Martin Brest

Martin Brest
Born	(1951-08-08) August 8, 1951 The Bronx, New York City, U.S.
Education	New York University (Bachelor of Fine Arts) American Film Institute (Master of Fine Arts)
Occupation	Film director producer screenwriter
Years active	1979–present
Notable work	Beverly Hills Cop Midnight Run Scent of a Woman Meet Joe Black Going in Style Hot Dogs for Gauguin

Martin Brest (born August 8, 1951) is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer.

Education

Brest was born in the Bronx, New York, and graduated from Stuyvesant High School in 1969, from New York University's School of the Arts in 1973 and from the AFI Conservatory with an Master of Fine Arts in 1977.

Career

His major studio debut was Going in Style (1979), which starred George Burns, Art Carney, and Lee Strasberg. Brest was then hired to direct WarGames (1983), which starred Matthew Broderick, but he was fired during production and replaced with John Badham.

Brest then directed Beverly Hills Cop (1984), starring Eddie Murphy. The film grossed over $300 million worldwide and received Golden Globe nominations for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy and for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, Eddie Murphy, as well as an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay.

Brest was in pre-production for Rain Man (1988), when he cast Tom Cruise in the role opposite Dustin Hoffman, before Barry Levinson eventually directed the film.

Brest's next film was the action-comedy Midnight Run (1988), starring Robert De Niro and Charles Grodin. The film was another critical and commercial success, earning Brest another Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy as well as a Best Actor Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy nomination for De Niro.

His work on Scent of a Woman (1992) earned him a Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama. The film also won Golden Globes for Al Pacino and screenwriter Bo Goldman, as well as a Best Supporting Actor nomination for Chris O'Donnell. In addition, the film received four Academy Award nominations: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay (Adapted), with Al Pacino winning Best Actor.

Brest's next film, Meet Joe Black (1998), starring Brad Pitt and Anthony Hopkins, was a loose remake of 1934's Death Takes a Holiday. The film had an American box-office return of $44.6 million, taking in an additional $98.3 million overseas for a worldwide total of $142.9 million.

Brest wrote and directed Gigli (2003), starring Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez. During filming, production company Revolution Studios took creative control from him, resulting in a radically re-written and re-shot version of the original film being released. That version became one of the more notorious films of its time, with a scathing critical reception. A 2014 article in Playboy observed that he appeared to have left public life entirely after Gigli's release, but in 2021, he appeared as a featured guest at a screening of Beverly Hills Cop and Midnight Run in Los Angeles, where he was interviewed by fellow filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson.

Brest has received the America Film Institute’s Franklin J. Schaffner Award, which “celebrates the recipient’s extraordinary creative talents and artistic achievements.”

His 1972 New York University student film Hot Dogs for Gauguin, starring a then unknown Danny DeVito, was one of 25 films chosen in 2009 by the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress to "be preserved as cultural, artistic and/or historical treasures".

Filmography

Year	Title	Director	Producer	Screenwriter	Editor	Actor	Role	Notes
1972	Hot Dogs for Gauguin	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Man on Ferry	NYU student film
1977	Hot Tomorrows	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No		American Film Institute
1979	Going in Style	Yes	No	Yes	No	No		directorial debut
1982	Fast Times at Ridgemont High	No	No	No	No	Yes	Dr. Miller
1984	Beverly Hills Cop	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Clerk	uncredited role
1985	Spies Like Us	No	No	No	No	Yes	Drive-In Security Guard
1988	Midnight Run	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	Airline Ticket Clerk	uncredited role
1992	Scent of a Woman	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
1993	Josh and S.A.M.	No	Yes	No	No	No
1998	Meet Joe Black	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
2003	Gigli	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No

Awards

Film	Awards
Beverly Hills Cop	nominated – Golden Globe Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
Midnight Run	nominated – Golden Globe Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
Scent of a Woman	won – Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama nominated – Academy Award for Best Picture nominated – Academy Award for Best Director nominated – Producers Guild of America Award for Best Theatrical Motion Picture
Gigli	Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Picture Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Director Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Screenplay

External links

• Martin Brest at the Internet Movie Database