Randal Kleiser
Encyclopedia
John Randal Kleiser is an American
film director
and producer
, perhaps best known for directing the 1978 musical film Grease
.
, the son of Harriet Kelly (née Means) and John Raymond Kleiser. He was raised in the Pennsylvania Dutch
community in Lebanon, Pennsylvania
.
Kleiser has directed several feature films, including Grease
(1978
), The Blue Lagoon
(1980) with Brooke Shields
, Summer Lovers
(1982) with Daryl Hannah
, Grandview, U.S.A.
(1984) with Jamie Lee Curtis
, Flight of the Navigator
(1986), featuring the first use of digital morphing
in a film, Big Top Pee-wee
(1988), White Fang
(1991) and Honey, I Blew Up the Kid
(1992).
In London, Kleiser directed the comedy Getting It Right (1989), starring Lynn Redgrave
, Helena Bonham Carter
, Jane Horrocks
and Sir John Gielgud
. In 1996, he wrote and directed It's My Party
, starring Eric Roberts
, Gregory Harrison
, Lee Grant
, Bruce Davison
and Marlee Matlin
. As a writer-producer, he was responsible for the surfing film North Shore
(1987) for Universal Pictures
. He also directed the thriller Shadow of Doubt
(1998) with Melanie Griffith
and Tom Berenger
. Working in 70mm 3-D
, he directed Honey, I Shrunk the Audience
(1995) at the Disney Theme Parks in Anaheim, Orlando, Tokyo and Paris. His television films include The Boy in the Plastic Bubble
(1976) with John Travolta
, the Emmy-Award-winning The Gathering (1977) and Dawn: Portrait of a Teenage Runaway
(1976).
As a freshman at the University of Southern California
, Kleiser appeared in George Lucas
' first student film Freiheit
. Kleiser's award-winning Master's thesis film Peege
launched his career; he graduated in 1968. He has taught a graduate workshop at USC and Masters Directing Classes for European students at film festivals in Deuville and Sarlat, and Malaga. He serves as a judge on the Student Awards for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
; and, as chairman of the Academic Subcommittee for the Directors Guild of America
, he inaugurated a videoconferencing program to connect film classes with working directors. Working with the Graphics Lab at USC's Institute for Creative Technologies
, he has co-invented a digital Cinerama-like process called Vistarama HD.
Kleiser was the marshalling force in planning and filming Red Riding Hood (2004/2006
). The work broke new ground in digital cinematography
through the extensive use of interactive virtual sets. During 2006 in Lisbon, this movie was released for its debut at the 1st International Digital Cinema Festival.
Kleiser's house was used in the film Scream 3
. Kleiser was inducted into Radnor High School's
Hall of Fame
on October 20, 2006.
Kleiser was Chapman University
's Dodge College of Film and Media Arts' Filmmaker in Residence for Fall 2010.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
film director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
and producer
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
, perhaps best known for directing the 1978 musical film Grease
Grease (film)
Grease is a 1978 American musical film directed by Randal Kleiser and based on Warren Casey's and Jim Jacobs's 1971 musical of the same name about two lovers in a 1950s high school. The film stars John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John, Stockard Channing, and Jeff Conaway...
.
Life and career
Kleiser was born in Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
, the son of Harriet Kelly (née Means) and John Raymond Kleiser. He was raised in the Pennsylvania Dutch
Pennsylvania Dutch
Pennsylvania Dutch refers to immigrants and their descendants from southwestern Germany and Switzerland who settled in Pennsylvania in the 17th and 18th centuries...
community in Lebanon, Pennsylvania
Lebanon, Pennsylvania
Lebanon, formerly known as Steitztown, is a city in and the county seat of Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 25,477 at the 2010 census, a 4.2% increase from the 2000 count of 24,461...
.
Kleiser has directed several feature films, including Grease
Grease (film)
Grease is a 1978 American musical film directed by Randal Kleiser and based on Warren Casey's and Jim Jacobs's 1971 musical of the same name about two lovers in a 1950s high school. The film stars John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John, Stockard Channing, and Jeff Conaway...
(1978
1978 in film
The year 1978 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* February 1 - Bob Dylan's film Renaldo and Clara, a documentary of the "Rolling Thunder Revue" tour premieres in Los Angeles, California....
