F. X. Feeney

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F. X. Feeney (born September 1, 1953) is an American writer and filmmaker. His screen credits include: Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession (2004), which he co-produced for director Xan Cassavetes; The Big Brass Ring (1999), which he adapted from an unproduced script by Orson Welles for director George Hickenlooper; and Frankenstein Unbound (1989), which he adapted from a novel by Brian Aldiss, for director Roger Corman.

After graduating from the California Institute of the Arts in 1976, Feeney worked for several years in animation, as an inker & painter at Hanna-Barbera Studios. By 1980 he became a film and book critic for L.A. Weekly. Jerry Harvey, chief programmer for the pay TV service Z Channel, noticed a tribute to Warren Oates that Feeney wrote after the actor's sudden death in 1982. (Harvey had been the last person to speak to Oates.) Between 1983 and 1989, Feeney served as a resident film critic and creative consultant to Z Channel, directing dozens of commercials for the service. These promoted a number of premieres of directors cuts and "lost films" that were the trademark of Z Channel -- most notably Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in America, John Ford's Up the River, Karel Reisz's The Loves of Isadora, and Sam Peckinpah's Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid.

After Z Channel folded, Feeney worked alternately as a screenwriter and freelance journalist. Over the years his work has continued to appear in L.A. Weekly, as well as in American Film, Movieline, People Magazine, Variety, Vanity Fair, Written By (the magazine of the Writer's Guild of America, west), and many other periodicals. The story of Z Channel is recounted, with particular attention to the tragic life of Jerry Harvey, in the film Feeney later co-produced for director Xan Cassavetes.

Feeney published two book-length essays with Taschen in 2006, about film directors Roman Polanski and Michael Mann. In 2006 and '07, he again became a creative consultant, this time to ClickStar, a movie-download service founded by Morgan Freeman, constituted on the Z Channel model.

[edit] References

• F. X. Feeney at the Internet Movie Database
• F.X. Feeney articles on LaWeekly.com
• Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession (2004), directed by Xan Cassavetes. IFC Films.
• FEENEY, F.X.: Roman Polanski, The Complete Films (2006). TASCHEN BOOKS. Series Editor: Paul Duncan.
• FEENEY, F.X.: Michael Mann, The Complete Films (2006). TASCHEN BOOKS. Series Editor: Paul Duncan.