Eli Roth Biography
Summary
"Eli Roth" (born April 18, 1972) is an American film director, producer, writer, and actor.
He established himself as a brand name director after his first film "Cabin Fever", with name-above-the-title billing on all of his films since. Roth has done so without the support of mainstream press, and mainly uses the internet to promote his films and connect with his fans. Roth is considered the pioneer member of a group of filmmakers recently dubbed the Splat Pack (a play on the term Rat Pack, referring to a group of 1950s/1960s entertainers), because of their close ties to one another and their dedication to the horror genre.
Biography
Early Life
Roth was born in Boston, Massachusetts to Dr. Sheldon Roth, a psychiatrist/psychoanalyst and professor at Harvard University, and Cora Roth, a painter. He had a Jewish upbringing.
Roth began shooting films at the age of eight after watching Ridley Scott's "Alien" (1979). He made over 50 short films with his brothers Adam and Gabe before graduating at Newton South High School and attending film school (the Tisch School of the Arts) at New York University, from which he graduated in 1994.
By the age of 20, and while still a student at NYU, Roth was an intern / office manager / development head for producer Frederick Zollo, eventually leaving to devote himself to writing full-time. To earn his living, Roth did budgets and schedules for films such as "A Price Above Rubies" and "Illuminata".
After chatting together at her mother's seder, actress Camryn Manheim gave Roth one of his first jobs in Hollywood, putting him on as an extra on "The Practice" when he first moved to Los Angeles. (Roth had originally met Manheim in NYC at a 1993 premiere.) Roth would stay in Manheim's dressing room working on his scripts while she filmed the show. Roth also met Manheim's cousin Howie Nuchow (former EVP of Mandalay Sports Entertainment and also from the Boston, MA area) at this same seder -- this led to Roth's two animation projects in the years that followed. Roth also co-wrote a project called 'The Extra' with Manheim; Manheim would later sell the pitch to producer (and former CEO and Chairman of Fox Studios) Bill Mechanic's Pandemonium company.
Early creative works
In his final years (1993/1994) at NYU film school, Roth wrote and directed a B&W short film called "Restaurant Dogs" as an homage to (and parody of) Quentin Tarantino's "Reservoir Dogs". Roth claims to have won a Student Academy Award in 1995 for the film, although the Academy's Web site has no record of this. Roth also wrote and directed a short film called "Menace of the Monkey" in which a stuffed animal terrorizes and murders several young adults.
Through his internship with producer Fred Zollo in years prior, Roth met David Lynch, and Roth remained in contact with Lynch over the years, eventually assisting Lynch with his fledgling website in the late 1990s. Roth met film and TV composer Angelo Badalamenti through Lynch; Roth would later use Badalamenti's music in his first feature film. Roth also met a member of special effects company KNB EFX through Lynch; KNB EFX would later contribute to his first feature.
Roth moved from NYC to LA in 1999; shortly thereafter Roth wrote, directed, edited, produced and provided voices for a series of animated shorts called "Chowdaheads" for Mandalay Sports Entertainment. The shorts were intended to be shown between WCW Monday Nitro pro wrestling matches, but the deal fell through at the last minute and they were never actually broadcast, despite being completed. Roth's friend Noah Belson co-wrote the shorts and provided additional character voices.
After receiving $40,000 from the website Z.com to deliver a 5-minute pilot, Roth wrote, directed and produced a series of stop-motion shorts in mid-2000 called "The Rotten Fruit". The company (z.com) folded shortly after several episodes were completed, and the domain name 'z.com' was picked up by Nissan years later to promote their sports car of the same name. A portion of the work for "The Rotten Fruit" was done at the Snake Pit studios in Burbank using miniature sets, poseable clay and foam figures, two high-end digital still cameras, and a pair of Macintosh computers. Roth's friend Noah Belson co-wrote the shorts and provided additional character voices.
Cabin Fever
In 1995, a year after graduating from NYU, Roth co-wrote "Cabin Fever" with his roommate and friend from NYU Randy Pearlstein. Roth based the premise of the script on his own unfortunate encounter with a flesh-eating virus he contracted while working in a horse stable in Iceland years prior. Much of the script was written while Roth was working as a production assistant for Howard Stern's movie "Private Parts"; Stern remembered and congratulated Roth on his January 11 2006 radio show.
Roth's NYU classmate Evan Astrowsky agreed to sign on as a producer for Cabin Fever; Astrowsky brought the project to a pair of producers he had worked with before, Lauren Moews and the North Carolina-based Sam Froelich. They were eventually able to raise enough money to begin production. Cabin Fever was filmed in 2001 on a shoestring budget of $1.5 million (raised with private investors, including Roth's own father) despite numerous clashes with picketing union members in North Carolina. Cabin Fever was sold at the 2002 Toronto Film Festival for $3.5 million dollars after a massive bidding war between eight studios. It was the biggest sale of the festival that year. Cabin Fever made $30,553,394 theatrically worldwide. It was the highest grossing film for Lionsgate that year (who also committed $12 million to prints and advertising for the film).
Lionsgate used the theatrical success of "Cabin Fever" to raise the money to purchase Artisan Entertainment. Lionsgate's stock rose from $1.98 a share at the time "Cabin Fever" was purchased at the Toronto Film Festival to nearly $6 a share after 'Cabin Fever' was released theatrically.
