Brian Russell De Palma (; born September 11, 1940) is an
American film director and screenwriter. With a career spanning over 50 years, he is best known for work in the
suspense
Suspense is a state of anxiety or excitement caused by mysteriousness, uncertainty, doubt, or undecidedness. In a narrative work, suspense is the audience's excited anticipation about the plot or conflict (which may be heightened by a viol ...
,
crime, and
psychological thriller
Psychological thriller is a Film genre, genre combining the thriller (genre), thriller and psychological fiction genres. It is commonly used to describe literature or films that deal with psychological narratives in a thriller or thrilling setting ...
genres. De Palma was a leading member of the
New Hollywood
The New Hollywood, Hollywood Renaissance, American New Wave, or New American Cinema (not to be confused with the New American Cinema of the 1960s that was part of Experimental film, avant-garde underground film, underground cinema), was a movemen ...
generation.
[Murray, Noel & Tobias, Scott (March 10, 2011)]
"Brian De Palma , Film , Primer"
''The A.V. Club
''The A.V. Club'' is an online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was created in ...
''. Retrieved February 3, 2012.
''Carrie'' (1976), his adaptation of
Stephen King
Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author. Dubbed the "King of Horror", he is widely known for his horror novels and has also explored other genres, among them Thriller (genre), suspense, crime fiction, crime, scienc ...
's
novel of the same name, gained him prominence as a young filmmaker. He enjoyed commercial success with
''Dressed to Kill'' (1980),
''The Untouchables'' (1987) and
''Mission: Impossible'' (1996) and made
cult classics such as ''
Greetings'' (1968), ''
Hi, Mom!'' (1970),
''Sisters'' (1972), ''
Phantom of the Paradise'' (1974), and
''The Fury'' (1978).
As a young director, De Palma dreamed of being the "American
Godard". His style is allusive; he paid homage to
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English film director. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featu ...
in
''Obsession'' (1976) and
''Body Double'' (1984); ''
Blow Out'' (1981) is based on
Michelangelo Antonioni
Michelangelo Antonioni ( ; ; 29 September 1912 – 30 July 2007) was an Italian film director, screenwriter, and editor. He is best known for his "trilogy on modernity and its discontents", ''L'Avventura'' (1960), ''La Notte'' (1961), and '' ...
's ''
Blowup'' (1966), and
''Scarface'' (1983), his remake of
Howard Hawks
Howard Winchester Hawks (May 30, 1896December 26, 1977) was an American film director, Film producer, producer, and screenwriter of the Classical Hollywood cinema, classic Hollywood era. Critic Leonard Maltin called him "the greatest American ...
's
1932 film, is dedicated to Hawks and
Ben Hecht
Ben Hecht (; February 28, 1894 – April 18, 1964) was an American screenwriter, director, producer, playwright, journalist, and novelist. A journalist in his youth, he went on to write 35 books and some of the most enjoyed screenplays and play ...
. His work has been criticized for its violence and sexual content but has also been championed by American critics such as
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...
and
Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael (; June 19, 1919 – September 3, 2001) was an American film critic who wrote for ''The New Yorker'' from 1968 to 1991. Known for her "witty, biting, highly opinionated and sharply focused" reviews, Kael often defied the conse ...
.
In 2015, he was interviewed about his work in a well-received
documentary by
Noah Baumbach
Noah Baumbach (born September 3, 1969) is an American filmmaker. He is known for making light comedies set in New York City and his works are inspired by filmmakers such as Woody Allen and Whit Stillman. His frequent collaborators include Wes A ...
.
Early life and education
De Palma was born on September 11, 1940, in
Newark, New Jersey
Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, the county seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, and a principal city of the New York metropolitan area. ...
, the youngest of three boys. His Italian-American parents were Vivienne DePalma (née Muti), and
Anthony F. DePalma, an
orthopedic
Orthopedic surgery or orthopedics ( alternative spelling orthopaedics) is the branch of surgery concerned with conditions involving the musculoskeletal system. Orthopedic surgeons use both surgical and nonsurgical means to treat musculoskeletal ...
surgeon who was the son of immigrants from
Alberona
Alberona ( Pugliese: ) is an upland village and ''comune'' of the province of Foggia and region of Apulia, in southeast Italy. It is one of I Borghi più belli d'Italia
() is a non-profit private association of small Italian towns of strong ...
,
Province of Foggia
The province of Foggia (, ; Neapolitan language, Foggiano: ) is a Provinces of Italy, province in the Regions of Italy, Italian region Apulia.
This province is also known as Daunia, after the Daunians, an Iapygians, Iapygian pre-Roman tribe livi ...
. He was raised in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
,
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...
and
New Hampshire
New Hampshire ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...
, and attended various
Protestant
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...
and
Quaker
Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...
schools, eventually graduating from
Friends' Central School. He had a poor relationship with his father, and would secretly follow him to record his adulterous behavior; this would eventually inspire the teenage character in De Palma's
''Dressed to Kill'' (1980). When he was in high school, he built computers. He won a regional science-fair prize for his project "An
Analog Computer
An analog computer or analogue computer is a type of computation machine (computer) that uses physical phenomena such as Electrical network, electrical, Mechanics, mechanical, or Hydraulics, hydraulic quantities behaving according to the math ...
to Solve
Differential Equations".
Enrolled at
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
as a
physics
Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...
student, De Palma became enraptured with filmmaking after seeing
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American director, actor, writer, producer, and magician who is remembered for his innovative work in film, radio, and theatre. He is among the greatest and most influential film ...
's ''
Citizen Kane
''Citizen Kane'' is a 1941 American Drama (film and television), drama film directed by, produced by and starring Orson Welles and co-written by Welles and Herman J. Mankiewicz. It was Welles's List of directorial debuts, first feature film. ...
