Susan Seidelman facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Susan Seidelman
Seidelman at Mystic Film Festival, 2021
Born	(1952-12-11) December 11, 1952 (age 72) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Alma mater	New York University
Occupation	Director, producer, writer
Years active	1982–present
Notable work	Smithereens, Desperately Seeking Susan, Making Mr. Right, Cookie, She-Devil, Gaudi Afternoon, Musical Chairs
Partner(s)	Jonathan Brett

Susan Seidelman (born December 11, 1952) is an American film director, producer, and writer. She is famous for mixing comedy with drama in her movies. She also has a special way of showing things visually and often includes references to popular culture. Many of her films focus on women characters, especially those who feel like outsiders.

She first became well-known for her movie Smithereens (1982). This film was the first independent American movie to be shown at the 1982 Cannes Film Festival. Her next film, Desperately Seeking Susan (1985), starred Madonna in her first movie role. This film was even named one of the 100 greatest films directed by women by the BBC. Later, She-Devil (1989) starred Meryl Streep in her first funny movie role and Roseanne Barr in her first film role.

Susan Seidelman also worked in television. She directed early episodes of the popular show Sex and the City, including the very first one. She also directed shows for channels like Showtime, Comedy Central, and PBS.

In 2024, Susan Seidelman released her memoir, a book about her life, called Desperately Seeking Something: A Memoir about Movies, Mothers and Material Girls.

Early Life and Education

Susan Seidelman was born on December 11, 1952, in Abington, Pennsylvania. She grew up near Philadelphia. Her dad made hardware, and her mom was a teacher.

After finishing Abington Senior High School in 1969, she studied fashion and art at Drexel University. She took a film class and was really inspired by the "French New Wave" movies. These were films from France in the 1950s and 60s that broke traditional rules. She also liked movies by Ingmar Bergman. This made her decide to switch her focus to filmmaking.

Her first movie project at New York University was a funny short film called And You Act Like One Too. It was about a housewife's secret relationship and earned her a Student Academy Award nomination.

Seidelman earned a special degree called an MFA from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. Today, she is a part-time teacher in the school's film department, helping students with their final movie projects.

Filmmaking Career

Starting Out in the 1980s

Susan Seidelman made her first full-length movie, Smithereens, in 1982. It was a dark but funny look at the punk music scene in New York City in the 1980s. She filmed it with a small budget of $40,000. She often filmed "guerrilla style," meaning quickly and without permits, on the streets and in the subways of New York.

Smithereens perfectly showed the look of the post-punk music scene. It was also the first independent American film to be chosen for the famous 1982 Cannes Film Festival. This recognition helped Seidelman become one of the first important independent filmmakers in American cinema during the 1980s.

Big Hits and New Stars (1985–1999)

Seidelman's second movie, Desperately Seeking Susan (1985), was a huge success. It starred Madonna, who was a rising music star at the time. The movie helped launch the careers of other actors like Rosanna Arquette and Aidan Quinn. It also introduced many new faces such as John Turturro and Laurie Metcalf. Seidelman actually encouraged the producers to cast Madonna. She believed Madonna, who was her neighbor and had no acting experience, would bring a real and exciting energy to the role.

Her other movies in the 1980s included:

• Making Mr. Right (1987): A romantic science-fiction comedy. It starred Ann Magnuson and John Malkovich, who played both a shy scientist and his robot creation.
• Cookie (1989): A father-daughter mafia comedy. It featured Peter Falk and Dianne Wiest. Famous writers Nora Ephron and Alice Arlen wrote the script.
• She-Devil (1989): This film was based on a popular book. It was special because it was Meryl Streep's first funny movie role and Roseanne Barr's first big movie part.

In 1994, Seidelman and writer Jonathan Brett were nominated for an Academy Award for a short film they made called The Dutch Master. This film was shown at both the Cannes Film Festival and Telluride Film Festival.

Recent Work (2000–present)

Seidelman returned to making feature films with Gaudi Afternoon (2001). This was a detective story set in Barcelona, Spain, with a twist on gender roles. It starred Judy Davis and Marcia Gay Harden.

Her film Boynton Beach Club (2005) came from an idea by her mother, Florence Seidelman. Her mother lived in Florida and heard true stories about older people who started dating again after losing their partners. The movie showed actors like Brenda Vaccaro and Dyan Cannon dealing with new relationships.

Seidelman's next film, Musical Chairs (2011), is set in New York City. It's about a couple who join a wheelchair ballroom dancing competition after the woman becomes disabled. The movie featured both able-bodied and disabled actors, including Laverne Cox in her first film role. Musical Chairs was nominated for a GLAAD award for Best Film.

Her short film "Cut in Half" (2017) tells the story of two Muslim sisters. The older sister has leukemia and must decide about continuing chemotherapy.

In 2023, Desperately Seeking Susan was added to the National Film Registry. This means the Library of Congress chose it to be saved because it's important to American cinema.

Seidelman's memoir, “Desperately Seeking Something”, was released in June 2024. It received good reviews, with The New York Times Book Review saying her films "defined a gritty, magical New York moment."

