Brian De Palma Net Worth

Brian De Palma's Quotes

• The camera lies all the time; lies 24 times/second.
• [on why he would not add rap songs to the soundtrack of Scarface (1983)] They said it would help promotion, presenting the film in a different way, but Giorgio's [composer Giorgio Moroder] music was true to the period, I argued - and no one changes the scores on movies by Martin Scorsese, John Ford, David Lean. If this is the "masterpiece" you say, leave it alone. I fought them tooth and nail and was the odd man out, not an unusual place for me. I have final cut, so that stopped them dead.
• I'm astounded there aren't more American political films. I'm amazed, when you can make movies for nothing, there are not people out there making these incredibly angry anti-war movies. How come? [Sept.2006]
• I've never been accepted as that conventional artist. Whatever you say about David Lynch or Martin Scorsese, they are considered major film artists and nobody can argue with that. I've never had that. I've had people say it about me. And I've had people say that I'm a complete hack and, you know, derivative and all those catchphrases that people use for me. So I've always been controversial. People hate me or love me.
• My films deal with a stylized, expressionistic world that has a kind of grotesque beauty about it.

Interesting Facts about Brian De Palma

1. Won top prize in regional Science Fair in high school. Project was "An Analog Computer to Solve Differential Equations." Cf. computer nerd in Dressed to Kill (1980).
2. De Palma graduated from Friends' Central School, a small quaker school outside of Philadelphia
3. De Palma bases his most famous cinematic predilection, voyeurism, on a specific childhood incident. When he was a child, his parents split up, his mother accusing his father of infidelity. The young De Palma spent several days stalking his dad with recording equipment, hoping to find evidence to confirm his mother's suspicions.
4. Uncle of actor Cameron De Palma.
5. In the 1970s, De Palma helped a close friend on a film project. He helped audition and interview actors. When the film was shot, DePalma did some uncredited writing on an opening "scrawl," a device the friend thought of at the last minute to help explain events in the film, so the audience would not be confused. The friend was George Lucas and the film was Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977).
6. First child with Gale Anne Hurd, Lolita, born September 19, 1991.
7. Second daughter, Piper De Palma, born October 21 1996 in Palo Alto, California.
8. Younger brother of photographer Bart De Palma.
9. Italian-American.
10. Is a huge fan of Bruce Springsteen and directed him in the music video "Dancing in the Dark".
11. Wrote the role of the call girl in Dressed to Kill (1980) specifically with his then wife Nancy Allen in mind.
12. Member of the 'Platform' jury at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in 2016.
13. Ex-stepfather of The O.C. (2003) actress Willa Holland and Brianna Holland.
14. Received a special thanks credit in Mean Streets (1973) for introducing Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro to one another.
15. His three favorite films are Lawrence of Arabia (1962), The Red Shoes (1948) and Vertigo (1958).
16. Revealed in an interview with French TV that a dream project since he started making movies has been an adaptation of the Alfred Bester novel "The Demolished Man". He said it's still a dream project because of its incalculable cost to produce.
17. Has directed 3 actors to Oscar nominations: Sissy Spacek (Best Actress, Carrie (1976)), Piper Laurie (Best Supporting Actress, Carrie (1976)), and Sean Connery (Best Supporting Actor, The Untouchables (1987)). Connery won an Oscar for his performance.
18. De Palma hasn't shot a film in America since Mission to Mars (2000). His last 5 features were shot in France, Bulgaria, Jordan, Germany, Denmark, Italy, Belgium, Spain and the Netherlands.
19. Holds the dubious distinction of being the director with the most nominations for Worst Director at the Razzie Awards. He was nominated for Dressed to Kill (1980), Scarface (1983), Body Double (1984), The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990) and Mission to Mars (2000), but failed to win for any of these films.
20. Two of his films, Sisters (1972) and Blow Out (1981), are in the Criterion Collection.