'' (1941) and
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English film director. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featu ...
's ''
Vertigo
Vertigo is a condition in which a person has the sensation that they are moving, or that objects around them are moving, when they are not. Often it feels like a spinning or swaying movement. It may be associated with nausea, vomiting, perspira ...
'' (1958). After receiving his undergraduate degree in 1962, De Palma enrolled at the newly mixed-gender
Sarah Lawrence College
Sarah Lawrence College (SLC) is a Private university, private liberal arts college in Yonkers, New York, United States. Founded as a Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in 1926, Sarah Lawrence College has been coeducational ...
as a graduate student in their
theater
Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The performers may communi ...
department, earning an
M.A. in the discipline in 1964 and becoming one of the first male students in a predominantly female school. Once there, influences as various as drama teacher
Wilford Leach, the
Maysles brothers,
Michelangelo Antonioni
Michelangelo Antonioni ( ; ; 29 September 1912 – 30 July 2007) was an Italian film director, screenwriter, and editor. He is best known for his "trilogy on modernity and its discontents", ''L'Avventura'' (1960), ''La Notte'' (1961), and '' ...
,
Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol (;''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''"Warhol" born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director and producer. A leading figure in the pop art movement, Warhol ...
and
Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard ( , ; ; 3 December 193013 September 2022) was a French and Swiss film director, screenwriter, and film critic. He rose to prominence as a pioneer of the French New Wave film movement of the 1960s, alongside such filmmakers as ...
, impressed upon De Palma the many styles and themes that would shape his work in the coming decades.
Career
1963–1976: Rise to prominence
An early association with a young
Robert De Niro
Robert Anthony De Niro ( , ; born August 17, 1943) is an American actor, director, and film producer. He is considered to be one of the greatest and most influential actors of his generation. De Niro is the recipient of List of awards and ...
resulted in ''
The Wedding Party''. The film, co-directed with
Wilford Leach and producer Cynthia Munroe, had been shot in 1963 but remained unreleased until 1969, when De Palma's star had risen sufficiently in the
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village, or simply the Village, is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to the north, Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the s ...
filmmaking scene. De Niro was unknown at the time; the credits mistakenly display his name as "Robert ". The film is noteworthy for its invocation of silent film techniques and use of the
jump-cut. De Palma followed this style with various small films for the
NAACP
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is an American civil rights organization formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. B. Du&nbs ...
and the
Treasury Department.
During the 1960s, De Palma began making a living producing documentaries, notably ''The Responsive Eye'' (1966), about ''
The Responsive Eye
Op art, short for optical art, is a style of visual art that uses distorted or manipulated geometrical patterns, often to create optical illusions. It began in the early 20th century, and was especially popular from the 1960s on, the term "Op ...
''
op-art
Op art, short for optical art, is a style of visual art that uses distorted or manipulated geometrical patterns, often to create optical illusions. It began in the early 20th century, and was especially popular from the 1960s on, the term "Op ...
exhibit curated by William Seitz for
MoMA
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...
in 1965. In an interview with Joseph Gelmis from 1969, De Palma described the film as "very good and very successful. It's distributed by Pathe Contemporary and makes lots of money. I shot it in four hours, with synched sound. I had two other guys shooting people's reactions to the paintings, and the paintings themselves."
''
Dionysus in '69'' (1969) was De Palma's other major documentary from this period. The film records
the Performance Group's performance of
Euripides
Euripides () was a Greek tragedy, tragedian of classical Athens. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom any plays have survived in full. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to ...
's ''
The Bacchae
''The Bacchae'' (; , ''Bakkhai''; also known as ''The Bacchantes'' ) is an ancient Greek tragedy, written by the Athenian playwright Euripides during his final years in Macedonia, at the court of Archelaus I of Macedon. It premiered posthumou ...
'', starring, amongst others, De Palma regular
William Finley. The play is noted for breaking traditional barriers between performers and audience. The film's most striking quality is its extensive use of the
split-screen. De Palma recalls that he was "floored" by this performance upon first sight, and in 1973 recounts how he "began to try and figure out a way to capture it on film. I came up with the idea of split-screen, to be able to show the actual audience involvement, to trace the life of the audience and that of the play as they merge in and out of each other."
De Palma's most significant features from this decade are ''
Greetings'' (1968) and ''
Hi, Mom!'' (1970). Both films star De Niro and espouse a
leftist
Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social hierarchies. Left-wing politi ...
revolutionary
A revolutionary is a person who either participates in, or advocates for, a revolution. The term ''revolutionary'' can also be used as an adjective to describe something producing a major and sudden impact on society.
Definition
The term—bot ...
viewpoint in the spirit of the time. ''Greetings'' was entered into the
19th Berlin International Film Festival
The 19th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 25 June to 6 July 1969.
The Golden Bear was awarded to '' Early Works'' directed by Želimir Žilnik.
Jury
The following jury members were announced for the festival:
* Johannes ...
, where it won a
Silver Bear
The Berlin International Film Festival (), usually called the Berlinale (), is an annual film festival held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festival has been held every February since 1978 and is one of Europ ...
award.
His other major film from this period is the slasher comedy ''
Murder a la Mod'' (1968). Each of these films experiments with narrative and
intertextuality
Intertextuality is the shaping of a text's meaning by another text, either through deliberate compositional strategies such as quotation, allusion, calque, plagiarism, translation, pastiche or parody, Gerard Genette (1997) ''Paratexts'p.18/ref ...
, reflecting De Palma's stated intention to become the "American
Godard".
