Richard Stanley
Encyclopedia
Richard Stanley is an award-winning film director
and screenwriter
born in South Africa
. Stanley currently works and lives in Montségur, France
.
and anthropologist best known for her book Myths and Legends of Southern Africa. As a child Richard travelled extensively with her as she documented the folklore
and witchcraft of the subcontinent, spending his formative years in a world where 'magic' was still a fact of everyday life.
While still a student at the University of Cape Town
, where he studied anthropology
, Stanley worked for the archival department of the South African College of Music, filming tribal dance and initiation rituals. During the Angolan Bush War, Stanley was forced to relocate to London where he joined the COSAR, the Committee on South African War Resistors, and he became prominent in the anti-apartheid
movement.
where he joined the Young Filmmaker's Workshop. Here he created his first film, Rites of Passage. Shot on super-8 stock, the 10-minute short film draws comparisons between modern man and primitive man. The short eventually won Stanley the IAC International Student Film Trophy film award in 1984.
Stanley followed his first success with the ambitious 45-minute 8mm short Incidents in an Expanding Universe. Set in a future dystopia, the film laid the groundwork for Stanley's cyberpunk feature debut Hardware. It won the IAC Gold Seal Award and was eventually made available on the Severin DVD release of Hardware.
In the mid-1980s, Stanley began work on two more shorts. In A Season of Soft Rains was another futuristic journey, but a majority of the footage has been lost. Dust Devil was his first work on 16mm. Inspired by a series of unsolved murders in Namibia
, this short was unfinished but footage can be viewed on the Subversive Cinema DVD release of the feature Dust Devil
.
, Public Image Limited, and Renegade Soundwave
.
Also, in the late 1980s, Stanley traveled to Afghanistan
to document the Soviet war in Afghanistan
. Stanley and his crew witnessed the Soviet withdrawal and the country's slide into the civil war that would bring the Taliban to power. The resulting documentary, Voice of the Moon, is a 30-minute surreal look at the daily lives of the Afghani
people trying to survive. Stanley saw action in the siege of Jalalabad
, and the events surrounding his escape from the country, along with his wounded camera man, Immo Horn, later formed the basis of the screenplay Addicted to Danger, by Sebastian Junger
. The documentary is available on the Subversive Cinema DVD release of the feature Dust Devil
.
Hardware in 1990
. The film showcased Stanley's unique visual style and incorporated his music video roots by including cameos by musicians Iggy Pop
, Carl McCoy
and Lemmy. Shot for approximately £960,000, it was eventually picked up by the Weinstein brothers and released theatrically in the United States
through their Millimeter Films division.
Stanley returned to his South African roots with the supernatural
horror film
Dust Devil
in 1993
. Freed from the constraints of a small budget, Stanley effectively utilized atmospheric locations in South Africa to merge plot and character with sound and vision. Troubled in post-production with re-editing by distributor Miramax, the full director's cut was officially released on DVD by Subversive Cinema in September 2006.
In 1994, Stanley returned to the music video world by directing a 50-minute length video for Marillion
's concept album, Brave, which has since been released on DVD. He would later disown the end result, claiming the material was re-edited to cover the overall running time without his consent.
Stanley's next project was the third major movie version of the H. G. Wells
novel The Island of Doctor Moreau
for New Line Cinema
in 1996. Stanley originally wrote the screenplay
for the $35 million dollar The Island of Dr. Moreau
remake, but following a tumultuous first few days of shooting he was relieved of directorial duties. Stanley's script was re-worked by a new team of writers and the final product bares little resemblance to his original work.
. He completed The Secret Glory - an examination of SS
officer Otto Rahn
's search for the Holy Grail
- in 2001 and The White Darkness - a look at the voodoo practices in Haiti
- in 2002. Following several festival screenings worldwide, both documentaries appeared in the Dust Devil DVD box-set, released by Subversive Cinema in 2006.
