Richard Lester
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Richard Lester (born January 19, 1932 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA) is a UK-based film director famous for his work with The Beatles.
Education and early career
Lester was something of a child prodigy, and at 15 began studies at the University of Pennsylvania, where he first developed an interest in British film, particularly Ealing comedies. In 1953, Lester moved to London and began work as a director in independent television. A variety show he produced caught the eye of Peter Sellers, who enlisted Lester's help in translating The Goon Show to television as Idiot Weekly. It was a hit, as were two follow-up shows, A Show Called Fred and Son of Fred.
Later exploits
A short film Lester made with Spike Milligan and Peter Sellers — The Running, Jumping and Standing Still Film — was a favourite of The Beatles, and in particular John Lennon. When the band were contracted to make a film in 1964, they chose Lester from a list of possible directors. A Hard Day's Night showed an exaggerated and simplified version of The Beatles' characters, and proved to be an incredibly effective marketing tool. Many of its stylistic innovations survive today as the conventions of music videos, in particular the multi-angle filming of a live performance.
Lester directed the second Beatles film Help! in (1965). He then went on to direct several quintessential 'swinging' films, including the sex comedy The Knack...And How to Get It (1965), which won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and Petulia (1968) (both with scores by John Barry).
In the 1970s, Lester directed a wide variety of films, including the disaster film Juggernaut (1974), Robin and Marian, starring Sean Connery and Audrey Hepburn and the period romance Cuba (1979)), also starring Connery. However his biggest commercial successes in this period were The Three Musketeers (1973) and its sequel The Four Musketeers (1974). The films were somewhat controversial at the time because the producers, Alexander Salkind and Ilya Salkind, did not tell the cast members they were separate films, leading them to believe it was one enormous movie. Many of the cast sued the Salkinds as a result.
Superman
In 1978, Lester was brought into the Superman fold after producers Alexander Salkind and Ilya Salkind brought him in as an uncredited producer for , which was being filmed at the same time as Superman II, much as the Musketeers films had been. Production on II was halted to concentrate on getting the first movie ready for release. After the first Superman film was completed and released in late 1978, the Salkinds fired director Richard Donner from II and replaced him with Lester, who jettisoned much of Donner's footage, estimated at 75% of the film and reshot most of it, resulting in Lester receiving sole credit for directing II. Gene Hackman, who played Lex Luthor, did not return, and Lester instead used a stunt double and an impersonator to loop Luthor's lines into footage of Hackman shot during Donner's tenure on II. The footage filmed by Donner was later intregrated into television versions of the film with Lester's footage. In November 2006, Donner's footage will be reedited into , using the Donner footage mostly, with Lester's scenes to be used to fill in the remainder that was not done during principal photography.
Lester later returned to direct Superman III in 1983.
Later years
In 1989, Lester reunited the entire Musketeers cast to film another sequel, The Return of the Musketeers. However, during filming in Spain, the actor Roy Kinnear, a close friend of Lester's, was killed after falling from a horse. Lester finished the film, then retired from directing, only returning to direct a music video for friend Paul McCartney in 1991, Get Back.
In 1993 he presented Hollywood UK, a five-part series on British cinema in the 1960s for the BBC.
In recent years, director Steven Soderbergh has been one of many calling for a reappraisal of Lester's work and influence. Soderbergh wrote a 1999 book, Getting Away With It which consists largely of interviews with Lester.
External link
- [Richard Lester] at [SensesOfCinema.com]
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