John H. Foote
Encyclopedia
John Howard Foote is a Canadian
film critic, historian and biographer, and former television producer
and host, theater director, and educator.
, Ontario
, Canada on May 21, 1959 to John and Dianne Foote, and was the eldest of four children. His family relocated to Seagrave
when he was four, and he was raised in the Port Perry area. At an early age his father introduced him to films, encouraging his interest. Foote recalls being put to bed at seven o'clock in the evening only to be roused at 11:25 PM, shortly before the start of Fright Night Theatre on WKBW-TV
out of Buffalo, New York
in the sixties. He relates that he became hooked on film in the early seventies when watching the Red Sea
part in a re-release of the 1956 film The Ten Commandments
, and that from that moment on, "film became my heroin".
Foote attended Port Perry High School
, and studied film and theatre at Humber College
, becoming the first student permitted to direct one of their "Mainstage Theatre Productions". Among the performanaces he directed while at Humber are Jitters, The Shadow Box
and a workshop production of Bent
.
's The Crucible
, one of the many American
post-war
dramas he directed during the years spanning 1988-1993. Among those he directed during this period where The Glass Menagerie
, Agnes of God
, Picnic
, The Passion of Dracula, Salt-Water Moon, The Crucible
(twice), The Shadow Box
, Jitters, A Streetcar Named Desire
, Torch Song Trilogy
, and Equus
.
, a Toronto
-based career college offering programs in film and television. He joined their staff and within three years was director of their Film Department.
After a serious car accident in 2000, and the subsequent and extended hospital stay, he was released from his position at Trebas and replaced. During his recovery, the Toronto Film School
contacted him and offered him a position upon his getting out of the hospital. In 2001 he became Coordinator of the Film and Television Program at the Toronto Film School and two years later was promoted to Director of the school, a position he held until March 2009.
and Fashion
, and has his own website. His reviews and criticisms receive attention in Canada, where he has shared such as his own Academy Awards
predictions, In addition, Foote has joined the staff of the website www.incontention.com as their Toronto International Film Festival
critic, though he has since moved to The Awards Circuit (www.awardscircuit.com), where he has joined the staff consisting of Editor Clayton Davis as well as Senior Staff Writers Joey Magidson and Myles Hughes, where he comments throughout the year on the Oscar races, past and present.
Over the course of his career as a film critic he has interviewed Robert Duvall, Meryl Streep
, Clint Eastwood, Viggo Mortenson, Sally Field
, Tom Cruise
, Helen Hunt
, Heath Ledger
, Cate Blanchett
, Paul Newman
, Martin Scorsese
, Francis Coppola and Sofia Coppola
, Nicolas Cage
, Sean Penn
, Bruce Willis
, Robert Carlyle
, Jessica Lange
, George Clooney
, Tom Hanks
, Al Pacino
, Dustin Hoffman
, Robert de Niro
, Holly Hunter
, Donald Sutherland
, Quentin Tarantino
, Charlize Theron
, Amy Adams
, John Boorman
, Peter Jackson
, Mickey Rourke
, Johnny Depp
, and the Coen Brothers
to name a few.
in the United States to write a biography of director Clint Eastwood
, Clint Eastwood: Evolution of a Filmmaker, published in 2008. This was followed by a second on Steven Spielberg
, Steven Spielberg: The Director and the Films, published in 2010 as part of a "Modern filmmakers" series being created by Greenwood. Neither book is a biography, but rather are studies of their directing careers and the films they have directed. These will be followed by books about American cinema decade by decade, starting from the New Millennium and moving back to the era of silent films. Five volumes are planned, with Foote handling half of the 50s and 60s and but all of the 70s, 80, 90, and the new millennium. The series is expected to be completed in 2011 after which Foote will write Paul Thomas Anderson: American Cinema's Great Hope, Meryl Streep: The Greatest and John Wayne: The Great Performances. In addition he has written a biography of actor Robert Duvall
which is currently awaiting publication.
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
film critic, historian and biographer, and former television producer
Television producer
The primary role of a television Producer is to allow all aspects of video production, ranging from show idea development and cast hiring to shoot supervision and fact-checking...
and host, theater director, and educator.
