John Milius
John Milius | |
|---|---|
| Born | John Frederick Milius April 11, 1944 |
| Alma mater | University of Southern California |
| Occupation(s) | Screenwriter Film director Film producer |
| Years active | 1966-present |
John Frederick Milius (born April 11, 1944) is an American screenwriter, director, and producer of motion pictures.
Early life
Milius was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the son of Elizabeth (née Roe) and William Styx Milius, who was a shoe manufacturer.[1] Milius attempted to join the Marine Corps and volunteer for Vietnam service in the late 1960s, but was rejected due to a chronic and sometimes disabling case of asthma. He ascribes his fascination with guns and the military to this disappointment.[citation needed]
Career
Milius studied film at the University of Southern California School of Cinema-Television, where he started his movie career by winning first prize in a student film contest for his entry Marcello I'm Bored.
Milius is known for writing or co-writing the screenplays for Dirty Harry (uncredited), Jeremiah Johnson (with Edward Anhalt), The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean, Magnum Force, Apocalypse Now, Geronimo: An American Legend (directed by Walter Hill), and co-writing the story for the Steven Spielberg comedy 1941.
He wrote and directed Dillinger, The Wind and the Lion, Big Wednesday, Conan the Barbarian, Red Dawn, Farewell to the King, Flight of the Intruder, the Showtime cable-TV film Motorcycle Gang, and the TNT mini-series Rough Riders.
He also created the HBO/BBC television series Rome, and contributed writing to the film adaptations of Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan novels The Hunt for Red October and Clear and Present Danger.
Milius is known for his ability to turn a phrase such as "Charlie don't surf" and "I love the smell of napalm in the morning," lines from his original screenplay Apocalypse Now, and the famous Dirty Harry one-liners delivered by Clint Eastwood, including "Go ahead, make my day" and "Do you feel lucky?" Milius has an extraordinary knowledge of military history, which led him to write the famous USS Indianapolis monologue in the film Jaws. When Spielberg asked him to punch up the screenplay for Saving Private Ryan, Milius suggested the Normandy cemetery bookends which gave the film so much emotional power as Ryan, now an elderly hero of World War II, in a moment of survivor guilt, asks his wife "Did I live a good life?"
Milius originally planned to limit his career to writing, but his experience with what he considered the mistreatment of his scripts for The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean and Jeremiah Johnson convinced him he had to become a director if he wanted his vision realized on the screen.[2]
After his work on Rough Riders (1997), Milius became an instrumental force in lobbying Congress to award President Theodore Roosevelt the Medal of Honor (posthumously), for acts of conspicuous gallantry while in combat on San Juan Hill.[3]
Milius has made two films featuring Roosevelt: The Wind and the Lion (where he was played by Brian Keith) and the made-for-TV film Rough Riders (where Tom Berenger took the role). He is too much in awe of Roosevelt to do a full-on biopic, but says he hopes to make a third film about Roosevelt's early years as a rancher in the American West to complete a Roosevelt trilogy - though with Martin Scorsese's announced adaptation of The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt (to star Leonardo DiCaprio), that seems unlikely.
Milius is writing and plans to direct the movie Journey of Death, a modern day western starring WWE superstar Triple H and Academy Award nominee Clive Owen. He is a frequent guest on The History Channel's show Modern Marvels.
The John Milner character in George Lucas' film American Graffiti was inspired by Lucas' good friend John Milius. (Lucas was Milius' protégé when they were film students together at USC and Milius played a key role in helping Lucas get his start as a director.)[citation needed] Likewise, the Walter Sobchak character in the film The Big Lebowski, made by his friends the Coen Brothers, was based on Milius.[4]
A third Conan film, tentatively titled Crown of Iron, was drafted in 2001 by Milius, and was to be produced by the Wachowski Brothers. There was talk of either having Arnold Schwarzenegger reprise his role, or casting the wrestling star Triple H.
Milius was also instrumental during the startup of the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) organization: it was his idea to use the octagon-shaped cage, and his association with UFC helped provide interest and investors to the startup UFC.[5]
In 2007, Milius was the recipient of the Austin Film Festival's Distinguished Screenwriter Award.[6]
Milius has created a new HBO series called Pharaoh.[7]
In March 2011, Milius finished writing for THQ and Kaos Studios for the video game Homefront,[8] about a North Korean conquest of America.
