Barry Levinson Explained

Barry Levinson should not be confused with Barry Levinson (producer, born 1932).

Barry Levinson
Birth Name:Barry Lee Levinson
Birth Date:6 April 1942
Birth Place:Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
Alma Mater:American University
Years Active:1970–present
Spouse:
    Children:3, including Sam Levinson

    Barry Lee Levinson (born April 6, 1942) is an American film director, producer and screenwriter.[1] His best-known works are mid-budget[2] comedy drama and drama films such as Diner (1982), The Natural (1984), Good Morning, Vietnam (1987), Bugsy (1991), and Wag the Dog (1997). Levinson won the Academy Award for Best Director for Rain Man (1988).[3] [4] [5] In 2021, he co-executive produced the Hulu miniseries Dopesick and directed the first two episodes.

    Early life

    Levinson is of Russian-Jewish descent.[6] [7] [8] [9] After growing up in Forest Park, Baltimore and graduating from Forest Park Senior High School in 1960, Levinson attended Baltimore City Community College and American University in Washington, D.C. at the American University School of Communication, where he studied broadcast journalism.

    He then moved to Los Angeles to work as an actor and writer and performed comedy routines. Levinson at one time shared an apartment with would-be drug smuggler (and subject of the movie Blow) George Jung.[10] [11] [12] [13]

    Career

    Levinson's first writing work was for variety shows such as The Marty Feldman Comedy Machine, The Lohman and Barkley Show, The Tim Conway Show, and The Carol Burnett Show. After some success as a screenwriter – notably the Mel Brooks comedies Silent Movie (1976) and High Anxiety (1977) (in which he played a bellboy) and the Oscar-nominated script (co-written by then-wife Valerie Curtin) ...And Justice for All (1979) – Levinson began his career as a film director.

    His first directorial effort was Diner (1982), for which he also wrote the script, earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay. Diner was the first of four films set in the Baltimore of Levinson's youth. The other three were Tin Men (1987), a story of aluminum-siding salesmen in the 1960s starring Richard Dreyfuss and Danny DeVito; the immigrant family saga Avalon (1990) featuring Elijah Wood in one of his earliest screen appearances; and Liberty Heights (1999).

    His biggest hit, both critically and financially, was Rain Man (1988), a sibling drama starring Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise in which Levinson appeared as a doctor in a cameo appearance. The film won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. It also won the Golden Bear at the 39th Berlin International Film Festival.[14]

    Levinson directed the popular period baseball drama The Natural (1984), starring Robert Redford. Redford later directed Quiz Show (1994), and he cast Levinson as television personality Dave Garroway. Levinson also directed the classic war comedy Good Morning, Vietnam (1987), starring Robin Williams (as Adrian Cronauer), and he later collaborated with Williams on the fantasy film Toys (1992) and the political comedy Man of the Year (2006). Levinson also directed the critically acclaimed historical crime drama Bugsy (1991), which starred Warren Beatty and which was nominated for ten Academy Awards.

    He directed Dustin Hoffman again in Wag the Dog (1997), a political comedy co-starring Robert De Niro about a war staged in a film studio. (Levinson had been an uncredited co-writer on Hoffman's 1982 hit comedy Tootsie.) The film won the Silver Bear – Special Jury Prize at the 48th Berlin International Film Festival.[15]

    Levinson partnered with producer Mark Johnson to form the film production company Baltimore Pictures, with 1990's Avalon as the company's first production. Johnson departed the firm in 1994. Levinson has been a producer or executive producer for such major productions as The Perfect Storm (2000), directed by Wolfgang Petersen; Analyze That (2002), starring De Niro as a neurotic mob boss and Billy Crystal as his therapist; and Possession (2002), based on the best-selling novel by A. S. Byatt.

    Levinson has a television production company with Tom Fontana (The Levinson/Fontana Company) and has served as executive producer for a number of series, including (which ran on NBC from 1993 to 1999) and the HBO prison drama Oz. Levinson also played an uncredited main role as a judge in the short-lived TV series The Jury.

    Levinson published his first novel, Sixty-Six, in 2003, and like several of his films, it is semi-autobiographical and set in Baltimore in the 1960s. In 2004, he directed two webisodes of the American Express ads "The Adventures of Seinfeld & Superman." In 2004, he was also the recipient of the Austin Film Festival's Distinguished Screenwriter Award. Levinson directed a documentary PoliWood about the 2008 Democratic and Republican National Conventions: the documentary — produced by Tim Daly, Robin Bronk and Robert E. Baruc — had its premiere at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival.

    Levinson, in 2011, was developing a film based on Whitey Bulger, the Boston crime boss.[16] The film Black Mass (script by Jim Sheridan, Jez Butterworth, and Russell Gewirtz) is based on the book by Dick Lehr and Gerard O'Neill, and it is said to be the "true story of Billy Bulger, Whitey Bulger, FBI agent John Connelly and the FBI's witness protection program created by J. Edgar Hoover."[17] Levinson later left the project.

    Levinson finished production on The Humbling (2014), starring Al Pacino. Levinson also directed Rock the Kasbah (2015), written by Mitch Glazer.[18] The film starred Bill Murray, Bruce Willis, Kate Hudson, Zooey Deschanel, Leem Lubany, Scott Caan, Danny McBride, Kelly Lynch, Arian Moayed, Taylor Kinney, and Beejan Land.

