Lost Boys director Joel dies at 80
BY JAKE COYLE JOEL Schumacher, the flamboyant director who counted Brat Pack movies and the Batman franchise among his varied output, has died at the age of 80.
The filmmaker died on Monday in New York after a year-long battle with cancer.
Schumacher became one of the pre-eminent genre filmmakers of the 90s after the success of St Elmo’s Fire, with Rob Lowe, Demi Moore, Emilio Estevez and Ally Sheedy, and teen vampire horror The Lost Boys.
Schumacher inherited the DC universe from Tim Burton.
His garish take on Batman resulted in two of the franchise’s most cartoonish movies in 1995’s Batman Forever and 1997’s Batman and Robin.
BY TOM PARRY, LOUIE SMITH, LUCY THORNTON and BEN GLAZE FAMILY, friends and colleagues of the victims of the suspected terror attack in Reading were united in grief during emotional tributes yesterday.
Many told of their disbelief at the “senseless” stabbings that left three dead and three in hospital.
Scientist David Wails, 49, and pharmaceutical worker Joe Ritchie-Bennett, 39, were last night named as the two other victims killed alongside teacher James Furlong, 36.
And as police continued to quiz suspect Khairi Saadallah, old pals said the Libyan refugee was famed for his parties – but traumatised by his country’s bloody civil war.
The horror of Saturday’s knife rampage was still sinking in as a minute’s silence was held at The Holt School in nearby
Wokingham, Berkshire, where James was head of history, politics and government.
Some 200 ex-pupils and parents want to rename the humanities block in his memory.
An open letter said: “James’ legacy is one of wisdom, self-sacrifice, resilience and determination. He is loved and remembered with fondness and admiration.”
James, from Liverpool taught Katya Beaver, 24, at King David High School in 2011. She said: “He meant a lot to people. My friends and I still talk about Jimmy, bearing in mind he taught us GCSE history 10 years ago.” Joe, from Philadelphia, US, was described as “brilliant and loving” by
Saadallah came to UK from Libya dad Robert. He had worked for a Dutch firm in Reading for about a decade.
Robert, a retired police chief inspector, said: “The family is heartbroken they have lost their brilliant and loving son. This was senseless.”
It emerged that Joe suffered his own tragedy after husband Ian Bennett, who he wed in England in November 2006, died in December 2014, aged 32, after a short battle with colon cancer. Michael Main, a friend of all the three victims, knew David as a regular at the nearby Blagrave Arms pub and said he “always made people smile”.
He said: “Every time I was in there, he was in there. We’d have a lot of banter. He’s the one that hits me the most