, and has since been made available online and on the 2009 Severin DVD release of Hardware. The werewolf
short Black Tulips premiered online in September 2008.
Stanley returned to feature filmmaking as a contributing writer-director to the upcoming omnibus
The Theatre Bizarre
. Stanley's contribution is an adaptation of the short story Mother of Toads by Clark Ashton Smith
.
In addition to directing, Stanley has continued working as a screenwriter. He co-wrote the script for Nacho Cerdà's feature debut The Abandoned (2006) and delivered the screenplay for Cerdà's upcoming comic book
adaptation I Am Legion (2012). In addition, Stanley was a script collaborator on the Italian horror
-thriller Imago mortis (2009). Stanley also co-wrote the upcoming film adaptation of J.G. Ballard's High Rise with director Vincenzo Natali
.
Stanley has also remained busy in the online world of social media. He launched the interactive website Terra Umbra - Empire of Shadows in October 2009, an on-going inquiry into the invisible world and the hidden history of southern and central Europe. He also released the e-book
Shadow of the Grail - Magic and Mystery at Montsegur in December 2010.
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
and screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
born in South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
. Stanley currently works and lives in Montségur, France
Montségur
The Château de Montségur is a former fortress near Montségur, a commune in the Ariège department in southwestern France. Its ruins are the site of a razed stronghold of the Cathars. The present fortress on the site, though described as one of the "Cathar castles," is actually of a later period...
.
Early life
Richard Stanley was born in Fish Hoek, South Africa on November 22, 1966. His mother, Penny Miller, is an artistArtist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
and anthropologist best known for her book Myths and Legends of Southern Africa. As a child Richard travelled extensively with her as she documented the folklore
Folklore
Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...
and witchcraft of the subcontinent, spending his formative years in a world where 'magic' was still a fact of everyday life.
While still a student at the University of Cape Town
University of Cape Town
The University of Cape Town is a public research university located in Cape Town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. UCT was founded in 1829 as the South African College, and is the oldest university in South Africa and the second oldest extant university in Africa.-History:The roots of...
, where he studied anthropology
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
, Stanley worked for the archival department of the South African College of Music, filming tribal dance and initiation rituals. During the Angolan Bush War, Stanley was forced to relocate to London where he joined the COSAR, the Committee on South African War Resistors, and he became prominent in the anti-apartheid
Internal resistance to South African apartheid
Internal resistance to the apartheid system in South Africa came from several sectors of society and saw the creation of organisations dedicated variously to peaceful protests, passive resistance and armed insurrection. It came from both black activists like Steve Biko and Desmond Tutu as well as...
movement.
Early career (1983-1987)
Stanley's first foray into film making began in high schoolHigh school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
where he joined the Young Filmmaker's Workshop. Here he created his first film, Rites of Passage. Shot on super-8 stock, the 10-minute short film draws comparisons between modern man and primitive man. The short eventually won Stanley the IAC International Student Film Trophy film award in 1984.
Stanley followed his first success with the ambitious 45-minute 8mm short Incidents in an Expanding Universe. Set in a future dystopia, the film laid the groundwork for Stanley's cyberpunk feature debut Hardware. It won the IAC Gold Seal Award and was eventually made available on the Severin DVD release of Hardware.
In the mid-1980s, Stanley began work on two more shorts. In A Season of Soft Rains was another futuristic journey, but a majority of the footage has been lost. Dust Devil was his first work on 16mm. Inspired by a series of unsolved murders in Namibia
Namibia
Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia , is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. It gained independence from South Africa on 21 March...
, this short was unfinished but footage can be viewed on the Subversive Cinema DVD release of the feature Dust Devil
Dust Devil (1993 film)
Dust Devil is a 1993 horror film written and directed by Richard Stanley. The film was described as being like "Tarkovsky on acid" by Steve Beard of The Face.-Plot:...
.
