George Armitage, well known director of Miami Blues and Grosse Pointe Blank, has passed away aged 82. The American screenwriter died last Saturday surrounded by loved ones, including his wife, son, daughter-in-law, and grandchildren.
The cause of death has not been revealed, but his niece confirmed for TMZ that Armitage passed away on Saturday, February 15.
The directing legend was born in Hartford, Connecticut, but as a child he relocated to Beverly Hills. He went on to meet his future wife, Sharon, at the age of 15, and their marriage lasted a heart warming 62 years.
Initially, Armitage studied at UCLA and majored in political science and economics. However, he then started breaking into the film industry by working alongside B-move producer Roger Corman at New World Pictures, reports the Express.
Some of Armitage's credits include writing and directing MGM's 1972 film Hit Man, along with Vigilante Force (1976). Both of these were produced by Corman's brother, Gene Corman. He also directed the 1990 dark comedy Miami Blues, which became one of Alec Baldwin's most memorable early roles.
However, one of Armitage's most notable works was the 1997 cult hit Grosse Pointe Blank. This film starred John Cusack, Minnie Driver, Alan Arkin and Dan Aykroyd, and it follows a hitman trying to navigate a high school reunion. This was the first time he directed without also having a writing credit.
He talked about this decision in 2015 with Film Comment. He said: "I probably could have, but I didn’t want to, because I was afraid… There was an initial writer who did a great job, then John Cusack and Steve Pink, who now directs, and because the Writers Guild is insane with the way they handle the credits, I decided that if I threw my name into the mix, the percentage would drop for everybody and they’d get screwed out of it."
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He added: "But I did as much as anyone did in terms of writing. The script, when I met with John [Cusack] and the writers, was 132 pages. I said, 'Look, I’m not doing anything over 100 pages.' They said, 'Okay,' and they did a re-write, and it came back 150 pages.
"So I said, 'Okay, you guys are fired,' and I spent most of pre-production re-writing the screenplay, getting it down to 102 pages. Then we would improvise, and I noticed that some of the stuff I’d cut out was in the improvs, they were bringing back stuff that I’d cut out, but we had a good time with it."
Tributes for the late filmmaker have flooded in on social media after fans heard of his passing. One person wrote: "RIP to a legend. GROSSE POINTE BLANK and MIAMI BLUES are two of the high points of my entire life. Thanks for everything, George Armitage."
While another person said that his contributions to the film industry will be "deeply missed". They added: "Just learned that the director of my all-time favourite film, GROSSE POINTE BLANK, has passed away. RIP George Armitage."
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English (US) ·