Jonathan Demme

Name: Crazy Mama
Director: Jonathan Demme
Released: 1975

Country USA

Born 1944-02-22

Died 2017-04-26

Birthplace Baldwin, Long Island, New York, USA

Defining Films

Philadelphia

1993

The Manchurian Candidate

2004

The Silence of the Lambs

Profile

Robert Jonathan Demme (February 22, 1944 – April 26, 2017) was an American filmmaker, producer and screenwriter. He was best known for directing The Silence of the Lambs, which won him the Academy Award for Best Director. He also directed the acclaimed films Something Wild (1986), Married to the Mob (1988), Philadelphia (1993), and Rachel Getting Married (2008), as well as the Talking Heads concert film Stop Making Sense (1984), which is widely considered to be one of the greatest concert films

Thematic context drawn from Senses of Cinema. Read the full critical essay →

In Their Own Words

We watched a lot of Cassavetes, obviously — 'Faces' and 'A Woman Under the Influence.' We watched films by Max Ophuls... What we were doing was looking at films where you really love hanging out with the characters.

On Rachel Getting Married · IndieWire interview: 'Demme on Rachel Getting Married, Anne Hathaway, and Getting Away With It'

Filmography (39)