Abel Ferrara (born July 19, 1951 in The Bronx) is an American movie screenwriter and director. At the age of 15, he moved upstate where he met Nicholas St. John, a fellow classmate in high school who would go on to write several of his movies.

Ferrara started out as a director by making amateur films on Super 8 including a five-minute short that would provide the basis for his 1979 film, The Driller Killer, a violent exploitation film about an artist who suffers a mental breakdown. His 1981 follow up, Ms. 45 was met with more positive reviews and helped to jump start his career. Fear City was the biggest budget he had worked with up to that point and went straigh to video. Ferrara decided to take on several directing assignments for Michael Mann while St. John wrote scripts for future projects. Ferrara directed episodes of Miami Vice and the pilot episode of Crime Story. China Girl and Cat Chaser (an adaptation of the Elmore Leonard novel of the same name) were met with more mixed reviews while his career remained fairly stagnant despite the pictures' larger budgets.

The early 1990s are generally considered to be the golden period of his work. In 1990, King of New York was released to positive reaction from critics and viewers alike but courted controversy at the New York Film Festival where Ferrara was branded a racist, a sexist and accused of glamorizing violence and drugs. This was followed by Bad Lieutenant in 1992, widely considered to be his finest work. After the successes of King and Lieutenant, Ferrara tackled a remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers in 1993, under the title of Body Snatchers, which debuted at the Cannes Film Festival and met with lukewarm reviews. Also in 1993 Ferrara released Dangerous Game, his second outing with Keitel, which also starred Madonna and James Russo. In 1995 he released The Addiction and The Funeral, both starring Christopher Walken. Since then, he has released The Blackout in 1997, and New Rose Hotel 1998 Ferrara's adaptation of the William Gibson short story. 2001's 'R Xmas 2001 starring Ice-T was followed in 2005 by Mary, starring Juliette Binoche as an actress playing Mary Magdalene.

Many of Ferrara's films are set in New York City. Zoe Lund was a collaborator on several of his movies. Nicholas St. John has written many of his films. It has been suggested that his work is influenced by Robert Bresson. Catholicism is a prominent theme in a number of his films.

Partial Filmography

• Nicky's Film (1971)
• The Hold Up (1972)
• Could This Be Love (1973)
• Nine Lives of a Wet Pussycat (1976) (as Jimmy Boy L)
• Not Guilty: For Keith Richards (1977) short film (now lost)
• The Driller Killer (1979)
• Ms. 45 (1981)
• Fear City (1984)
• Crime Story (1986) TV series Pilot
• China Girl (1987)
• Cat Chaser (1989)
• King of New York (1990)
• Bad Lieutenant (1992)
• Body Snatchers (1993)
• Dangerous Game (1993)
• The Addiction (1995)
• California (1996) (Videoclip for Mylène Farmer)
• The Funeral (1996)
• The Blackout (1997)
• New Rose Hotel (1998)
• 'R Xmas (2001)
• Mary (2005)
• Go Go Tales (2007)

External links

• Abel Ferrara at the Internet Movie Database