John Byrum is an American film director and writer known for
The Razor's EdgeThe Razor's Edge is the second film version of W. Somerset Maugham's 1944 novel. The film was released in 1984 and stars Bill Murray, Theresa Russell, Catherine Hicks, Denholm Elliott and James Keach...
,
Heart Beat,
DuetsAn original motion picture soundtrack CD was released on September 12, 2000 by Hollywood Records. The CD contained twelve tracks including the original music composed for the film by David Newman....
and
InsertsInserts is a 1975 British film, written and directed by John Byrum while he was in his twenties, and starring Richard Dreyfuss, Jessica Harper, Bob Hoskins and Veronica Cartwright...
.
Raised in
WinnetkaWinnetka is an affluent North Shore village located approximately north of downtown Chicago in Cook County, Illinois. Winnetka was featured on the list of America's 25 top-earning towns and "one of the best places to live" by CNN Money in 2011...
,
IllinoisIllinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, on the North Shore of
ChicagoChicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Byrum attended
New Trier High SchoolNew Trier High School is a public four-year high school , with its major campus located in Winnetka, Illinois, USA, and a second campus in Northfield, Illinois, with freshman classes and district administration...
, and later studied at
New York UniversityNew York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
in the late 1960s. His instructors included
Haig P. ManoogianHaig Manoogian was an Armenian-American professor of film at New York University and a major early influence for many filmmakers such as Martin Scorsese, who was a student of his.- Martin Scorsese :...
and graduate student
Martin ScorseseMartin Charles Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. In 1990 he founded The Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to film preservation, and in 2007 he founded the World Cinema Foundation...
,and classmates
Oliver StoneWilliam Oliver Stone is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Stone became well known in the late 1980s and the early 1990s for directing a series of films about the Vietnam War, for which he had previously participated as an infantry soldier. His work frequently focuses on...
and Eric Jenkins. At NYU he co-wrote "Item 72-D, The Adventures of Spa and Fon" with director
Edward SummerEdward Summer has been an award winning painter, motion picture director, screenwriter, internet publisher, magazine editor, journalist and science writer, comic book writer, novelist, book designer, actor, cinematographer, motion picture editor, documentary film maker, film festival founder, and...
.
As a student, Byrum interned with
Jim HensonJames Maury "Jim" Henson was an American puppeteer best known as the creator of The Muppets. As a puppeteer, Henson performed in various television programs, such as Sesame Street and The Muppet Show, films such as The Muppet Movie and The Great Muppet Caper, and created advanced puppets for...
on early appearances of
The MuppetsThe Muppets are a group of puppet characters created by Jim Henson starting in 1954–55. Although the term is often used to refer to any puppet that resembles the distinctive style of The Muppet Show, the term is both an informal name and legal trademark owned by the Walt Disney Company in reference...
and was later hired by Henson as one of the original writers of
Sesame StreetSesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...
. Henson took a special interest in Byrum's talent, and hired him to write freelance projects. Byrum left New York for Hollywood after Byrum's original script
InsertsInserts is a 1975 British film, written and directed by John Byrum while he was in his twenties, and starring Richard Dreyfuss, Jessica Harper, Bob Hoskins and Veronica Cartwright...
received positive reaction and he was tapped to write the script
Harry & Walter Go To New York by producers and mentors Don Devlin,
Tony BillGerard Anthony "Tony" Bill is an American actor, producer, and director. He produced the 1973 movie The Sting, for which he shared the Academy Award for Best Picture with Michael Phillips and Julia Phillips...
, and Harry Gittes.
After that script was sold for a then-record-breaking amount, Byrum was hired to write the
Diana RossDiana Ernestine Earle Ross is an American singer, record producer, and actress. Ross was lead singer of the Motown group The Supremes during the 1960s. After leaving the group in 1970, Ross began a solo career that included successful ventures into film and Broadway...
vehicle
MahoganyMahogany is a 1975 feature film, produced by Motown Productions and released to theaters by Paramount Pictures on October 8, 1975. Directed by Motown founder Berry Gordy , Mahogany stars Diana Ross as Tracy Chambers, a poor African-American woman who rises to become a popular fashion designer in Rome...
. He passed on the chance to write the script for "Jaws" in order to work on "
MahoganyThe name mahogany is used when referring to numerous varieties of dark-colored hardwood. It is a native American word originally used for the wood of the species Swietenia mahagoni, known as West Indian or Cuban mahogany....
" with one of his idols, director
Tony RichardsonCecil Antonio "Tony" Richardson was an English theatre and film director and producer.-Early life:Richardson was born in Shipley, Yorkshire in 1928, the son of Elsie Evans and Clarence Albert Richardson, a chemist...