Television Work

In the 1990s and 2000s, Susan Seidelman also became a successful television director. She directed the very first episode of Sex and the City. She helped choose the actors and create the overall look and feel of the show. Seidelman felt the script was brave because it showed women talking about things they really discuss in private. She directed more episodes during the show's first season.

She received two Emmy nominations for the Showtime movie A Cooler Climate. She also directed episodes of Comedy Central's funny show Stella and PBS's new version of The Electric Company.

Who Inspired Her

Susan Seidelman was inspired early on by European film directors like Lina Wertmüller and Agnès Varda. She studied their work in college during the 1970s, a time when very few women were directing films in America. The feminist movement of the 1960s and 70s also influenced her. She liked the personal filmmaking style of the French New Wave directors, such as Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut.

Seidelman is also a fan of Billy Wilder for how he mixed social observations, drama, and humor. She saw Nora Ephron, with whom she worked on Cookie, as a role model. Ephron was a woman writer and director who balanced her family life with a successful film career.

Seidelman enjoys directors who have a unique, slightly "outsider" point of view. She likes the smart stories of the Coen Brothers, the films of Woody Allen from his middle career, early Martin Scorsese movies, and the films of Jane Campion.

She often mixes comedy with drama in her films. Seidelman says, "Life is serious and humorous... there's got to be something underneath the humor. I like using humor as a way of making observations about how we live and what makes us human."

Film Themes

Susan Seidelman often changes traditional movie styles. She explores what it means to be a woman, focusing on women of different ages and backgrounds.

New Takes on Film Genres

Seidelman updates classic film types by focusing on female main characters. She also looks at people who are outsiders in society and explores gender roles.

In Smithereens, the main character, Wren, wants to be famous even though she has no special talents. She puts posters of herself all over the city. Wren is like the "famous for being famous" people we see on the internet today. Seidelman says Wren's story is about "the fragmented nature of life in the 80's."

Desperately Seeking Susan is a funny, fast-paced comedy. It's about two women, Roberta and Susan, who accidentally switch identities. Roberta, a bored suburban housewife, tries on Susan's clothes and takes on her adventurous personality. This helps Roberta discover her own hidden desires.

In Cookie, a mafia story, the main focus is on the relationships between a single mom, Lenore, her teenage daughter Cookie, and the dad, Dino, who is a crime boss. The women have learned to be strong and independent without Dino. This makes it a funny family drama with a feminist twist inside a gangster story.

Boynton Beach Club is based on true stories from a community in Florida. The main characters are all older adults who are dating again after losing their partners. They go through funny situations like awkward first dates. Seidelman wanted to show modern seniors dealing with loss and romance without using old stereotypes.

Other films also mix genres:

• Making Mr Right combines science fiction with romance.
• Gaudi Afternoon mixes a detective mystery with family drama.
• The Hot Flashes is a sports film where middle-aged women compete against younger champions.

Identity and Finding Yourself

How people look, and what that reveals or hides, is a common theme in Seidelman's films. She also shows how women challenge or create their own place in society.

In Desperately Seeking Susan, Roberta takes on Susan's mysterious identity when she wears her clothes. Without her usual suburban clothes and having lost her memory, Roberta goes on an adventure. She "tries on" Susan's free-spirited personality.

She-Devil is a revenge comedy. It shows a seemingly ordinary wife, Ruth, getting back at her husband and his beautiful, rich girlfriend. By taking revenge, Ruth finds her own power. She uses her skills as a homemaker to become successful and helps other women in similar situations.

Gaudi Afternoon explores sexual identity and parenthood. It's set in Barcelona, Spain. Cassandra, a middle-aged translator who doesn't want children, gets caught up in a family argument among a group of diverse people from San Francisco.

Pop Culture, Performance, and Change

Seidelman studied fashion early in her life. This has influenced how she uses art, costumes, and overall style as important visual parts of her films.

In Desperately Seeking Susan, fashion and bright colors make downtown New York in the 1980s look like a stylish wonderland for Roberta. In contrast, her suburban home is shown with cool, hard edges. This shows a place where social rules are much stricter.

Smithereens also explored the colorful downtown scene, but it showed more of the rough and messy parts. The main character, Wren, wants to be creative but doesn't have much skill. However, like a character in a film by Fellini that inspired Seidelman, Wren is a survivor. Her wish to be recognized in the punk-rock scene is shown without judgment.

A magic club is also a part of Gaudí Afternoon.

Musical Chairs features a diverse group of dancers. The relationship between Armando and Mia grows in the world of competitive wheelchair ballroom dancing. This type of dance is popular in Europe and Asia but not well known in the U.S. The dance group includes a transgender woman and an Iraqi veteran. This highlights how dance can be a way for everyone to express themselves. Laverne Cox, who is transgender, said that playing Chantelle, a disabled African American transgender woman, was a very important moment in her career.

Personal Life

Susan Seidelman is married to Jonathan Brett, who is a screenwriter and producer. As of 2022, she lives in the New Jersey countryside. She and her husband moved there after living in downtown New York for many years. Their son, Oscar, works as a producer and video editor.

Awards and Nominations

Filmography

Films

Television

See also

In Spanish: Susan Seidelman para niños