Jonathan Demme

He was born on the 22nd February 1944 in New York. His father was a
public relations executive, and his mother was an actress. However, they
separated and she married again, and he 3 step brothers and sisters. He
is a director, producer and a screenwriter and has many famous films like
Silence of the Lambs and Philadelphia.
He originally wanted to a veterinarian, but after he got to university he
realised that it wasn’t his career path. As he had been interested in film
since he was a child, he applied for an open position as a film critic at the
university newspaper. He finished university and he continued to be a film
critic for a small newspaper. But not long later, he was introduced to
Joseph E Levine, from his father, and he was offered a job as the publicist
in the producer’s organisation. He worked for many film companies after
this, and helped with budgets.
But when he was over in England, after meeting up with a friend, he was
introduced to Roger Corman who offered him a job to produce a film with
a viola to direct. It was a biker film called ‘Angels as hard as they come’.
He was then offered to direct a prison film called ‘Caged Heat’ which was
a prison film but also highlighted the prisoners getting abused through
medical experiments.
Although Demme has filmed many films, some of his best films are:
• Caged Heat (1974)
• Crazy Mama (1975)
• Fighting Mad (1976)
• Handle with Care, also known as Citizen's Band (1977)
• Last Embrace (1979)
• Melvin and Howard (1980)
• Who Am I This Time? (1983)
• Swing Shift (1984)
• Stop Making Sense (Talking Heads concert film) (1984)
• The Perfect Kiss (New Order music video) (1985)
• Something Wild (1986)
• Swimming to Cambodia (1987)
• Haiti: Dreams of Democracy (1987)
• Married to the Mob (1988)
• The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
• Cousin Bobby (1992)
• Philadelphia (1993)
• Beloved (1998)
• Storefront Hitchcock (1998)
• The Truth About Charlie (2002)
• The Agronomist (2003)
• The Manchurian Candidate (2004)
• Neil Young: Heart of Gold (2006)
• Man from Plains (2007)
• New Home Movies From the Lower 9th Ward (2007)
• Rachel Getting Married (2008)
• Neil Young: Trunk Show (2009)