Joel Schumacher

Joel Schumacher directed The Lost Boys by taking it over: to the AFI, the production was to have been directed by Richard Donner from the start, and when he moved to Lethal Weapon the reins were left to Schumacher. The page also describes the screenplay's first form, resting on Tim Kane's book: the main characters were fifth and sixth graders, the Frog brothers were eight-year-old scouts, and Star was a boy. By Kane it was Schumacher who changed the ages and turned Star into Michael's female lover. His own words are on the page too: he says he was an admirer of vampire stories and wanted to add something original to that long tradition and to have fun without falling into camp, and he explains that dressing the set with pieces from different periods reconciled the film's modern vampires with their mythological past. Six years later he directed Falling Down, and Vincent Canby's piece in the New York Times praised his direction as bold and exceptionally capable.