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Joel Schumacher, St. Elmo’s Fire and Batman Filmmaker, Dead at 80

Photo: J. Vespa/WireImage

Joel Schumacher, the costume designer turned filmmaker whose distinguished career spanned more than four decades, has died at the age of 80. Variety confirmed that he died after a yearlong battle with cancer. Best known as the creative force behind St. Elmo’s Fire, Flatliners, and The Lost Boys, Schumacher was also given the reins to two Batman films in the ’90s, Batman Forever and Batman & Robin. He proceeded to work steadily into the aughts, before marking his cinematic retirement with 2011’s Trespass. In 2019, Schumacher gave a long interview to Vulture, where he candidly reflected on his life, oeuvre, and few regrets. “When you’re a very active person and you make movies, shit will happen to you. What I say to film schools is making movies is not all blow jobs and sunglasses,†he joked. “Every shot is grunt work. And happily, there’s nothing I would have rather done.â€

Joel Schumacher, Batman Filmmaker, Dead at 80