Filmmaker Jonathan Demme 1944 – 2017

Oscar-winning director Jonathan Demme has died due to esophageal cancer and complications from heart disease. Indiewire spoke with a source close to Demme’s family for its report and NPR confirmed the news with the filmmaker’s publicist. While Jonathan Demme is best known for his work on Philadelphia and The Silence Of The Lambs, he made a number of incredible concert films including a trilogy of Neil Young movies and the iconic Talking Heads documentary Stop Making Sense.

Robert Jonathan Demme was born on February 22, 1944 in the New York City suburb of Baldwin on Long Island. He learned the craft of filmmaking in part from a five-year stint working with Roger Corman in the ’70s. Demme first moved into the director’s chair for a series of films for Corman’s studio. His initial concert film was Stop Making Sense in 1984.

Jonathan Demme filmed a trio of Talking Heads performances in December of 1983. Stop Making Sense was issued the following April and can be found towards the top of or at the top slot on many “greatest concert films of all-time” lists thanks to the inventive filmmaking techniques Demme utilized. The film starts with David Byrne performing “Psycho Killer” on a bare stage and builds as band members join in and full production is used.

The filmmaker won the Academy Award for Best Director in 1991 thanks to The Silence Of The Lambs. He soon went on to direct the commercially and critically successful Philadelphia a few years later. In addition to his work on major motion pictures, he also directed music videos for Bruce Springsteen, New Order and others. Demme teamed with Neil Young for a series of three concert documentaries: 2006’s Neil Young: Heart Of Gold, 2009’s Neil Young Trunk Show and 2012’s Neil Young Journeys. Last year Jonathan directed his last concert film, Justin Timberlake + The Tennessee Kids.

Jonathan Demme was 73. Watch “Crosseyed & Painless” from Stop Making Sense:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyDb4szpWmc