Philip KaufmanBirth Place: Chicago, Illinois, USA Date of Birth: October 23, 1936 Heritage: American Famous for: Writer of 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' (1981) Contact Philip Kaufman | 
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The Right Stuff Background: Academy Award nominated film director and screenwriter Philip Kaufman, also known as Phil Kaufman, is probably best known as the director and writer of the critically acclaimed “The Right Stuff” (1993), an adaptation of Tom Wolfe's bestselling book of the same name. He was handed a Blue Ribbon Award, a Bodil Award, a Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award, and the London Critics Circle Films ALFS award for his effort. He also received nominations from the Writers Guild of America and Directors Guild of America Awards for his work. The film won four out of eight Academy Award nominations. Having been regarded as a “risk taker,” he has also adapted work from novelist Richard Price's “The Wanderers” (1979), Milan Kundera’s “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” (1988), Anais Nin’s “Henry & June” (1990) and Michael Crichton’s “Rising Sun” (1993). He received a BAFTA Award, a WGA nomination and his Oscar nomination for his writing effort in the highly praised “The Unbearable Lightness of Being,” where he also nabbed a National Society of Film Critics Award for his directing job. Kaufman also directed “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” (1978, earned a Saturn Award and an Avoriaz Fantastic Film Festival), “Quills” (2000, received the Fantasporto Audience Jury Award) and “Twisted” (2003). Kaufman is also known as a story contributor to “Raiders of the Lost Ark” (1981), the first film in the “Indiana Jones” franchise. Kaufman currently resides in San Francisco, California, where he runs his production company Walrus & Associates with his family. His son, Peter, served as a producer for “Henry & June,” “Rising Sun” and “Quills” and a co-producer for “Twisted.” Phil and late wife Rose Kaufman (born in 1939, died in 2009) co-wrote the screenplays of “The Wanderers” and “Henry & June.”
Childhood and Family: Philip Kaufman was born on October 23, 1936, in Chicago, Illinois. He graduated from the University of Chicago and then attended Harvard Law School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He quit after a year and returned to Chicago to start a Master's degree program in history at the University of Chicago. In 1958, Philip married Rose Kaufman. In 1959, their son Peter was born. In 1960, Philip moved his family to California, where he took on odd jobs to support them while attempting to complete a novel. In 1961, the family relocated to Europe, where he taught English in Greece and math in Florence and continued to write his novel. After moving back to the United States in1962, they returned to Chicago and Philip met Anais Nin at the University of Chicago. It was Nin that encouraged him to become a filmmaker. Philip later made the film “Henry & June,” which was inspired by Nin's affair with writer Henry Miller. On December 7, 2009, Philip's wife passed away (cancer).
Career: Philip Kaufman kicked off his film career in 1965 when he co-wrote and co-directed (with Benjamin Manaster) the comedy “Goldstein,” an adaptation of his unfinished novel. Starring members of the Second City Comedy troupe, the film picked up the Prix de la Nouvelle Critique at the Cannes Film Festival. Two years later, Kaufman wrote, directed and produced “Fearless Frank” (1967), which was actor John Voight's film debut. The film did not earn as much attention as its predecessor, but Kaufman secured a contract in Universal Studios' Young Directors Program. He relocated to Hollywood in 1969 to further pursue his career. In 1972, Kaufman wrote and directed his first film for Universal, “The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid,” a Technicolor western about the James-Younger Gang that starred Cliff Robertson as Cole Younger and Robert Duvall as Jesse James. The film brought Kaufman a 1973 Writers Guild of America nomination in the category of Best Drama Written Directly for the Screen. He then directed Warren Oates, Timothy Bottoms and Louis Gossett, Jr. in the drama “The White Dawn” (1974), which was adapted from the 1971 novel “The White Dawn: An Eskimo Saga” by James Archibald Houston, who also co-wrote the screenplay. Kaufman was originally set to direct the western “The Outlaw Josey Wales” (1976), which he co-adapted from Forrest Carter's novel “The Rebel Outlaw: Josey Wales,” but was fired by star Clint Eastwood, who took over the directorial control. Despite his dismissal from the film, Kaufman held screenwriter credit. He then moved to San Francisco in 1977 and returned to the director's chair a year later when he helmed Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Jeff Goldblum, Veronica Cartwright, Leonard Nimoy and Art Hindle in “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” (1978), a remake of the 1956 science fiction film of the same name. Written for the screen by W. D. Richter from Jack Finney's novel “The Body Snatchers,” the film received primarily favorable reviews and did very well at the box office, where it grossed over $24 million in the domestic market against its production budget of $3.5 