Richard Elfman
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Richard "Rick" Elfman (born March 6, 1949, in Los Angeles, California) is an American film director, writer and actor, best known amongst cult film fans for his 1980 film Forbidden Zone, also the son of Blossom Elfman, and her husband Milton Elfman.
Elfman grew up in the largely Afro-American Crenshaw district of Los Angeles. He spent his high school years doing track and field, learning Afro-Latin percussion music and instruments, boxing, and writing editorials for zines. Taking his self-taught musical knowledge, Elfman traveled to Paris and became a street performer. There he was a member of Jerome Savary's "Grand Magic Circus". The Grand Magic Circus was taken under the wing of theatrical director/impresario Peter Brook and given a proper theatrical venue, at which point Richard's younger brother, Danny Elfman, joined the troupe.
In 1969, Elfman had a son, Bodhi Elfman with Rhonda Saboff.
After returning to the States, Richard Elfman created a musical theatre troupe known as The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo. The group reflected his eclectic tastes in music and was created both to present older classics that could not be heard live anymore, as well as to present the wild and original creations of his brother Danny (who also did fire-breathing for the group).
Elfman's directorial debut began when he produced his first movie, Forbidden Zone, which was also brother Danny's first foray into music composition for film. Forbidden Zone received a cult following similar to that of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. It has now been released on DVD with a remastered soundtrack.
Sometime after the movie, the Mystic Knights broke apart to become the rock band Oingo Boingo, fronted by Danny; Elfman meanwhile went on to write scripts for his movies, as well as adapting into movies some novels written by his mother, Blossom Elfman, Emmy-winning novelist.
In 1995, Richard Elfman's son, Bodhi, married Jenna Elfman, making Richard her father-in-law.
Filmography
- Forbidden Zone 1980
- Private Life (music video)
- Shrunken Heads 1994
- Modern Vampires, AKA Revenant 1998
- Date or Disaster (short) 2003
Elfman has also acted in several films, sometimes under the stage name Aristide Sumatra, and is known to make obscure cameos in his own films. He just recently was married and is currently said to be working on several new movies including The Sixth Element and a Forbidden Zone sequel, as well as publication projects such as Buzzine. Richard's new film, 28 Days to Vegas was recently completed and will be released early 2008 by Universal Music.
