James Foley, filmmaker who directed Madonna music videos and 'Fifty Shades' sequels, dies at 71

Filmmaker James Foley, whose directing vocation spanned euphony videos, tv and film, with stars including Madonna, Al Pacino and Bruce Dern, has died.

Florent Lamy, a typical for Foley, confirmed the Brooklyn-born director’s decease to The Times connected Thursday. Lamy did not supply a origin of death, but according to media outlets including the Hollywood Reporter, the filmmaker had been battling encephalon cancer. Foley was 71.

“James Foley was not lone a talented manager but besides a beloved friend,” Lamy told The Times. “He was 1 of my precise archetypal clients, and implicit time, helium became idiosyncratic precise peculiar successful my life.”

Foley’s divers directing vocation — which notably included films “Glengarry Glen Ross,” “At Close Range” and the “Fifty Shades” sequels — began successful the mid-1980s. The 1984 movie “Reckless” marked his directorial debut and gave him the accidental to enactment alongside actors Daryl Hannah and Aidan Quinn and prolific producer-filmmaker Chris Columbus.

In the pursuing years, Foley directed films — including 1986’s “At Close Range” (featuring Sean Penn and Christopher Walken) and 1990’s “After Dark, My Sweet” (starring Dern) — arsenic good arsenic euphony videos and different visuals for Madonna, who was en way to planetary popular stardom astatine the time. From 1985 to 1990, Foley directed euphony videos for Madge’s “Dress You Up” and “True Blue.” He directed some her euphony video “Who’s That Girl?” and her 1987 drama of the aforesaid name.

Foley besides directed euphony videos for stone set Deep Purple and Marky Mark, histrion Mark Wahlberg’s erstwhile rap persona. He would aboriginal reunite with Wahlberg for the 1996 thriller “Fear” and 1999’s “The Corruptor,” with Chow Yun-Fat.

In 1992, Foley directed the movie adaptation of playwright David Mamet’s “Glengarry Glen Ross.” One of Foley’s astir fashionable works, the adaptation featured a star-studded formed of Pacino, Ed Harris, Jack Lemmon, Alec Baldwin, Alan Arkin, Kevin Spacey and Jonathan Pryce. Pacino received Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for his enactment connected the acheronian comedy.

Foley’s last movie credits, “Fifty Shades Darker” and “Fifty Shades Freed,” besides were among his fashionable works. Foley took implicit the movie franchise, based connected E.L. James’ erotic novels, aft “Fifty Shades of Grey” manager Sam Taylor-Johnson departed implicit reported disputes with the author, who was besides a producer. The “Fifty Shades” films starred Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan.

Foley besides directed episodes for bid “Twin Peaks,” “Hannibal,” “House of Cards” (which reunited him with Spacey) and “Billions,” among different shows.

In a 2017 interrogation with the Hollywood Reporter, Foley said helium embraced the assortment of his decades-long career. “I’ve had a precise fluid vocation of ups and downs and lefts and rights, and I ever conscionable responded to what I was funny successful astatine the infinitesimal and I was precise unconscious astir genre,” helium said.

“I’ve ever conscionable followed my nose, for amended oregon for worse, sometimes for worse. What’s champion and what’s worst [about the industry] are astir the aforesaid to me,” helium added. “Because what’s worst is you get pigeonholed and what’s champion is I haven’t been. It means that I’m inactive making movies, contempt hopping each implicit the place.”

Foley’s survivors see his member Kevin, sisters Eileen and Jo Ann, and nephew Quinn, according to respective reports. He was preceded successful decease by his different member Gerard.