a quick note on the passing of joel schumcher

I’ll miss him.

I had really hoped there would be one last great movie from him, but it was not meant to be. As it is, we have such a rich oeuvre to engage with— twenty three movies spread across thirty years of filmmaking. Today on twitter I saw an outpouring of affection for Mr. Schumacher, and it really warmed my heart. He spent so much of his career being derided and made fun of, and always took it with good humor and a good heart. He was always candid (please, if you haven’t, read the Vulture interview with him from last year), always unapologetic. He had such a good sense of humor about himself and his work. As he says in the director’s commentary of Phone Booth, “Fuck ‘em if they can’t take a joke.” Fuck ‘em if they can’t appreciate the good entertainment he made. Because they are good, and they are entertaining. He made his movies for our enjoyment, and to see people saying how much they enjoyed his work means a lot to me, and I’m sure means a lot to him. His movies were made to be had fun with, and I have never had more fun with any other director’s filmography. It’s a roller-coaster, definitely, and a blast of one.

Listening to his commentaries and his interviews, I am always struck by how charming, open-hearted, and generous he was. He always praised his actors (even the ones who were hard to work with), always praised his crew and collaborators, even praised his background actors who appear in one shot. His movies reflect that generosity of spirit. His movies love people. His characters are treated with immense love— you can see it in how they’re shot and how moments are allowed to play out. There’s an immense sympathy and warmness for people in Mr. Schumacher’s movies, and that was the aspect of his work I came to love the most.

He gave me a lot of gifts— Flatliners, in all it’s gothic glory. Cousins, which gives me hope of love later in life. He gave me Uma in Batman & Robin, he gave me my soft boyfriend Kiefer Sutherland via The Lost Boys. He gave me confidence in my own opinions, and never again will I let someone else tell me a movie I think is good is actually bad. He gave me the knowledge that I can do the things I set out to do (my year long writing project), and that the work is worth doing if you really want to do it. Watching his movies and really engaging with them helped me grow, exposed me to all sorts of new ideas and images, and brought me so much happiness. I’ll always treasure him for that. I’ll always be glad to have his movies on my shelf.

This is a really sad loss for me, honestly. There are famous people who make marks on your life, silly as that can be. Joel Schumacher was one of those for me. Absolutely, without question. One of My Guys. I’ll happily defend his work forever, because he deserves it. A great artist and a kind person. It’s what many of us aspire to, and we would be lucky to be as good as Joel.

I love his works and I’ll miss the man.

Rest in peace, Joel. Thanks for everything.