Mickey Rourke has been in talks with Milius to bring to star in a biopic of Genghis Khan.[9]
Milius has also had talks to adapt the novel Aztec into a miniseries.[10]
Personal life
Milius is a self-proclaimed Zen anarchist, but he also publicly aligns himself with conservative factions in Hollywood and he was interviewed in the documentary Rated R: Republicans in Hollywood. Consistent with his conservative leanings, he has also been consultant to a military think tank, the Institute for Creative Technologies.[11]
For years Milius was a member of the Board of Directors of the National Rifle Association, where he was a leader (with the late Charlton Heston) of a moderate faction, in opposition to the so-called Militia Movement. An avid firearms collector, shooter and a renowned authority on firearms, and a vocal opponent of gun control legislation, Milius is a popular personality amongst gun hobbyists.
Milius' filmmaking role models are John Ford and Akira Kurosawa. He has also mentioned Sam Peckinpah, Sergio Leone, David Lean, and his friend and mentor John Huston as important influences. His favorite films are reportedly Red River, The Battle of Algiers, They Died With Their Boots On, The Searchers, They Were Expendable, The Wild Bunch, Seven Samurai, Sunset Boulevard, La Dolce Vita, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Lawrence of Arabia and Citizen Kane.
Milius is Jewish[12] and has been married three times.[13] His current marriage (since 1992) is to actress Elan Oberon (who appeared in Red Dawn as the woman behind the counter at the store, his 1989 film Farewell to the King and who is seen—and heard—singing Garryowen in Rough Riders). He has two children by his first wife, Renee Fabri, and one child by his second wife, Celia Kaye.
Selected Credits
- The Devil's 8 (1968) - writer
- Dirty Harry (1971) - uncredited writer
- The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972) - writer
- Jeremiah Johnson (1972) - writer with Edward Anhalt
- Magnum Force (1973) - writer
- Dillinger (1973) - writer, director
- The Wind and the Lion (1975) - writer, director
- Jaws (1975) - uncredited writer
- Big Wednesday (1978) - writer, director
- Apocalypse Now (1979) - writer (first draft written in 1969)
- Conan the Barbarian (1982) - writer, director
- Red Dawn (1984) - writer, director
- Farewell to the King (1989) - writer, director
- The Hunt for Red October (1990) - uncredited writer
- Flight of the Intruder (1991) - director
- Geronimo: An American Legend (1993) - writer
- Clear and Present Danger (1994) - writer
- Motorcycle Gang (1994) - director
- Rough Riders (1997) - writer, director
- Texas Rangers (2001) - wrote original drafts in 1991 and 1993
Unmade Scripts
- The Texans (1969) - written for Al Ruddy
- Sgt Rock (1993)
- Manila John (2000) - about John Basilone
- King Conan: Crown of Iron (2001–02) - sequel to Conan the Destroyer sequel to Conan the Barbarian
- The Northmen
- The Son Tay Raid - about the Son Tay Raid
References
- ^ John Milius Biography (1944-)
- ^ http://au.movies.ign.com/articles/401/401150p8.html
- ^ Ken Plume (May 7, 2003). "An Interview with John Milius, page 15". IGN.
- ^ "One of the inspirations for the character of Walter is the Coen Brothers' friend, writer-director John Milius, an infamously bombastic right-winger with an obsession with all things militaristic."http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118715/trivia
- ^ A Man Named Milius, and His Imprint on The UFC
- ^ Austin Film Festival
- ^ Hopewell, John; Keslassy, Elsa (April 9, 2010). "Milius moves back in time with 'Pharaoh'". Variety.
- ^ "'Apocalypse Now' And 'Red Dawn' Scribe John Milius Writing THQ's 'Homefront'". G4tv.
- ^ "Mickey Rourke to Star in John Milius' Genghis Khan". Reelz Channel.
- ^ David Wharton. "John Milius In Talks To Adapt Aztec Novel Into Miniseries". Television Blend.
- ^ "Go ahead, pinko liberals, make my day" by David D'Arcy, The Guardian, Thursday November 8, 2001.
- ^ by Ken P. "An Interview with John Milius - Movies Feature at IGN". Uk.movies.ign.com. Retrieved 2010-05-22.
- ^ Biography for John Milius at IMDb