American filmmaker (born 1959)
James Allan Schamus (born September 7, 1959) is an American screenwriter, producer, business executive, film historian, professor, and director. He is a frequent collaborator of Ang Lee , the co-founder of the production company Good Machine , and the co-founder and former CEO of motion picture production, financing, and worldwide distribution company Focus Features , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal . He is currently president of the New York–based production company Symbolic Exchange,[ 2] and is Professor of Professional Practice at Columbia University , where he has taught film history and theory since 1989.
Life and career
Schamus was born in Detroit, Michigan, to a Jewish family.[ 3] He is the son of Clarita (Gershowitz) Karlin and Julian John Schamus, and was raised in Los Angeles. He is married to writer Nancy Kricorian , with whom he has two children.[ 4]
His output includes writing or co-writing The Ice Storm , Eat, Drink, Man, Woman , Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Hulk (all directed by Ang Lee ), and producing Brokeback Mountain and Alone in Berlin . At Focus he oversaw the production and distribution of Lost in Translation , Milk , Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind , Coraline , and The Kids Are All Right . In addition to his tenure at Columbia University, he has also taught at Yale University and at Rutgers University . He is the author of Carl Theodor Dreyer's Gertrud: The Moving Word , published by the University of Washington Press. He earned his BA, MA, and Ph.D. in English from University of California, Berkeley .[ 5]
Schamus made his feature directorial debut with Indignation , an adaptation of Philip Roth 's novel of the same name . Schamus also wrote the script for the film, which stars Logan Lerman , Sarah Gadon , and Tracy Letts , and is the story of a Jewish student at an Ohio college in 1951.[ 6] The film premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival, and was theatrically released by Roadside Attractions on July 29, 2016.[ 2]
He was president of the jury for the 64th Berlin International Film Festival .[ 7] He has also been on the jury of the New York International Children's Film Festival ,[ 8] and has served on the editorial boards of Film Quarterly and Cinema Journal , as well as on the board of Creative Capital and the Heyman Center for the Humanities.[ 9]
Filmography
Executive producer
Awards and nominations
Career recognition and honors
ShowEast's Bingham Ray Spirit Award, October 2016[ 18]
18th annual Outfest Achievement Award, June 2014[ 19]
President of the Jury, Berlin International Film Festival , February 2014
Evelyn Burkey Award, Writers Guild of America , January 2014
Hamptons Film Festival , Industry Toast, October 2012
Point Foundation , Point Inspiration Award, April 2012
Gotham Independent Film Project Awards , Career Tribute, November 2010
San Francisco Film Festival Kanbar Lifetime Achievement Award for Screenwriting, April 2010
The Hollywood Reporter Independent Icon Award, Sundance, January 2010
National Arts Club , Medal of Honor for Film, November 2009.
9th Annual Woodstock Film Festival , Trailblazer Award, October 2008
19th Annual GLAAD (Gay Lesbian Alliance Against Discrimination) Media Awards, Golden Gate Award, May 2008
American Museum of the Moving Image Honoree, April 2008
ShoWest/NATO (National Association of Theatre Owners) Freedom of Expression Award, March 2008
Golden Horse Award , Best Film, Best Screenplay Adaptation (James Schamus and Wang Hui-ling), "Lust, Caution," 2007
Jacob Burns Film Center , Vision Award, September 2007
British Academy of Film and Television Arts, Best Film, "Brokeback Mountain," 2005
21st Israel Film Festival , Visionary Award, November 2005
Presidential Fellow in the Arts, University of Chicago , November 2005
Producers Guild of America , Darryl Zanuck Award for Producer of the Year, 2005
Los Angeles Film Critics Association , Best Picture of the Year, "Brokeback Mountain," 2005
New York Film Critics Circle , Best Picture, "Brokeback Mountain," 2005
Out Magazine , Out 100 Award, 2005
Distinguished Entertainment Industry Award, Anti-Defamation League , 2005
Writers Guild of America East, Richard B. Jablow Award for Devoted Service to the Guild, March 2002
NBC Screenwriters Tribute , Nantucket Film Festival , 2002
Grammy Award Nomination, Best Song Written For A Motion Picture, Television, Or Other Media, "A Love Before Time " from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon , 2002
Hugo Award , Best Dramatic Presentation for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon , 2001[ 20]
Excellence in Achievement Award, California Alumni Association, 2001
Crystal Apple Award, New York City Mayor's Office, 2001
Provincetown International Film Festival , Filmmaker on the Edge Award, 2001
Yale Film Studies Award, Yale University , 2000
Achievement Award, Jerusalem Cinematheque , 2000
British Film Critics' Circle Awards Nomination, Best Screenwriter, "The Ice Storm," 1999.