In 1970, De Palma left New York for Hollywood at age thirty to make ''
Get to Know Your Rabbit'' (1972), starring
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American director, actor, writer, producer, and magician who is remembered for his innovative work in film, radio, and theatre. He is among the greatest and most influential film ...
and
Tommy Smothers. Making the film was a crushing experience for De Palma, as Smothers did not like many of De Palma's ideas.
[Salamon, p. 26.] Here he made several small, studio and independently released films. Among them were the horror film
''Sisters'' (1972), the rock musical ''
Phantom of the Paradise'' (1974) and
''Obsession'' (1976), a variation on theme of
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English film director. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featu ...
's
''Vertigo'' (1958) scored by Hitchcock's frequent collaborator
Bernard Herrmann
Bernard Herrmann (born Maximillian Herman; June 29, 1911December 24, 1975) was an American composer and conductor best known for his work in film scoring. As a conductor, he championed the music of lesser-known composers. He is widely regarde ...
.
1976–1979: Breakthrough
In November 1976, De Palma released
an adaptation of
Stephen King
Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author. Dubbed the "King of Horror", he is widely known for his horror novels and has also explored other genres, among them Thriller (genre), suspense, crime fiction, crime, scienc ...
's novel
''Carrie''. Though some see the
psychic
A psychic is a person who claims to use powers rooted in parapsychology, such as extrasensory perception (ESP), to identify information hidden from the normal senses, particularly involving telepathy or clairvoyance; or who performs acts that a ...
thriller as De Palma's bid for a blockbuster, the project was in fact small, underfunded by
United Artists
United Artists (UA) is an American film production and film distribution, distribution company owned by Amazon MGM Studios. In its original operating period, it was founded in February 1919 by Charlie Chaplin, D. W. Griffith, Mary Pickford an ...
, and well under the cultural radar during the early months of production, as King's novel was not yet a bestseller. De Palma gravitated toward the project and changed crucial plot elements based upon his own predilections. The cast was mostly young and relatively new, though
Sissy Spacek and
John Travolta
John Joseph Travolta (born February 18, 1954) is an American actor. He began acting in television before transitioning into a leading man in films. List of awards and nominations received by John Travolta, His accolades include a Primetime Em ...
had gained attention for previous work in, respectively, film and
sitcoms
A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent setting, such as a home ...
. ''Carrie'' became De Palma's first genuine box-office success, garnering Spacek and
Piper Laurie Oscar nominations for their performances. Pre-production for the film had coincided with the casting process for
George Lucas
George Walton Lucas Jr. (born May 14, 1944) is an American filmmaker and philanthropist. He created the ''Star Wars'' and ''Indiana Jones'' franchises and founded Lucasfilm, LucasArts, Industrial Light & Magic and THX. He served as chairman ...
's ''
Star Wars
''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and Cultural impact of Star Wars, quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop cu ...
'', and many of the actors cast in De Palma's film had been earmarked as contenders for Lucas's movie, and vice versa. Its suspense sequences are buttressed by teen comedy tropes, and its use of
split-screen, split-diopter and
slow motion
Slow motion (commonly abbreviated as slow-mo or slo-mo) is an effect in film-making whereby time appears to be slowed down. It was invented by the Austrian priest August Musger in the early 20th century. This can be accomplished through the use ...
shots tell the story visually rather than through dialogue. As for Lucas's project, De Palma complained in an early viewing of ''Star Wars'' that the opening text crawl was poorly written and volunteered to help edit the text to a more concise and engaging form.
The financial and critical success of ''Carrie'' allowed De Palma to pursue more personal material.
Alfred Bester
Alfred Bester (December 18, 1913 – September 30, 1987) was an American science fiction author, TV and radio screenwriter, magazine Editing, editor and scriptwriter for comics. He is best remembered for his science fiction, including ''Th ...
's novel ''
The Demolished Man
''The Demolished Man'' is a science fiction novel by American writer Alfred Bester, which was the first Hugo Award winner in 1953. An inverted detective story, it was first serialized in three parts, beginning with the January 1952 issue of '' ...
'' had fascinated De Palma since the late 1950s and appealed to his background in mathematics and
avant-garde
In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...
storytelling. Its unconventional unfolding of plot (exemplified in its mathematical layout of dialogue) and its stress on perception have analogs in De Palma's filmmaking. He sought to adapt it numerous times, though the project would carry a substantial price tag, and has yet to appear on-screen (
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg ( ; born December 18, 1946) is an American filmmaker. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, Spielberg is widely regarded as one of the greatest film directors of all time and is ...
's 2002 adaptation of
Philip K. Dick's ''
Minority Report'' bears striking similarities to De Palma's visual style and some of the themes of ''The Demolished Man''). The result of his experience with adapting ''The Demolished Man'' was the 1978 science fiction psychic thriller
''The Fury'', starring
Kirk Douglas
Kirk Douglas (born Issur Danielovitch; December 9, 1916 – February 5, 2020) was an American actor and filmmaker. After an impoverished childhood, he made his film debut in '' The Strange Love of Martha Ivers'' (1946) with Barbara Stanwyck. ...
,
Carrie Snodgress
Caroline Louise Snodgress (October 27, 1945 – April 1, 2004) was an American actress. She is best remembered for her role in the film ''Diary of a Mad Housewife'' (1970), for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress, Acad ...
,
John Cassavetes
John Nicholas Cassavetes (December 9, 1929 – February 3, 1989) was an American filmmaker and actor. He began as an actor in film and television before helping to pioneer modern American independent cinema as a writer and director, often self- ...
and
Amy Irving
Amy Irving (born September 10, 1953) is an American actress and singer, who has worked in film, stage, and television. Her accolades include an Obie Award, and nominations for two Golden Globe Awards and an Academy Award.
