rip Jonathan Demme 1944-2017

[Former Member]

To many people, he might be best known for winning the Academy Award (Oscar) for directing The Silence of the Lambs, but to the LGBTQ community, he might be better known for directing Philadelphia (Tom Hanks won his first Best Actor Oscar – Demme also co-directed the music video for Bruce Springsteen’s Best Song Oscar-winning Streets of Philadelphia from the movie’s soundtrack).

 

He was also politically active for Progressive and humanitarian causes.

[Daddydavek]

A very lengthy and detailed obit article appears in the New York Times.  The man was a real music enthusiast.  A link a follows:

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/26/movies/jonathan-demme-dead-movie-director-oscar-winner.html?hpw&rref=obituaries&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region&region=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well&_r=0

[Bill W]

He put out some great movies!  RIP, Jonathan Demme.  

[W_L]

He shall be missed, I loved both movies for different reasons.

 

For Philadelphia, I am glad that a positive gay movie was out in front of people with A-List star power like Tom Hanks in the 1990's. It was a good movie with themes that are pertinent in today's world just as they were 20 years ago, except we've gained 20 years of history with wins/losses in court on a long list of battles.

 

Spoiler

(Don't want to go into details, since this is a political subject that the film highlights, but let's just say a person who is singled out without work related matter for termination on a job is wrong.)

 

For Silence of the Lambs, I am a huge Hannibal fan, "Yes I want some Fava Beans" ,  and I understand the trans community disliking the portrayal of a transperson Jame Gumb, but the guy was clearly psychotic rather than a a transperson, just because you put on lipstick and a dress does not make you a transperson and I think in 2017, our community has evolved on gender identity topics to a point that we can definitively call this character merely a psycho, just like Bates before him.

[FormerMember4]

 He also directed a 2004 remake of "The Manchurian Candidate. "a movie with Meryl Streep and Denzel Washington. A movie that reminds me of the recent presidential campaign.