Gladys Borchers Lecturer, University of Wisconsin , 1998.
Nuveen Fellow, University of Chicago , 1997
University Lecturer, Columbia University , 1997
Cable Ace Award, Best Historical Documentary Special or Series, "Wonderland ," (Executive Producer), 1997
IFP Gotham Award , Producer of the Year, 1996
Zanuck Award Nominee, Producers Guild of America, 1996
Nova Award, Producers Guild of America, 1996
The Philip and Ruth Hettleman Award, Columbia University School of General Studies , 1996[ 21]
Independent Spirit Brian Greenbaum Memorial Award for Producing, 1994
Writing
Books
Taking Woodstock . New York: Newmarket Press, 2009. Screenplay and Introduction.
Carl Theodor Dryer's Gertrud: The Moving Word . Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2008.
Lust, Caution . New York: Pantheon, 2007. Screenplay (with Wang Hui-Ling) and Introduction.
The Hulk . New York: Newmarket Press, 2003. Screenplay and Introduction.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Portrait of the Ang Lee Film . New York: Newmarket Press, 2000. Screenplay (with Wang Hui-Ling) and Notes.
Ride With the Devil . London: Faber & Faber, 1999. Screenplay, Introduction, and Notes.
The Ice Storm . New York: Newmarket Press, 1997. Screenplay, Introduction, and Notes.
Two Films By Ang Lee: "Eat Drink Man Woman" and "The Wedding Banquet" . New York: The Overlook Press, 1994. Introduction and Screenplays (with Ang Lee, Neal Peng, and Wang Hui-Ling).
Essays and articles
"23 Fragments on the Future of Cinema" , Filmmaker (magazine) , Winter 2015.
"Hollywood is Not American" , The Hollywood Reporter , October 17, 2014.
"James Schamus Reveals Secrets of the Oscar Voting System" , Variety (magazine) , January 8, 2014.
"Preface." "Musts, Maybes, and Nevers: A Book About The Movies". By David Picker . Charleston: CreateSpace, 2013.
"See Here Now: Festival Red Carpets and the Cost of Film Culture," in Coming Soon to a Festival Near You: Programming Film Festivals , ed. Jeffrey Ruoff . Scotland, UK: St. Andrews Film Books, 2012.
"Raul Ruiz Remembered by James Schamus" , Filmmaker (magazine) , August 19, 2011.
"Afterword." A Killer Life . By Christine Vachon . New York: Limelight Editions, 2007.
"The Apartment" , The New York Times , November 4, 2007.
"Next Year in Munich: Masculinity, Zionism and Diaspora in Spielberg's Epic," Representations , Fall 2007, no. 100.
"'Brokeback Mountain': An Exchange" , The New York Review of Books , April 6, 2006.
"Oy" , Filmmaker , March 24, 2006.
"Aesthetic Identities: A Response to Kenneth Chan and Christina Klein" , Cinema Journal , Summer 2004, Volume 43, Number 4.
"Dreyer's Textual Realism." Rites of Realism: Essays on Corporeal Cinema , Ivone Margulies , ed., Duke UP, 2003.
"Sing to Us, Muse, of the Rage of the Hulk" , The New York Times , May 11, 2003.
"Whatever Happened to B Movies?", Filmmaker (magazine) , Fall, 2002 (reprinted from The Off Hollywood Report , Fall 1990).
"A Rant." The End of Cinema As We Know It: American Film in the Nineties , Jon Lewis, ed., NYU Press, 2002.
"Fragments Towards an Introduction to Elia Sulieman's Chronicles." Filmmaker , Winter 2002.
"16 Fragments on Auteur Theory, or Sarris's Revenge." Citizen Sarris: American Film Critic , Emanuel Levy , ed., Scarecrow Press, 2001.
"Talking Pictures" , Filmmaker , Winter, 2001.
"HOLIDAY FILMS; The Polyglot Task of Writing the Global Film" , The New York Times , November 5, 2000.
"IFP Rant" , Filmmaker , Spring, 2000.