), The Blue Lagoon
The Blue Lagoon (1980 film)
The Blue Lagoon is a 1980 American romance and adventure film directed by Randal Kleiser. The screenplay by Douglas Day Stewart was based on the novel The Blue Lagoon by Henry De Vere Stacpoole. The film stars Brooke Shields and Christopher Atkins...
(1980) with Brooke Shields
Brooke Shields
Brooke Christa Shields is an American actress and model. Some of her better-known movies include Pretty Baby and The Blue Lagoon, as well as TV shows such as Suddenly Susan, That '70s Show and Lipstick Jungle....
, Summer Lovers
Summer Lovers
Summer Lovers is a 1982 film written and directed by Randal Kleiser, starring Peter Gallagher, Daryl Hannah and Valerie Quennessen, and filmed on location on the island of Santorini, Greece. The original music score is composed by Basil Poledouris...
(1982) with Daryl Hannah
Daryl Hannah
Daryl Christine Hannah is an American film actress. After making her screen debut in 1978, Hannah starred in a number of Hollywood films throughout the 1980s, notably Blade Runner, Splash, Wall Street and Roxanne and Kill Bill.-Early life:Hannah was born in Chicago, Illinois, the daughter of Susan...
, Grandview, U.S.A.
Grandview, U.S.A.
Grandview, U.S.A. is a 1984 American comedy-drama film directed by Randal Kleiser. It stars Jamie Lee Curtis, Patrick Swayze, C. Thomas Howell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Carole Cook, Ramon Bieri, John Cusack, Joan Cusack, M. Emmet Walsh, Michael Winslow, Troy Donahue, and Steve Dahl. The original music...
(1984) with Jamie Lee Curtis
Jamie Lee Curtis
Jamie Lee Curtis is an American actress and author. Although she was initially known as a "scream queen" because of her starring roles in several horror films early in her career, such as Halloween, The Fog, Prom Night and Terror Train, Curtis has since compiled a body of work that spans many...
, Flight of the Navigator
Flight of the Navigator
Flight of the Navigator is a 1986 Disney science fiction film directed by Randal Kleiser and written by Mark H. Baker and Michael Burton, about a 12-year-old boy named David who is abducted by an alien space craft and finds himself caught in a world which has changed around him...
(1986), featuring the first use of digital morphing
Morphing
Morphing is a special effect in motion pictures and animations that changes one image into another through a seamless transition. Most often it is used to depict one person turning into another through technological means or as part of a fantasy or surreal sequence. Traditionally such a depiction...
in a film, Big Top Pee-wee
Big Top Pee-wee
Big Top Pee-wee is the 1988 American family comedy sequel to the 1985 film, Pee-wee's Big Adventure, and stars Paul Reubens as Pee-wee Herman, Penelope Ann Miller, Valeria Golino, and Kris Kristofferson. The original music score is composed by Danny Elfman. The film is marketed with the tagline...
(1988), White Fang
White Fang (1991 film)
White Fang is a 1991 American adventure film directed by Randal Kleiser, starring Ethan Hawke, Klaus Maria Brandauer and Seymour Cassel. Based on the novel White Fang by Jack London, it tells the story of the friendship between a Yukon gold hunter and a wolfdog.White Fang is portrayed by a wolfdog,...
(1991) and Honey, I Blew Up the Kid
Honey, I Blew Up the Kid
Honey, I Blew Up the Kid is the 1992 sequel to the 1989 film Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. Directed by Randal Kleiser and released by Walt Disney Pictures, the film stars Rick Moranis, Marcia Strassman, Robert Oliveri and Amy O'Neill, who reprise their roles as Wayne, Diane, Nick, and Amy Szalinski...
(1992).
In London, Kleiser directed the comedy Getting It Right (1989), starring Lynn Redgrave
Lynn Redgrave
Lynn Rachel Redgrave, OBE was an English actress.A member of the well-known British family of actors, Redgrave trained in London before making her theatrical debut in 1962...
, Helena Bonham Carter
Helena Bonham Carter
Helena Bonham Carter is an English actress of film, stage, and television. She made her acting debut in a television adaptation of K. M. Peyton's A Pattern of Roses before winning her first film role as the titular character in Lady Jane...
