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Wesley Earl "Wes" Craven (born August 2, 1939) is an American film director and writer, perhaps best known as the creator of many horror films, including the famed A Nightmare on Elm Street series featuring the iconic Freddy Krueger character. He is also the director of the Scream films.
[edit] Biography
[edit] Early life
Craven was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of Caroline (née Miller) and Paul Craven.[1] He had a strict Baptist upbringing.[2] Craven earned an undergraduate degree in English and Psychology from Wheaton College in Illinois, and a masters degree in Philosophy and Writing from Johns Hopkins University.[3] Prior to landing his first job in the film industry as a sound editor for a post-production company in New York, Craven briefly taught English at Westminster College and was a humanities professor at Clarkson University in Potsdam.
[edit] Personal life
Craven's first marriage to Bonnie Broecker produced two children, Jonathan and Jessica Craven. Jonathan is a writer and director with a few credits to his name. Jessica is a singer/songwriter in the group the Chapin Sisters. The marriage ended in 1970. In 1982, Craven married Millicent Eleanor Meyer. However, according to Joe Eszterhas's book American Rhapsody, the two divorced after he began an affair with actress Sharon Stone. Also according to the book, on the day the divorce was finalized, Stone sent Craven a dozen black roses.
[edit] Directing and writing career
Craven's works tend to share a common exploration of the nature of reality. A Nightmare on Elm Street, for example, dealt with the consequences of dreams in real life. New Nightmare "brushes against" (but doesn't quite break) the fourth wall by having actress Heather Langenkamp play herself as she is haunted by the villain of the film in which she once starred. At one point in the film, we see on Wes Craven's word processor a script he has written, which includes the exact conversation he just had with Heather — as if the script is being written as the action is unfolding. The Serpent and the Rainbow portrays a man who cannot distinguish between nightmarish visions and reality. In Scream, the characters frequently reference horror films similar to their situations, and at one point Billy Loomis tells his girlfriend that life is just a big movie. This concept was emphasized in the sequels, as copycat stalkers reenact the events of a new film about the Woodsboro killings occurring in Scream. Craven added a scene to Scream mentioning the well-known Richard Gere gerbil urban legend. Craven stated that he received calls from agents telling him that if he leaves that scene in, he would never work again.[4][5] Craven was also set to direct Beetlejuice but dropped out to co-write and executive produce the third outing for Freddy Krueger. "The" Elm Street is located in Potsdam,[6] NY (a small town just south of the Canadian border).
[edit] Awards and nominations
During his career, Wes Craven won eight awards and received three nominations. He was nominated for Best Director for Scream at the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA in 1997.
In 1985, his horror film: "A Nightmare on Elm Street" garnered the 'Critic's Award' at the "Avoriaz Fantastic Film Festival".
In 1992, the Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Film presented him the Pegasus Audience Award for the thriller The People Under the Stairs. His Fantasporto won the International Fantasy Film Award for Best Screenplay while the Best Film Award went to his movie New Nightmare, the final A Nightmare on Elm Street movie. He was also nominated for Best Film for the movie Shocker in 1990.
The Gérardmer Film Festival granted him the Grand Prize in '97, for the movie Scream.
In 1977, he won the 'Prize of the International Critics' Jury' in the "Sitges - Catalonian International Film Festival" for his film The Hills Have Eyes.
[edit] Completing his Nightmare Trilogy
Though there have been seven different Nightmare on Elm Street films (eight if one includes the crossover Freddy vs. Jason), only two have been directed by Craven. He has said in several interviews and discussions that he considers only his two films to be accurate depictions of his creation. For years, it has been rumored that he would make one more film, essentially completing his trilogy. However Craven was involved in the third Nightmare film Dream Warriors as producer, aiming to make the third film the last. His ideas were largely rejected, and used in his New Nightmare, ten years later. Craven will not participate in a remake of the original, scheduled for an April, 2010 release.
[edit] Filmography
[edit] Wes Craven Presents
[edit] Director
[edit] Producer
Wes Craven designed the Halloween 2008 logo for Google,[7] and was the second celebrity personality to take over the YouTube homepage on Halloween.[8]
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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