Music videos (1987-1990)
Following the move to London, England, Stanley began establishing himself as a director of note in the world of music videos in 1987. He directed videos for various bands including Fields of the NephilimFields of the Nephilim
Fields of the Nephilim are an English gothic rock band formed in Stevenage, Hertfordshire in 1984. The original line-up consisted of vocalist Carl McCoy, saxophonist Gary Whisker, Tony Pettitt on bass, guitarist Paul Wright and drummer Alexander "Nod" Wright...
, Public Image Limited, and Renegade Soundwave
Renegade Soundwave
Renegade Soundwave was an electronic music group. Formed in London in 1986, the group originally consisted of Gary Asquith, Carl Bonnie and Danny Briottet.-History:...
.
Also, in the late 1980s, Stanley traveled to Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
to document the Soviet war in Afghanistan
Soviet war in Afghanistan
The Soviet war in Afghanistan was a nine-year conflict involving the Soviet Union, supporting the Marxist-Leninist government of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan against the Afghan Mujahideen and foreign "Arab–Afghan" volunteers...
. Stanley and his crew witnessed the Soviet withdrawal and the country's slide into the civil war that would bring the Taliban to power. The resulting documentary, Voice of the Moon, is a 30-minute surreal look at the daily lives of the Afghani
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
people trying to survive. Stanley saw action in the siege of Jalalabad
Jalalabad
Jalalabad , formerly called Adinapour, as documented by the 7th century Hsüan-tsang, is a city in eastern Afghanistan. Located at the junction of the Kabul River and Kunar River near the Laghman valley, Jalalabad is the capital of Nangarhar province. It is linked by approximately of highway with...
, and the events surrounding his escape from the country, along with his wounded camera man, Immo Horn, later formed the basis of the screenplay Addicted to Danger, by Sebastian Junger
Sebastian Junger
Sebastian Junger is an American author, journalist and documentarian, most famous for the best-selling book The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea, his award-winning chronicle of the war in Afghanistan in the 2010 movie Restrepo, and his 2010 book War.-Background:Junger was born...
. The documentary is available on the Subversive Cinema DVD release of the feature Dust Devil
Dust Devil (1993 film)
Dust Devil is a 1993 horror film written and directed by Richard Stanley. The film was described as being like "Tarkovsky on acid" by Steve Beard of The Face.-Plot:...
.
Mainstream breakthrough (1990-1996)
Stanley made his feature film directing debut with the post-apocalyptic science fiction filmScience fiction film
Science fiction film is a film genre that uses science fiction: speculative, science-based depictions of phenomena that are not necessarily accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial life forms, alien worlds, extrasensory perception, and time travel, often along with futuristic...
Hardware in 1990
1990 in film
The year 1990 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* CGI technique is expanded with motion capture for CGI characters, used in Total Recall .* The first digitally-manipulated matte painting is used, in Die Hard 2....
. The film showcased Stanley's unique visual style and incorporated his music video roots by including cameos by musicians Iggy Pop
Iggy Pop
Iggy Pop is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Though considered an innovator of punk rock, Pop's music has encompassed a number of styles over the years, including pop, metal, jazz and blues...
, Carl McCoy
Carl McCoy
Carl McCoy is the frontman for gothic rock band Fields of the Nephilim.-Biography:The band formed in the 1984. Following on from two EPs, their first album Dawnrazor was released in 1987...
and Lemmy. Shot for approximately £960,000, it was eventually picked up by the Weinstein brothers and released theatrically in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
through their Millimeter Films division.
Stanley returned to his South African roots with the supernatural
Supernatural fiction
Supernatural fiction is a literary genre exploiting or requiring as plot devices or themes some contradictions of the commonplace natural world and materialist assumptions about it....
horror film
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
Dust Devil
Dust Devil (1993 film)
Dust Devil is a 1993 horror film written and directed by Richard Stanley. The film was described as being like "Tarkovsky on acid" by Steve Beard of The Face.-Plot:...
in 1993
1993 in film
The year 1993 in film involved many significant films, including the blockbuster hits Jurassic Park, The Fugitive and The Firm. -Events:...