, only to have Richardson leave the film mid-production after clashing with producer
Berry GordyBerry Gordy, Jr. is an American record producer, and the founder of the Motown record label, as well as its many subsidiaries.-Early years:...
of Motown fame. Berry took over directing chores and it is said that the true drama of
MahoganyThe name mahogany is used when referring to numerous varieties of dark-colored hardwood. It is a native American word originally used for the wood of the species Swietenia mahagoni, known as West Indian or Cuban mahogany....
was the behind-the-camera relationship between
Berry GordyBerry Gordy, Jr. is an American record producer, and the founder of the Motown record label, as well as its many subsidiaries.-Early years:...
and
Diana RossDiana Ernestine Earle Ross is an American singer, record producer, and actress. Ross was lead singer of the Motown group The Supremes during the 1960s. After leaving the group in 1970, Ross began a solo career that included successful ventures into film and Broadway...
.
Byrum directed his first feature film
InsertsInserts is a 1975 British film, written and directed by John Byrum while he was in his twenties, and starring Richard Dreyfuss, Jessica Harper, Bob Hoskins and Veronica Cartwright...
with stars
Richard DreyfussRichard Stephen Dreyfuss is an American actor best known for starring in a number of film, television, and theater roles since the late 1960s, including the films American Graffiti, Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Goodbye Girl, Whose Life Is It Anyway?, Stakeout, Always, What About...
,
Jessica HarperJessica Harper is an American actress and producer, as well as a singer and author of children's music and books.-Early life:...
,
Veronica CartwrightVeronica A. Cartwright is an English-born American actress who has worked mainly in American film and television. She is best known for her role of Lambert in Alien, for which she won a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress....
,
Stephen DaviesStephen Davies is a film and television actor. Stephen grew up in the working class neighborhood of Berkley, Michigan, in a small bungalow house. His family then moved to a more affluent area, on Adams Road in Troy, MI. He started his acting career at Berkley High School, in Berkley, Michigan,...
, and
Bob HoskinsRobert William "Bob" Hoskins, Jr. is an English actor known for playing Cockney rough diamonds, psychopaths and gangsters, in films such as The Long Good Friday , and Mona Lisa , and lighter roles in family films such as Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Hook .- Early life :Hoskins was born in Bury St...
. Byrum followed soon after as writer/director of
Heart Beat starring
Nick NolteNicholas King "Nick" Nolte is an American actor whose career has spanned over five decades, peaking in the 1990s when his commercial success made him one of the most popular celebrities of that decade.-Early life:...
, John Heard, and
Sissy SpacekSissy Spacek is an American actress and singer. She came to international prominence for her for role as Carrie White in Brian De Palma's 1976 horror film Carrie for which she earned her first Academy Award nomination...
, as
Neal CassadyNeal Leon Cassady was a major figure of the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the psychedelic movement of the 1960s. He served as the model for the character Dean Moriarty in Jack Kerouac's novel On the Road....
,
Jack KerouacJean-Louis "Jack" Lebris de Kerouac was an American novelist and poet. He is considered a literary iconoclast and, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Kerouac is recognized for his spontaneous method of writing, covering topics such as Catholic...
, and
Carolyn CassadyCarolyn Elizabeth Robinson Cassady is an American writer associated with the Beat Generation through her marriage to Neal Cassady and her friendships with Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and other prominent Beat figures...
. It was on this film that Byrum started his long collaborative relationship and friendship with composer
Jack NitzscheBernard Alfred "Jack" Nitzsche was an arranger, producer, songwriter, and film score composer. He first came to prominence in the late 1950s as the right-hand-man of producer Phil Spector, and went on to work with the Rolling Stones, Neil Young and others...
. Byrum teamed with "
MahoganyThe name mahogany is used when referring to numerous varieties of dark-colored hardwood. It is a native American word originally used for the wood of the species Swietenia mahagoni, known as West Indian or Cuban mahogany....
" producer
Rob CohenRobert "Rob" Cohen is an American film director, producer and writer.-Early life:Cohen was born in Cornwall, New York. He was raised and spent his childhood in the Town of Newburgh and graduated from Newburgh Free Academy in 1967...
which resulted "
ScandalousScandalous is a 1984 British-American comedy film directed by Rob Cohen and starring Robert Hays, John Gielgud and Pamela Stephenson.-Partial cast:* Robert Hays - Frank Swedlin* John Gielgud - Uncle Willie* Pamela Stephenson - Fiona Maxwell Sayle...
" and "
The Razor's EdgeThe Razor’s Edge is a book by W. Somerset Maugham published in 1944. Its epigraph reads, "The sharp edge of a razor is difficult to pass over; thus the wise say the path to Salvation is hard." taken from a verse in the Katha-Upanishad....