"The Pursuit of Happiness: Making an Art of Marketing an Explosive Film" , The Nation , April 5–12, 1999.
"20 Fragments on the Art of Screenwriting." Scenario , Summer 1996.
"Long Live Indie Film" , Filmmaker , Fall, 1995.
Profiles and interviews
"Indignation director James Schamus: Film is Dead, And That's Okay" Indiewire. August 1, 2016.
"Indignation Interview" Indiewire . February, 2016.
"James Schamus Directing Debut Indignation Wins Over Sundance Audience" The Wrap . January 24, 2016.
"Indignation : Sundance Review" The Hollywood Reporter . January 25, 2016.
"Accidental CEO The College . Summer 2014.
"Case Study: James Schamus" , Produced By . October 2014.
"James Schamus: 'The job is an ego crushing ass-kick to the soul. I love it!'" , The Guardian . January 28, 2014.
"On James Schamus and Focus Features" , Filmmaker . October 3, 2013.
"The Man Behind the Movies" , California Magazine (Cal Alumni Association). Fall, 2013.
"The Professor of Micropopularity" , The New York Times . November 26, 2010.
"Ang Lee + James Schamus: A Pinewood Dialogue" , Museum of the Moving Image . November 9, 2007.
"The Professor in the Back Lot" , The New York Times . September 17, 2006.
"A Conversation with Tony Kushner," On Writing (Writers Guild of America, East ): New York. Fall, 2005.
References
^ a b IMDB Biography Page , retrieved August 22, 2016
^ a b McNary, Dave (March 24, 2016). "Logan Lerman's 'Indignation' Gets July Release" . Retrieved August 22, 2016 .
^ Rotella, Carlo (November 26, 2010). "The Professor of Micropopularity" . The New York Times . The story of America, of Western culture, is often the story of queer culture, of being Jewish" — Schamus is Jewish — "of being outsiders and refugees who find a place that is the not-place.
^ "James Schamus" . IMDb . Retrieved August 22, 2016 .
^ "The Man Behind the Movies" .
^ "James Schamus Directorial Debut Indignation Acquired By Lionsgate's Summit Entertainment" . Deadline Hollywood . Retrieved February 7, 2016 .
^ "Berlinale 2014: International Jury" . Berlinale . Retrieved December 31, 2013 .
^ "NYICFF Jury" . Gkids.com. Retrieved March 23, 2012 .
^ "James Schamus to be Honored at San Francisco International Film Festival - MovieMaker Magazine" . www.moviemaker.com . February 25, 2010. Retrieved February 8, 2023 .
^ "The Economy, Explored on Film" . The New York Times . May 26, 2014.
^ "Indignation" . August 11, 2016 – via IMDb.
^ Fleming, Mike Jr. (April 15, 2016). "JonBenet Ramsey Murder Case Chronicled In Kitty Green-Directed 'Casting JonBenet' " . Deadline . Retrieved February 27, 2017 .
^ Hipes, Patrick (January 17, 2017). " 'Dayveon' Clip: First Look At Sundance NEXT Opener From First-Time Director Amman Abbasi" . Deadline . Retrieved February 27, 2017 .
^ "James Schamus, China's Meridian board 'A Prayer Before Dawn' " . Retrieved February 27, 2017 .
^ "Festival de Cannes: The Ice Storm" . festival-cannes.com . Retrieved September 21, 2009 .
^ Glaister, Dan (January 17, 2006). " 'Brokeback Mountain rides high at the Globes' " . The Guardian . Retrieved August 20, 2014 .
^ Germain, David (March 4, 2006). " 'Brokeback' named best independent film" . Associated Press (via USA Today ). Retrieved April 19, 2012 .
^ "ShowEast to honor James Schamus with Bingham Ray Award | Film Journal International" . www.filmjournal.com . Retrieved July 19, 2016 .
^ "James Schamus to Receive 2014 Outfest Achievement Award" . Outfest . Archived from the original on August 26, 2014. Retrieved August 26, 2014 .
^ "2001 Hugo Awards" . Hugo Awards . World Science Fiction Society . September 3, 2001. Archived from the original on May 7, 2011. Retrieved November 30, 2022 .
^ "Three Schools Honor Faculty, Staff and Public Figures" . Columbia University . Retrieved August 20, 2014 .