. Freed from the constraints of a small budget, Stanley effectively utilized atmospheric locations in South Africa to merge plot and character with sound and vision. Troubled in post-production with re-editing by distributor Miramax, the full director's cut was officially released on DVD by Subversive Cinema in September 2006.
In 1994, Stanley returned to the music video world by directing a 50-minute length video for Marillion
Marillion
Marillion are a British rock band, formed in Aylesbury, England in 1979. Their recorded studio output comprises sixteen albums generally regarded in two distinct eras, delineated by the departure of original vocalist & frontman Fish in late 1988, and the subsequent arrival of replacement Steve...
's concept album, Brave, which has since been released on DVD. He would later disown the end result, claiming the material was re-edited to cover the overall running time without his consent.
Stanley's next project was the third major movie version of the H. G. Wells
H. G. Wells
Herbert George Wells was an English author, now best known for his work in the science fiction genre. He was also a prolific writer in many other genres, including contemporary novels, history, politics and social commentary, even writing text books and rules for war games...
novel The Island of Doctor Moreau
The Island of Doctor Moreau
The Island of Doctor Moreau is an 1896 science fiction novel written by H. G. Wells. It is told from the point of view of a man named Edward Prendick who is shipwrecked, rescued by a passing boat, and then left at the ship's destination by the crew along with the ship's cargo of exotic animals...
for New Line Cinema
New Line Cinema
New Line Cinema, often simply referred to as New Line, is an American film studio. It was founded in 1967 by Robert Shaye and Michael Lynne as a film distributor, later becoming an independent film studio. It became a subsidiary of Time Warner in 1996 and was merged with larger sister studio Warner...
in 1996. Stanley originally wrote the screenplay
Screenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
for the $35 million dollar The Island of Dr. Moreau
The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996 film)
The Island of Dr. Moreau is a 1996 science fiction horror film, the third major movie version of the H. G. Wells novel The Island of Doctor Moreau about a scientist who attempts to convert animals into people...
remake, but following a tumultuous first few days of shooting he was relieved of directorial duties. Stanley's script was re-worked by a new team of writers and the final product bares little resemblance to his original work.
Documentaries
In the new millennium, Stanley returned to the world of documentariesDocumentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
. He completed The Secret Glory - an examination of SS
Schutzstaffel
The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...
officer Otto Rahn
Otto Rahn
Otto Wilhelm Rahn was a German medievalist and a Obersturmführer of the SS, born in Michelstadt, Germany....
's search for the Holy Grail
Holy Grail
The Holy Grail is a sacred object figuring in literature and certain Christian traditions, most often identified with the dish, plate, or cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper and said to possess miraculous powers...
- in 2001 and The White Darkness - a look at the voodoo practices in Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
- in 2002. Following several festival screenings worldwide, both documentaries appeared in the Dust Devil DVD box-set, released by Subversive Cinema in 2006.
In the 21st century
Stanley's most recent cinematic efforts include a number of short films. Children of the Kingdom appeared in the short-film collection Europe - 99euro-films 2 in 2003. The science fiction story The Sea of Perdition premiered in October 2006 at the Festival de Cine de SitgesFestival de Cine de Sitges
The Sitges Film Festival is a Spanish film festival that is one of the most recognizable ones held in Europe, considered the world's foremost international festival specializing in fantasy and horror movies...
, and has since been made available online and on the 2009 Severin DVD release of Hardware. The werewolf
Werewolf
A werewolf, also known as a lycanthrope , is a mythological or folkloric human with the ability to shapeshift into a wolf or an anthropomorphic wolf-like creature, either purposely or after being placed under a curse...
short Black Tulips premiered online in September 2008.
Stanley returned to feature filmmaking as a contributing writer-director to the upcoming omnibus
Omnibus
Omnibus may refer to:Law* Omnibus bill, a single legislative document containing many laws or amendments* Omnibus spending bill, a single legislative document that sets the budget of many government departments* Omnibus clause* Omnibus hearing...
