Philip Kaufman Biography Quotes 18 Report mistakes

Early Life
Philip Kaufman was born on October 23, 1936, in Chicago, Illinois. Raised in a city with a strong cultural and literary tradition, he gravitated early toward storytelling and ideas that would later fuel a career spent negotiating the boundaries between history, literature, and cinema. After formative years in the Midwest, he eventually settled on the West Coast, where the ferment of the San Francisco Bay Area proved a congenial home base for his independent sensibility and eclectic artistic interests.

Beginnings in Independent Film
Kaufman emerged in the 1960s with the idiosyncratic Goldstein (1964), followed by Fearless Frank (1967), which introduced a young Jon Voight. These early works signaled a filmmaker eager to experiment with tone and form and to seek out literary and philosophical material. He cultivated a low-key, independent approach, building relationships that would prove enduring, including the collaboration of his wife, the screenwriter Rose Kaufman, who would later work with him on projects such as The Wanderers and Henry & June.

1970s: Trials, Reinvention, and Cult Status
The White Dawn (1974), a survival drama set in the Arctic, displayed Kaufman's eye for anthropological detail and cultural encounter. Soon after, he became connected to one of Hollywood's most discussed labor cases when he began directing The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976) and was removed from the production, after which Clint Eastwood took over as director. The dustup helped inspire what became known informally as the Directors Guild of America's "Eastwood Rule", restricting circumstances in which a producer-actor could dismiss a director and assume the job.

Kaufman rebounded with Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), relocating the classic science-fiction premise to San Francisco. With a cast led by Donald Sutherland and featuring Brooke Adams, Jeff Goldblum, and Leonard Nimoy, the film fused paranoia and urban alienation and remains one of the most highly regarded genre remakes of its era. He followed with The Wanderers (1979), adapted from Richard Price's novel, a vivid, darkly funny portrait of youth culture that deepened his reputation as a chronicler of American subcultures. Rose Kaufman's contributions as a writer and creative partner were integral to shaping the script's texture and nuance.

Breakthrough: The Right Stuff
Kaufman's epic telling of the early U.S. space program, The Right Stuff (1983), adapted from Tom Wolfe's book, became his signature achievement. Anchored by a large ensemble that included Ed Harris, Sam Shepard, Dennis Quaid, Scott Glenn, and Fred Ward, the film braided myth, technology, and human frailty into a panoramic view of the Mercury astronauts and the test pilot Chuck Yeager. Lauded by critics and honored at the Academy Awards, it solidified Kaufman's standing as a director capable of marrying literary ambition to large-scale, muscular filmmaking, aided by contributions from artisans such as cinematographer Caleb Deschanel and composer Bill Conti.

Literary Adaptations and Mature Work
Kaufman's affinity for literary sources continued with The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988), developed with producer Saul Zaentz and adapted from Milan Kundera's novel. Starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Juliette Binoche, and Lena Olin, the film addressed intimacy, politics, and memory with a sensuous visual style and earned widespread critical acclaim. Henry & June (1990), drawn from the diaries of Anais Nin and centered on Henry Miller and June Miller, again highlighted Kaufman's interest in the nexus of art, desire, and censorship. It was the first film to receive the MPAA's newly created NC-17 rating, making it a flashpoint in debates about adult content and artistic freedom.

1990s: Studio Thrillers and Historical Provocation
Kaufman navigated studio terrain with Rising Sun (1993), from Michael Crichton's bestseller, starring Sean Connery and Wesley Snipes, bringing his cool, procedural precision to a corporate thriller that probed cross-cultural tensions. He then helmed Quills (2000), adapted from Doug Wright's play about the Marquis de Sade, with Geoffrey Rush, Kate Winslet, Joaquin Phoenix, and Michael Caine. Quills wrestled with the boundaries of expression and repression, extending Kaufman's long-running fascination with how institutions manage and provoke the imagination. The film garnered awards recognition and reaffirmed his standing as a director unafraid of thorny intellectual material.

Indiana Jones and Storycraft
Beyond his directorial work, Kaufman left a permanent mark on popular cinema through his "story by" credit on Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981). In conversations with George Lucas during the genesis of the project, Kaufman was part of the conceptualization that would lead to the character Indiana Jones, with elements such as the Ark of the Covenant becoming central to the first film. Steven Spielberg's direction ultimately defined the franchise, but Kaufman's contribution at the story level situates him among the key creative figures behind one of Hollywood's most iconic adventure series.

Later Career
Kaufman continued to work across genres into the 2000s and 2010s. Twisted (2004), a San Francisco-set thriller with Ashley Judd, Samuel L. Jackson, and Andy Garcia, returned him to the city he had often used as a canvas for moral ambiguity and psychological unease. For television, he directed Hemingway & Gellhorn (2012), with Clive Owen and Nicole Kidman, dramatizing the volatile partnership between Ernest Hemingway and Martha Gellhorn; the film received awards attention and showed Kaufman's continuing interest in the complexity of creative couples shaped by war and history.

Themes, Collaborators, and Method
Kaufman's cinema often orbits around the friction between individual desire and institutional or societal constraints. He relishes adaptation not as transcription but as transformation, working with formidable sources, Tom Wolfe, Milan Kundera, Michael Crichton, Doug Wright, and translating them into film language that values performance and atmosphere. His collaborators, from actors like Donald Sutherland, Ed Harris, Sam Shepard, Daniel Day-Lewis, Geoffrey Rush, Kate Winslet, and Uma Thurman to producers such as Saul Zaentz and, within his family, Rose Kaufman and their son Peter Kaufman, have been central to his process. The consistency of his Bay Area base has also shaped a distinctive tone: worldly, intellectually curious, and attuned to the moral textures of modern life.

Personal Life and Legacy
Kaufman was married to Rose Kaufman, a valued creative partner whose screenwriting helped define several of his films. Their son, Peter Kaufman, has worked as a producer, underscoring the family's deep engagement with the craft and business of moviemaking. While associated with the American New Wave generation, his path has remained singular: a blend of independent origins and commercial forays, of speculative fiction and historical drama, of intimate erotic studies and national epics. The Right Stuff stands as a touchstone of American cinema, and his involvement in the origins of Indiana Jones connects him to one of the medium's most beloved mythologies. Add to this the DGA policy shaped in the wake of The Outlaw Josey Wales, and Kaufman's career becomes notable not only for the films he made but also for the institutional conversations his experiences helped to catalyze. His body of work endures for its intelligence, adventurousness, and belief that cinema can engage the mind without sacrificing the pleasures of spectacle and storytelling.

Our collection contains 18 quotes who is written by Philip, under the main topics: Ethics & Morality - Wisdom - Writing - Freedom - Art.