Rusty Lemorande (born March 29, 1954, in

Oconto Falls, Wisconsin Oconto Falls is a city in Oconto County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 2,891 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Green Bay Metropolitan Statistical Area. History A post office called Oconto Falls has been in operation since 187 ...

) is an American screenwriter, director, actor and film producer who directed the 1989 film ''

Journey to the Center of the Earth ''Journey to the Center of the Earth'' (french: Voyage au centre de la Terre), also translated with the variant titles ''A Journey to the Centre of the Earth'' and ''A Journey into the Interior of the Earth'', is a classic science fiction novel ...

'' based on the Jules Verne novel of the same name. One of Lemorande's first major jobs was production executive for the comedy ''

Caddyshack ''Caddyshack'' is a 1980 American sports comedy film directed by Harold Ramis, written by Brian Doyle-Murray, Ramis and Douglas Kenney, and starring Chevy Chase, Rodney Dangerfield, Ted Knight, Michael O'Keefe and Bill Murray with supporting role ...

''. Lemorande proposed commissioning a gopher puppet in order to add, through additional shooting, a continuing story arc for the Gopher and the Bill Murray character. He was caught in the battle between screenwriter

Doug Kenney Douglas Clark Francis Kenney (December 10, 1946 – August 27, 1980) was an American comedy writer of magazine, novels, radio, TV and film who co-founded the magazine ''National Lampoon'' in 1970. Kenney edited the magazine and wrote much of its ...

and executive producer

Jon Peters John Peters (born June 2, 1945) is an American film producer and former hairdresser. Early life Peters was born on June 2, 1945 in Van Nuys, California. Peters is of Cherokee (father) and Italian (mother) descent. While growing up in a rough n ...

over Peters' insistence on a prominent role in the finished film for the infamous

gopher Pocket gophers, commonly referred to simply as gophers, are burrowing rodents of the family Geomyidae. The roughly 41 speciesSearch results for "Geomyidae" on thASM Mammal Diversity Database are all endemic to North and Central America. They ar ...

puppet, which was not part of the original script. Lemorande soon joined up with

Barbra Streisand Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand (; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success in multiple fields of entertainment, and is among the few performers awar ...

to produce '' Yentl'', for which they shared a

Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy The Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy is a Golden Globe Award that has been awarded annually since 1952 by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA). Eligibility Eligible films must be at least 70 minutes in l ...

. Lemorande wrote the film '' Electric Dreams'', then followed it up by co-writing and producing with

Francis Ford Coppola Francis Ford Coppola (; ; born April 7, 1939) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is considered one of the major figures of the New Hollywood filmmaking movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Coppola is the recipient of five ...

and

George Lucas George Walton Lucas Jr. (born May 14, 1944) is an American filmmaker. Lucas is best known for creating the ''Star Wars'' and '' Indiana Jones'' franchises and founding Lucasfilm, LucasArts, Industrial Light & Magic and THX. He served as chai ...

the Disney 3D theme-park film ''

Captain EO ''Captain EO'' is a 1986 American 3D science fiction short film shown at Disney theme parks from 1986 through 1998. The movie stars Michael Jackson, was written by George Lucas, and directed by Francis Ford Coppola (who came up with the name "C ...

'', starring

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

. It was Lemorande who proposed adding physical effects (such as smoke, strobe lights and fiber optic stars) to the film. For this reason, Lemorande is often referred to as the Father of 4D. Lemorande had a small speaking part in the film ''Yentl'', and recently played the role of Father Lazarus in the

Roland Joffé Roland Joffé (born 17 November 1945) is a British film director, director and Film producer, producer of film and television, known for the Academy Awards, Academy Award-winning films ''The Killing Fields (film), The Killing Fields'' and ''The ...

film ''There Be Dragons'', based on the life of

Josemaría Escrivá Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer y Albás (9 January 1902 – 26 June 1975) was a Spanish Roman Catholicism, Roman Catholic priest. He founded Opus Dei, an organization of Catholic Laity, laypeople and Priesthood (Catholic Church), priests ...

(founder of Opus Dei), which was shot largely in Argentina. Lemorande's writing credits include an original screenplay, entitled ''Quixote'', which deals with

Miguel de Cervantes Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (; 29 September 1547 (assumed) – 22 April 1616 NS) was an Early Modern Spanish writer widely regarded as the greatest writer in the Spanish language and one of the world's pre-eminent novelists. He is best know ...

five years as a slave and prisoner in Algeria prior to writing ''Don Quixote''.

Ben Kingsley Sir Ben Kingsley (born Krishna Pandit Bhanji; 31 December 1943) is an English actor. He has received various accolades throughout his career spanning five decades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Grammy Award, and tw ...

intends to star in the film to be produced by his film company SBK Productions.

References

External links

* Living people American male screenwriters 1954 births People from Oconto Falls, Wisconsin Screenwriters from Wisconsin Film producers from Wisconsin Golden Globe Award-winning producers {{US-film-producer-stub