Born in Palo Alto, Cali ...
. The film was admired by
Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard ( , ; ; 3 December 193013 September 2022) was a French and Swiss film director, screenwriter, and film critic. He rose to prominence as a pioneer of the French New Wave film movement of the 1960s, alongside such filmmakers as ...
, who featured a clip in his mammoth ''
Histoire(s) du cinéma'', and
Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael (; June 19, 1919 – September 3, 2001) was an American film critic who wrote for ''The New Yorker'' from 1968 to 1991. Known for her "witty, biting, highly opinionated and sharply focused" reviews, Kael often defied the conse ...
, who championed both ''The Fury'' and De Palma. The film boasted a larger budget than ''Carrie'', though the consensus view at the time was that De Palma was repeating himself, with diminishing returns.
1980–1996: Established career
The 1980s were marked by some of De Palma's best known films, including the erotic thriller
''Dressed to Kill'' (1980) starring
Michael Caine
Sir Michael Caine (born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite, 14 March 1933) is a retired English actor. Known for his distinct Cockney accent, he has appeared in more than 160 films over Michael Caine filmography, a career that spanned eight decades an ...
and
Angie Dickinson
Angie Dickinson (born Angeline Brown; September 30, 1931) is an American retired actress. She began her career on television, appearing in many Anthology series#Television, anthology series during the 1950s, before gaining her breakthrough rol ...
. Although the film received critical acclaim, it caused controversy for its negative depiction of the
transgender
A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth.
The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...
community. The following year he directed ''
Blow Out'' (1981), a variation on
Michelangelo Antonioni
Michelangelo Antonioni ( ; ; 29 September 1912 – 30 July 2007) was an Italian film director, screenwriter, and editor. He is best known for his "trilogy on modernity and its discontents", ''L'Avventura'' (1960), ''La Notte'' (1961), and '' ...
's ''
Blow-Up'' (1966) and
Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola ( ; born April 7, 1939) is an American filmmaker. He is considered one of the leading figures of the New Hollywood and one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. List of awards and nominations received by Francis Ford Coppo ...
's ''
The Conversation'' (1974) starring
John Travolta
John Joseph Travolta (born February 18, 1954) is an American actor. He began acting in television before transitioning into a leading man in films. List of awards and nominations received by John Travolta, His accolades include a Primetime Em ...
,
Nancy Allen and
John Lithgow
John Arthur Lithgow ( ; born , 1945) is an American actor. He studied at Harvard University and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art before becoming known for his John Lithgow filmography, diverse work on stage and screen. He has rece ...
. The film received critical acclaim. Kael wrote: "De Palma has sprung to the place that
Robert Altman
Robert Bernard Altman ( ; February 20, 1925 – November 20, 2006) was an American film director, screenwriter, and film producer, producer. He is considered an enduring figure from the New Hollywood era, known for directing subversive and sat ...
achieved with films such as ''
McCabe & Mrs. Miller'' and
''Nashville'' and that Francis Ford Coppola reached with ''
The Godfather
''The Godfather'' is a 1972 American Epic film, epic crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, who co-wrote the screenplay with Mario Puzo, based on Puzo's best-selling The Godfather (novel), 1969 novel. The film stars an ensemble cast inc ...
'' films—that is, to the place where
genre
Genre () is any style or form of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other fo ...
is transcended and what we're moved by is an artist's vision. It's a great movie."
De Palma directed
''Scarface'' (1983), a remake of
Howard Hawks
Howard Winchester Hawks (May 30, 1896December 26, 1977) was an American film director, Film producer, producer, and screenwriter of the Classical Hollywood cinema, classic Hollywood era. Critic Leonard Maltin called him "the greatest American ...
's
1932 film, starring
Al Pacino
Alfredo James Pacino ( ; ; born April 25, 1940) is an American actor. Known for his intense performances on stage and screen, Pacino is widely regarded as one of the greatest actors of all time. His career spans more than five decades, duri ...
and
Michelle Pfeiffer with a screenplay by
Oliver Stone
William Oliver Stone (born ) is an American filmmaker. Stone is an acclaimed director, tackling subjects ranging from the Vietnam War and American politics to musical film, musical Biographical film, biopics and Crime film, crime dramas. He has ...
. The film received mixed reviews with its negative depictions of ethnic stereotypes, as well as its violence and profanity. It has since been re-evaluated and is now considered a
cult classic
A cult following is a group of Fan (person), fans who are highly dedicated to a person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some List of art media, medium. The latter is often cal ...
. The following year he made another erotic thriller, ''
Body Double
In filmmaking, a double is a person who substitutes for another actor such that the person's face is not shown. There are various terms associated with a double based on the specific body part or ability they serve as a double for, such as stunt ...
'' (1984), starring
Craig Wasson
Craig Wasson (born March 15, 1954) is an American actor. He made his film debut in '' Rollercoaster'' (1977). He is best known for his roles as Jake Scully in Brian DePalma's '' Body Double'' (1984), and Neil Gordon in Chuck Russell's '' A Nigh ...
and
Melanie Griffith
Melanie Richards Griffith (born August 9, 1957) is an American actress. Born in Manhattan to actress Tippi Hedren, she was raised mainly in Los Angeles, where she graduated from the Hollywood Professional School at age 16. In 1975, 17-year-old ...
. The film also received mixed reviews but has since had a reassessment and found acclaim. De Palma directed the music video for
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American Rock music, rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Nicknamed "the Boss", Springsteen has released 21 studio albums spanning six decades; most of his albums feature th ...
's single "
Dancing in the Dark" the same year.

