Robert Zemeckis
Hollywood cinema in the latter decades of the twentieth century was shaped by a generation of filmmakers who came out of American film schools carrying both technical ambition and a deep appetite for popular storytelling. Robert Zemeckis, born in Chicago on May 14, 1952, emerged from that generation to work as a film director, screenwriter, producer, and occasional actor, bringing to his projects a range of craft that moved between commercial spectacle and character-driven drama.
Zemeckis attended Fenger Academy High School before studying at Northern Illinois University and later at the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts. His work as a director and screenwriter produced films that drew sustained attention from audiences and critics alike. Among his notable works are Back to the Future, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Forrest Gump, and Cast Away — titles that span genres and demonstrate his sustained engagement with the possibilities of the medium across different decades of his career.
That body of work brought significant recognition. Zemeckis received Academy Awards as well as a Golden Globe Award, and was honored with the Officer of Arts and Letters distinction. A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame further marks the public acknowledgment of his place within American cinema. It is the Academy Awards and the Golden Globe Award, taken together, that most concretely reflect the critical and industry regard his films have earned over the course of his career.
Quotes by Robert Zemeckis
It's the most unrealistic thing you can do to shoot a close-up, and it's the most unrealistic place you can be as a performer. And yet actors grouse about having to do visual effect shots, but they love doing close-ups.
I can't see any reason why a dramatic story can't be in 3-D. I think 'Lawrence of Arabia' would have been fabulous in 3-D.
I have no complaints about 'The Walk.' I made it, and I'm very happy with what happens.
Most actors that I work with are wonderful. Jodie Foster or Tom Hanks will make anything work.
The thing that makes love stories work, in my opinion, in movies and novels and country & western songs, is the feeling of longing.
'I Wanna Hold Your Hand' and 'Used Cars' were absolute failures at the box office. Complete disasters. I learned some sad news: it's not an automatic thing that, if you make a good movie, everyone wants to see it.
Working with actors who are directors is magnificent. Because they understand the art form intimately, and they know exactly how everything works.
I grew up on Chicago's South Side in a working-poor family, so I watched everything on television. It was like my window on the world. But we also went to the movies pretty regularly - mostly on Tuesdays, because that was Ladies Night, and my mom could get in for free.