Home   >   Movie Stars   >   M   >   Joel B. Michaels
Joel B. Michaels

Joel B. Michaels

Joel B. Michaels began his career in the entertainment business as an actor. He became a member of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival Theatre in Ontario, Canada as well as performing on television with the CBC in Canada and on British television.

Michaels began producing films in 1970 and during his career as a feature film producer, he was President of Production and Distribution at Cineplex Odeon Films from 1986 through 1990. In that position, he initiated production of films such as Oliver Stone's Talk Radio; John Schlessinger's Madame Sousatzka starring Shirley MacLaine; the four-time Academy Award nominated Martin Scorcese production of The Grifters directed by Stephen Frears and starring Anjelica Huston, Annette Bening and John Cusack; The Glass Menagerie directed by Paul Newman, starring Joanne Woodward and John Malkovich; the Merchant/Ivory production of Mr. and Mrs. Bridge starring Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, for which Joanne Woodward received an Academy Award nomination for best actress; and Martin Scorsese's production of The Last Temptation of Christ in partnership with Universal Pictures.

When Michaels completed his tenure with Cineplex Odeon Films he reunited with Mario Kassar at Carolco Pictures where he had collaborated on films with Kassar and Andy Vajna in the early 1980s and produced The Silent Partner starring Elliot Gould, Christopher Plummer and Susannah York; The Changeling starring George C. Scott; Tribute starring Jack Lemon, for which he received a best actor Academy Award nomination; and The Amateur starring John Savage, Martha Keller, and Christopher Plummer.

In the early 1990s Michaels produced the following films for Carolco Pictures: Adrian Lyne's Lolita; Renny Harlin's Cutthroat Island; Last of the Dogmen starring Tom Berenger and Barbara Hershey; Roland Emmerich's Stargate starring Kurt Russell and James Spader; and Emmerich's Universal Soldier starring Jean-Claude Van Damme.

In 1996, Michaels was President of MK Productions where he headed up Mario Kassar's production company at Paramount Pictures until 1998 when he joined C2 Pictures.

Amongst the many films Michaels produced throughout his career are Three of Hearts starring Billy Baldwin, Kelly Lynch and Sherilyn Fenn; Black Moon Rising starring Tommy Lee Jones and Linda Hamilton; The Philadelphia Experiment and Losin' It starring a young Tom Cruise and directed by Curtis Hanson.

In addition to the projects currently in development at C2 Pictures where Michaels serves as President of Production, he has set up independent projects including the remake of The Changeling at Focus Features and The Remains of the Piano written and directed by Eric Idle at Stratus Films.


Note: This profile was written in or before 2003.

Joel B. Michaels Facts

OccupationProducer

Selected Filmography

6:00 AM-7:00 AM
Emissary
9:00 P.M.
Saving Grace B. Jones
Curse Of the Starving Class
Pipe Dream
Basic Instinct 2
Heavy Metal
Automatic for the People
Zarafa
Continue » Find more details on the Joel B. Michaels Movies page