Robert Zemeckis

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Robert Zemeckis was born on May 14th 1952 in Chicago. He attended a roman catholic school and Fenger academy high school, and he said that in his family there was no art, no music, no books and no theatre, and the only thing that was inspirational was television. As a child, he enjoyed television and was interested in his parent’s camera. He filmed birthdays and holidays and then he started making his own films with his friends which included special effects. He believed that television saved his life as he learnt about the world outside of his own life. He was influenced by the programme Bonnie and Clyde which is what made him want to go to film school. His parents didn't like the idea because they thought due to where he was bought up they thought it would be impossible for him to become a director. He applied to University of southern California’s school of cinematic arts and had created a music video based on a Beatle's song and an essay that he wrote. He didn't hear from the university so he phoned them and he was rejected because of his average grades. He tried to persuade them by saying he would go to summer school to improve his grades. The school eventually accepted him. The classes were difficult as the teachers kept reinforcing how hard it was to go into the movie industry. However, this did not bother him as he was highly motivated. He became close friends with Bob Gale as they were both interested in James bond and Walt Disney whereas other students were interested in French new wave. He graduated from USC in 1973.

He won a student academy award at USC for his film called A field of honor, which is when he met Steven Spielberg who is very successful in the film industry.  Zemeckis showed him the film and Spielberg said that it 'was spectacular, with police cars and a riot'. Spielberg then became his mentor and executive produced his first two films which zemeckis co-wrote with Bob Gale.

His first two films were commercial failures I wanna hold your hand and Used cars. Him and Gale wrote the Spielberg directed 1941 film which then gave them the reputation for writing great scripts but didn't translate into movies that people wanted to see.

In the 1980's he found it difficult to get a job due to his reputation but was kept busy as he and Gale wrote scripts for other directors, car pool and Growing up but both never ended up being made. The now back to the future film was turned down by all the major studios, which lead to him jobless. He was then hired by Michael Douglas in 1984 to film Romancing the stone. The film was expected to fail which lead to Zemeckis being fired, but actually became a success. 

After the success of this film he was now able to film Back to the future which was released in 1985 became very successful which lead to another two sequels in 1989 and 1990. He then collaborated with Disney and directed Who framed Roger rabbit, which included both traditional animation and live action. It cost $70 million to make which was one of the most expensive films to be made up to this point, but ended up winning three academy awards.

In 1992 he directed Death becomes her, and in 1994 he directed Forrest Gump which was his most commercial successes. It became the top grossing U.S film of 1994, and won six academy awards which included Best director. In 1996 he started the project of The castaway, Tom hanks who was the main character had to lose weight for the film so Zemeckis decided that the way to keep the same crew was to film what lies beneath in between. He shot some parts of both the films in 1999 and completed now called Cast away in early 2000. He said that he wouldn't recommend shooting two films back to back but both films ended up being successful but with cast away making $70 million more than What lies beneath. 

In 2004 he joined tom hanks to direct The polar express, they had to use the computer animation technique where the movements of the actors had to be captured digitally and used as the basis for the animated characters. This was the first major computer animated film and the new York times said 'whatever critics and audiences make of this movie, from a technical perspective it could mark a turning point in the gradual transition from and analog to a digital cinema'.

In February 2007 Zemeckis and the chairman of Walt Disney Dick cook made plans for a new performance capture film company called ImageMovers digital. The company created films using the capture technology, while zemeckis was the director of most of the films Disney marketed the films worldwide. He used the same technology again to create Beowulf. 

In July 2007 zemeckis announced that he had written a screenplay for A Christmas carol. The film started production in 2008 and was released in 2009 which had mixed reviews. In 2010 Disney announced that they were no longer working with ImagesMovers Digital. The studio's last film called Mars needs moms was the second worst box office failure in history. Zemeckis made his return to action films and in2012 Flight was brought out by Paramount.

In January 2014 it was announced that Back to the future would be taken to the stage, and the show will be co-written by the original writers which was Zemeckis and Gale. A year later he directed the film The walk which was based on a true story. In 2015 Paramount pictures and 20th century fox announced that he would direct the film Allied and that was released in 2016. 

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