Remembering Richard Donner (1930-2021)
The word “legend” is often thrown around and misused when talking about certain artists, but it certainly applied to Richard Donner. The Hollywood filmmaker passed away on July 5, 2021, at the age of 91, a passing more tragic for what it represents than for the death itself: the end of an era of classical mainstream entertainment that has since changed and warped many times.
Richard Donner had quite the career. Working in many genres and mediums he reshaped American blockbusters in such a way that his influence is still felt to this day. Starting off as a television director and writer in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s, working on forgotten western shows like Wanted Dead or Alive, The Rifleman, and The Wild Wild West, he broke into the mainstream with his fourth feature film: 1976’s The Omen. Now a part of the blueprint for every horror dealing with demonic possession, at the time it was a box office success worldwide and popularized the genre by adding an extra layer of mystery, adventure, and pessimism that was revived by The Exorcist and Texas Chainsaw Massacre just a few years before. He revitalized Gregory Peck’s career late in his life for one final series of movies, and the film’s influence can be felt on many chillers of today’s era, like The Conjuring, Orphan, and Hereditary.
The critical and financial success of The Omen prompted producers Alexander and Ilya Salkind to hire Donner to direct Superman in 1978, after they failed to secure Steven Spielberg’s involvement. If his 1976 classic brought the “creepy children” subgenre back to the forefront of horror, then Superman made superheroes cool for both young and old. The special effects were unparalleled for the time, the Mario Puzo-penned script had plenty of genuine drama for the director to work with, and the all-star cast of Christopher Reeve, Marlon Brando, Gene Hackman, Ned Beatty and Margot Kidder added a level of legitimacy and prestige to the entire production.
Donner had a level of creative input on Superman that is unheard of in today’s crowded superhero market, and, even though he delivered a true classic that changed how blockbusters were made, his vision to shoot both the original and its sequel back to back did not go well with producer Pierre Spengler. He ended up scrapping much of the footage that had already been shot for Superman II and hired Richard Lester to finish the project. While understandably bitter, Richard Donner kept working in Hollywood with a good amount of success, directing the cult classics Ladyhawke, The Goonies, and Scrooged, childhood favourites of many, in addition to executive producing Tales from the Crypt and its subsequent revivals.
Finally, Donner had a hand in bringing about the massive success of the action-comedy genre with his quadrilogy of Lethal Weapon movies. The pairing of jaded Danny Glover and deranged Mel Gibson ushered in a new era of buddy cop movies, where the chemistry between the leads and exaggerated action set-pieces trumped the police procedural elements. During the ‘90s Donner also ended up directing the first script by the Wachowski sisters (Assassins) and executive produced both Any Given Sunday and the first X-Men film, thus impacting on the budding renaissance of the comic book movie, which continues to this day. His final two films (the Michael Crichton adaptation of Timeline and Bruce Willis vehicle 16 Blocks) came and went with little to no fanfare.
On October 16, 2008, both Donner and his wife and long-time producer Lauren Shuler Donner received stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, fully cementing them as two fundamental players in the history of American cinema. Richard Donner has had an eventful career, one that was not overstuffed with projects, but the few that he did work on made an impact that many filmmakers can only dream of. Let us remember him for his terrific contributions to the seventh art, and for making kids and adults believe that a man could indeed fly in the air.