and Dylan...DaVinci, Stanley Kubrick, Woody Allen and all of the great New York film makers."[46] He has also credited Pier Paolo Pasolini and Rainer Werner Fassbinder as influences.[47][48][49]

Filmography

Year	Film	Director	Writer	Actor	Notes
1971	Nicky's Film	Yes		Yes	Short film
1972	The Hold Up	Yes	Yes	Yes	Short film
1973	Could It Be Love	Yes	Yes		Short film
1976	9 Lives of a Wet Pussy	Yes		Yes	Pornographic film Credited as Jimmy Boy L.
1977	Not Guilty: For Keith Richards	Yes			Short documentary film
1979	The Driller Killer	Yes		Yes	Role: Reno Performance credited as Jimmy Laine
1981	Ms .45	Yes		Yes	Role: 1st rapist Performance credited as Jimmy Laine
1984	Fear City	Yes
1986	The Gladiator	Yes			Television film
	Crime Story	Yes			Television pilot
1987	China Girl	Yes
1988	The Loner	Yes			Television pilot
1989	Cat Chaser	Yes
1990	King of New York	Yes
1992	Bad Lieutenant	Yes	Yes
1993	Body Snatchers	Yes		Yes
	Dangerous Game	Yes
1995	The Addiction	Yes
1996	Mylène Farmer: California	Yes			Music video
	The Funeral	Yes
1997	The Blackout	Yes	Yes
	Subway Stories: Tales from the Underground	Yes			Television film Segment "Love on the A Train"
1998	New Rose Hotel	Yes	Yes
1999	Ben Folds Five: Don't Change Your Plans	Yes			Music video
2001	'R Xmas	Yes	Yes
2004	Abenaa: "Rain"	Yes	Yes		Music video
2005	Mary	Yes	Yes
2006	Exes			Yes	Role: Cain
2007	Go Go Tales	Yes	Yes
2008	Chelsea on the Rocks	Yes	Yes		Documentary film
2009	Napoli Napoli Napoli	Yes	Yes		Documentary film
	Daddy Longlegs			Yes	Role: Robber
2010	Mulberry St.	Yes			Documentary film
	OneDreamRush: Dream Piece	Yes			Short film
2011	4:44 Last Day on Earth	Yes	Yes
2012	Pizza Connection	Yes			Web series
	No Saints	Yes			Short film
	My Big-Assed Mother			Yes	Role: Charles Bukowski Short film
2014	Welcome to New York	Yes	Yes
	Pasolini	Yes	Yes		[50]
	Don Peyote			Yes	Role: Taxi cab driver
2016	Sculpt			Yes
2017	Black Butterfly			Yes	Role: Pat
	Alive in France	Yes	Yes	Yes	Documentary film
	Piazza Vittorio	Yes	Yes		Documentary film[51]
	Hans	Yes	Yes		Short film
2018	Buon Lavoro			Yes	[52]
	Talking with the Vampires	Yes	Yes	Yes	Short documentary film[53]
2019	The Projectionist	Yes	Yes		Documentary film[54]
	Tommaso	Yes	Yes
2020	Siberia	Yes	Yes
	Sportin' Life	Yes	Yes	Yes	Documentary film[55]
2021	Zeros and Ones	Yes	Yes
2022	Padre Pio	Yes	Yes		Post-production

Recurring collaborators

Ferrara has recast many of the same actors in his movies, most notably Christopher Walken, Harvey Keitel and Willem Dafoe.[56] Other actors he has recast include Annabella Sciorra and Matthew Modine as well as character actors such as Victor Argo, Paul Calderón and Giancarlo Esposito.[57] David Caruso is another one of Ferrara's frequent film collaborators.[58] Ms .45 (1981) star Zoë Lund collaborated with Ferrara again on Bad Lieutenant (1992), which she co-wrote.[59] Gretchen Mol has worked with Ferrara twice.[60] Forest Whitaker starred in Ferrara's movies Mary (2005) and Body Snatchers (1993).[61]

Beginning with The Driller Killer in 1979 through The Projectionist in 2019, Ferrara most frequently works with Ken Kelsch as his cinematographer.[62]

Awards and nominations

Year	Nominated work	Award	Result	Ref
1993	Body Snatchers	Palme d'Or	Nominated
1993	Bad Lieutenant	Independent Spirit Award for Best Director	Nominated
1995	The Addiction	Golden Berlin Bear	Nominated
1996	The Funeral	Independent Spirit Award for Best Director	Nominated
1998	The Blackout	Worst Director - Yoga Awards	Won	[63]
2001	R' Xmas	Un Certain Regard	Nominated

References

External links

• Media related to Abel Ferrara at Wikimedia Commons
• Abel Ferrara at IMDb
• Guardian interview, 5 August 2010
• Nicky's Film sound design and remix contest

На других языках

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- [en] Abel Ferrara

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[es] Abel Ferrara

Abel Ferrara (El Bronx, Nueva York; 19 de julio de 1951) es un director y guionista de cine estadounidense.[1]

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[ru] Феррара, Абель

А́бель Ферра́ра (англ. Abel Ferrara; род. 19 июля 1951 года, Бронкс, Нью-Йорк, США) — американский кинорежиссёр, сценарист и клипмейкер.

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