," the 1984 film directed by Byrum based on the
W. Somerset MaughamWilliam Somerset Maugham , CH was an English playwright, novelist and short story writer. He was among the most popular writers of his era and, reputedly, the highest paid author during the 1930s.-Childhood and education:...
novel starring
Bill MurrayWilliam James "Bill" Murray is an American actor and comedian. He first gained national exposure on Saturday Night Live in which he earned an Emmy Award and later went on to star in a number of critically and commercially successful comedic films, including Caddyshack , Ghostbusters , and...
in his first dramatic role as "Larry Darrell", co-starring
Catherine HicksCatherine Mary Hicks is an American stage, film, television actress and singer. She is best known for her role as Annie Camden on the long-running television series 7th Heaven and as Karen Barclay in Child's Play.-Personal life:...
,
Theresa RussellTheresa Russell is an American actress.-Biography:Russell was born Theresa Paup in San Diego, California, the daughter of Carole Platt and Jerry Russell Paup. She attended Burbank High School, but did not graduate. She married English film director Nicolas Roeg , in 1982...
, Denholm Elliot, and
James KeachJames Keach is an American actor, producer, and director. He is the younger brother of actor Stacy Keach, Jr., and son of actor Stacy Keach, Sr.-Background:...
. Byrum and Murray co-wrote the screenplay. The film faltered with critics and audiences, as most were not ready to accept Murray in a non-comedic role. In later years the film achieved cult status and many fans have traveled to its international locations, to replicate Larry's spiritual journey.
Following the box office failure of
The Razor's EdgeThe Razor's Edge is the second film version of W. Somerset Maugham's 1944 novel. The film was released in 1984 and stars Bill Murray, Theresa Russell, Catherine Hicks, Denholm Elliott and James Keach...
, a financially-strapped Byrum directed the goofy comedy
The Whoopee BoysThe Whoopee Boys is a 1986 comedy film starring Michael O'Keefe and Paul Rodriguez.-Cast:*Michael O'Keefe as Jake Bateman*Paul Rodriguez as Barney Benar*Denholm Elliott as Col. Phelps*Eddie Deezen as Eddie Lipschitz...
starring
Michael O'KeefeMichael Raymond O'Keefe is an American film and television actor.- Early life :O'Keefe was born Raymond Peter O'Keefe, Jr. in Mount Vernon, New York, the oldest of seven children in a devoutly Roman Catholic Irish American family. His father was a law professor at Fordham University, as well as...
and
Paul RodriguezPaul Rodriguez is a Mexican-American stand-up comedian and actor.-Personal life:Rodriguez was born in Culiacán, Sinaloa, México to Mexican agriculture ranchers.. His family migrated to East Los Angeles, where he enlisted in the military; he was stationed in Iceland and Duluth, Minnesota...
, as well as a cameo part by Byrum's former wife
Linda FiorentinoLinda Fiorentino is an American actress. She is best known for her roles in the films Dogma, Vision Quest, Men in Black, After Hours and The Last Seduction.-Personal life:...
.
Byrum created, wrote and produced several television series including
Middle AgesThe Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
starring
Peter RiegertPeter Riegert is an American actor, screenwriter, and film director, best known for his role as Boon from Animal House and crooked New Jersey State Assemblyman Ronald Zellman on the HBO original series The Sopranos.-Early life:...
,
Michael O'KeefeMichael Raymond O'Keefe is an American film and television actor.- Early life :O'Keefe was born Raymond Peter O'Keefe, Jr. in Mount Vernon, New York, the oldest of seven children in a devoutly Roman Catholic Irish American family. His father was a law professor at Fordham University, as well as...
,
Amy BrennemanAmy Frederica Brenneman is an American actress, perhaps best known for her roles in the television series NYPD Blue, Judging Amy and Private Practice...
, and
William RussWilliam Russ is an American actor, best known for his role as Alan Matthews on Boy Meets World.-Early life:Russ was born in Portsmouth, Virginia, and is the son of a naval officer...
, about a group of friends attempting to deal with the onset of their 40's on the North Shore of Chicago;
South of SunsetSouth of Sunset is an American TV detective series, starring musician/actor Glenn Frey, that only aired one episode on CBS in 1993.Frey played Cody McMahon, a private eye whose offices were located just south of Sunset Boulevard in Beverly Hills. As a result, he calls his business the Beverly Hills...
starring
Glenn FreyGlenn Lewis Frey is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and actor, best known as a founding member of the Eagles. Frey formed the Eagles after he met drummer Don Henley in 1970 and the two eventually joined Linda Ronstadt's backup band for her summer tour. The Eagles formed in 1971 and...
of The Eagles fame, as an unconventional Los Angeles detective; and
Winnetka Road starring
Josh BrolinJosh James Brolin is an American actor. He has acted in theater, film and television roles since 1985, and won acting awards for his roles in the films W., No Country for Old Men, Milk and True Grit.-Early life:...