In 1987, De Palma directed the crime film ''
The Untouchables'', loosely based on the
book of the same name and adapted by
David Mamet
David Alan Mamet (; born November 30, 1947) is an American playwright, author, and filmmaker.
He won a Pulitzer Prize and received Tony Award, Tony nominations for his plays ''Glengarry Glen Ross'' (1984) and ''Speed-the-Plow'' (1988). He first ...
. The film stars
Kevin Costner
Kevin Michael Costner (born January 18, 1955) is an American actor and filmmaker. He has received List of awards and nominations received by Kevin Costner, various accolades, including two Academy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, and a Primeti ...
,
Andy Garcia,
Robert De Niro
Robert Anthony De Niro ( , ; born August 17, 1943) is an American actor, director, and film producer. He is considered to be one of the greatest and most influential actors of his generation. De Niro is the recipient of List of awards and ...
and
Sean Connery
Sir Thomas Sean Connery (25 August 1930 – 31 October 2020) was a Scottish actor. He was the first actor to Portrayal of James Bond in film, portray the fictional British secret agent James Bond (literary character), James Bond in motion pic ...
, the last of whom won the
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
The Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It has been awarded since the 9th Academy Awards to an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance in ...
for the film. It received critical acclaim and box-office success. De Palma's
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...
film ''
Casualties of War'' (1989) won critical praise but performed poorly in theatres and ''
The Bonfire of the Vanities'' (1990) was a notorious failure with both critics and audiences. De Palma then had subsequent successes with ''
Raising Cain'' (1992) and ''
Carlito's Way'' (1993). ''
Mission: Impossible'' (1996) was his highest-grossing film and started
a successful franchise''.''
1998–present: Career slump
De Palma's work after ''Mission: Impossible'' has been less well received. His ensuing films ''
Snake Eyes'' (1998), ''
Mission to Mars'' (2000), and ''
Femme Fatale
A ( , ; ), sometimes called a maneater, Mata Hari, or vamp, is a stock character of a mysterious, beautiful, and Seduction, seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers, often leading them into compromising, deadly traps. She is an archetype ...
'' (2002) all failed at the box office and received generally poor reviews, though ''Femme Fatale'' has since been revived in the eyes of many
film critics and became a
cult classic
A cult following is a group of Fan (person), fans who are highly dedicated to a person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some List of art media, medium. The latter is often cal ...
.
His 2006
adaptation
In biology, adaptation has three related meanings. Firstly, it is the dynamic evolutionary process of natural selection that fits organisms to their environment, enhancing their evolutionary fitness. Secondly, it is a state reached by the p ...
of ''
The Black Dahlia'' was also unsuccessful and is currently the last movie De Palma has directed with backing from Hollywood.
A political controversy erupted over the portrayal of US soldiers in De Palma's 2007 film ''
Redacted''. Loosely based on the
2006 Mahmudiyah killings by American soldiers in Iraq, the film echoes themes that appeared in ''Casualties of War''. ''Redacted'' received a limited release in the United States and grossed less than $1 million against a $5 million budget.
De Palma's output has slowed since the release of ''Redacted'', with subsequent projects often falling into
development hell
Development hell, also known as development purgatory or development limbo, is media and software industry jargon for a project, concept, or idea that remains in a stage of early development for a long time because of legal, technical, or artistic ...
, due mostly to creative differences. In 2012, his film ''
Passion'' starring
Rachel McAdams and
Noomi Rapace
Noomi Rapace (; ; born 28 December 1979) is a Swedish actress.Karen Olsson, ''The New York Times Magazine'', 27 May 2012, p. 26. She achieved international fame with her portrayal of Lisbeth Salander in the Swedish film adaptations of the ''Mil ...
was selected to compete for the
Golden Lion
The Golden Lion () is the highest prize given to a film at the Venice Film Festival. The prize was introduced in 1949 by the organizing committee and is regarded as one of the film industry's most prestigious and distinguished prizes. In 1970, a ...
at the
69th Venice International Film Festival but received mixed reviews and was financially unsuccessful.
De Palma's next project was the thriller ''
Domino
Dominoes is a family of tile-based games played with gaming pieces. Each domino is a rectangular tile, usually with a line dividing its face into two square ''ends''. Each end is marked with a number of spots (also called '' pips'' or ''dots'' ...
'' (2019), released two years after the film began production. It received generally negative reviews and was released direct-to-VOD in the United States, grossing less than half a million dollars internationally. De Palma has also expressed dissatisfaction with both the production of the film and the final result; "I never experienced such a horrible movie set."
In 2018, De Palma published his debut novel in France, ''Les serpents sont-ils nécessaires?'' (English translation: ''Are Snakes Necessary?''), co-written with Susan Lehman.
It was published in the U.S. in 2020. De Palma and Lehman also wrote a second book, currently unpublished, called ''Terry'', based on one of De Palma's passion projects about a French film production making an adaptation of ''
Thérèse Raquin''.
It was announced in 2018 that De Palma would write and direct a horror film titled ''Predator'', inspired by the
Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse cases
In October 2017, ''The New York Times'' and ''The New Yorker'' reported that dozens of women had accused the American film producer Harvey Weinstein of rape, sexual assault and sexual abuse over a period of at least 30 years. Over 80 women i ...
, and would direct
Wagner Moura in a film titled ''Sweet Vengeance'', based on two real-life murder cases. Filming on the latter was to have begun in early 2019 in
Montevideo
Montevideo (, ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2023 census, the city proper has a population of 1,302,954 (about 37.2% of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...
. In a 2020 interview with the ''
Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City.
Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...
'', De Palma confirmed that ''Predator'' was retitled ''Catch and Kill'' and added that he was to have started filming in August that same year.
