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Martin Brest
Martin Brest (born August 8, 1951) is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. After his feature debut, Going in Style (1979), he directed the action comedies Beverly Hills Cop (1984) and Midnight Run (1988), which were critical and commercial hits. He then directed Scent of a Woman (1992), starring Al Pacino, who won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance, and earned Brest nominations for Best Director and Best Picture.
He followed up with Meet Joe Black (1998), which received mixed reviews. Brest's next film was Gigli (2003). After disagreements between Brest and Revolution Studios, creative control was taken from him, resulting in a radically rewritten and reshot version, which became his first and only unprofitable film, a box-office bomb that was widely panned. It remains his last film to date.
Brest was born to Eastern European Jewish immigrant parents in a working-class neighborhood in the Bronx in 1951. He was influenced by watching The Honeymooners as a child, saying in a 2023 interview, "I was a kid watching it in a household that was economically not that different than in the show. I felt like it was a show made for my neighborhood. And that character of Ralph Kramden really touched me, that angry soul whose spirit blossoms".
Brest graduated from Stuyvesant High School in 1969 and from New York University's School of the Arts in 1973. His NYU student film, Hot Dogs for Gauguin (1972), starring a then unknown Danny DeVito and with a small part by then unknown Rhea Perlman, was one of 25 films chosen in 2009 by the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress to "be preserved as cultural, artistic and/or historical treasures" and is in the Museum of Modern Art's permanent collection. Brest graduated from the AFI Conservatory with a Master of Fine Arts in 1977.
Brest's major studio debut was Going in Style (1979), starring George Burns, Art Carney, and Lee Strasberg. Brest was then hired to direct WarGames (1983), starring Matthew Broderick, but he was fired three weeks into production amid conflicts with the film's executive producer and replaced by John Badham.
The dismissal from WarGames left Brest pessimistic about his career until Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer recruited him to direct Beverly Hills Cop (1984), starring Eddie Murphy. The film grossed over $300 million worldwide and received Golden Globe nominations for Best Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy) and Best Actor (Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, Eddie Murphy) as well as an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay. In 2024 it became the second of Brest's films to be chosen by the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress to "be preserved as cultural, artistic and/or historical treasures."
Brest was in pre-production for Rain Man (1988) when he cast Tom Cruise for the role opposite Dustin Hoffman before Barry Levinson directed the film.
Brest's next film was the action-comedy Midnight Run (1988), starring Robert De Niro and Charles Grodin. The film was another critical and commercial success, earning Brest another Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy and De Niro a Best Actor Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy nomination.
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Martin Brest
Martin Brest (born August 8, 1951) is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. After his feature debut, Going in Style (1979), he directed the action comedies Beverly Hills Cop (1984) and Midnight Run (1988), which were critical and commercial hits. He then directed Scent of a Woman (1992), starring Al Pacino, who won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance, and earned Brest nominations for Best Director and Best Picture.
He followed up with Meet Joe Black (1998), which received mixed reviews. Brest's next film was Gigli (2003). After disagreements between Brest and Revolution Studios, creative control was taken from him, resulting in a radically rewritten and reshot version, which became his first and only unprofitable film, a box-office bomb that was widely panned. It remains his last film to date.
Brest was born to Eastern European Jewish immigrant parents in a working-class neighborhood in the Bronx in 1951. He was influenced by watching The Honeymooners as a child, saying in a 2023 interview, "I was a kid watching it in a household that was economically not that different than in the show. I felt like it was a show made for my neighborhood. And that character of Ralph Kramden really touched me, that angry soul whose spirit blossoms".
Brest graduated from Stuyvesant High School in 1969 and from New York University's School of the Arts in 1973. His NYU student film, Hot Dogs for Gauguin (1972), starring a then unknown Danny DeVito and with a small part by then unknown Rhea Perlman, was one of 25 films chosen in 2009 by the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress to "be preserved as cultural, artistic and/or historical treasures" and is in the Museum of Modern Art's permanent collection. Brest graduated from the AFI Conservatory with a Master of Fine Arts in 1977.
Brest's major studio debut was Going in Style (1979), starring George Burns, Art Carney, and Lee Strasberg. Brest was then hired to direct WarGames (1983), starring Matthew Broderick, but he was fired three weeks into production amid conflicts with the film's executive producer and replaced by John Badham.
The dismissal from WarGames left Brest pessimistic about his career until Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer recruited him to direct Beverly Hills Cop (1984), starring Eddie Murphy. The film grossed over $300 million worldwide and received Golden Globe nominations for Best Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy) and Best Actor (Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, Eddie Murphy) as well as an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay. In 2024 it became the second of Brest's films to be chosen by the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress to "be preserved as cultural, artistic and/or historical treasures."
Brest was in pre-production for Rain Man (1988) when he cast Tom Cruise for the role opposite Dustin Hoffman before Barry Levinson directed the film.
Brest's next film was the action-comedy Midnight Run (1988), starring Robert De Niro and Charles Grodin. The film was another critical and commercial success, earning Brest another Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy and De Niro a Best Actor Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy nomination.