The Theatre Bizarre
The Theatre Bizarre
The Theatre Bizaree is a 2011 horror anthology film. The six segments are directed by Douglas Buck, Buddy Giovinazzo, David Gregory, Karim Hussain, Tom Savini and Richard Stanley.-Cast:*James Gill as Donnie*Kaniehtiio Horn as The Writer...
. Stanley's contribution is an adaptation of the short story Mother of Toads by Clark Ashton Smith
Clark Ashton Smith
Clark Ashton Smith was a self-educated American poet, sculptor, painter and author of fantasy, horror and science fiction short stories. He achieved early local recognition, largely through the enthusiasm of George Sterling, for traditional verse in the vein of Swinburne...
.
In addition to directing, Stanley has continued working as a screenwriter. He co-wrote the script for Nacho Cerdà's feature debut The Abandoned (2006) and delivered the screenplay for Cerdà's upcoming comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
adaptation I Am Legion (2012). In addition, Stanley was a script collaborator on the Italian horror
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
-thriller Imago mortis (2009). Stanley also co-wrote the upcoming film adaptation of J.G. Ballard's High Rise with director Vincenzo Natali
Vincenzo Natali
Vincenzo Natali is an American-Canadian film director and screenwriter, best known for writing and directing science fiction films such as Cube, Nothing and Splice.-Early life:...
.
Stanley has also remained busy in the online world of social media. He launched the interactive website Terra Umbra - Empire of Shadows in October 2009, an on-going inquiry into the invisible world and the hidden history of southern and central Europe. He also released the e-book
E-book
An electronic book is a book-length publication in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, and produced on, published through, and readable on computers or other electronic devices. Sometimes the equivalent of a conventional printed book, e-books can also be born digital...
Shadow of the Grail - Magic and Mystery at Montsegur in December 2010.
Filmography
- I Am Legion (2012) - writer
- High Rise (2012) - co-writer
- The Theatre BizarreThe Theatre BizarreThe Theatre Bizaree is a 2011 horror anthology film. The six segments are directed by Douglas Buck, Buddy Giovinazzo, David Gregory, Karim Hussain, Tom Savini and Richard Stanley.-Cast:*James Gill as Donnie*Kaniehtiio Horn as The Writer...
(2011) - anthology; writer-director - Imago Mortis (2009) - co-writer
- Black Tulips (2008) - short; writer-director
- The Abandoned (2006) - co-writer
- The Sea of Perdition (2006) - short; writer-director
- Children of the Kingdom (2003) - short; writer-director
- The White Darkness (2002) - writer-director
- The Secret Glory (2001) - writer-director
- The Island of Dr. MoreauThe Island of Dr. Moreau (1996 film)The Island of Dr. Moreau is a 1996 science fiction horror film, the third major movie version of the H. G. Wells novel The Island of Doctor Moreau about a scientist who attempts to convert animals into people...
- co-writer - Brave (1994) - long-form music video; director
- Fields of the Nephilim: Revelations (1993) (segment "Preacher Man" and "Blue Water")
- Dust DevilDust Devil (1993 film)Dust Devil is a 1993 horror film written and directed by Richard Stanley. The film was described as being like "Tarkovsky on acid" by Steve Beard of The Face.-Plot:...
(1992) - writer-director - Hardware (1990) - writer-director
- Voice of the Moon (1990) - documentary short; writer-director
- In a Season of Soft Rains (1986) - short; writer-director
- Incidents in an Expanding Universe (1985) - short; writer-director
- Rites of Passage (1983) - short
External links
- Richard Stanley at FacebookFacebookFacebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
- Between Death and the Devil - The unofficial Richard Stanley Website
- Unfilmable's 2010 interview with Stanley
- Richard Stanley & co-directors talk The Theatre Bizarre
- Not Coming to a Theater Near You interview with Stanley
- The Quietus interview
- Total Sci-Fi interview