Rodman Flender
{{short description|American filmmaker (born 1962)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2013}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Rodman Flender
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1962|6|9}}
| birth_place = New York City, U.S.
| occupation = {{flatlist|
- Filmmaker
- actor}}
| spouse = Amy Lippman
| children = 1
| alma_mater = Harvard University
| relatives = {{ubl|Timothée Chalamet (nephew)|Pauline Chalamet
(niece)}}
}}
Rodman Flender (born June 9, 1962) is an American filmmaker and actor. Born and raised in a Jewish family in New York City, Flender's early experiences in the arts included roles on Broadway and PBS series. He developed his acting skills at New York's High School of Performing Arts and the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London, before pursuing higher education at Harvard University. At Harvard, he contributed to The Harvard Lampoon and studied documentary filmmaking, which laid the foundation for his career in entertainment.
Starting his career in the advertising department of Roger Corman's Concorde-New Horizons Films, Flender transitioned into production and direction, making his debut with the thriller The Unborn (1991). His directing credits include the feature films Leprechaun 2 (1994) and Idle Hands (1999), as well as television episodes for series such as The Office, Ugly Betty and Gilmore Girls. Flender's documentary work includes Let Them Eat Rock (2004), a musical portrait of the band The Upper Crust, and Conan O'Brien Can't Stop (2011), which documents Conan O'Brien's comedy tour following the 2010 Tonight Show conflict. The latter was recognized by Roger Ebert as one of the best documentaries of 2011.
In recent years, Flender has returned to character-based drama and ventured into romantic comedy and horror, as seen in his feature film Eat, Brains, Love, which premiered at the FrightFest film festival in London to positive reviews and won Best Picture at the 2019 Screamfest Horror Film Festival.
Early life and education
Flender was born and raised in New York City, the son of Enid (née Rodman) (1927–2022), a former Broadway dancer, and Harold Flender (1924–1975), a writer and screenwriter, whose book Paris Blues (1957), was adapted into the 1961 film of the same name, starring Sidney Poitier and Paul Newman.{{cite book|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/harold-flender/paris-blues/ |title=Paris Blues |first=Harold |last= Flender |year=1957 |publisher=Ballantine Books}}{{cite web|last=Hajdenberg |first=Jackie|url=https://www.jta.org/2024/12/22/culture/timothee-chalamet-doesnt-talk-much-about-his-judaism-but-it-turns-out-his-grandfather-was-an-important-jewish-writer-from-the-bronx|title=Timothée Chalamet doesn't talk much about his Judaism. But it turns out his grandfather was an important Jewish writer from the Bronx.|date=December 22, 2024|work=Jewish Telegraphic Agency|access-date=January 23, 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250101122417/https://www.jta.org/2024/12/22/culture/timothee-chalamet-doesnt-talk-much-about-his-judaism-but-it-turns-out-his-grandfather-was-an-important-jewish-writer-from-the-bronx|archive-date=January 1, 2025}} He is of half Russian Jewish descent on his mother's side and half Austrian Jewish on his father's side.{{cite news|last=Bloom|first=Nate|url=http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/73292/cele1128/|title=Celebrity Jews|work=Jweekly|date=November 27, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230421055728/https://jweekly.com/2014/11/27/cele1128/|archive-date=April 21, 2023}}{{Cite web |last=Kellaway |first=Kate |author-link=Kate Kellaway|date=October 15, 2017 |title=Call Me By Your Name's Oscar-tipped double act on their summer of love |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/oct/15/armie-hammer-timothee-chalamet-call-me-by-your-name-interview |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180919101438/https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/oct/15/armie-hammer-timothee-chalamet-call-me-by-your-name-interview |archive-date=September 19, 2018 |access-date=April 13, 2018 |website=The Guardian |location=London}} He grew up in an apartment on Riverside Drive on the Upper West Side, with his older sister Nicole,{{Cite news |last=Holt |first=Brianna|date=March 6, 2022 |title='I planted seeds': Timothée Chalamet's mother on her children's success|work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2022/mar/06/timothee-chalamet-mother-sibling-actor-success|url-status=live |access-date=January 23, 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240617154715/https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2022/mar/06/timothee-chalamet-mother-sibling-actor-success|archive-date=June 17, 2024}}{{Cite web|last=Levitas|first=Gloria|date=March 1, 2025|title=The Beautiful Why of Timothée Chalamet
