Paul Brickman (born April 23, 1949) is an American

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

and

film director A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...

. He is best known for writing and directing ''

Risky Business ''Risky Business'' is a 1983 American coming-of-age teen comedy film written and directed by Paul Brickman (in his directorial debut) and starring Tom Cruise and Rebecca De Mornay. It follows the sexual exploits of high school senior Joel G ...

''.

Early life

Brickman was born in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

and raised in suburban Highland Park, the son of Shirley (née Kronenthal) and Morrie Brickman. His father was a cartoonist who created the comic strip "The Small Society." Brickman graduated from Highland Park High School in 1967. He graduated from Claremont Men's College in Claremont, California.

Career

Brickman began his career by writing the screenplays for ''

The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training ''The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training'' is a 1977 American sports comedy-drama film and a sequel to the 1976 feature film '' The Bad News Bears''. Plot One year after their infamous second-place finish in the North Valley League, the Bad ...

'' and '' Handle with Care'', both of which were released in 1977. In 1983, he made his directorial debut with ''

'', starring

Tom Cruise Thomas Cruise Mapother IV (born July 3, 1962) is an American actor and film producer. Regarded as a Cinema of the United States, Hollywood icon, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Tom Cruise, various accolades, includ ...

. Much of the film was filmed in Brickman's hometown,

Highland Park, Illinois Highland Park is a suburban city located in southeastern Lake County, Illinois, United States, about north of downtown Chicago. Per the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 30,176. Highland Park is one of several municipali ...

, and the surrounding area. However, the film was set in nearby Glencoe. The film was a major success, though Brickman felt disillusioned at having to compromise on the ending. In 1990, he cowrote and directed ''

Men Don't Leave ''Men Don't Leave'' is a 1990 American comedy-drama film starring Jessica Lange as a housewife who, after the death of her husband, moves with her two sons to Baltimore. Chris O'Donnell, Arliss Howard, Joan Cusack, Charlie Korsmo and Kathy ...

'', a loose adaptation of the 1982 French film ''La Vie Continue''. Brickman shared writing credit with

Jon Avnet __NOTOC__ Jonathan Avnet (born November 17, 1949) is an American director, writer and producer. Avnet was born in Brooklyn, the son of Joan Bertha (née Grossman) and Lester Francis Avnet, a corporate executive with Avnet (a global distributor ...

(the producer of ''Risky Business'') on the 2001 NBC miniseries ''

Uprising Rebellion is an uprising that resists and is organized against one's government. A rebel is a person who engages in a rebellion. A rebel group is a consciously coordinated group that seeks to gain political control over an entire state or a ...

''. His only other directing credit is a short film called ''Allison'' (2012).

Filmography

References

External links

* 1949 births Screenwriters from Chicago Living people American male screenwriters Film directors from Illinois Claremont McKenna College alumni Highland Park High School (Illinois) alumni Screenwriters from California Jewish American screenwriters People from Highland Park, Illinois {{US-screen-writer-1940s-stub