Joe Dante

Joe Dante was born in Morristown, New Jersey but grew up in Livingston. He was born to James Dante who was a professional golfer. From early on, Dante wanted to become a cartoonist. To begin his career in films, he started working for producer Roger Corman who made great low-budget films. Other people like James Cameron James Francis Cameron is one of the most successfu >> Read More... also worked under Roger. After being the co-director of Hollywood Boulevard, Dante worked as an editor for Grand Theft Auto.

In 1978, he released the movie Piranha which was produced by Corman. It was inspired by Jaws. With Piranha movie’s writer, he wrote and made another film called The Howling (1981). Dante was also the director of several episodes of the TV series ‘’Police Squad!’’. Later he was invited by Steven Spielberg Steven Spielberg is an American producer, director >> Read More... to work on the movie Twilight Zone in which he had cartoon-styled segments. In 1984, he released his most famous movie till date called Gremlins. It combined horror with comedic elements making it a complete package. He directed Gremlins 2 six years later which was a huge success too. Dante worked with Spielberg again in 1987 when they released the movie Innerspace which had both comedy and adventure.

In 1989, he worked with Tom Hanks I quote his famous line “Mama always said life was >> Read More... in the movie The ‘Burbs. In 1993, he released a movie called Matinee which was given a 91% rating by the Rotten Tomatoes. He directed five episodes of the TV series Eerie, Indiana for which he was also a creative consultant. He also appeared in the show’s finale. During 1955 and 1956, he worked for the movie The Phantom. On being removed, he was given the choice to choose between pay and credits and he chose to be acknowledged in the credits as the executive producer. Dante launched Trailers From Hell, a web series, in 2007 and is also a contributor of its website. The series provides all details including trailers of cult as well as classic movies.

For his film, The Hole 3D, he won the Premio Persol award at the Venice Film Festival in 2009 as it was considered as the most creative one. For Netflix, he directed Splatter, an interactive series. Several other projects of his are struggling due to funding issues. He is on the board of advisors for Hollywood Horror Museum. Dante’s movies are famous for having sold stories along with comedy. His films are also well-known for their special effects and it is said that his garage holds many props from his films like Gremlins, The Howling, etc. An important feature on Dante’s set is that he always assigns the scriptwriter other tasks on production so as to have the writer on the set at all times for any last minute changes. A collection of his movie images is held at the Academy Film Archive along Jon Davison’s collection.