,
Meg Tilly,
Paige TurcoJean Paige Turco is an American actress. She is known for playing April O'Neil in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III.-Early life:...
and
Ed Begley, Jr.Edward James "Ed" Begley, Jr. is an American actor and environmentalist. Begley has appeared in hundreds of films, television shows, and stage performances. He is best known for his role as Dr. Victor Ehrlich, on the television series St...
, again, dealing with life on Chicago's North Shore. Byrum's television movie
Murder in High Places starred
Ted LevineFrank Theodore "Ted" Levine is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Buffalo Bill in The Silence of the Lambs and Captain Leland Stottlemeyer in the television series Monk.-Early life and career:...
as a Hunter Thompson-like character who is elected mayor of a Colorado ski resort, which showcased a young
Lisa KudrowLisa Valerie Kudrow is an American actress, best known for her role as Phoebe Buffay in the television sitcom Friends, for which she received many accolades including an Emmy Award and two Screen Actors Guild Awards...
in one of her first acting roles.
Byrum was scheduled to direct his original script of karaoke road trip dramedy "
DuetsAn original motion picture soundtrack CD was released on September 12, 2000 by Hollywood Records. The CD contained twelve tracks including the original music composed for the film by David Newman....
" when he was felled by a serious case of
Lyme DiseaseLyme disease, or Lyme borreliosis, is an emerging infectious disease caused by at least three species of bacteria belonging to the genus Borrelia. Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto is the main cause of Lyme disease in the United States, whereas Borrelia afzelii and Borrelia garinii cause most...
that had gone long undiagnosed. Byrum's friend
Bruce PaltrowBruce Weigert Paltrow was an American television and film director and producer. He was the husband of actress Blythe Danner, and was the father of actress Gwyneth Paltrow and director Jake Paltrow.-Life and career:...
wanted to direct "
DuetsAn original motion picture soundtrack CD was released on September 12, 2000 by Hollywood Records. The CD contained twelve tracks including the original music composed for the film by David Newman....
" with his daughter
Gwyneth PaltrowGwyneth Kate Paltrow is an American actress and singer. She made her acting debut on stage in 1990 and started appearing in films in 1991. After appearing in several films throughout the decade, Paltrow gained early notice for her work in films such as Se7en and Emma...
as one of the six ensemble characters.
Brad PittWilliam Bradley "Brad" Pitt is an American actor and film producer. Pitt has received two Academy Award nominations and four Golden Globe Award nominations, winning one...
was attached to co-star with Paltrow, his fiancee at the time, but when their engagement ended, the film's financing faltered once again. "
DuetsAn original motion picture soundtrack CD was released on September 12, 2000 by Hollywood Records. The CD contained twelve tracks including the original music composed for the film by David Newman....
" was filmed several years later with
Scott SpeedmanScott Speedman is a British-born Canadian film and television actor. He is best known for playing Ben Covington in the coming-of-age drama television series Felicity and Lycan-Vampire hybrid Michael Corvin in the gothic horror/action Underworld films.-Early life:Speedman was born Robert Scott...
in the role originally chosen by Pitt, along with
Paul GiamattiPaul Edward Valentine Giamatti is an American actor. Giamatti began his career as a supporting actor in several films produced during the 1990s including Private Parts, The Truman Show, Saving Private Ryan, The Negotiator, and Man on the Moon, before earning lead roles in several projects in the...
,
Maria BelloMaria Elena Bello is an American actress and singer known for her appearances in the movies Coyote Ugly, The Jane Austen Book Club, Permanent Midnight, Thank You for Smoking, A History of Violence, Payback, and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. For television she is known for her role as Dr...
,
Andre BraugherAndre Braugher is an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his roles as Thomas Searles in the film Glory, as the fiery detective Frank Pembleton on Homicide: Life on the Street from 1993 to 1998 and again in the 2000 made-for-TV film Homicide: Life on the Street, and as Owen Thoreau Jr...
, and
Huey LewisHuey Lewis is an American musician, songwriter and occasional actor.Lewis sings lead and plays harmonica for his band Huey Lewis and the News, in addition to writing or co-writing many of the band's songs...
.
John Byrum resides in
Santa Monica, CaliforniaSanta Monica is a beachfront city in western Los Angeles County, California, US. Situated on Santa Monica Bay, it is surrounded on three sides by the city of Los Angeles — Pacific Palisades on the northwest, Brentwood on the north, West Los Angeles on the northeast, Mar Vista on the east, and...
and
Redding, ConnecticutMark Twain, a resident of the town in his old age, contributed the first books for a public library which was eventually named after him.-Government:...
with his wife Karin Reznack.
External links