Background
He was born in OshawaOshawa
Oshawa is a city in Ontario, Canada, on the Lake Ontario shoreline. It lies in Southern Ontario approximately 60 kilometres east of downtown Toronto. It is commonly viewed as the eastern anchor of both the Greater Toronto Area and the Golden Horseshoe. It is now commonly referred to as the most...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, Canada on May 21, 1959 to John and Dianne Foote, and was the eldest of four children. His family relocated to Seagrave
Seagrave
Seagrave is a village and civil parish in the Charnwood district of Leicestershire, England. It has a population of around 500. It is north of Sileby and close to Thrussington and Barrow upon Soar....
when he was four, and he was raised in the Port Perry area. At an early age his father introduced him to films, encouraging his interest. Foote recalls being put to bed at seven o'clock in the evening only to be roused at 11:25 PM, shortly before the start of Fright Night Theatre on WKBW-TV
WKBW-TV
WKBW-TV, channel 7, is the ABC affiliate for the Buffalo, New York television market, and is one of many local Buffalo TV stations seen over-the-air and on cable in Canada. Its transmitter is located at 8909 Center Street in Colden. The station is owned by the Granite Broadcasting Corporation, who...
out of Buffalo, New York
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
in the sixties. He relates that he became hooked on film in the early seventies when watching the Red Sea
Red Sea
The Red Sea is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden. In the north, there is the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez...
part in a re-release of the 1956 film The Ten Commandments
The Ten Commandments (1956 film)
The Ten Commandments is a 1956 American epic film that dramatized the biblical story of the Exodus, in which the Hebrew-born Moses, an adopted Egyptian prince, becomes the deliverer of the Hebrew slaves. The film, released by Paramount Pictures in VistaVision on October 5, 1956, was directed by...
, and that from that moment on, "film became my heroin".
Foote attended Port Perry High School
Port Perry High School
Port Perry High School is located in Port Perry, Ontario within the administrative responsibilities of the Durham District School Board. Port Perry High School is the only composite secondary school in the Township of Scugog, in the northern part of Durham Region.-History:Some accounts suggest the...
, and studied film and theatre at Humber College
Humber College
Humber College Institute of Technology & Advanced Learning is a polytechnic college in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Humber offers more than 150 programs including: bachelor’s degree, diploma, certificate, post-graduate certificate and apprenticeship programs, across 40 fields of study. Humber serves...
, becoming the first student permitted to direct one of their "Mainstage Theatre Productions". Among the performanaces he directed while at Humber are Jitters, The Shadow Box
The Shadow Box
The Shadow Box is a play written by actor Michael Cristofer. The play made its Broadway debut on March 31, 1977. The original cast included Simon Oakland as Joe, Laurence Luckinbill as Brian, Mandy Patinkin as Mark, Geraldine Fitzgerald as Felicity, and Vincent Spano as Steve.-Plot synopsis:The...
and a workshop production of Bent
Bent (play)
Bent is a 1979 play by Martin Sherman. It revolves around the persecution of gays in Nazi Germany, and takes place during and after the Night of the Long Knives....
.
Theater
Foote directed over forty plays in the years spanning 1980-1996. He was artistic director of Theatre One for three years, and in 1992 won a THEA Award for his direction of Arthur MillerArthur Miller
Arthur Asher Miller was an American playwright and essayist. He was a prominent figure in American theatre, writing dramas that include plays such as All My Sons , Death of a Salesman , The Crucible , and A View from the Bridge .Miller was often in the public eye,...
's The Crucible
The Crucible
The Crucible is a 1952 play by the American playwright Arthur Miller. It is a dramatization of the Salem witch trials that took place in the Province of Massachusetts Bay during 1692 and 1693. Miller wrote the play as an allegory of McCarthyism, when the US government blacklisted accused communists...
, one of the many American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
post-war
Post-war
A post-war period or postwar period is the interval immediately following the ending of a war and enduring as long as war does not resume. A post-war period can become an interwar period or interbellum when a war between the same parties resumes at a later date...
dramas he directed during the years spanning 1988-1993. Among those he directed during this period where The Glass Menagerie
The Glass Menagerie
The Glass Menagerie is a four-character memory play by Tennessee Williams. Williams worked on various drafts of the play prior to writing a version of it as a screenplay for MGM, to whom Williams was contracted...
