William Friedkin August 29 1935 August 7 2023 was an American film director producer and screenwriter best known for directing The French Connection 1971 and The Exorcist 1973 for the former he won the Academy Award for Best Director Some of his other notable films include The Boys in the Band 1970 Sorcerer 1977 Cruising 1980 To Live and Die in LA 1985 Blue Chips 1994 Jade 1995 Rules of Engagement 2000 The Hunted 2003 Bug 2006 and Killer Joe 2011 In 1965 Friedkin moved to Hollywood and two years later released his first feature film Good Times starring Sonny and Cher Several other art films followed including the adaptation of Mart Crowleys The Boys in the Band and most notably The Birthday Party based on an unpublished screenplay by Harold Pinter which he adapted from his own play Friedkin however did not want to be known as an art house director but rather for action and serious drama through stories about an America upended by crime hypocrisy the occult and amorality All of which he mounted up into his films to reflect what was going on in an America that was changing in the wake of Vietnam the Sexual Revolution and Watergate In 1971 his The French Connection was released to wide critical acclaim Shot in a gritty style more suited for documentaries than Hollywood features the film won five Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director Friedkin followed up with 1973s The Exorcist based on William Peter Blattys bestselling novel which revolutionized the horror genre and is considered by some critics to be one of the greatest horror movies of all time The Exorcist was nominated for 10 Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director It won the Best Screenplay and Best Sound Mixing Following these two pictures Friedkin along with Francis Ford Coppola and Peter Bogdanovich was deemed one of the premier directors of New Hollywood In 1973 the trio announced the formation of an independent production company at Paramount The Directors Company Whereas Coppola directed The Conversation and Bogdanovich the Henry James adaptation Daisy Miller Friedkin abruptly left the company which was soon closed by Paramount Friedkins later movies did not achieve the same success Throughout the 1980s and 1990s Friedkins films received mostly lackluster reviews and moderate ticket sales However his actioncrime movie To Live and Die in LA 1985 starring William Petersen and Willem Dafoe was a critical favorite and drew comparisons to Friedkins own The French Connection particularly for its carchase sequence In 2011 Friedkin directed Killer Joe a black comedy written by Tracy Letts and starring Matthew McConaughey Killer Joe premiered at the 68th Venice International Film Festival prior to its North American debut at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival In April 2013 Friedkin published a memoir The Friedkin Connection He was presented with a lifetime achievement award at the 70th Venice International Film Festival in September
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