Monte Hellman: Last News

Steven Gaydos Executive VP of ContentDecades ago, in his landmark “Biographical Dictionary of Film,” critic David Thomson said of filmmaking legend Francis Coppola: “No one retains so many jubilant traits of the kid moviemaker.” As Coppola approaches production on “Megalopolis,” his biggest, most creatively ambitious project of the 21st century, that description seems more apt than ever.And a quick glance at the Variety archives vividly illustrates Coppola’s explosive emergence as a veritable force of nature while still enrolled as a film student at UCLA.The wunderkind announced his arrival with his name blasted in a Variety page one headline as the winner of a student screenwriting competition.

Covid, and he died at his home in Honolulu, Hawaii.The talented film buff began his showbiz career when he moved to London to become a producer.In the late 60s, as he worked on movies such as The Whispers in 1967 with Bryan Forbes, and Joanna in 1968 with director Michael Sarne.The Illinois-born was probably best known for the 1971 movie Two-Lane Blacktop, which was directed by Monte Hellman.The movie was part of a series of eight independent feature films he worked on.In 2007, Laughlin was featured in a 2007 Criterion Collection release of the cult hit and it eventually was put in the National Film Registry at the Library of Congress in 2012.Over the next few years, he would work on many projects, including the 1981 horror film Strange

Variety.The producer, who was born in Illinois, had been recruited by Stanford University to play basketball, and graduated in 1960 from Principia College in Elsah.He began producing films in the late 60s and worked on movies like The Whispers with Bryan Forbes in 1967, and Joanna in 1968 with director Michael Sarne.A decade later, he produced a series of independent feature films, including the famous 1971 movie Two-Lane Blacktop by director Monte Hellman.The film was put in the National Film Registry at the Library of Congress in 2012.In the 1980s he wrote and directed three motion pictures, including 1981 horror flick Strange Behaviours, 1983's Strange Invaders, and 1985's drama Mesmerized featuring Jodie Foster and John Lithgow.Laughlin

Muhammad Ali biopic The Greatest (1977) and the spy thriller Avalanche Express (1979) – after their directors died mid-shoot; he also shot second-unit footage for RoboCop (1987). Iguana (1988) was at least a Hellman original, an eccentric meditation on power about a disfigured harpooner who appoints himself king of a remote island, though the director himself dismissed it as “terrible”.

Who was Monte Hellman? The iconic director, who passed away on April 20, never became a household name in the way that some of his contemporaries did. He never made a purely commercial career maneuver; even when he was offered the chance to direct the third film in the “Silent Night, Deadly Night” franchise, his acceptance of said assignment felt like more of a defiantly personal choice than any kind of bid for mainstream acceptance.

The Shooting and Two-Lane Blacktop among others, passed away on Tuesday (April 20).His daughter Melissa confirmed the news to the Hollywood Reporter, saying he died at Eisenhower Health hospital in Palm Desert, a week after suffering a fall in his home.“He was my best friend,” Melissa told the publication.The filmmaker had collaborated with Jack Nicholson on Back Door to Hell and Flight to Fury, and worked with Warren Oates four times and called the actor his “alter ego”.Hellman served as an executive producer on Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs in 1992 and ultimately helped finance the filmmaker’s breakout success.Baby Driver director Edgar Wright paid his respects on Twitter sharing a clip of Two-Lane Blacktop, arguably the filmmaker’s

Steven Gaydos Executive VP of ContentOn the release of what was to be the late Monte Hellman’s final feature film in 2011, critic Steve Erickson noted “Monte Hellman is the ultimate outlaw filmmaker.”A decade earlier, filmmaker-critic Kent Jones wrote that “anything written in America about Monte Hellman … cinema’s most under-appreciated great director … must be a defense.”Decades before Jones’ astute assessment, film critic David Thomson had noted, “No system could digest the willful arbitrariness of Monte Hellman’s best films,” which is probably as clear an explanation of why Hellman made only one Hollywood Studio film in a directing career that stretched from 1959 to 2011 and included stints as Jack Nicholson’s filmmaking

Monte Hellman was a director whose cult classic films include “Two-Lane Blacktop.”Hellman’s directorial career began with the 1959 horror movie “Beast from Haunted Cave.” It was produced by Roger Corman and his brother, and the cult film legend helped launch Hellman’s career. Hellman went on to direct several films starring the up-and-coming Jack Nicholson, including “Flight to Fury” (1964) and “Ride in the Whirlwind” (1966), before creating the 1971 road movie “Two-Lane Blacktop.” Starring musicians James Taylor and Dennis Wilson (1944–1983), the movie followed young street racers across the U.S.

confirmed the news to the Hollywood Reporter, saying Hellman had died in hospital after a fall at his home. Hellman was born Monte Himmelman in 1929, and after studying theatre at Stanford University set up a theatre company in Los Angeles.

Monte Hellman, the maverick director and protege of Roger Corman who helmed the existential cult classics The Shooting and Two-Lane Blacktop, died Tuesday. He was 91.

Influential director Monte Hellman, whose 1971 film Two-Lane Blacktop starring musicians James Taylor and Dennis Wilson became a counterculture cult classic, died Tuesday. He was 91.

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentMonte Hellman, the maverick director of such films as “Two-Lane Blacktop,” “The Shooting” and “Road to Nowhere,” died April 20 at Eisenhower Medical Center in Palm Desert, Calif., following a fall in his home on April 19. He was 91.Hellman was a cult director who was widely admired within the industry, earning such fans as Quentin Tarantino; they liked his down-and-dirty storytelling, which featured poetic flourishes amid his genre films.After working as an editor’s apprentice at ABC, he made his directing debut with the 1959 “Beast From Haunted Cave,” produced by Roger Corman.