Brian De Palma (born September 11, 1940 in Newark, New Jersey) is an American film director.
De Palma is often cited as a leading member of the Brat Pack generation of film Directors and Actors including George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. For a time he was quite loyal in casting Amy Irving and Nancy Allen.
His works explore themes of suspense, murder, obsession, and psychiatric disorders, among others. De Palma's cinematic style is much indebted to that of Alfred Hitchcock to whom a number of films 'Dressed to Kill', 'Blow Out' and 'Body Double' are straight homages. He is famous for using techniques of split screen, split-diopter, process shots, and long tracking shots (for example, Snake Eyes opens with an uninterrupted 25 minute Steadicam shot.
Critics of De Palma accuse him of being misogynistic, and of emphasizing technical aspects of storytelling at the expense of human stories.
His father, Anthony DePalma, was an orthopedic surgeon and teacher who made a lifelong contribution to the practice of medicine.
Filmography
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