Joel Schumacher was born on August 19, 1939, in New York City. Joel attended Parson New School of Design in the city and went on to work in fashion before venturing into script-writing. His first stab at directing would come in 1981with The Incredible Shrinking Woman with Lily Tomlin. It was a success, but the best was yet to come.

Schumacher rose in status with his work in the widely popular Brat Pack and teen-themed films of the 1980s. He directed the cult classics The Lost Boys and St. Elmo's Fire, which starred Emilo Estevez, Andrew McCarthy, Judd Nelson, Andie McDowell, Ally Sheedy, and Demi Moore as spoiled college kids just out of school.

In the nineties, was tapped to bring two John Grisham novels to the big screen. The Client with Susan Sarandon and A Time To Kill with powerful performances from Samuel L. Jackson, Matthew McConaughey, and Sandra Bullock. Schumacher succeeded Tim Burton as the director of the Batman series. Things started out pleasant enough, the first Schumacher directed Batman flick, Batman Forever, was one of the most successful films of 1995.

It was two years later with Batman and Robin that the trouble began. The film boasted an all-star cast, George Clooney as Batman and Chris O'Donnell as Boy Wonder, with Uma Thurman, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Alicia Silverstone in supporting roles. The film was a commercial flop, an action movie that simply bored viewers. With one film, Joel had managed to ruin the Batman franchise and his reputation as a respected director. He later apologized for the offensively bad film.

In recent years, the openly gay director has reclaimed a bit of respect. Phone Booth, starring Colin Farrell, did well at the box office. Most recently, Schumacher has found success with The Phantom of the Opera, based on the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical of the same name.

YUDDY