Despite rumors of his supposed retirement after having had ''Sweet Vengeance'' and ''Catch and Kill'' fall through, De Palma revealed to ''
Vulture
A vulture is a bird of prey that scavenges on carrion. There are 23 extant species of vulture (including condors). Old World vultures include 16 living species native to Europe, Africa, and Asia; New World vultures are restricted to Nort ...
'' in September 2024 that he had "one other" undisclosed film he was planning to make, and that he was in the process of trying to cast it.
Filmmaking style, techniques and trademarks
De Palma's films can fall into two categories: his
thriller film
Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre. ...
s (''Sisters'', ''Body Double'', ''Obsession'', ''Dressed to Kill'', ''Blow Out'', ''Raising Cain'') and his mainly commercial films (''The Untouchables'', ''Carlito's Way'', and ''Mission: Impossible''). He has often produced "De Palma" films one after the other before going on to direct a different genre, but would always return to his familiar territory. Because of the subject matter and
graphic violence
Graphic violence refers to the depiction of especially explicit or detailed acts of violence in mass media. It may be real, simulated live action, or animated.
Intended for viewing by mature audiences, ''graphic'' in this context is a synonym ...
of some of De Palma's films, such as ''Dressed to Kill'', ''Scarface'' and ''Body Double'', they are often at the center of controversy with the
Motion Picture Association of America
The Motion Picture Association (MPA) is an American trade association representing the Major film studios, five major film studios of the Cinema of the United States, United States, the Major film studios#Mini-majors, mini-major Amazon MGM Stud ...
,
film critics and the viewing public.
Inspirations
De Palma frequently quotes and refers to other directors' work. His early work was inspired by the films of
Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard ( , ; ; 3 December 193013 September 2022) was a French and Swiss film director, screenwriter, and film critic. He rose to prominence as a pioneer of the French New Wave film movement of the 1960s, alongside such filmmakers as ...
.
Michelangelo Antonioni
Michelangelo Antonioni ( ; ; 29 September 1912 – 30 July 2007) was an Italian film director, screenwriter, and editor. He is best known for his "trilogy on modernity and its discontents", ''L'Avventura'' (1960), ''La Notte'' (1961), and '' ...
's ''
Blowup'' and
Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola ( ; born April 7, 1939) is an American filmmaker. He is considered one of the leading figures of the New Hollywood and one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. List of awards and nominations received by Francis Ford Coppo ...
's ''
The Conversation'' plots were used for the basis of ''Blow Out''. ''The Untouchables'' finale shoot out in the train station is a clear borrowing from the
Odessa
ODESSA is an American codename (from the German language, German: ''Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen'', meaning: Organization of Former SS Members) coined in 1946 to cover Ratlines (World War II aftermath), Nazi underground escape-pl ...
Steps sequence in
Sergei Eisenstein
Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein; (11 February 1948) was a Soviet film director, screenwriter, film editor and film theorist. Considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, he was a pioneer in the theory and practice of montage. He is no ...
's ''
The Battleship Potemkin''. The main plot from ''
Rear Window
''Rear Window'' is a 1954 American mystery film, mystery thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and written by John Michael Hayes, based on Cornell Woolrich's 1942 short story "After-Dinner Story, It Had to Be Murder". Originally released ...
'' was used for ''Body Double'', while it also used elements of ''
Vertigo
Vertigo is a condition in which a person has the sensation that they are moving, or that objects around them are moving, when they are not. Often it feels like a spinning or swaying movement. It may be associated with nausea, vomiting, perspira ...
''. ''Vertigo'' was also the basis for ''Obsession''. ''Dressed to Kill'' was a note-for-note homage to Hitchcock's ''
Psycho'', including such moments as the surprise death of the lead actress and the exposition scene by the psychiatrist at the end.
Camera shots
Film critics have often noted De Palma's penchant for unusual camera angles and compositions. He often frames characters against the background using a
canted angle shot.
Split-screen techniques have been used to show two separate events happening simultaneously.
To emphasize the dramatic effect of a certain scene De Palma has employed a
360-degree camera
pan. Slow sweeping, panning, and
tracking shot
In cinematography, a tracking shot is any shot where the camera follows backward, forward or moves alongside the subject being recorded. Mostly the camera’s position is parallel to the character, creating a sideway motion, tracking the chara ...
s are often used throughout his films, often through precisely-choreographed
long take
In filmmaking, a long take (also called a continuous take, continuous shot, or oner) is Shot (filmmaking), shot with a duration much longer than the conventional editing pace either of the film itself or of films in general. Significant camera mov ...
s lasting for minutes without cutting. Split focus shots, often referred to as "di-opt", are used by De Palma to emphasize the foreground person/object while simultaneously keeping a background person/object in focus. Slow-motion is frequently used in his films to increase suspense.
Personal life
De Palma has been married and divorced three times, to actress
Nancy Allen (1979–1983), producer
Gale Anne Hurd (1991–1993), and Darnell Gregorio (1995–1997). He has one daughter from his marriage to Hurd, and one daughter from his marriage to Gregorio. He resides in
Manhattan
Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...
,
New York.
Reception and legacy
De Palma is often cited as a leading member of the
New Hollywood
The New Hollywood, Hollywood Renaissance, American New Wave, or New American Cinema (not to be confused with the New American Cinema of the 1960s that was part of Experimental film, avant-garde underground film, underground cinema), was a movemen ...
generation of film directors, a distinct pedigree who either emerged from film schools or are overtly cine-literate.
His contemporaries include
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November17, 1942) is an American filmmaker. One of the major figures of the New Hollywood era, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Martin Scorsese, many accolades, including an Academ ...