|url=https://momentmag.com/timothee-chalamet-family/?srsltid=AfmBOopS8Cdi_kTZMOSH8fiX1xhTeLsO2gSc5zQv5dKWvmsglBiTQb0Z|url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250504230007/https://momentmag.com/timothee-chalamet-family/?srsltid=AfmBOopS8Cdi_kTZMOSH8fiX1xhTeLsO2gSc5zQv5dKWvmsglBiTQb0Z
|archive-date=May 4, 2025 |access-date=May 5, 2025 |website=Moment}} but after their father passed away in 1975 they moved with their mother to the federally subsidized artists' building Manhattan Plaza in Hell's Kitchen, under the Mitchell–Lama program, one of the first families to do so.{{cite web|last=Read|first=Bridget|url=https://www.curbed.com/article/nyc-apartment-hunting-timothee-chalamet-nicole-flender-corcoran-interview.html|title=Apartment Hunting With Timothée Chalamet's Mother|date=April 21, 2025|work=New York|access-date=April 22, 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250421185714/https://www.curbed.com/article/nyc-apartment-hunting-timothee-chalamet-nicole-flender-corcoran-interview.html|archive-date=April 21, 2025}} His sister has described their family as "culturally Jewish but not religiously observant". Flender's early acting roles included Mischa in the Broadway production of Zalmen or the Madness of God{{cite web|last=Barnes|first=Clive|author-link=Clive Barnes|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1976/03/18/archives/zalmenwiesels-parable-of-silence.html|title='Zalmen', Wiesel's Parable of Silence|date=March 18, 1976|work=The New York Times|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250123211725/https://www.nytimes.com/1976/03/18/archives/zalmenwiesels-parable-of-silence.html|archive-date=January 23, 2025}}{{cite web|url=https://playbill.com/production/zalmen-or-the-madness-of-god-lyceum-theatre-vault-0000007127#carousel-cell182528|title=Zalmen, or The Madness of God|work=Playbill|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240915230808/https://playbill.com/production/zalmen-or-the-madness-of-god-lyceum-theatre-vault-0000007127#carousel-cell182530|archive-date=September 15, 2024}} and Charles Francis Adams in the PBS series The Adams Chronicles.{{Cite magazine |last=Singer |first=Mark |date=July 6, 1975 |title=Family Story |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1975/07/14/family-story|url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210928232904/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1975/07/14/family-story |archive-date=September 28, 2021 |access-date=January 23, 2025 |magazine=The New Yorker}}
Flender graduated from the drama department of New York's High School of Performing Arts and studied acting at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London. Flender attended Harvard University where he majored in visual and environmental studies, and studied documentary filmmaking with Ed Pincus and Ross McElwee, who inspired him with an enthusiasm for the documentaries.{{Cite news |last= Casavant|first=Mary Anderson|date=March 13, 2011 |title="Conan O'Brien Can't Stop" Director Rodman Flender|work=Filmmaker Magazine |url=https://filmmakermagazine.com/21070-conan-obrien-cant-stop-director-rodman-flender/ |url-status=live |access-date=January 22, 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240613222923/https://filmmakermagazine.com/21070-conan-obrien-cant-stop-director-rodman-flender/ |archive-date=June 13, 2024}}{{Cite news |last=Hu |first=Cherie|date=December 19, 2016 |title=Murder most filmable! |work=Office for the Arts at Harvard |url=https://ofa.fas.harvard.edu/blog/murder-most-filmable |url-status=live |access-date=January 23, 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230410212447/https://ofa.fas.harvard.edu/blog/murder-most-filmable |archive-date=April 10, 2023}} During that time, Flender was a writer for The Harvard Lampoon, where he met close friend Conan O'Brien.