million. Kaufman won a Saturn for Best Director and the Antennae II Award from the 1979 Avoriaz Fantastic Film Festival for his effort. In 1979, Kaufman directed Ken Wahl, John Friedrich and Karen Allen in the action film “The Wanderers,” which he co-adapted with his wife Rose from the novel of the same name by Richard Price. At the box office, the film was not a commercial success, but has since acquired cult status. In 1981, Kaufman worked with George Lucas in developing the original story for the first “Indiana Jones” film, “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” which was directed by Steven Spielberg, scripted by Lawrence Kasdan, produced by Lucas and starred Harrison Ford. Kaufman earned story credit for his contribution to the film and went on to write and direct “The Right Stuff” (1983), which was based on Tom Wolfe's 1979 book of the same name. Starring Fred Ward, Dennis Quaid, Ed Harris, Scott Glenn, Sam Shepard, Barbara Hershey, Lance Henriksen, Veronica Cartwright and Jane Dornacker, the film received overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics and was handed Academy Awards for Best Film Editing, Best Effects, Sound Effects Editing, Best Music, Original Score, and Best Sound, not to mention additional nominations for Best Picture, Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Shepard) and Best Cinematography. Kaufman took home a 1985 Blue Ribbon Award for Best Foreign Language Film, a 1985 Bodil for Best Non-European Film, a Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Director, a London Critics Circle Film's ALFS award for Screenwriter of the Year, a Writers Guild of America nomination for Best Drama Adapted from Another Medium and a Directors Guild of America nomination for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures. Despite critical acclaim, the film did not perform well at the box office. After five years, Kaufman resurfaced with “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” (1988), which he directed and co-scripted with Jean-Claude Carrière and based on a novel by Milan Kundera. The film earned high praise from critics and was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Cinematography and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium, which became Kaufman's first and (to date) only Oscar nomination, as well as Golden Globes for Best Picture and Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture (Lena Olin). Kaufman also nabbed a BAFTA Award and a Writers Guild of America nomination for his writing and a National Society of Film Critics Award for his directing effort. Kaufman then received writing credit (characters) on “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” (1989), the third in the “Indiana Jones” franchise. The same year, he was also credited as a story contributor for the direct-to-video remake “Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation,” directed by Eric Zala. In 1990, Kaufman was reunited with his wife to write the screenplay adaptation of “Henry & June,” which he also directed. Loosely based on French author Anais Nin's book of the same name, the movie was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Cinematography but was a failure at the box office. The film starred Fred Ward as Henry Miller, Uma Thurman as June Miller and Maria de Medeiros as Anais Nin. Three years later, he directed Sean Connery and Wesley Snipes in “Rising Sun” (1993), an adaptation of Michael Crichton's novel which he co-scripted with Crichton and Michael Backes. The film grossed over $63 million at the domestic market and over $44 million elsewhere for a worldwide total of over $107 million. The following year saw Kaufman produce and narrate the documentary film “China: The Wild East,” which was written and directed by his son Peter Kaufman. Entering the new millennium, Kaufman returned to the director's chair to helm Geoffrey Rush, Kate Winslet, Joaquin Phoenix and Michael Caine in the period drama “Quills” (2000), based on the Obie award winning play by Doug Wright, who also wrote the original screenplay. The reviews of the film were primarily positive and it was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Rush), Best Art Direction-Set Decoration and Best Costume Design. For his work, Kaufman was handed an Audience Jury Award at the 2001 Fantasporto, an AFLS nomination for Director of the Year at the 2001 London Critics Circle Film Awards, a Phoenix Film Critics Society nomination for Best Director and a Golden Satellite nomination for Best Director. In 2004, Kaufman directed the thriller “Twisted,” which was written by Sarah Thorp and starred Ashley Judd, Samuel L. Jackson and Andy Garcia. Set in San Francisco, California, the film was responded negatively to by critics and did not perform well at the box office. With a budget of $50 million, it only collected about $25 million in North America and $15 million internationally. In 2008, Kaufman received character writing credit for “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.” Kaufman is scheduled to return to the director's chair to direct an untitled Ernest Hemingway project. The film, written by Barbara Turner and produced by his son Peter, will be released in 2011. James Gandolfini will star as Hemingway.
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