Brian De Palma

Brian Russell De Palma ([de ˈpalma]; born September 11, 1940) is an American filmmaker. A major figure of the New Hollywood generation, he is best known for his work in the suspense, crime, and psychological thriller genres in a career spanning more than five decades. De Palma became enraptured with filmmaking after seeing Orson Welles' Citizen Kane (1941) and Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958). After enrolling at Columbia University, he enrolled at the newly coed Sarah Lawrence College; once there, influences as various impressed upon De Palma the many styles and themes that would shape his work in the coming decades. Several of his first films has become cult classics. He made his breakthrough with Carrie (1976), which was adaptation of Stephen King's novel of the same name, gained him prominence as a young filmmaker. De Palma has since enjoyed commercial success with The Fury (1978), Dressed to Kill (1980), The Untouchables (1987), and Mission: Impossible (1996), making cult classics such as Scarface (1983), Carlito's Way (1992), and Femme Fatale (2002). As a young director, De Palma dreamed of being the "American Jean-Luc Godard". His style is allusive: he paid homage to Alfred Hitchcock in Obsession (1976), Dressed to Kill, and Body Double (1984); Blow Out (1981) is based on Michelangelo Antonioni's Blowup (1966); and Scarface, his remake of Howard Hawks' 1932 film, is dedicated to Hawks and Ben Hecht. De Palma's work has been criticized for its violence and sexual content but has also been championed by American critics such as Roger Ebert and Pauline Kael. Carrie has been inducted into the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress. In 2015, he was interviewed about his work in a well-received documentary by Noah Baumbach.

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