,
Paul Schrader
Paul Joseph Schrader (; born July 22, 1946) is an American screenwriter, film director, and film critic. He first became known for writing the screenplay of Martin Scorsese's ''Taxi Driver'' (1976). He later continued his collaboration with Scor ...
,
John Milius
John Frederick Milius (; born April 11, 1944) is an American screenwriter and film director. He is considered a member of the New Hollywood generation of filmmakers.
He rose to prominence in the early 1970s for writing the scripts for ''The L ...
,
George Lucas
George Walton Lucas Jr. (born May 14, 1944) is an American filmmaker and philanthropist. He created the ''Star Wars'' and ''Indiana Jones'' franchises and founded Lucasfilm, LucasArts, Industrial Light & Magic and THX. He served as chairman ...
,
Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola ( ; born April 7, 1939) is an American filmmaker. He is considered one of the leading figures of the New Hollywood and one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. List of awards and nominations received by Francis Ford Coppo ...
,
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg ( ; born December 18, 1946) is an American filmmaker. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, Spielberg is widely regarded as one of the greatest film directors of all time and is ...
,
John Carpenter
John Howard Carpenter (born January 16, 1948) is an American filmmaker, composer, and actor. Most commonly associated with horror film, horror, action film, action, and science fiction film, science fiction films of the 1970s and 1980s, he is ...
, and
Ridley Scott
Sir Ridley Scott (born 30 November 1937) is an English film director and producer. He directs films in the Science fiction film, science fiction, Crime film, crime, and historical drama, historical epic genres, with an atmospheric and highly co ...
. His artistry in directing and use of cinematography and suspense in several of his films has often been compared to the work of
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English film director. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featu ...
.
Psychologists have been intrigued by De Palma's fascination with pathology, by the aberrant behavior aroused in characters who find themselves manipulated by others.
[Salamon, p. 27.]
De Palma has encouraged and fostered the filmmaking careers of directors such as
Mark Romanek
Mark Lee Romanek (; born September 18, 1959) is an American film, music video and commercial director and photographer. He is best known for directing the films ''One Hour Photo'' (2002) and ''Never Let Me Go (2010 film), Never Let Me Go'' (2010) ...
and
Keith Gordon, the latter of whom collaborated with him twice as an actor, both in 1979's ''Home Movies'' and 1980's ''Dressed to Kill''.
[Zakarin, Jordan (February 18, 2019)]
"Keith Gordon is the directorbehind all your favorite peak TV shows"
''Syfy.com''. Filmmakers influenced by De Palma include
Terrence Malick,
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American filmmaker, actor, and author. Quentin Tarantino filmography, His films are characterized by graphic violence, extended dialogue often featuring much profanity, and references to ...
,
Ronny Yu,
Don Mancini
George Donald Mancini (born January 25, 1963) is an American screenwriter, director, and producer. He is best known for creating and writing the Child's Play (franchise), ''Child's Play'' franchise (1988–present).
Career
Having been a horror ...
,
Nacho Vigalondo
Ignacio "Nacho" Vigalondo Palacios (born 6 April 1977) is a Spanish filmmaker.
Career
Vigalondo's first film was the 2003 Spanish-language short film '' 7:35 in the Morning'', about a suicide bomber who terrorizes a cafe, which was only eight m ...
, and
Jack Thomas Smith.
[Wien, Gary (October 19, 2014)]
"Infliction: An Interview With Jack Thomas Smith"
''New Jersey Stage''. During an interview with De Palma, Quentin Tarantino said that ''
Blow Out'' is one of his all-time favorite films, and that after watching ''
Scarface'' he knew how to make his own film.
John Travolta
John Joseph Travolta (born February 18, 1954) is an American actor. He began acting in television before transitioning into a leading man in films. List of awards and nominations received by John Travolta, His accolades include a Primetime Em ...
's performance as Jack Terry in ''Blow Out'' even resulted in Tarantino casting him as Vincent Vega in his 1994 film ''
Pulp Fiction
''Pulp Fiction'' is a 1994 American independent crime film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino from a story he conceived with Roger Avary.See, e.g., King (2002), pp. 185–7; ; It tells four intertwining tales of crime and violence ...
'', which would go on to reinvigorate Travolta's then-declining career.
[Smith, Hilary Jane (July 20, 2021)]
"I Hate When a Man Is Right: Brian De Palma’s BLOW OUT at 40"
''Merry-Go-Round Magazine''. Tarantino also placed ''
Carrie'' at number eight in a list of his favorite films.
Critics who frequently admire De Palma's work include
Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael (; June 19, 1919 – September 3, 2001) was an American film critic who wrote for ''The New Yorker'' from 1968 to 1991. Known for her "witty, biting, highly opinionated and sharply focused" reviews, Kael often defied the conse ...
and
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...
. Kael wrote in her review of ''Blow Out'', "At forty, Brian De Palma has more than twenty years of moviemaking behind him, and he has been growing better and better. Each time a new film of his opens, everything he has done before seems to have been preparation for it."
[Kael, Pauline (July 27, 1981)]
"Blow Out: Portrait of the Artist as a Young Gadgeteer"
''The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...
''. Retrieved February 3, 2012. In his review of ''
Femme Fatale
A ( , ; ), sometimes called a maneater, Mata Hari, or vamp, is a stock character of a mysterious, beautiful, and Seduction, seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers, often leading them into compromising, deadly traps. She is an archetype ...