, Agnes of God
Agnes of God
Agnes of God is a play by John Pielmeier which tells the story of a novice nun who gives birth and insists that the dead child was the result of a virgin conception. A psychiatrist and the mother superior of the convent clash during the resulting investigation...
, Picnic
Picnic
In contemporary usage, a picnic can be defined simply as a pleasure excursion at which a meal is eaten outdoors , ideally taking place in a beautiful landscape such as a park, beside a lake or with an interesting view and possibly at a public event such as before an open air theatre performance,...
, The Passion of Dracula, Salt-Water Moon, The Crucible
The Crucible
The Crucible is a 1952 play by the American playwright Arthur Miller. It is a dramatization of the Salem witch trials that took place in the Province of Massachusetts Bay during 1692 and 1693. Miller wrote the play as an allegory of McCarthyism, when the US government blacklisted accused communists...
(twice), The Shadow Box
The Shadow Box
The Shadow Box is a play written by actor Michael Cristofer. The play made its Broadway debut on March 31, 1977. The original cast included Simon Oakland as Joe, Laurence Luckinbill as Brian, Mandy Patinkin as Mark, Geraldine Fitzgerald as Felicity, and Vincent Spano as Steve.-Plot synopsis:The...
, Jitters, A Streetcar Named Desire
A Streetcar Named Desire (play)
A Streetcar Named Desire is a 1947 play written by American playwright Tennessee Williams for which he received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1948. The play opened on Broadway on December 3, 1947, and closed on December 17, 1949, in the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. The Broadway production was...
, Torch Song Trilogy
Torch Song Trilogy
Torch Song Trilogy is a collection of three plays by Harvey Fierstein rendered in three acts: International Stud, Fugue in a Nursery, and Widows and Children First! The story centers on Arnold Beckoff, a torch song-singing Jewish drag queen living in New York City in the late 1970 and 1980s...
, and Equus
Equus (play)
Equus is a play by Peter Shaffer written in 1973, telling the story of a psychiatrist who attempts to treat a young man who has a pathological religious fascination with horses....
.
Television
In 1992, Foote was invited to be part of a new television program entitled Reel to Real, which he joined as co-host and co-producer. For seven years he co-hosted and co-produced the show with Christopher Heard for the Rogers Network. The Globe and Mail hailed the pair as Canada's answer to Siskel and Ebert! After a falling out with producers, Foote left the program in 1999 to pursue print criticism, and has since remained in that field.Educator
During his time on Reel to Real, he was contacted to teach film history at the Trebas InstituteTrebas Institute
Trebas Institute is a private, bilingual, post-secondary college specializing in the recording arts with campuses in Montreal, and Toronto.- Faculty :...
, a Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
-based career college offering programs in film and television. He joined their staff and within three years was director of their Film Department.
After a serious car accident in 2000, and the subsequent and extended hospital stay, he was released from his position at Trebas and replaced. During his recovery, the Toronto Film School
RCC Institute of Technology
The RCC Institute of Technology is a private technical institute located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was established in 1928, and has recently become a division of Yorkville University. It now operates three schools: School of Engineering Technology and Computing, Academy of Design, and...
contacted him and offered him a position upon his getting out of the hospital. In 2001 he became Coordinator of the Film and Television Program at the Toronto Film School and two years later was promoted to Director of the school, a position he held until March 2009.
Film Critic
His work as a critic continues as he writes syndicated for the Metroland Organization, Toronto LifeToronto Life
Toronto Life is a monthly Canadian magazine about entertainment, politics and life in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Toronto Life also publishes a number of annual special interest guides about the city, including Home Decor, Stylebook, Eating & Drinking, Real Estate and Weddings. Established in 1966,...
and Fashion
Fashion (magazine)
Fashion is a Canadian fashion magazine published by St. Joseph Media. Established in 1977, it is currently based in Toronto , publishes 10 issues a year and has a total readership of 1.85 million .The magazine covers international, national and local fashion and beauty trends and news...
