That’s right, the one and only Alan Smithee will make an appearance as a guest of honor at Inconjunction in Indianapolis – July 1 – 3.
Born in 1967 to a set of parents both in the prestigious Directors Guild of America, Mr. Smithee’s future was evident from the start when he finished directing his first feature film before the age of one. Can you imagine directing Lena Horne and Carroll O’Connor in Death of a Gunfighter before you could walk, talk, or eat solid food? The film received positive reviews upon release in 1969 including critic Roger Ebert who gave it 3.5 out of 5 and said, “Director Allen Smithee, a name I’m not familiar with, allows his story to unfold naturally. He never preaches, and he never lingers on the obvious.” During his first decade, Mr. Smithee added to his filmography by directing the feature The Barking Dog and two made for television movies. Oh, and he learned to ride his bike too.
From 1980 to 2004, Mr. Smithee was busy directing 28 features including such timeless classics as Solar Crisis, Bloodsucking Pharaohs in Pittsburgh, Le Zombi de Cap-Rouge, Hellraiser: Bloodline, Here Comes Santa Claus, and the “Forest Humps” segment from National Lampoon’s Senior Trip. He also continued his work in television directing episodes of “MacGyver”, “The Twilight Zone”, and “The Cosby Show” along with a slew of made for TV movies. The list of actors Mr. Smithee has famously directed reads like a casting director’s dream with names like Robert Duvall, Charlton Heston, Peter Boyle, Christopher Plummer, Cheech Marin, Sherman Hemsley, and Scott Baio.
1988 was a special year for Alan Smithee as he stood up from the director’s chair for the first time and began to apply his unique talents to the other filmmaking crafts. That year he wrote his first original screenplay and has since written eight additional ones including The Tony Blair Witch Project and The Nutt House with his son Alan Smithee Jr. Over the next sixteen years, Mr. Smithee has dabbled in acting, film editing, art direction, production design, and even composing. It’s something of a miracle that a Hollywood career this long and diverse could all have come from the artistic mind of a single person.
Should be interesting.
For more info, visit the Inconjunction website.