External links
Awards for James Schamus
1990s
Goodfellas – Martin Scorsese , Robert Chartoff , and Irwin Winkler (1990)
The Commitments – Alan Parker , Lynda Myles , and Roger Randall-Cutler (1991)
Howards End – James Ivory and Ismail Merchant (1992)
Schindler's List – Steven Spielberg , Branko Lustig , and Gerald R. Molen (1993)
Four Weddings and a Funeral – Mike Newell and Duncan Kenworthy (1994)
Sense and Sensibility – Ang Lee and Lindsay Doran (1995)
The English Patient – Anthony Minghella and Saul Zaentz (1996)
The Full Monty – Peter Cattaneo and Uberto Pasolini (1997)
Shakespeare in Love – Donna Gigliotti , Marc Norman , David Parfitt , Harvey Weinstein , and Edward Zwick (1998)
American Beauty – Bruce Cohen and Dan Jinks (1999)
2000s
Gladiator – David Franzoni , Branko Lustig , and Douglas Wick (2000)
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring – Peter Jackson , Barrie M. Osborne , Tim Sanders , and Fran Walsh (2001)
The Pianist – Robert Benmussa, Roman Polanski , and Alain Sarde (2002)
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King – Peter Jackson , Barrie M. Osborne , and Fran Walsh (2003)
The Aviator – Sandy Climan , Charles Evans Jr. , Graham King , and Michael Mann (2004)
Brokeback Mountain – Diana Ossana and James Schamus (2005)
The Queen – Andy Harries , Christine Langan , and Tracey Seaward (2006)
Atonement – Tim Bevan , Eric Fellner , and Paul Webster (2007)
Slumdog Millionaire – Christian Colson (2008)
The Hurt Locker – Kathryn Bigelow , Mark Boal , Nicolas Chartier , and Greg Shapiro (2009)
2010s
The King's Speech – Iain Canning , Emile Sherman , and Gareth Unwin (2010)
The Artist – Thomas Langmann (2011)
Argo – Ben Affleck , George Clooney , and Grant Heslov (2012)
12 Years a Slave – Dede Gardner , Anthony Katagas , Jeremy Kleiner , Steve McQueen , and Brad Pitt (2013)
Boyhood – Richard Linklater and Cathleen Sutherland (2014)
The Revenant – Steve Golin , Alejandro G. Iñárritu , Arnon Milchan , Mary Parent , and Keith Redmon (2015)
La La Land – Fred Berger , Jordan Horowitz , and Marc Platt (2016)
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri – Graham Broadbent , Peter Czernin , and Martin McDonagh (2017)
Roma – Nicolás Celis , Alfonso Cuarón , and Gabriela Rodríguez (2018)
1917 – Pippa Harris , Callum McDougall, Sam Mendes , and Jayne-Ann Tenggren (2019)
2020s
Nomadland – Mollye Asher, Dan Janvey, Frances McDormand , Peter Spears , and Chloé Zhao (2020)
The Power of the Dog – Jane Campion , Iain Canning , Roger Frappier , Tanya Seghatchian , and Emile Sherman (2021)
All Quiet on the Western Front – Malte Grunert (2022)
Oppenheimer – Christopher Nolan , Charles Roven , and Emma Thomas (2023)
1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s
Not presented (2020)
Not presented (2021)
Dick Cavett (2022)
Not presented (2023)
Nebula Award for Best Script
Soylent Green – Stanley R. Greenberg (1973)
Sleeper – Woody Allen (1974)
Young Frankenstein – Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder (1975)
Star Wars – George Lucas (1977)
The Sixth Sense – M. Night Shyamalan (1999)
Galaxy Quest – David Howard and Robert Gordon (2000)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon – James Schamus , Kuo Jung Tsai, and Hui-Ling Wang (2001)
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring – Fran Walsh , Philippa Boyens , and Peter Jackson (2002)
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers – Fran Walsh , Philippa Boyens , Stephen Sinclair , and Peter Jackson (2003)
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King – Fran Walsh , Philippa Boyens , and Peter Jackson (2004)
Serenity – Joss Whedon (2005)
Howl's Moving Castle – Hayao Miyazaki , Cindy Davis Hewitt, and Donald H. Hewitt (2006)
Pan's Labyrinth – Guillermo del Toro (2007)
WALL-E – Andrew Stanton , Jim Reardon , and Pete Docter (2008)
Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation
1956–1975 1976–2000 2001–present
International National Academics Artists People Other