Jarrett Schaefer (born 1979) is an American film director and screenwriter. His feature debut, ''

Chapter 27 ''Chapter 27'' is a 2007 biographical drama film depicting the murder of John Lennon by Mark David Chapman in December 1980, serving as an exploration of the latter's psyche. Written and directed by Jarrett Schaefer (in his directorial deb ...

'' (2007), premiered and received substantial media and critical attention at the 2007

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

Biography

Born on a

U.S. Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its origins to 1 ...

base in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

but raised in the United States, Schaefer studied film writing at

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

, in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. After graduating, he worked as an editor at ''Fade In'' magazine and as a videostore clerk while writing scripts and poetry in his spare time. Schaefer made his feature-length debut in 2007 with ''

'', a

biographical film A biographical film or biopic () is a film that dramatizes the life of an actual person or group of people. Such films show the life of a historical person and the central character's real name is used. They differ from Docudrama, docudrama films ...

depicting the

murder of John Lennon On the evening of 8 December 1980, the English musician John Lennon, formerly of the Beatles, was shot and fatally wounded in the archway of the Dakota, his residence in New York City. The killer, Mark David Chapman, was an American Beatles fa ...

Mark David Chapman Mark David Chapman (born May 10, 1955) is an American man who murdered English musician John Lennon in New York City on December 8, 1980. As Lennon walked into the archway of The Dakota, his apartment building on the Upper West Side, Chapman ...

. It takes place in December 1980, and is intended to be an exploration of Chapman's

psyche Psyche (''Psyché'' in French) is the Greek term for "soul" ( ψυχή). Psyche or La Psyché may also refer to: Psychology * Psyche (psychology), the totality of the human mind, conscious and unconscious * ''Psyche'', an 1846 book about the unc ...

. The script took Schaefer four years to write, but when it was finished, the film came together quickly. With the help of producers Alexandra Milchan and Robert Salerno, Schaefer cast

Jared Leto Jared Joseph Leto ( ; born December 26, 1971) is an American actor and musician. Known for his method acting in Jared Leto filmography, a variety of roles, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Jared Leto, numerous accolade ...

as Mark David Chapman. ''Chapter 27'' premiered at the

2007 Sundance Film Festival The 2007 Sundance Film Festival ran from January 18 until January 28, 2007, in Park City, Utah with screenings in Salt Lake City, Utah and Ogden, Utah. It was the 23-rd iteration of the Sundance Film Festival. The opening night film was '' Chica ...

where it received polarized reactions from critics. It later went into limited theatrical release in the United States on March 28, 2008. ''Chapter 27'' was cited as one of the most controversial films of 2007. The film received substantial accolades from critics who praised the depiction of the mental state of Mark David Chapman in the days leading up the murder of John Lennon in December 1980. It won the Debut Feature Prize for Schaefer at the

Zurich Film Festival Zurich Film Festival (ZFF) is an annual film festival that has been held in Zürich, Switzerland, since 2005. The festival's main focus is to promote emerging filmmakers from all over the world. In three competition categories only first, secon ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Schaefer, Jarrett 1979 births Film directors from California American male screenwriters English-language film directors Living people People from Kaiserslautern (district) USC School of Cinematic Arts alumni