'',
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...
wrote about the director: "De Palma deserves more honor as a director. Consider also these titles: ''Sisters'', ''Blow Out'', ''The Fury'', ''Dressed to Kill'', ''Carrie'', ''Scarface'', ''Wise Guys'', ''Casualties of War'', ''Carlito's Way'', ''Mission: Impossible''. Yes, there are a few failures along the way (''Snake Eyes'', ''Mission to Mars'', ''The Bonfire of the Vanities''), but look at the range here, and reflect that these movies contain treasure for those who admire the craft as well as the story, who sense the glee with which De Palma manipulates images and characters for the simple joy of being good at it. It's not just that he sometimes works in the style of Hitchcock, but that he has the nerve to."
[Ebert, Roger (November 6, 2002)]
"''Femme Fatale'' (2002)"
''Chicago Sun-Times
The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...
''. Retrieved January 14, 2012.
The influential French film magazine ''
Cahiers du Cinéma'' has placed five of De Palma's films (''
Carlito's Way'', ''
Mission: Impossible'', ''
Snake Eyes'', ''
Mission to Mars'', and ''
Redacted'') on their annual top ten list, with ''Redacted'' placing first on the 2008 list. The magazine also listed ''Carlito's Way'' as the greatest film of the 1990s.
Julie Salamon has written that critics have accused De Palma of being "a perverse misogynist",
to which De Palma has responded with, "I'm always attacked for having an erotic, sexist approach chopping up women, putting women in peril. I'm making suspense movies! What else is going to happen to them?"
His films have also been interpreted as feminist and examined for their perceived
queer
''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are non-heterosexual or non- cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against LGBTQ people in the late 19th century. From the late 1980s, queer activists began to ...
affinities. In ''
Film Comment
''Film Comment'' is the official publication of Film at Lincoln Center. It features reviews and analysis of mainstream, art-house, and avant-garde filmmaking from around the world. Founded in 1962 and originally released as a quarterly, ''Film ...
'' "Queer and Now and Then" column on ''
Femme Fatale
A ( , ; ), sometimes called a maneater, Mata Hari, or vamp, is a stock character of a mysterious, beautiful, and Seduction, seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers, often leading them into compromising, deadly traps. She is an archetype ...
'', film critic Michael Koresky writes that "De Palma's films radiate an undeniable queer energy" and notes the "intense appeal" De Palma's films have for gay critics. In her book ''The Erotic Thriller in Contemporary Cinema'',
Linda Ruth Williams writes that "De Palma understood the cinematic potency of dangerous fucking, perhaps earlier than his feminist detractors".
Robin Wood considered ''
Sisters
A sister is a woman or a girl who shares parents or a parent with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to r ...
'' an overtly feminist film, writing that "one can define the monster of ''Sisters'' as women's liberation; adding only that the film follows the time-honored horror film tradition of making the monster emerge as the most sympathetic character and its emotional center." Pauline Kael's review of ''
Casualties of War'', "A Wounded Apparition", describes the film as "feminist" and notes that "De Palma was always involved in examining (and sometimes satirizing) victimization, but he was often accused of being a victimizer".
Helen Grace, in a piece for ''Lola'', writes that upon seeing ''
Dressed to Kill'' amidst calls for a boycott from feminist groups Women Against Violence Against Women and
Women Against Pornography, that the film "seemed to say more about masculine anxiety than about the fears that women were expressing in relation to the film". De Palma has also expressed contrition for the depiction of a transgender murderer in the film, saying in a 2016 interview "I don't know what the transgender community would think
f the film now.. Obviously I realize that it's not good for their image to be transgender and also be a psychopathic murderer. But I think that
erceptionpasses with time. We're in a different time." In the same interview, he said he was "glad" that the film had become a "a favorite of the gay community".
David Thomson wrote in his entry for De Palma, "There is a self-conscious cunning in De Palma's work, ready to control everything except his own cruelty and indifference."
Matt Zoller Seitz objected to this characterisation, writing that there are films from the director which can be seen as "straightforwardly empathetic and/or moralistic".
His life and career in his own words was the subject of the 2015 documentary ''
De Palma,'' directed by
Noah Baumbach
Noah Baumbach (born September 3, 1969) is an American filmmaker. He is known for making light comedies set in New York City and his works are inspired by filmmakers such as Woody Allen and Whit Stillman. His frequent collaborators include Wes A ...
and
Jake Paltrow.
Filmography
Awards and nominations
Bibliography
* ''Are Snakes Necessary?'' (2020), co-authored with Susan Lehman
* ''Ambrose Chapel: A Screenplay'' (2025)
* ''Terry'' (TBA), co-authored with Susan Lehman
References
Bibliography
*
*
Thomson, David (October 26, 2010). ''The New Biographical Dictionary of Film: Fifth Edition, Completely Updated and Expanded'' (hardcover ed.). Knopf. .
*
Salamon, Julie (1991). ''Devil's Candy: The Bonfire of the Vanities Goes to Hollywood'' (hardcover ed.). Houghton. .
* Bliss, Michael (1986). ''Brian De Palma''. Scarecrow.
* Blumenfeld, Samuel, Vachaud, Laurent (2001). ''Brian De Palma''. Calmann-Levy.
* Dworkin, Susan (1984). ''Double De Palma: A Film Study with Brian De Palma''. Newmarket.
External links
*
Senses of Cinema: Great Directors Critical DatabasePhotos and discussion around the directorLiterature on Brian De Palma
{{DEFAULTSORT:De Palma, Brian
1940 births
20th-century American male writers
20th-century American screenwriters
21st-century American male writers
21st-century American screenwriters
American action film directors
American horror film directors
American male screenwriters
American writers of Italian descent
Columbia University alumni
English-language film directors
Film directors from New Jersey
Film producers from New Jersey
Giallo film directors
Living people
People of Apulian descent
Postmodernist filmmakers
Sarah Lawrence College alumni
Screenwriters from New Jersey
Writers from Newark, New Jersey