, Jane Horrocks
Jane Horrocks
Barbara Jane Horrocks is an English voice, stage, screen and television actress, voice artist, musician, and singer. She is best known for her role as "Bubble" in the TV series Absolutely Fabulous as well as her distinctive voice....
and Sir John Gielgud
John Gielgud
Sir Arthur John Gielgud, OM, CH was an English actor, director, and producer. A descendant of the renowned Terry acting family, he achieved early international acclaim for his youthful, emotionally expressive Hamlet which broke box office records on Broadway in 1937...
. In 1996, he wrote and directed It's My Party
It's My Party (film)
It's My Party is a 1996 American drama film written and directed by Randal Kleiser, it was one of the first feature films to address the topic of AIDS patients dying with dignity....
, starring Eric Roberts
Eric Roberts
Eric Anthony Roberts is an American actor. His career began with King of the Gypsies , earning a Golden Globe nomination for best actor debut. He starred as the protagonist in the 1980 dramatisation of Willa Cather's 1905 short story, Paul's Case...
, Gregory Harrison
Gregory Harrison
Gregory Neale Harrison is an American actor. He is probably best known for his role as Chandler in the 1987 cult favorite North Shore and as Trapper John MacIntyre's young surgeon, Dr. George Alonzo 'Gonzo' Gates, on the CBS series Trapper John, M.D....
, Lee Grant
Lee Grant
Lee Grant is an American stage, film and television actress, and film director. She was blacklisted for 12 years from film work beginning in the mid-1950s, but worked in the theatre, and would eventually win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Felicia Carp in the...
, Bruce Davison
Bruce Davison
Bruce Davison is an American actor and director.-Early life:Davison was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Marian E. , a secretary, and Clair W. Davison, a musician, architect, and draftsman for the Army Engineers. His parents divorced when he was three years old. He was raised by his...
and Marlee Matlin
Marlee Matlin
Marlee Bethany Matlin is an American actress. She is the only deaf actress to win the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, which she won for Children of a Lesser God. Her work in film and television has resulted in a Golden Globe award, with two additional nominations, and four Emmy...
. As a writer-producer, he was responsible for the surfing film North Shore
North Shore (film)
North Shore is a 1987 film about Rick Kane , a young fictional surfer from a wave tank in Arizona, who heads to surf the season on the North Shore of Oahu and see if he has the skills to cut it as a pro surfer...
(1987) for Universal Pictures
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
. He also directed the thriller Shadow of Doubt
Shadow of Doubt
Shadow of Doubt is a 1998 American independent mystery-thriller film directed by Randal Kleiser and starring Melanie Griffith, Tom Berenger, Craig Sheffer, and Huey Lewis.-Plot:...
(1998) with Melanie Griffith
Melanie Griffith
Melanie Richards Griffith is an American actress. She is an Academy Award nominee and Golden Globe winner for her performance in the 1988 film Working Girl...
and Tom Berenger
Tom Berenger
Tom Berenger is an American actor known mainly for his roles in action films.-Early life:Berenger was born as Thomas Michael Moore in Chicago to an Irish Catholic family. Berenger's father was a printer for the Chicago Sun-Times. Berenger has a sister, Susan...
. Working in 70mm 3-D
3-D film
A 3-D film or S3D film is a motion picture that enhances the illusion of depth perception...
, he directed Honey, I Shrunk the Audience
Honey, I Shrunk the Audience
Honey, I Shrunk The Audience! was a 3-D film spin off of the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids film series that was shown at several Disney theme parks.-Synopsis:...
(1995) at the Disney Theme Parks in Anaheim, Orlando, Tokyo and Paris. His television films include The Boy in the Plastic Bubble
The Boy in the Plastic Bubble
The Boy in the Plastic Bubble is a 1976 made-for-TV movie inspired by the lives of David Vetter and Ted DeVita, who lacked effective immune systems. It stars John Travolta, Glynnis O'Connor, Diana Hyland, Robert Reed, and P.J. Soles...
(1976) with John Travolta
John Travolta
John Joseph Travolta is an American actor, dancer and singer. Travolta first became known in the 1970s, after appearing on the television series Welcome Back, Kotter and starring in the box office successes Saturday Night Fever and Grease...
