Edward R. Pressman, the eminent independent producer of Wall Street, American Psycho and The Crow, has died aged 79.
The US producer died in Los Angeles on January 17. A statement said he “passed away peacefully surrounded by friends, family and members of the Pressman Film company”.
Producing more than 90 features over 50 years, Pressman was known for fostering renowned director-driven titles. Some of his best-known films include Oliver Stone’s Wall Street, Abel Ferrara’s Bad Lieutenant, Terrence Malick’s Badlands, John Milius’ Conan the Barbarian, and Mary Harron’s American Psycho.
He had most recently been working on an upcoming reboot of The Crow directed by Rupert Sanders and starring Bill Skarsgaard and FKA Twigs.
Born in New York on April 11, 1943, he was the son of Jack and Lynn Pressman who founded games manufacturer Pressman Toy, which celebrated its centenary last year. In his youth, Pressman sold popcorn in his uncle Moe Lane’s movie theatre, The Tribune.
Pressman studied philosophy at Stanford University before attending graduate school at the London School of Economics where he met director Paul Williams. In 1966, the two collaborated on short film Girl, based on the Beatles’ song of the same name. Off the strength of the short, Pressman and Williams travelled to Hollywood with a two-picture deal from United Artists under which they made Out of It and The Revolutionary, both starring Jon Voight.
Less than two years later, Pressman produced two of Brian De Palma’s earliest films - Sisters and Phantom Of The Paradise – and was executive producer on Terrence Malick’s seminal debut feature, Badlands, starring Sissy Spacek and Martin Sheen.
He began his long collaboration with Stone on the director’s 1981 feature debut The Hand, meeting actor Annie McEnroe on the set, who became his wife.
Pressman reunited with Stone on Talk Radio and the Oscar-winning Wall Street as well as its sequel Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. With Stone, Pressman produced Kathryn Bigelow’s early film, Blue Steel starring Jamie Lee Curtis. He gave Alex Proyas his directorial debut with The Crow, Sylvester Stallone his with Paradise Alley, Joan Tewkesbury hers with Old Boyfriends, David Byrne’s with True Stories and Jason Reitman’s Thank You For Smoking.
He went on to produce feature adaptations of comic books such as Conan the Barbarian, video games with Street Fighter, and toys with He-Man Masters Of The Universe.
Pressman’s international productions include Wolfgang Petersen’s Das Boot; Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s Despair; Michael Apted’s Amazing Grace, starring Benedict Cumberbatch; and Werner Herzog’s Bad Lieutenant: Port Of Call New Orleans with Nicholas Cage.
More recent Pressman productions include Matthew Brown’s The Man Who Knew Infinity, starring Jeremy Irons and Dev Patel, and HBO’s Paterno, starring Al Pacino and directed by Barry Levinson. Last year, Pressman produced Keith Maitland’s documentary Dear Mr. Brody; Charlotte Colbert’s debut feature She Will; Daliland directed by Harron; and Evolver, an immersive VR experience produced alongside Malick and Cate Blanchett.
He is survived by his wife Annie McEncroe Pressman and son Sam Pressman, who worked for his father’s Edward R. Pressman Film Corp for the past decade and will continue to produce films for the company.
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