SPEAKERS
JONATHAN
SANGER
In 1978,
Jonathan Sanger made his solo debut as a producer by interesting Mel Brooks'
new production company Brooksfilms Ltd., in a small film to be directed
by David Lynch in England. The Elephant Man, an emotionally wrenching
story photographed in black and white and starring John Hurt and Anthony
Hopkins, made a strong impact on critics and audiences alike, and was rewarded
with eight Academy Award nominations in 1980, as well as the British Academy
Award for Best Motion Picture and the French Cesar Award. Sanger's next
project as producer was the equally passionate story of actress Frances
Farmer. Frances, staring Jessica Lang, Kim Stanley and Sam Shepard,
received two Oscar nominations, for Lang as Best Actress and Stanley as
Best Supporting Actress.
In 1985,
he made his directorial debut with Code Name: Emerald, a World War
II spy drama filmed in Paris for NBC's feature film division starring Ed
Harris, Max von Sydow and Eric Stoltz. That same year, Sanger produced
The
Doctor and the Devils, a 20th Century Fox film starring Jonathan Pryce,
Timothy Dalton and Twiggy. In 1986, he executive produced Flight of
the Navigator for Walt Disney Productions. The film received the Best
Picture Award from the Academy of Family Films and Television.
In 1987,
Sanger formed Chanticleer Films and created The Discovery Program. The
program is designed to present showcase opportunities to film industry
professionals who wish to cross over into directing. More than 50 short
films have been produced including the Academy Award-winning and internationally
acclaimed Ray's Male Heterosexual Dance Hall, as well as the 1992
Academy Award winner, Session Man. Additionally Chanticleer received
6 more Academy Award nominations, and all of the Discovery Program shorts
have won awards at international film festivals. Discovery Program films
have aired on PBS and currently can be seen on Showtime as well as in many
international markets.
Since
making the crossover from producer to director, Sanger has directed more
than fifteen episodic television shows, including Twin Peaks, WiseGuy,
and
L.A. Law. He also wrote and directed the short film entitled
Peacemaker
with Lucas Haas for PBS' American Playhouse which won the Houston International
Film Festival's First Prize for Best Short Subject in 1989.
Sanger's
first television movie was CBS's Children of the Bride, starring
Rue McClanahan, Patrick Duffy and Kristy McNichol. In the past two years
Sanger has directed three movies of the week: NBC's Chance of a Lifetime,
starring Betty White and Leslie Nielsen; NBC's Just My Imagination,
starring Jean Smart and Tom Wopat; and ABC's Obsessed, starring
Shannen Doherty and William Devane. He also executive produced Lush
Life, a movie for Showtime starring Jeff Goldblum and Forest Whitaker.
In 1995 he directed Down Came a Blackbird for Showtime. The film
starred Laura Dern, Raul Julia, and Vanessa Redgrave.
For the
past two years Sanger has been working as an executive producer / head
of production for Cruise/Wagner Productions, a film company and partnership
of Paula Wagner and Tom Cruise. The most recent film he executive produced
for the company is the recent Warner Brothers release Without Limits,
which was written and directed by Robert Towne.