About
| Birth Notes: | 26 July 1943, New York City, New York, USA |
| Height: | 6' 1" |
| Family: | * 'George-Ann Spota' (19 December 1964 - present); 3 children |
| Biography: | 'Peter Hyams' (qv) was born in New York on July 26, 1943, and attended Hunter College Elementary School. He studied art and music at the Art Students League, and the high school of Music And Art, as well as at Syracuse University, where he majored in music and art. Even before he became a CBS-News anchor man in New York at the age of 21, Hyams had been a drummer with such important jazz musicians as Bill Evans and Maynard Ferguson and had played at Birdland, Small's Paradise and the Newport Jazz Festival. His paintings have hung in such prestigious galleries as the Whitney Museum of American Art. Hyams brings to film direction essential elements of music and painting. From music comes a special sensitivity to structure and rhythm; from painting a heightened sense of light and color. These important insights help Hyams to achieve his goal of creating films which "reach people's emotions, not their minds." Peter Hyams is six-foot-one-inch tall and lives in Brentwood California with his wife George-Ann. He has three sons, Chris, John, and Nick. |
Filmography
| Tales from the Script (2009) as Himself |
| 2010 (1984) |
| A Sound of Thunder (2005) |
| End of Days (1999) |
| Hanover Street (1979) |
| Outland (1981) |
| Peeper (1975) |
| Stay Tuned (1992) |
| Sudden Death (1995) |
| Timecop (1994) |
| 2010: The Odyssey Continues (1984) as Himself |
| Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (2009) |
| Busting (1974) |
| Capricorn One (1977) |
| Narrow Margin (1990) |
| Our Time (1974) |
| Running Scared (1986) |
| The Musketeer (2001) |
| The Presidio (1988) |
| The Relic (1997) |
| The Star Chamber (1983) |
Trivia
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* Onetime Chicago news anchorman. * Grandson of Sol Hurok. * One of the few writer/directors of major films who also serves as his own cinematographer. * "Spota" (the name used in most Hyams movies) is his wife's maiden name. His love for her and her family makes the fact that most of the "Spotas" in his movies are villains ironic. * Brother of Nessa Hyams. * Was considered as a director for Hellboy (2004), before Guillermo del Toro was involved. * Was asked to direct Night of the Living Dead (1990), but turned it down to work on Narrow Margin (1990). * Lives in Santa Monica, California. |
Quotes
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* I've never done anything that's totally worked for me. It has always been very painful to watch what I've done. Filmmaking, by definition, is a process of failure and because of that I always seem to be looking for the blemishes in my work. * There's a really wretched invention called a zoom lens, which is the most abused, single abused, thing in filmmaking. It's more abused by young filmmakers than anybody. It's just a vile piece of equipment. As for tricky scene transitions, I know directors who sit down and literally look for those things as ways to get from scene to scene. I mean, what is the point of starting on a blade of grass with a blur behind you and racking focus then to the lady? I mean, what is so critical about that? I mean, why are you doing that? And then, the zoom lens thing does something that I don't think people understand. When you zoom in to something, you are not bringing the audience to the subject. You are bringing the subject to the audience. Major emotional difference. People do not realize that. You zoom back, you are not moving away from that subject. You are pushing the subject away from the audience. It's a tremendous difference. |
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