Charles Shyer, the Oscar-nominated author and filmmaker recognized for traditional comedies like “Private Benjamin,” “Baby Boom” and “Father of the Bride” that he made alongside Nancy Meyers, has died. He was 83.
Shyer died in Los Angeles on Friday, his daughter, filmmaker Hallie Meyers-Shyer instructed The Associated Press on Sunday. No trigger was disclosed.
A son of Hollywood, whose father Melville Shyer was one of many founding members of the Directors Guild of America, Shyer made an indelible mark on comedies, principally of the romantic persuasion, within the Nineteen Eighties and Nineties.
Born in Los Angeles in 1941, Shyer reduce his enamel writing for tv, aiding Garry Marshall and dealing on exhibits like “The Odd Couple” earlier than transitioning to movies. He had writing credit on “Smokey and the Bandit,” Jack Nicholson’s “Goin’ South” and the Walter Matthau drama “House Calls.” An enormous breakthrough got here with “Private Benjamin,” the Goldie Hawn comedy a few rich lady who inadvertently indicators up for primary coaching, which he co-wrote with Meyers and Harvey Miller.
It was a script that was initially turned down by each studio in Hollywood, even with Hawn hooked up to star and produce.
“We went to a meeting at Paramount after they read the script, and Mike Eisner was the president of the studio, and we sat in his office with Mike and (producer) Don Simpson. And Mike said to Goldie, ‘This is a mistake for you to make this movie,’” Shyer instructed Indiewire in 2022. “God bless Don Simpson who spoke up and said, ‘Mike, you’re 100% wrong on this one.’”
The film grew to become one of many largest hits of 1980. It bought them an Oscar nomination and a win from the Writers Guild and likewise paved the best way for his directorial debut “Irreconcilable Differences.”
That movie, which he additionally wrote with Meyers (they married in 1980), starred Shelley Long and Ryan O’Neal as a writing-directing duo whose relationship crumbles after success and an infatuation with a younger actor performed by Sharon Stone. It was partially impressed by the tabloid affairs of Peter Bogdanovich, who left his spouse and producer Polly Platt for Cybill Shepherd.
“Nancy and I just laughed at the same things. We love the same movies, we kind of educate each other on the movies that each of us loved,” Shyer instructed The Hollywood Reporter. “And Nancy really made me laugh. I think she wrote the best one-liners of anybody I know, except Neil Simon. And, and we were just always in sync — as filmmakers, we had this thing.”
They adopted with “Baby Boom,” by which Diane Keaton performs a working lady who out of the blue has to take care of a child, and “Father of the Bride,” which reimagined Vincente Minnelli’s 1950 movie for the Nineties with Keaton, Steve Martin and Martin Short main the comedic ensemble. It was profitable sufficient to spawn a sequel.
Shyer and Meyers’ final collaboration as a married couple earlier than divorcing in 1999 was the remake of “The Parent Trap,” with Lindsay Lohan, which Meyers directed and Shyer co-wrote and produced. Their daughters Annie and Hallie, whose names had been used for Lohan’s twin characters, each appeared within the movie. Shyer can be survived by two youngsters, Jacob and Sophia, from a subsequent marriage that resulted in divorce.
While Shyer usually discovered himself doing remakes, he and Meyers by no means wished to do “carbon copies” of the originals and at all times endeavored to place their very own stamp on their movies. But even he was stunned by the longevity of a few of them, remembering an outdated Billy Wilder quote that “comedy is not like fine wine, it does not age well.” But, he stated, they tried to keep away from the temptation to incorporate too many well timed references.
“You try to write things that are not basically of the moment, especially in comedy,” he instructed Indiewire. “Try to write stories about human beings that will reflect on today and tomorrow and yesterday.”
Shyer went on to remake “Alfie,” with Jude Law, and the Hilary Swank interval drama “The Affair of the Necklace,” neither of which did nicely on the field workplace. He additionally directed the Julia Roberts and Nick Nolte film “I Love Trouble,” the one movie of his that he admitted he did not like.
Other movies by no means noticed the sunshine of day: He spent a yr and a half prepping “Eloise in Paris” nevertheless it was canceled when the manufacturing firm out of the blue went out of enterprise.
He stepped away from directing for a few years however returned lately with two Netflix Christmas romantic comedies: “The Noel Diary” and “Best. Christmas. Ever!”
“I just gravitated towards stuff I like,” he instructed Indiewire. “I’ve never seen a James Bond movie. I’ve never seen one. I never liked science-fiction movies. … I like movies about people, and I want them to have substance.”
Shyer had instructed Indiewire that he was engaged on a script he’d been fascinated by for many years, since he was hospitalized briefly at 17. He described the film as a cross between “The 400 Blows” and “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” And retirement, he stated on the time, was not within the playing cards.
“What am I going to do? Garden?” he stated. “I just have a lot of energy. I want to keep going. I actually love the process and I love the camaraderie. I love what I do. If I drop dead, maybe it will be holding a camera.”
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