Career
His major studio debut was 1979's Going in Style, 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 the film WarGames, but was fired during production.
Brest got his big break in 1984 with Beverly Hills Cop, starring Eddie Murphy. The film grossed over $300 million and received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical, as well as an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay.
Brest followed up with 1988's Midnight Run, starring Robert De Niro and Charles Grodin, a critical and commercial success. The film earned Golden Globe nominations for both De Niro and the film itself.
His work on 1992's Scent of a Woman earned him a Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture - Drama. The film also won Golden Globes for Al Pacino and Bo Goldman, the screenwriter. In addition, the film was nominated for several Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor, for which Al Pacino took home the prize.
It was six years before Brest would return with Meet Joe Black, a remake of Death Takes a Holiday, starring Brad Pitt and Anthony Hopkins. The film received mixed reviews and while it had a disappointing domestic box office return of $44,619,100, it fared much better overseas, taking in an additional $98,321,000 for a worldwide total of $142,940,100.
In 2003, Brest wrote and directed Gigli, starring Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez. After a protracted battle between studio and director, a radically revised and re-shot version of the original film was released. It became a notorious flop, with a scathing critical reception and disastrous box office performance. In the ensuing years since its release, Gigli has frequently been cited as among the worst movies ever made.
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".
Brest has not made a film since 2003 after Gigli.
Read more about this topic: Martin Brest
Famous quotes containing the word career:
“I seemed intent on making it as difficult for myself as possible to pursue my “male” career goal. I not only procrastinated endlessly, submitting my medical school application at the very last minute, but continued to crave a conventional female role even as I moved ahead with my “male” pursuits.”
—Margaret S. Mahler (1897–1985)
“In time your relatives will come to accept the idea that a career is as important to you as your family. Of course, in time the polar ice cap will melt.”
—Barbara Dale (b. 1940)
“It is a great many years since at the outset of my career I had to think seriously what life had to offer that was worth having. I came to the conclusion that the chief good for me was freedom to learn, think, and say what I pleased, when I pleased. I have acted on that conviction... and though strongly, and perhaps wisely, warned that I should probably come to grief, I am entirely satisfied with the results of the line of action I have adopted.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)