Martin Brest

Martin Brest
Born	August 8, 1951 New York City, New York, U.S.
Education	Stuyvesant High School
Alma mater	New York University AFI Conservatory
Occupation	Film director, producer, screenwriter
Notable work	Midnight Run Hot Dogs for Gauguin Beverly Hills Cop Scent of a Woman Gigli

Martin Brest (born August 8, 1951) is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer.

Education

Brest was born in the Bronx, New York and graduated from Stuyvesant High School in 1969, from New York University's School of the Arts in 1973 and from the AFI Conservatory with an M.F.A. degree in 1977.

Career

His major studio debut was Going in Style (1979), which starred George Burns, Art Carney, and Lee Strasberg, the first of several films to mix action and comedy to great effect. Brest was then hired to direct WarGames (1983), which starred Matthew Broderick, but he was fired during production and replaced with John Badham.^[1]

Brest got his big break with Beverly Hills Cop (1984), starring Eddie Murphy. The film grossed over $300 million worldwide and received a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical, as well as an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay.

Brest's next film was the action-comedy Midnight Run (1988), starring Robert De Niro and Charles Grodin; it was another critical and commercial success. The film, and De Niro's performance, earned Golden Globe nominations.

His work on Scent of a Woman (1992) earned him a Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama. The film also won Golden Globes for Al Pacino and screenwriter Bo Goldman. In addition, the film got four Academy Award nominations: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay (Adapted), and Best Actor, with Al Pacino winning the last prize.

Brest's next film, Meet Joe Black (1998), starring Brad Pitt and Anthony Hopkins, was a remake of 1934's Death Takes a Holiday. The film received mixed reviews and had a disappointing American box office return of $44,619,100, though it fared much better overseas, taking in an additional $98,321,000 for a worldwide total of $142,940,100.^[2][3]

Most recently, Brest wrote and directed Gigli (2003), starring Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez. During filming, production company Revolution Studios took creative control from him, resulting in a radically revised and re-shot version of the original film being released. It became one of the most notorious films of its time, with a scathing critical reception (several critics called it one of the worst movies of all time) and disastrous box office performance. He has not directed another film since Gigli.

In 2009, his New York University student film, Hot Dogs for Gauguin, was one of 25 films chosen by the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress to "be preserved as cultural, artistic and/or historical treasures".^[4]

Filmography

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Producer	Editor	Actor	Other	Notes
1972	Hot Dogs for Gauguin	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	Short film Role: Man on Ferry
1977	Hot Tomorrows	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No
1979	Going in Style	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No
1980	Saturday Night Live	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	TV Series (1 episode) Episode: Jamie Lee Curtis/James Brown/Ellen Shipley
1982	Fast Times at Ridgemont High	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	Role: Dr. Miller
1984	Beverly Hills Cop	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No	Role: Beverly Palms Hotel Checkout Clerk (uncredited)
1985	Spies Like Us	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	Role: Drive-In Security Guard
1988	Midnight Run	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	Role: Airline Ticket Clerk (uncredited)
1992	Scent of a Woman	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	Nominated – Academy Award for Best Picture Nominated – Academy Award for Best Director Nominated – Producers Guild of America Award for Best Theatrical Motion Picture
1993	Josh and S.A.M.	No	No	Yes	No	No	No
1998	Meet Joe Black	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No
2003	Gigli	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Picture Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Director Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Screenplay
2007	Gone Baby Gone	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	Special thanks

References

1. Allmovie.comArchived copy at WebCite (June 23, 2007).
2. Boxofficemojo.com
3. "Martin Brest". Universal Studios. 2001. Retrieved 2006-01-21.
4. Loc.gov

External links

• Martin Brest at the Internet Movie Database
• December 2014 Playboy article "What Happened to Director Martin Brest?"