, and has his own website. His reviews and criticisms receive attention in Canada, where he has shared such as his own Academy Awards
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
predictions, In addition, Foote has joined the staff of the website www.incontention.com as their Toronto International Film Festival
Toronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival is a publicly-attended film festival held each September in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 2010, 339 films from 59 countries were screened at 32 screens in downtown Toronto venues...
critic, though he has since moved to The Awards Circuit (www.awardscircuit.com), where he has joined the staff consisting of Editor Clayton Davis as well as Senior Staff Writers Joey Magidson and Myles Hughes, where he comments throughout the year on the Oscar races, past and present.
Over the course of his career as a film critic he has interviewed Robert Duvall, Meryl Streep
Meryl Streep
Mary Louise "Meryl" Streep is an American actress who has worked in theatre, television and film.Streep made her professional stage debut in 1971's The Playboy of Seville, before her screen debut in the television movie The Deadliest Season in 1977. In that same year, she made her film debut with...
, Clint Eastwood, Viggo Mortenson, Sally Field
Sally Field
Sally Margaret Field is an American actress, singer, producer, director, and screenwriter. In each decade of her career, she has been known for major roles in American TV/film culture, including: in the 1960s, for Gidget or Sister Bertrille on The Flying Nun ; in the 1970s, for Sybil , Smokey and...
, Tom Cruise
Tom Cruise
Thomas Cruise Mapother IV , better known as Tom Cruise, is an American film actor and producer. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and he has won three Golden Globe Awards....
, Helen Hunt
Helen Hunt
Helen Elizabeth Hunt is an American actress, film director, and screenwriter. She starred in the sitcom Mad About You for seven years, before being cast in the romantic comedy As Good as It Gets...
, Heath Ledger
Heath Ledger
Heath Andrew Ledger was an Australian television and film actor. After performing roles in Australian television and film during the 1990s, Ledger moved to the United States in 1998 to develop his film career...
, Cate Blanchett
Cate Blanchett
Catherine Élise "Cate" Blanchett is an Australian actress. She came to international attention for her role as Elizabeth I of England in the 1998 biopic film Elizabeth, for which she won British Academy of Film and Television Arts and Golden Globe Awards, and earned her first Academy Award...
, Paul Newman
Paul Newman
Paul Leonard Newman was an American actor, film director, entrepreneur, humanitarian, professional racing driver and auto racing enthusiast...
, Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. In 1990 he founded The Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to film preservation, and in 2007 he founded the World Cinema Foundation...
, Francis Coppola and Sofia Coppola
Sofia Coppola
Sofia Carmina Coppola is an American screenwriter, film director, actress, and producer.In 2003 she received the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Lost in Translation, and became the third woman to be nominated for an Academy Award for Directing...
, Nicolas Cage
Nicolas Cage
Nicolas Cage is an American actor, producer and director, having appeared in over 60 films including Raising Arizona , The Rock , Face/Off , Gone in 60 Seconds , Adaptation , National Treasure , Ghost Rider , Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans , and...
, Sean Penn
Sean Penn
Sean Justin Penn is an American actor, screenwriter and film director, also known for his political and social activism...
, Bruce Willis
Bruce Willis
Walter Bruce Willis , better known as Bruce Willis, is an American actor, producer, and musician. His career began in television in the 1980s and has continued both in television and film since, including comedic, dramatic, and action roles...
, Robert Carlyle
Robert Carlyle
Robert Carlyle, OBE is a Scottish film and television actor. He is known for a variety of roles including those in Trainspotting, Hamish Macbeth, The Full Monty, The World Is Not Enough, Angela's Ashes, The 51st State, and 28 Weeks Later...
, Jessica Lange
Jessica Lange
Jessica Phyllis Lange is an American actress who has worked in film, theatre and television. The recipient of several awards, including two Academy Awards, four Golden Globes and one Emmy, Lange is regarded as one of the première female actors of her generation.Lange was discovered by producer...
, George Clooney
George Clooney
George Timothy Clooney is an American actor, film director, producer, and screenwriter. For his work as an actor, he has received two Golden Globe Awards and an Academy Award...
, Tom Hanks
Tom Hanks
Thomas Jeffrey "Tom" Hanks is an American actor, producer, writer, and director. Hanks worked in television and family-friendly comedies, gaining wide notice in 1988's Big, before achieving success as a dramatic actor in several notable roles, including Andrew Beckett in Philadelphia, the title...
