American actor and director Eli Roth is known for directing a number of cult horror films, including "Hostel" and "Fever". In addition, he has produced the films Iron Fist, The Last Exorcism of the Devil, Aftershock and The Sacrament.
Biography
Eli Rafael Roth was born in the small American city of Newton, Massachusetts, on April 18, 1972. His father Sheldon Roth, a psychologist by training, worked as a teacher at Harvard Medical School - one of the most prestigious educational institutions in the world. And mother Cora Roth was an artist.
Inspired by the creative work of his mother and her friends, Eli Roth decided to devote himself to filmmaking at an early age, finding filmmaking more fun than painting or photography. When Eli was 8 years old, his parents bought him a camera. He used her to create his many early films, often with the help of his brothers Adam and Gabriel.
By the time they graduated from Newton South High School, the brothers had made over 100 short films. During this period, Roth was inspired by David Lynch's dystopian horror film Eraserhead, as well as Ridley Scott's sci-fi work Alien.
Ridley Scott Photo: Gage Skidmore / Wikimedia Commons
After graduating from high school, Eli Roth decides to continue his studies at the New York Tisch School of the Arts. He never stops making short films and takes on occasional projects to fund them. Eli worked as a cinematographer for Penthouse magazine and has been involved in many films.
After graduating from university, Eli Roth got a job at Silvercup, the largest television and film studio in New York. During the day he was busy at the studio, and in the evening he created scripts for his future films. It was during this period that he finished work on the plot of the cult horror film "Fever".
Career
Eli Roth's Hollywood career began with the work on the American judicial drama Praktika (1997). He received an offer from American actress Camryn Manheim to take the position of extra. Roth later appeared in minor roles in films such as The Horse Whisperer (1998) and Terror Infinite (1999).
In parallel, Eli continued to develop his writing skills, which soon helped him get a job as a content developer for David Lynch's website. Roth admired Lynch as a director and his close proximity to the idol influenced the formation of his own style in cinema.
By 2001, Eli Roth had saved enough money to make a film based on his own script called Fever. The film's budget was $ 1.5 million, and the film itself received rave reviews from critics at the Toronto Film Festival. It was soon sold to the American media company Lionsgate Entertainment Corporation for US $ 3.5 million. The film, presented to viewers by Lionsgate, grossed $ 35 million. It was a huge success for aspiring filmmaker Eli Roth.
However, he found it difficult to find producers for his second film, Hostel, which was slated to be a sadistic horror thriller. Only in 2005, Eli Roth was able to start filming the film, having received the support of the famous American filmmaker Quentin Tarantino.
Quentin Tarantino Photo: Gage Skidmore / Wikimedia Commons
To keep the cost of making the film to a minimum, Roth only charged $ 10,000 for directing. The total budget of the "Hostel" was $ 4 million. After the release of the film on the screens, the income from the screening of the film was more than 20 times higher than the expenses, and experts began to talk about the emergence of a new genre in cinema.
Later, Quentin Tarantino invited Eli Roth to shoot a fragment of his film called "Grindhouse" (2007). Under Eli's direction, an episode called "Thanksgiving Day" was created. In addition, he got a small role in the film.
In 2007, a thriller called "Hostel 2" was presented. Despite the financial success, the film could not surpass its prequel "Hostel". One of the reasons for the rather modest distribution results is considered to be piracy, since Hostel 2 has become the most downloaded film.
For this work, Eli received a nomination for best director of horror films at the Spike TV Screams Awards, and the popular American magazine Entertainment Weekly included "Hostel 2" in the "Top 20 Horror Films of the Last 20 Years."
Several years later, Roth received an invitation from Quentin Tarantino to play Sergeant Donnie Donovitz in Inglourious Basterds. The plot of the film revolves around an American film crew stranded in Nazi-occupied France at the height of World War II. This work was a breakthrough in Eli's acting career.
Eli Roth, Melanie Laurent and Lawrence Bender at the Inglourious Basterds premiere Photo: Bev Moser / Wikimedia Commons
In 2013, he wrote and directed the horror film Green Hell. The film received negative reviews from film critics. The director himself noted his work as the best of those that have been or will be.
Over the next few years, Eli Roth presented several television and film projects, including Who's There (2015) starring Keanu Reeves, South of Hell (2015), Death Wish (2018), The Secret of Home with for hours (2018).
Personal life
On the set of the film Green Hell, Eli Roth met the Chilean actress and model Lorenza Izzo. Soon, the couple decided to legalize their relationship. The wedding ceremony took place on November 8, 2014 on the Pacific Ocean in Sapallar, Chile.
Eli Roth's wife Lorenz Izzo Photo: Vegafi / Wikimedia Commons
However, after 4 years of marriage, Eli and Lorenza decided to divorce. They announced this on their pages on social networks. The couple managed to maintain friendly relations.
