Wes Craven Biography

Wesley Earl "Wes" Craven (born August 2, 1939) is an American film director, writer, producer, and actor known for his work on horror films, particularly slasher films. He is the creator of A Nightmare on Elm Street, Wes Craven's New Nightmare, and also co-wrote A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors with Bruce Wagner, featuring the Freddy Krueger character. Craven also directed the entire Scream series, featuring Ghostface. Some of his other films include, The Hills Have Eyes, The Last House on the Left, The Serpent and the Rainbow, The People Under the Stairs, Vampire in Brooklyn, Music of the Heart, Red Eye, and My Soul to Take.

Early life

Craven was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of Caroline (née Miller) and Paul Craven. Craven earned an undergraduate degree in English and Psychology from Wheaton College in Illinois and a masters degree in Philosophy and Writing from Johns Hopkins University.

Career before film industry

Craven briefly taught English at Westminster College and was a humanities professor at Clarkson College of Technology (now Clarkson University) in Potsdam, New York. His first job in the film industry was as a sound editor for a post-production company in New York City.

Directing and writing career

Craven left the academic world for the more lucrative role of pornographic film director. In the documentary Inside Deep Throat, Craven says on camera he made "many X-rated films" under pseudonyms, learning his directing craft. While his role in Deep Throat is undisclosed, most of his early known work involved writing, film editing or both. In 1972 Wes Craven directed his first feature film The Last House on the Left.

Craven's works tend to share a common exploration of the nature of reality. A Nightmare on Elm Street, for example, dealt with the consequences of dreams in real life. New Nightmare "brushes against" (but does not quite break) the fourth wall by having actress Heather Langenkamp play herself as she is haunted by the villain of the film in which she once starred. At one point in the film, we see on Wes Craven's word processor a script he has written, which includes the exact conversation he just had with Heather "? as if the script was being written as the action unfolded. The Serpent and the Rainbow portrays a man who cannot distinguish between nightmarish visions and reality. In Scream, the characters frequently reference horror films similar to their situations, and at one point Billy Loomis tells his girlfriend that life is just a big movie. This concept was emphasized in the sequels, as copycat stalkers reenact the events of a new film about the Woodsboro killings occurring in Scream. Scream included a scene mentioning the well-known Richard Gere urban legend. Craven stated in interviews that he received calls from agents telling him that if he left that scene in, he would never work again. He directed Scream 4. Craven was also set to direct Beetlejuice but dropped out to co-write and executive produce the third outing for Freddy Krueger.

Craven also frequently collaborates with Sean S. Cunningham. In Craven's debut feature, The Last House on the Left, Cunningham served as producer. Later, in Craven's most famous film, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Cunningham directed one of the chase scenes, although uncredited. Their infamous characters, Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees, appeared together in the 2003 slasher film Freddy vs. Jason with Cunningham acting as producer, while screenwriter Victor Miller is credited as "Character Creator". Later, in The Last House on the Left remake, both Cunningham and Craven share production credits.

Although known for directing horror/thriller films, he has worked on two that were outside this genre: the 1999 film Music of the Heart, and as one of the 22 directors in the 2006 collaboration Paris, je t'aime.

Recently Craven has created Coming of Rage, a graphic novel, with 30 Days of Night comic book writer Steve Niles. The comic will be released by Liquid Comics in 2013 with a possible film adaption directed by Craven and produced by Live Free Or Die Hard producer Arnold Rifkin and Liquid Comics CEO Sharad Devarajan.

Awards and nominations

See List of awards and nominations received by Wes Craven for more information

During his career, Wes Craven won nine cinematic awards and received three nominations.

In 1977, he won the 'Prize of the International Critics' Jury' in the "Sitges " Catalonian International Film Festival" for his film The Hills Have Eyes.

In 1985, his horror film A Nightmare on Elm Street won the 'Critic's Award' at the "Avoriaz Fantastic Film Festival".

In 1992, the Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Film presented him the Pegasus Audience Award for the thriller The People Under the Stairs. His Fantasporto won the International Fantasy Film Award for Best Screenplay while the Best Film award went to his film Wes Craven's New Nightmare, the final A Nightmare on Elm Street film he directed. His Shocker was also nominated for Best Film in 1990.

The Gérardmer Film Festival granted him the Grand Prize in '97 for Scream.

He was nominated for Best Director for Scream at the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA, in 1997.