Hostel
Roth's second feature film, "Hostel", was made on a budget of a little more than $4 million, in 2005. It opened to #1 at the box office in January of 2006, taking in $20 million dollars opening weekend, and knocking out "The Chronicles of Narnia" from the #1 spot. It went on to gross $80 million worldwide in box office, and over $180 million worldwide on DVD. In April of 2006, on Eli Roth's birthday, "Hostel" opened on DVD at #1, again outselling "The Chronicles of Narnia", which had opened at the #1 sales slot only one week prior. The movie takes place in Slovakia, where three college students visit a hostel, where they think that all of their sexual fantasies will come true. Instead, they find an international syndicate with the express purpose of torturing and killing backpackers for the sadistic pleasures of rich businessmen. The film pushed the boundaries of realistic violence and was voted the #1 scariest movie moment on the Bravo TV special "100 Scariest Movie Moments: Even Scarier Moments". Empire Magazine readers voted the 'Hostel' Best Horror Film of 2006. In October 2007 H.M.V. stores annual horror poll ranked 'Hostel' as one of the ten scariest horror films of all time. It was the only film on the list made after 1988.
Roth reportedly turned down numerous studio directing jobs to make "Hostel." Roth took a directing salary of only $10,000 on "Hostel" in order to keep the budget as low as possible, so there would be no limitations on the violence. Roth shot the film as an NC-17 movie, but the film passed through the ratings board with an R.
In January 2006, film critic David Edelstein in "New York Magazine" credited Roth with creating the horror sub-genre 'torture porn,' or 'gorno,' using excessive violence to excite audiences like a sexual act. Although Roth loved the article, many critics shortly thereafter began using the term to describe horror as a sub-genre of porn. Roth has publicly spoken out against these critics (not Edelstein), saying it exemplifies how critics are always quick to reduce horror to a sub-class of pornography, and that many horror films are much smarter and better made than critics give them credit for. Writer and Attorney Julie Hilden denounced the term 'Torture Porn' and defended the 'Hostel' films and free speech in her legal essay: 'Torture Porn: Why are Critics so Hostile towards Hostel II?' http://writ.news.findlaw.com/hilden/20070716.html
Thanksgiving
In 2007, Roth directed the fake trailer segment "Thanksgiving" for "Grindhouse", in addition to acting in "Death Proof", Quentin Tarantino's segment of the film. Roth and co-writer Jeff Rendell won a 2007 Spike TV Scream Award for Best Screamplay for their writing in 'Grindhouse,' sharing the award with Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez, Rob Zombie, and Edgar Wright.
Hostel II
While "Hostel Part II" did not produce the same box office results as the first "Hostel," the production costs were a mere $10 million dollars, and earned close to $30 million dollars worldwide within three weeks of its release, and was nominated for six Spike TV 'Scream Awards,' more than any other horror film that year. Roth was nominated for Best Director, and along with singer Amy Lee introduced the grand finale of the show, an all star tribute to Alice Cooper.
Other projects
Roth is working on other film projects, including an adaptation of the Stephen King novel "Cell". He also talked about doing a film called "Trailer Trash"; a film made of fake trailers; according to an appearance on G4. Roth confirms that MGM will be releasing Trailer Trash on August 22 of next year, Roth was quoted saying 'Trailer Trash is not a horror film, it's a comedy. It will be very R-rated and completely insane, and I'm producing it with Mike Fleiss'.
Roth has been a guest on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live,' 'Your World Today with Neil Cavuto,' 'The Howard Stern Show,' 'Late Night With Conan O'Brien,' and served as a guest judge on the filmmaking reality series 'On The Lot.' He has been profiled and interviewed in the New York Times, G.Q., Elle Magazine, Maxim, Le Monde, La Republica, Time Out: London, Time Magazine, Empire Magazine, Premiere, and Italian Vogue. Dolce & Gabana and Nike give him clothes for all his public appearances. Roth has also appeared three times as an answer in the New York Times Sunday crossword puzzle.
'Men's Fitness' magazine voted Roth Most Fit Director in their July 2006 issue, a title Roth takes very seriously with a strict workout routine that he documents on the 'Hostel' DVDs. Roth claims he treats every red carpet like it was a Milan runway, and often jokes that he only makes films as a way to live out his lifelong dream of being a male supermodel. He spoke of his love for fashion in his interview in the October 2007 issue of Italian Vogue.
Other Work
Roth is an accomplished animator, having written, produced, directed, animated and voiced two series: "Chowdaheads" (1999) and "The Rotten Fruit" (2000). "Chowdaheads" was co-written and co-voiced with friend Noah Belson, and was made with traditional hand-drawn animation. "The Rotten Fruit", which Roth again co-wrote and co-voiced with Belson, was made with stop-motion animation done with foam puppets.
Roth participated in a DVD audio commentary for "Blood Sucking Freaks". The DVD is one of the highest selling DVDs for Troma. Roth often makes uncredited cameos in Troma films, thanks to NYU friend Gabe Friedman, a Troma editor also hailing from the Boston, MA area.
Filmography
Director
"Cabin Fever" (2002)
"Hostel" (2005)
"Grindhouse" (2007) (fake trailer segment 'Thanksgiving')
"Hostel: Part II" (2007)
"Cell" (2009)
Writer
Films
"Cabin Fever" (2002)
"Hostel" (2005)
"Grindhouse" (2007) (fake trailer segment 'Thanksgiving')
"Hostel: Part II" (2007)
Television
"Chowdaheads" (1999) (animated)
"The Rotten Fruit" (2003) (animated)
"MTV Movie Awards" (2004) (animation sequences)
"Heroes: Origins" (2008) (to write & direct episode)
External links
Credit
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article about Eli Roth.