{{Cite news|url=https://nowtoronto.com/movies/interview-rodman-flender/|title=Interview: Rodman Flender|last=Wilner|first=Norman|date=July 7, 2011|newspaper=Now Toronto|language=en-US|access-date=January 22, 2025}}{{Cite news |last=Itzkoff |first=Dave |author-link=Dave Itzkoff |date=March 10, 2011 |title=Conan in the Wilderness |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/11/movies/conan-obrien-cant-stop-documentary-by-rodman-flender.html |url-status=live |access-date=May 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220221001215/https://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/11/movies/conan-obrien-cant-stop-documentary-by-rodman-flender.html |archive-date=February 21, 2022}}{{Cite news |last=Keegan |first=Rebecca|date=March 14, 2011 |title=SXSW 2011: 'Conan O'Brien Can't Stop' is hard for him to watch |work=Los Angeles Times |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/blogs/24-frames/story/2011-03-14/sxsw-2011-conan-obrien-cant-stop-is-hard-for-him-to-watch |url-status=live |access-date=January 22, 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220701223334/https://www.latimes.com/archives/blogs/24-frames/story/2011-03-14/sxsw-2011-conan-obrien-cant-stop-is-hard-for-him-to-watch |archive-date=July 1, 2022}} He graduated in 1984.{{Cite news |last=Newman |first=David C.|date=June 7, 2000 |title='Poonster Gets the Last Laugh |work=The Harvard Crimson |url=https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2000/6/7/poonster-gets-the-last-laugh-pconan/ |url-status=live |access-date=January 22, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150604231840/http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2000/6/7/poonster-gets-the-last-laugh-pconan/ |archive-date=June 4, 2015}}
Career
Independent filmmaker Roger Corman hired Flender out of university to run the advertising department of his Concorde-New Horizons Films. With his goal toward directing, Flender moved into production and was Corman's Vice President of Production for two years.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ifl0AkO-KeIC&q=flender+corman+vice+president&pg=PA175|title=Contemporary North American Film Directors|isbn=9781903364529|last1=Allon|first1=Yoram|last2=Cullen|first2=Del|last3=Patterson|first3=Hannah|year=2002|publisher=Wallflower Press }} He produced or co-produced titles including Body Chemistry, Streets, and Full Fathom Five. Flender made his feature directing debut with the Corman-produced thriller The Unborn, which received favorable reviews.{{Cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-05-10-ca-1305-story.html|title=MOVIE REVIEWS : 'The Unborn' Works Off Genetic Fears|last=THOMAS|first=KEVIN|date=1991-05-10|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US|issn=0458-3035|access-date=2016-05-13}} Flender next wrote and directed In The Heat of Passion, also for Roger Corman.
Over the next decade, Flender's feature directing credits included Leprechaun 2 for Trimark and the Columbia Pictures release Idle Hands. Flender became a director of television episodes and pilots. TV credits include multiple episodes of the comedies The Office and Ugly Betty, dramas that include Chicago Hope, Gilmore Girls and The O.C., and horror with HBO's Tales From The Crypt. As a writer, Flender's credits include Tales From The Crypt and the feature film Roger Corman’s Dracula Rising.
In 1998, Flender began filming a documentary on the Boston-based rock band The Upper Crust and directed the Dawson's Creek episode "The Scare", a parody of Scream. Developments within the band led Flender to continue shooting on and off for the next five years. The resulting documentary, Let Them Eat Rock, was played at film festivals in 2005 and 2006{{cite web|url=http://punkturns30.blogspot.com/2006/06/dont-knock-rock-june-29-in-la.html|title=Punk Turns 30: Don't Knock the Rock - June 29 in LA|date=June 2, 2006}} to mostly positive notices.{{cite web|url=http://www.efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=14209&reviewer=371|title=Movie Review - Let Them Eat Rock - eFilmCritic|author=Ben Nieporent}}{{cite web|url=http://www.portlandmercury.com/film/film-shorts/Content?oid=39678|title=Film Shorts|work=Portland Mercury}} Following the 2010 Tonight Show conflict, Flender joined Conan O'Brien on the road, as part of the Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour, and filmed the ongoings behind-the-scenes, onstage and between shows. The documentary, titled Conan O'Brien Can't Stop, was released in select theatres on June 24, 2011. Roger Ebert included it on his list of best documentaries of 2011.{{cite web|url=http://www.rogerebert.com/rogers-journal/the-best-documentaries-of-2011|title=The best documentaries of 2011|author=Roger Ebert|date=December 14, 2012 }}
With the documentary completed, Flender returned to directing television, including episodes of the comedies Suburgatory and Super Fun Night in 2014, the drama Finding Carter and multiple episodes of the thriller Scream in 2015 and 2016. Flender directed two episodes of the 2016-2017 science fiction series People of Earth and returned to character-based drama in 2019, directing Kirsten Dunst in the Showtime original series On Becoming a God in Central Florida.{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0281869/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1#director|title=Rodman Flender|work=IMDb}}
