Happy 71st Birthday, Terry Zwigoff! Born today in 1949, this American producer and director's work often deals with misfits, antiheroes, and themes of alienation.
Zwigoff first garnered attention for his work in documentary filmmaking with the 1985 American documentary film 'Louie Bluie'.
The film tells of African-American Tennessee blues musician and folk artist William Howard Taft Armstrong, (better known as Louie Bluie). This was regarding his ability to play just about every stringed instrument known to man.
For his second feature, Zwigoff received even more attention in co-producing and directing the film of which he is best known. This is the 1994 American documentary/independent film 'Crumb'.
In the documentary, Zwigoff creates a complex but affectionate portrait of his longtime friend, American underground cartoonist and musician Robert Crumb.
A notorious curmudgeon, he would rather prefer to be alone with fellow American underground comics artist wife Aline Kominsky-Crumb (his second wife) and his beloved vintage jazz records. Initially, Crumb did not want to make the film, but eventually agreed.
Crumb reveals himself to be a complicated personality who suffered a troubled upbringing and harbors a philosophical opposition to the 1960s hippie underground that first celebrated his work.
Crumb's most notable work is Fritz the Cat, Mr. Natural, Keep On Truckin', Zap Comix and Weirdo.
There was a rumor, accidentally created by American film critic, historian, journalist, screenwriter and author Roger Ebert, that Zwigoff made Crumb cooperate by threatening to shoot himself.
Ebert later clarified this in the audio commentary of the film's Criterion Collection re-release. He notes that “it may be true that Zwigoff’s life was saved because he did make the film."
During the nine years that it took to make the documentary, Zwigoff said he was “averaging an income of about $200 a month and "living with back pain so intense that I spent three years with a loaded gun on the pillow next to my bed, trying to get up the nerve to kill myself."
American film critic and journalist for the Chicago Tribune Gene Siskel rated Crumb as the best film of the year.[10] Roger Ebert gave the film four (of four) stars, writing that "Crumb is a film that gives new meaning to the notion of art as therapy."
Despite strong reviews, 'Crumb' was not nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature (the nominating committee reportedly stopped watching the film after only twenty minutes).
The Oscar snub of 'Crumb', and the previous year's equally acclaimed 1994 American documentary/sport film 'Hoop Dreams', caused a media furor which forced the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to revamp its documentary nomination process.
'Crumb' was later met with wide acclaim from critics, earning a 95% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on forty-three reviews, with an average score of 8.36.
Among his credits, Zwigoff is also known for directing the 2001 American black comedy/drama film 'Ghost World' and the 2003 American Christmas comedy/dark comedy film 'Bad Santa'.
Zwigoff has been active from 1979–present.
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