Wes Craven

**Wesley Earl** "**Wes**" **Craven** (August 2, 1939 – August 30, 2015) was an American film director, writer, producer, and actor known for his work on horror films, particularly slasher films. He was best known for creating the *A Nightmare on Elm Street* franchise featuring the Freddy Krueger character, directing the first installment and *Wes Craven's New Nightmare*, and co-writing *A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors* with Bruce Wagner.

Craven also directed all four films in the *Scream* series, and co-created the Ghostface character. Some of his other films include *The Hills Have Eyes*, *The Last House on the Left*, *Red Eye* and *My Soul to Take*.

## Early life

Craven was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of Caroline (née Miller) and Paul Eugene Craven. He was raised in a strict Baptist family. Craven earned an undergraduate degree in English and Psychology from Wheaton College in Illinois and a master's degree in Philosophy and Writing from Johns Hopkins University.

Craven briefly taught English at Westminster College and was a humanities professor at Clarkson College of Technology (now Clarkson University) in Potsdam, New York. His first job in the film industry was as a sound editor for a post-production company in New York City.

## Directing and writing career

Craven left the academic world for the more lucrative role of pornographic film director. In the documentary *Inside Deep Throat*, Craven says on camera he made "many hard core X-rated films" under pseudonyms. While his role in *Deep Throat* is undisclosed, most of his early known work involved writing, film editing or both. In 1972 Wes Craven directed his first feature film *The Last House on the Left*.

Craven frequently collaborated with Sean S. Cunningham. In Craven's debut feature, *The Last House on the Left*, Cunningham served as producer. Later, in Craven's most famous film, *A Nightmare on Elm Street*, Cunningham directed one of the chase scenes, although uncredited. Their infamous characters, Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees, appeared together in the 2003 slasher film *Freddy vs. Jason* with Cunningham acting as producer, while screenwriter Victor Miller is credited as "Character Creator". Later, in *The Last House on the Left* remake, both Cunningham and Craven share production credits.

Craven had a major hand in launching superstar Johnny Depp's career by casting him in 1984's *A Nightmare on Elm Street*, Depp's first major film role.

Although known for directing horror/thriller films, he had worked on two that were outside this genre: the 1999 film *Music of the Heart*, and as one of the 22 directors in the 2006 collaboration *Paris, je t'aime*.

Craven created *Coming of Rage*, a five-issue comic book series, with *30 Days of Night* comic book writer Steve Niles. The series was released in digital form in 2014 by Liquid Comics with a print edition scheduled for an October 2015 debut.

### Film style

Craven's works tend to share a common exploration of the nature of reality. *A Nightmare on Elm Street*, for example, dealt with the consequences of dreams in real life. *New Nightmare* "brushes against" (but does not quite break) the fourth wall by having actress Heather Langenkamp play herself as she is haunted by the villain of the film in which she once starred. At one point in the film, the audience sees on Wes Craven's word processor a script he has written, which includes the exact conversation he just had with Heather — as if the script was being written as the action unfolded. *The Serpent and the Rainbow* portrays a man who cannot distinguish between nightmarish visions and reality.

In *Scream*, the characters frequently reference horror films similar to their situations, and at one point Billy Loomis tells his girlfriend that life is just a big movie. This concept was emphasized in the sequels, as copycat stalkers reenact the events of a new film about the Woodsboro killings occurring in *Scream*. *Scream* included a scene mentioning the well-known Richard Gere urban legend. Craven stated in interviews that he received calls from agents telling him that if he left that scene in, he would never work again. He directed *Scream 4*.

## Awards and nominations

Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Wes Craven
During his career, Wes Craven was nominated for and won several awards, including the Saturn Award.

In 1977, he won the critic's award at the Sitges Film Festival for his film *The Hills Have Eyes*. The Gérardmer Film Festival granted him the Grand Prize in 1997 for *Scream*. In 2012, the New York City Horror Film Festival awarded Craven the Lifetime Achievement Award.

## Other work

Craven designed the *Halloween* 2008 logo for Google and was the second celebrity personality to take over the YouTube homepage on Halloween.

Craven had a letter published in the July 19, 1968 edition of *Life* magazine, praising that periodical's coverage of contemporary rock music, in particular Frank Zappa's.

## Personal life

Craven's first marriage to Bonnie Broecker produced two children: Jonathan Craven (born 1965) and Jessica Craven (born 1968). Jonathan is a writer and director with a few credits to his name. Jessica was a singer/songwriter in the group the Chapin Sisters. The marriage ended in 1970. In 1982, Craven married Millicent Eleanor Meyer. However, the two divorced. Craven stated in interviews that the marriage dissolved after he discovered it "was no longer anything but a sham". In 2004, Craven married Iya Labunka; she frequently worked as a producer on Craven's films.

Craven was a birder; in 2010, he joined Audubon California's Board of Directors. His favorite films included *Night of the Living Dead* (1968), *The Virgin Spring* (1960), and *Red River* (1948).

## Death

On August 30, 2015, Craven died of brain cancer at his home in Los Angeles. He was 76 years old.

## Filmography

### Highest-grossing films

Template:Fix/category[*clarification needed*]Template:Fix/category[*citation needed*]
This is a list of the top 10 highest-grossing films by Wes Craven; each has made at least $30 million.

## References

1. ↑ Wes Craven Biography (1939–) at filmreference.com
2. ↑ http://birth-records.mooseroots.com/l/6325004/Wesley-Earl-Craven
3. ↑ The Horror of Being Wes Craven
4. ↑ Muir, John Kenneth (1998). *Wes Craven: The Art of Horror*. Jefferson, South Carolina: McFarland & Co. ISBN 0-7864-0576-7. pp. 8–9.
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 **Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration' not found.**
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 **Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration' not found.**
7. ↑ **Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration' not found.**
8. ↑ **Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration' not found.**
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 http://www.bleedingcool.com/2015/07/17/wes-cravens-coming-of-rage-finally-comes-to-print-from-steve-niles-and-francesco-biagini/
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 **Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration' not found.**
11. ↑ Movies Referenced in SCREAM
12. ↑ **Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration' not found.**
13. ↑ **Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration' not found.**
14. ↑ **Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration' not found.**
15. ↑ **Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration' not found.**
16. ↑ **Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration' not found.**
17. ↑ **Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration' not found.**
18. ↑ **Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration' not found.**
19. ↑ **Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration' not found.**
20. ↑ **Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration' not found.**
21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 **Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration' not found.**
22. ↑ **Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration' not found.**
23. ↑ **Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration' not found.**
24. ↑ **Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration' not found.**
25. ↑ **Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration' not found.**

## External links

* Official website
* Wes Craven at AllMovie
* Wes Craven at DMOZ
* Wes Craven at the Internet Movie Database
* Wes Craven interview
* Wes Craven's channel on YouTube

**Lua error in Module:Authority\_control at line 346: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).**

 Alternative names
 Short description
 Date of birth
 Place of birth
 Date of death
 Place of death