In 2019, Flender completed the film Eat, Brains, Love, which mixes romantic comedy, horror and road movie. It premiered at the FrightFest film festival{{cite web |title=Eat Brains Love world premiere |url=http://www.frightfest.co.uk/2019films/eat-brains-love.html |website=Arrow Video FrightFest}} to positive reviews {{cite web |title="Eat Brains Love" Review |url=https://www.entertainment-focus.com/film-section/frightfest/arrow-video-frightfest-2019-eat-brains-love-review/ |website=Entertainment Focus|date=August 25, 2019 }}{{cite web |title=Eat Brains Love review Dir: Rodman Flender |url=http://www.thehollywoodnews.com/2019/08/25/eat-brains-love-review-dir-rodman-flender-frightfest-2019/ |website=The Hollywood News|date=August 25, 2019 }} and won Best Picture at the 2019 Screamfest Horror Film Festival.{{cite web|title=LA 2019: EAT BRAINS LOVE Wines 'Best Picture Award |date=October 21, 2019|url=https://www.dreadcentral.com/news/312394/screamfest-la-2019-eat-brains-love-wins-best-picture-award-the-wave-sweeps-full-list-of-winners-photos/}} In 2022, footage from the Dawson's Creek episode "The Scare", which Flender directed, was incorporated into the Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett film Scream.
Personal life
Flender lives in Los Angeles with his wife, writer and producer Amy Lippman.{{cite web|last=Boone|first=Lisa|url=https://www.latimes.com/home/la-hm-ga-bel-air-drought-garden-makeover-20190427-story.html|title=A boring lawn is now a lush Mediterranean garden that provides privacy|date=April 25, 2019|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=January 22, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240218074446/https://www.latimes.com/home/la-hm-ga-bel-air-drought-garden-makeover-20190427-story.html|archive-date=February 18, 2024}} They also own a house in Carpinteria, California.{{cite web|last=Boone|first=Lisa|url=https://www.latimes.com/home/la-xpm-2011-jul-16-la-hm-0716-amy-lippman-house-20110716-story.html|title=A boxy stucco eyesore in Carpinteria is transformed into a modern, spacious charmer|date=July 16, 2011|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=January 22, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250122214832/https://www.latimes.com/home/la-xpm-2011-jul-16-la-hm-0716-amy-lippman-house-20110716-story.html|archive-date=January 22, 2025}}{{cite web|last=Boone|first=Lisa|url=http://www.latimes.com/home/la-hm-lippman-flender-beach-house-photos-photogallery.html|title=Amy Lippman and Rodman Flender's modern beach house|date=July 9, 2013|work=Los Angeles Times|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241210112106/https://www.latimes.com/home/la-hm-lippman-flender-beach-house-photos-photogallery.html|archive-date=December 10, 2024}} They have a son, Haskell, who also attended Harvard University and was a member of The Harvard Lampoon.{{cite magazine|url=https://issuu.com/harvardlampoon/docs/hyyyqpml___for_site_2_|title=The Hey You, Yeah You, Quit Pulling My Leg #|magazine=The Harvard Lampoon|page=6|volume=CXLII|date=March 3, 2019|access-date=January 24, 2025}} He was named after cinematographer Haskell Wexler.{{cite web|last=Siegel|first=Tatiana|url=https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/anna-delvey-interview-house-arrest-felonies-freedom-1235695552/|title=Reinventing Anna Delvey: How House Arrest, Being Hated and Yearning for Freedom Is Changing the Scammer|date=August 15, 2023|work=Variety|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240110165848/https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/anna-delvey-interview-house-arrest-felonies-freedom-1235695552/ |archive-date=January 10, 2024}}
Flender is the uncle of actors Timothée and Pauline Chalamet.{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/RealChalamet/status/524370750329720832|title=Timothée Chalamet on Twitter|date=October 20, 2014|work=Twitter|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151223172321/https://twitter.com/realchalamet/status/524370750329720832|archive-date=December 23, 2015}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb name|0281869}}
{{Rodman Flender}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Flender, Roman}}
Category:American television directors
Category:The Harvard Lampoon alumni
Category:Film directors from New York City
Category:Film producers from New York (state)
Category:American male film actors
Category:Male actors from New York City
Category:American people of Austrian-Jewish descent
Category:American people of Russian-Jewish descent
Category:American people of Belarusian-Jewish descent