Died at 86
male
Joel T. Schumacher (August 29, 1939 – June 22, 2020) was an American film director, screenwriter, producer, and costume designer. He was raised in New York City by his mother and suffered from substance abuse at a young age. He became a fashion designer after graduating from Parsons School of Design, but would continue suffering from substance abuse and high levels of debt until the early 1970s. He first entered film-making as a production and costume designer before gaining writing credits on Car Wash, Sparkle, and The Wiz. He received little attention for his initial theatrically released films, The Incredible Shrinking Woman and D.C. Cab, but rose to prominence after directing St. Elmo's Fire (1985), The Lost Boys (1987), and The Client (1994). Schumacher was selected to replace Tim Burton as director of the Batman franchise and oversaw Batman Foreve (1995) and Batman & Robin (1997). After the Batman franchise Schumacher directed smaller-budgeted films, including Tigerland (2000) and Phone Booth (2002). He directed The Phantom of the Opera, which was released to mixed reviews in 2004. His final directorial work was for two episodes of House of Cards (2013).
Sometime after the events of Batman & Robin, Batman and Robin would end up parting ways due to disagreements. Batman would soon discover facts about a mentally unstable scientist named Jonathan Crane, also known as "The Scarecrow". Flashbacks from the first three Batman films were to be shown in a dream sequence. Batman would also have hallucinations after being exposed to Scarecrow's fear toxins, in which he would see the Joker, The Penguin, Catwoman, Two-Face and The Riddler re-unite to judge him on trial. Harley Quinn was intended to appear in the movie as a character, rewritten as a toymaker and daughter of the Joker determined to get revenge on Batman for the death of her father.