, Al Pacino
Al Pacino
Alfredo James "Al" Pacino is an American film and stage actor and director. He is famous for playing mobsters, including Michael Corleone in The Godfather trilogy, Tony Montana in Scarface, Alphonse "Big Boy" Caprice in Dick Tracy and Carlito Brigante in Carlito's Way, though he has also appeared...
, Dustin Hoffman
Dustin Hoffman
Dustin Lee Hoffman is an American actor with a career in film, television, and theatre since 1960. He has been known for his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and vulnerable characters....
, Robert de Niro
Robert De Niro
Robert De Niro, Jr. is an American actor, director and producer. His first major film roles were in Bang the Drum Slowly and Mean Streets, both in 1973...
, Holly Hunter
Holly Hunter
Holly Hunter is an American actress. Hunter starred in The Piano for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress. She has also been nominated for Oscars for her roles in Broadcast News, The Firm, and Thirteen...
, Donald Sutherland
Donald Sutherland
Donald McNichol Sutherland, OC is a Canadian actor with a film career spanning nearly 50 years. Some of Sutherland's more notable movie roles included offbeat warriors in such war movies as The Dirty Dozen, , MASH , and Kelly's Heroes , as well as in such popular films as Klute, Invasion of the...
, Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...
, Charlize Theron
Charlize Theron
Charlize Theron is a South African actress, film producer and former fashion model.She rose to fame in the late 1990s following her roles in 2 Days in the Valley, Mighty Joe Young, The Devil's Advocate and The Cider House Rules...
, Amy Adams
Amy Adams
Amy Lou Adams is an American actress and singer. Adams began her performing career on stage in dinner theaters before making her screen debut in the 1999 black comedy film Drop Dead Gorgeous...
, John Boorman
John Boorman
John Boorman is a British filmmaker who is a long time resident of Ireland and is best known for his feature films such as Point Blank, Deliverance, Zardoz, Excalibur, The Emerald Forest, Hope and Glory, The General and The Tailor of Panama.-Early life:Boorman was born in Shepperton, Surrey,...
, Peter Jackson
Peter Jackson
Sir Peter Robert Jackson, KNZM is a New Zealand film director, producer, actor, and screenwriter, known for his The Lord of the Rings film trilogy , adapted from the novel by J. R. R...
, Mickey Rourke
Mickey Rourke
Philip Andre "Mickey" Rourke, Jr. is an American actor, screenwriter and retired boxer, who has appeared primarily as a leading man in action, drama, and thriller films....
, Johnny Depp
Johnny Depp
John Christopher "Johnny" Depp II is an American actor, producer and musician. He has won the Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild award for Best Actor. Depp rose to prominence on the 1980s television series 21 Jump Street, becoming a teen idol...
, and the Coen Brothers
Coen Brothers
Joel David Coen and Ethan Jesse Coen known together professionally as the Coen brothers, are American filmmakers...
to name a few.
Author
In 2007 he was contracted by the Greenwood Publishing GroupGreenwood Publishing Group
Greenwood Publishing Group is an educational publisher and is part of ABC-CLIO. It publishes reference works under its Greenwood Press imprint, and scholarly, professional, and general interest books under Praeger Publishers...
in the United States to write a biography of director Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood
Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide...
, Clint Eastwood: Evolution of a Filmmaker, published in 2008. This was followed by a second on Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
, Steven Spielberg: The Director and the Films, published in 2010 as part of a "Modern filmmakers" series being created by Greenwood. Neither book is a biography, but rather are studies of their directing careers and the films they have directed. These will be followed by books about American cinema decade by decade, starting from the New Millennium and moving back to the era of silent films. Five volumes are planned, with Foote handling half of the 50s and 60s and but all of the 70s, 80, 90, and the new millennium. The series is expected to be completed in 2011 after which Foote will write Paul Thomas Anderson: American Cinema's Great Hope, Meryl Streep: The Greatest and John Wayne: The Great Performances. In addition he has written a biography of actor Robert Duvall
Robert Duvall
Robert Selden Duvall is an American actor and director. He has won an Academy Award, two Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards and a BAFTA over the course of his career....
which is currently awaiting publication.