Amy Heckerling

Amy Heckerling
Born	May 7, 1954 (1954-05-07) The Bronx, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Director, producer and writer
Spouse	David Brandt (1981–1983) (divorced) Neal Israel (1984) 1 child

Amy Heckerling (born May 7, 1954) is an American film director, one of the few female directors to have produced multiple box-office hits.

Biography

Early life

Heckerling was born in The Bronx to a bookkeeper mother and a certified public accountant father. The family moved to Queens. She attended the High School of Art and Design in Manhattan, graduating in 1970, and studied film at New York University, where one of her teachers was noted screenwriter and satirist Terry Southern. She received her master's degree from the AFI Conservatory.

Career

Heckerling's first feature was Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), based on the non-fiction account of a year-in-the-life of California high school students by Rolling Stone journalist Cameron Crowe. It became an instant hit right out of the gate, eventually going on to become a pop culture touchstone. It also spawned a short-lived series on CBS called Fast Times, with Heckerling writing, directing and producing. Her next film, Johnny Dangerously (1984), with Michael Keaton, was an Airplane!-style spoof of gangster movies, but it failed to catch fire at the box office upon its initial release. In subsequent years, however, it has garnered a substantial cult audience. The following year, she directed National Lampoon's European Vacation (1985) with Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo, a sequel to the popular National Lampoon's Vacation. With it, Heckerling scored her second solid hit.

In 1989, Heckerling had her biggest success to date with Look Who's Talking, starring John Travolta, Kirstie Alley and a baby voiced by Bruce Willis. Two sequels followed, the first of which (1990's Look Who's Talking Too), Heckerling also directed and co-wrote with her then-husband Neal Israel.

In 1995, She wrote and directed Clueless, reworking and updating Jane Austen's Emma as a '90s teen comedy starring Alicia Silverstone. As with Fast Times at Ridgemont High, it quickly caught on with teenagers and went on to become a significant pop culture reference point. It was spun off into a moderately successful TV series, with Heckerling penning the pilot, as well as directing several episodes from the first season.

In 1999, Heckerling received the Women in Film Crystal Award for outstanding women who, through endurance and excellence, have helped to expand the role of women within the entertainment industry. The next year, Heckerling directed and produced Loser (2000), a romantic college comedy with Jason Biggs and Mena Suvari. The film was not a critical or commercial success.

Heckerling's romantic comedy I Could Never Be Your Woman (2007), starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Paul Rudd, never opened in theaters; rather, it received a direct-to-video release, despite fairly good notices. Heckerling also directed an episode of the NBC version of The Office.

In 2011, she directed the horror-comedy film Vamps with Sigourney Weaver, Alicia Silverstone and Krysten Ritter, about two vampires who fall in love and must face a choice that could jeopardize their immortality.

Filmography

• "Getting It Over With" (1977) (short film)
• Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)
• Fast Times (TV) (1986)
• Johnny Dangerously (1984)
• National Lampoon's European Vacation (1985)
• Look Who's Talking (1989) (also Writer)
• Look Who's Talking Too (1990) (also Co-Writer, with Neal Israel)
• Clueless (1995) (also Writer)
• Clueless (1996-1999) (TV) (Creator)
• Loser (2000) (also Writer)
• I Could Never Be Your Woman (2007) (also Writer)
• The Office (TV) (2005)
• Vamps (2012) (also Writer)

See also

• List of New York University people

External links

• Amy Heckerling at the Internet Movie Database