    In 2010, Levinson received the Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement, which is the lifetime achievement award from the Writers Guild of America.[19]

    Filmography

    See main article: Barry Levinson filmography.

    Directed features
    YearTitleDistribution
    1982DinerMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer / United Artists
    1984The NaturalTri-Star Pictures
    1985Young Sherlock HolmesParamount Pictures
    1987Tin MenBuena Vista Distribution
    Good Morning, Vietnam
    1988Rain ManMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer
    1990AvalonTri-Star Pictures
    1991Bugsy
    1992Toys20th Century Fox
    1994Jimmy HollywoodParamount Pictures
    DisclosureWarner Bros.
    1996SleepersWarner Bros. / PolyGram Filmed Entertainment
    1997Wag the DogNew Line Cinema
    1998SphereWarner Bros.
    1999Liberty Heights
    2000An Everlasting PieceDreamWorks Pictures / Sony Pictures Releasing
    2001BanditsMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer / 20th Century Fox
    2004EnvyDreamWorks Pictures / Sony Pictures Releasing
    2006Man of the YearUniversal Pictures
    2008What Just HappenedMagnolia Pictures
    2012The BayLionsgate / Roadside Attractions
    2014The HumblingMillennium Films
    2015Rock the KasbahOpen Road Films
    2021The SurvivorHBO Films
    2025Alto KnightsWarner Bros. Pictures

    Awards and nominations

    See main article: List of awards and nominations received by Barry Levinson.

    YearTitleAcademy AwardsBAFTA AwardsGolden Globe Awards
    NominationsWinsNominationsWinsNominationsWins
    1982Diner11
    1984The Natural41
    1985Young Sherlock Holmes1
    1987Good Morning, Vietnam1211
    1988Rain Man84342
    1990Avalon43
    1991Bugsy10281
    1992Toys2
    1996Sleepers1
    1997Wag the Dog213
    2001Bandits2
    Total34660234

    See also

    External links

    Notes and References

    1. Web site: Balaban. Bob. April 19, 2011. Interview with Barry Levinson for the Directors Guild of America's Visual History Program. 2021-02-26. Directors Guild of America.
    2. News: Barry Levinson: The Oscar-Winning Director Who Decades Ago Saw TV's Peak Potential and Trump-like Danger. O'Falt. Chris. 2018-07-06. IndieWire. 2018-07-08. en-US.
    3. Web site: Barry Levinson . Hal . Erickson . May 30, 2013 . https://web.archive.org/web/20100921063557/http://movies.nytimes.com/person/99530/Barry-Levinson/biography . September 21, 2010 . Movies & TV Dept. . . Hal Erickson (author) . 2010 . dead .
    4. News: Canby . Vincent . Vincent Canby. Review/Film; Brotherly Love, of Sorts . The New York Times . 1988-12-16 . 2017-02-16.
    5. News: Al Pacino, Barry Levinson and Buck Henry Team Up on a Roth Tale. Brooks. Barnes. The New York Times. December 14, 2009.
    6. Web site: Ebert. Roger. Avalon movie review & film summary (1990) Roger Ebert. 2021-02-26. www.rogerebert.com/. en.
    7. Web site: Jews in the News:Sarah Michelle Gellar, Julianne Margulies and Jake Gyllenh Tampa JCCs and Federation. 2021-02-26. www.jewishtampa.com.
    8. Web site: Arnold. Peter. 2017-05-03. Jmore Exclusive with Baltimore Filmmaker Barry Levinson. 2021-02-26. JMORE - Baltimore Jewish Living. en-US.
    9. Web site: Barry Levinson: Baltimore, My Baltimore. 2021-02-26. archive.nytimes.com.
    10. Web site: O'Brien. Kyle. 24 April 2017. Gilbert Gottfried and Barry Levinson talk storytelling during live podcast at Tribeca Film Festival. 2021-02-26. The Drum. en.
    11. Web site: Carr. Sandra. April 28, 2012. Barry Levinson Shares His Life and Career with Fans at the Florida Film Festival. 2021-02-26. Savvy Scribe's Blog. en.
    12. Web site: Distinguished Alumni - Notable Alumni. 2021-02-26. http. en.
    13. Web site: Barry Levinson. 2021-02-26. TVGuide.com. en.
    14. Web site: Berlinale: 1989 Prize Winners . 2011-03-13 . berlinale.de.
    15. Web site: Berlinale: 1998 Prize Winners . 2012-01-23 . berlinale.de.
    16. Rottenberg . Josh . Hollywood Insider: What's Going on Behind the Scenes: Boston's Bulger is Now Hollywood's "It" Gangster . . February 22, 2013 . New York . 27.
    17. Web site: Who Should Play Whitey Bulger in Black Mass?. Bryanna. Cappadona. June 20, 2013. Boston. September 1, 2013. April 17, 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160417034511/http://www.bostonmagazine.com/arts-entertainment/blog/2013/06/20/who-should-play-whitey-bulger-black-mass/. dead.
    18. News: Fleming. Mike Jr.. QED Sets Bill Murray For Barry Levinson-Directed 'Rock The Kasbah'. 6 February 2014. deadline.com. 3 September 2013.
    19. Web site: Acclaimed Screenwriter Barry Levinson to Receive WGAW's 2010 Screen Laurel Award . Writers Guild Awards . February 20, 2010 . July 3, 2023.