James Foley, a veteran director whose films included “Glengarry Glen Ross” and the “Fifty Shades of Gray” suites, and who also worked on the successful television series “House of Cards”, died this week at his home in Los Angeles. He was 71 years old.
His death occurred after a one -year battle against brain cancer, according to Taylor Lomax of ID, the company that represents Mr. Foley.
Mr. Foley made his director’s debut with the 1984 film “Reckless”, a drama on a high school romance between a rebel football player and motorcycle driver and a cheerleader. During the decades that followed, he built a career of making films, television programs and clips, working with some of the biggest Hollywood stars.
Among his most famous works, there is the 1992 cinematographic adaptation of “Glengarry Glen Ross”, David Mamet’s play which won the Pulitzer Prize for the drama in 1984. The film, on real estate sellers trying to reach both ends in a difficult economy, played Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Alec Baldwin, Ed Harris Arkin.
Mr. Foley also produced “Fifty Shades Darker” (2017) and “Fifty Shades Freed” (2018), the last two payments of the “Fifty Shades of Gray” franchise. These films were adapted from the second and third books of the El James trilogy.
Foley told Hollywood Reporter in 2017 that he was happy that his career was not.
“I think that in terms of what fascinates me and what intrigues me and what I feel is engaging for the year that you spend the film, which is personally engaging, and without adhering to any kind of conventions,” said Foley.
James Foley was born on December 28, 1953 in New York and grew up on Staten Island. He studied psychology and graduated from New York State University in Buffalo in 1974. He planned to attend a medical school, but rather decided to continue the realization after having followed a six -week film production course at New York University. He then won an MFA at the University of Southern California’s California school in 1979.
Mr. Foley remembers having screened the short film he made during the six -week lesson in New York while addressing students in cinema and media studies at Johns Hopkins University in 2013.
“It was the first time that something I had done obtained a reaction from many people,” said Foley. “From this moment, I decided that I wanted to start again.”
Mr. Foley directed “at close range”, the police drama of 1986 with Sean Penn and Christopher Walken. Several years later, he carried out and co-wrote the 1990 cinematographic adaptation of “After Dark, My Sweet”, the detective novel by Jim Thompson. His director’s credits also include “Fear” (1996), with Mark Wahlberg and Reese Witherspoon; “The Chamber” (1996), with Chris O’Donnell and Gene Hackman; and “Perfect Stranger” (2007), with Halle Berry and Bruce Willis.
Mr. Foley also carried out several clips for Madonna, including “Live to Tell”, “True Blue” and “Papa Don’t Preche”.
Mr. Foley made his foray into television directing an episode of “Twin Peaks” in 1991. He then made 12 episodes through the seasons 1, 2 and 3 of “House of Cards”, the Success Netflix series on the belly of the American government which was adapted from a BBC series of the same name. He also made episodes of “Wayward Pines” and “Billions”.
Mr. Foley is survived by a brother, Kevin Foley; Two sisters, Eileen and Jo Ann Foley; And a nephew, Quinn Foley. He was preceded by his brother, Gerard Foley.
“I had a very fluid career in ups and downs and rights, and I have just answered what was interested at the moment,” said Foley in the 2017 interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “I have always just followed my nose, for the better or for the worst, sometimes for the worst.”
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