A Legacy of His Own: A Doug Liman Profile (Part 1)
October 20, 2010 by admin
With his latest film Fair Game released later this year, Trevor Hogg profiles the career of director Doug Liman in the first of a two part feature…
Being the son of a legendary attorney, who represented some of America’s largest corporations such as Warner Bros and served as the U.S. Senate’s lead counsel in the Iran/Contra investigation, allowed the young Doug Liman to meet a variety of powerbrokers and celebrities. “He was very connected in [the] entertainment [industry],” stated the American director, referring to his father Arthur Liman. “Through him I met Steven Spielberg [Jaws] and got rides on his private plane to California. I’d see Spielberg’s people reading scripts. I was like, ‘That’s what I want to be when I grow up.’” The elder Liman was uncomfortable with the idea. “He thought I should be a studio executive. He wanted me to get married.” Attending Brown University, Doug Liman co-founded the student-run cable television station BTV and served as its first manager. Moving on to the graduate program at the University of Southern California, the aspiring filmmaker got the opportunity to produce the direct-to-video release Getting In (1994). Gabriel Higgs (Stephen Mailer) is on waiting list to attend the medical school at John Hopkins University; to speed up the process he attempts to bribe those ahead of him to drop out only to find himself being the prime suspect in their murders. The cast of the comedy thriller features Kristy Swanson (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Christine Baranski (The Birdcage), Andrew McCarthy (Weekend at Bernie’s), Calista Flockhart (Fragile), Matthew Perry (The Whole Nine Yards), and Dave Chappelle (Half Baked). Doug Liman had to improvise when shooting the title sequence. The original plan was to film a cat chasing mice; however, the director had to re-edit the footage as the fearless rodents pursued the terrified animal!