, the Emmy-Award-winning The Gathering (1977) and Dawn: Portrait of a Teenage Runaway
Dawn: Portrait of a Teenage Runaway
Dawn: Portrait of a Teenage Runaway is an NBC made-for-television movie. It premiered on September 27, 1976. The movie is about a 15-year-old girl named Dawn Wetherby who runs away from home to Hollywood, California and becomes a prostitute to support herself. Dawn finds herself taken under the...
(1976).
As a freshman at the University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
, Kleiser appeared in George Lucas
George Lucas
George Walton Lucas, Jr. is an American film producer, screenwriter, and director, and entrepreneur. He is the founder, chairman and chief executive of Lucasfilm. He is best known as the creator of the space opera franchise Star Wars and the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones...
' first student film Freiheit
Freiheit (short film)
Freiheit is a 1966 short film by George Lucas. It follows a student's attempt to escape to freedom. This student tries to run across the Berlin border, but ends up being shot in the chest and side gut and is mortally wounded. While he dies, he thinks about dying for freedom...
. Kleiser's award-winning Master's thesis film Peege
Peege
Peege is an award-winning 1972 short student film, written and directed by Randal Kleiser, about a family's visit to an elderly relative in a nursing home...
launched his career; he graduated in 1968. He has taught a graduate workshop at USC and Masters Directing Classes for European students at film festivals in Deuville and Sarlat, and Malaga. He serves as a judge on the Student Awards for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is a professional honorary organization dedicated to the advancement of the arts and sciences of motion pictures...
; and, as chairman of the Academic Subcommittee for the Directors Guild of America
Directors Guild of America
Directors Guild of America is an entertainment labor union which represents the interests of film and television directors in the United States motion picture industry...
, he inaugurated a videoconferencing program to connect film classes with working directors. Working with the Graphics Lab at USC's Institute for Creative Technologies
Institute for Creative Technologies
The Institute for Creative Technologies is a research institute of the University of Southern California located in Playa Vista, California. ICT was established in 1999 with funding from the US Army...
, he has co-invented a digital Cinerama-like process called Vistarama HD.
Kleiser was the marshalling force in planning and filming Red Riding Hood (2004/2006
2004 in film
The year 2004 in film involved some significant events. Major releases of sequels took place. It included blockbuster films like Shrek 2, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, The Passion of the Christ, Meet the Fockers, Blade: Trinity, Spider-Man 2, Alien vs. Predator, Kill Bill Vol...
). The work broke new ground in digital cinematography
Digital cinematography
Digital cinematography is the process of capturing motion pictures as digital images, rather than on film. Digital capture may occur on video tape, hard disks, flash memory, or other media which can record digital data. As digital technology has improved, this practice has become increasingly common...
through the extensive use of interactive virtual sets. During 2006 in Lisbon, this movie was released for its debut at the 1st International Digital Cinema Festival.
Kleiser's house was used in the film Scream 3
Scream 3
Scream 3 is a 2000 American slasher film created by Kevin Williamson, directed by Wes Craven and written by Ehren Kruger, starring Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox Arquette and David Arquette, released on February 4, 2000 as the third, and originally, concluding installment in the Scream film series...
. Kleiser was inducted into Radnor High School's
Radnor High School
Radnor High School is the only public high school in Radnor Township, Pennsylvania and is part of the Radnor Township School District. It lies along the Pennsylvania Main Line, a collection of highly affluent Philadelphia suburbs...
Hall of Fame
Hall of Fame
A hall of fame, wall of fame, walk of fame, walk of stars or avenue of stars is a type of attraction established for any field of endeavor to honor individuals of noteworthy achievement in that field...
on October 20, 2006.
Kleiser was Chapman University
Chapman University
Chapman University is a private, non-profit university located in Orange, California affiliated with the Christian Church . Known for its blend of liberal arts and professional programs, Chapman University encompasses seven schools and colleges: Lawrence and Kristina Dodge College of Film and Media...
's Dodge College of Film and Media Arts' Filmmaker in Residence for Fall 2010.
External links
- Official website
- Filmsbug.com
- DGA.org
- http://ninafochproject.com/