Brian Legit Friedman

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Brian L. Friedman (born February 8, 1988) is an American film director, art director, and record producer. Friedman is a three-time award winner of the Humbolt Kansas Key Award for cinema. His first film “Beach Bums Hitten The Stip” was released in 2005 and is considered by many to have been an instant classic. His movies, although receiving little national critical acclaim, have been viewed as groundbreaking and visionary by underground film critics around the world. Friedman is also well known for popularizing the phrase “Solid Gold” which became well known after his remake of Robert Zemeckis’s film Forrest Gump was released in November, 2007.

Early Life
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Friedman was born in Fairfax, Virginia, the son of Jewish Parents Arnold Friedman, a mechanical engineer, and Deborah Friedman, an elementary school teacher. In his early teens Friedman struggled to adjust to what he considered the hard streets of Fairfax (as mentioned in the 2008 interview “Director’s Commentary with Brian Friedman”). Friedman began making films at age 13 after finding his first camera in a street near his home. His style evolved from alternative life style adult films to his current method of filmmaking during his time attending Robinson Secondary School.

Early Career (2002-2005)

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Friedman’s first professional film job came in 2002 while still in middle school when one of his homemade adult films was discovered by a Los Angeles producer visiting on business in Washington DC. The producer, Max Glasgow, whose personal success in the film industry had been in a slump for several years after several of his high budget productions had failed, saw potential in Friedman. Brian was immediately brought to California where he worked with some of the industry’s top writers. He soon began production on his first major film “Santa And The Giant Elves”. The film’s high production budget and Friedman’s perfectionist attitude worried executives, and high expectations for a first-time filmmaker led Friedman to feel pressured during the shooting of the film.
“Santa And The Giant Elves” was considered a failure by film critics in both America and the international film community. The film received such poor reviews that it was never released at the box office. This failure cost its parent production company over $47 million and many believed it would be the end of Friedman’s career. Despite this failure Friedman was determined to continue making films and gain back a reputation as a director. Friedman spent much of 2003 pitching his failed films to companies in Los Angeles that he thought might be interested in its unique style. After 9 months of failed attempts at finding a company that would back his film he began producing hip-hop recordings in late 2004 for local white Jewish rappers. None of the artists whom Friedman worked with achieved commercial success and by the spring of 2005 Friedman had stopped producing music.


Breakthrough Films (2005-2007)

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Friedman’s career appeared to be at a halt by the summer of 2005, when he received what many consider his biggest break to date. In August 2005 an alternative film producer Shane Miller and founder of the newly created film company “Re-dick-u-lust Studios” based out of Pittsburg came across a copy of “Santa And The Giant Elves” and invited Friedman to join his company. The two began work on what would become Friedman’s breakout film “Beach Bums Hitten The Stip”. Although expectations for financial success were high on the film it made only $570,000 in the box office, which is considered low within the alternative film community. Despite its low financial gain the film is seen as an underground classic by many and has developed a cult following throughout many parts of the Midwestern United States where locals who live in landlocked states feel the sense of longing for the ocean that became one of the film’s main themes.
Friedman’s underground success with “Beach Bums” would later land him important jobs such as the position of director on the 2007 remake of Forrest Gump. Success from this project has reportedly landed Friedman jobs in the upcoming films “Land Before the Sea” and “The Lord of Kings”.


Influences

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Although Friedman does not site any filmmakers as influencing his production style he does credit musicians and actors such as 50 cent, Shakira, Young Jeezy, Denzel Washington, and Robert DeNiro as having significant impact on his career.

Further Reading

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Williams, Reginald. “The Life of Brian: An Inside Look at a Visionary Film Genius.” 2007.

Friedman, Ronald. “The Dictionary of Important Friedmans.” 2005.

Milson, Heather. “A New Vision For Film” Entertainment Underground. 2002-08-18

Goldstein, Harold. “Worst Films of 2003.” Kansas Film Review Magazine. 2003-07-24

Peterson, Leon. “Breakthrough Filmmakers.” 2007.

Keterman, John. “Best and Worst Films of 2005.” Northern Virginia Literary Review. 2005-06-04

Kunkel, George. “From The Streets To The Strip: One’s Man’s Journey To The Top.” 2008

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WroPepvJyi0