In 2006, he was honored at Spike TV's Scream with the Mastermind Award (the tribute was presented to him by Neve Campbell).

Other work

Craven designed the Halloween 2008 logo for Google, and was the second celebrity personality to take over the YouTube homepage on Halloween.

Craven had a letter published in the July 19, 1968 edition of Life magazine, praising that periodical's coverage of contemporary rock music, in particular Frank Zappa.

Personal life

Craven's first marriage to Bonnie Broecker produced two children, Jonathan Craven (born 1965) and Jessica Craven (born 1968). Jonathan is a writer and director with a few credits to his name. Jessica was a singer/songwriter in the group the Chapin Sisters. The marriage ended in 1970.

In 1982, Craven married Millicent Eleanor Meyer. However, the two divorced. Craven has stated in interviews that the marriage dissolved after he discovered it "was no longer anything but a sham."

In 2004, Craven married Iya Labunka. She frequently works as a producer on Craven's films.

Craven is a birder. In 2010 he became a member of Audubon California's Board of Directors.

Books

Year	Title
1999	Fountain Society
2013	Coming of Rage

Filmography

Year	Film	Director	(Executive) Producer	Writer	Cinematographer	Editor	Actor	Role	Notes
1971	Together
1972	The Last House on the Left
1973	It Happened in Hollywood							King's Litter Bearer	Also second unit director
1975	The Carhops
	Angela, the Fireworks Woman							The Fireworks Man
1976	Thunder Buns							Photographer
	Honey Pie
	Sweet Cakes							Photographer
1977	Hot Cookies
	The Hills Have Eyes
1978	Stranger in Our House								TV movie
	The Evolution of Snuff
	Here Come the Tigers
1981	Deadly Blessing
	Kent State								TV movie
1982	Swamp Thing
1984	Invitation to Hell								TV movie
	A Nightmare on Elm Street
1985	Chiller								TV movie
	The Hills Have Eyes Part II
	The NEW Twilight Zone								TV series
1986	Deadly Friend
	Casebusters								Episode of anthology TV series Disneyland
1987	A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
1988	The Serpent and the Rainbow
1989	The People Next Door								TV series, Co-creator
	Shocker							The neighbor
1990	Night Visions								TV movie
1991	The People Under the Stairs
1992	Nightmare Cafe								TV series
1993	Laurel Canyon
	Body Bags							Pasty faced man in garage	Cameo
1994	Wes Craven's New Nightmare							Himself
1995	Vampire in Brooklyn
	The Hills Have Eyes III								AKA Mind Ripper
	The Fear							Dr. Arnold
1996	Scream							"Fred" (school janitor)	Cameo
1997	Scream 2							Doctor
	Wishmaster
1998	Hollyweird								TV movie
	Don't Look Down
	Carnival of Souls
1999	Music of the Heart
2000	Scream 3							Tourist	Cameo
	Dracula 2000
2001	Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back							Himself	Cameo
2002	They Shoot Divas, Don't They?								TV movie
	They
2003	Dracula II: Ascension
2004	Tales from the Crapper							Himself
	The Cutting Edge: The Magic of Movie Editing
2005	Dracula III: Legacy
	Cursed
	Inside Deep Throat							Himself
	Feast
	Red Eye
2006	Pulse								Remake
	The Hills Have Eyes
	The Breed
	Paris, je t'aime							Vampire's Victim	Segment: Père-Lachaise
2007	The Hills Have Eyes 2								Remake
	Agitation
	The Tripper							Top hat-wearing hippy	Cameo
2008	Diary of the Dead							Radio voice
2009	The Last House on the Left								Remake
2010	My Soul to Take
2011	Scream 4							Coroner at the Randalls	Cameo
									Deleted scene
2013	Castle							Himself	Cameo
									Episode: Scared To Death

Highest-grossing films

This is a list of the top 10 highest-grossing films by Wes Craven, each has made at least $30 million.

Rank	Title	Lifetime gross (US$)
1	Scream	173,046,663
2	Scream 2	172,363,301
3	Scream 3	161,834,276
4	Scream 4	101,214,723
5	Red Eye	95,577,774
6	The Hills Have Eyes (2006 film)	69,623,713
7	The Hills Have Eyes 2	67,915,885
8	The Last House on the Left (2009 film)	45,286,228
9	A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors	44,793,222
10	The People Under the Stairs	31,347,154