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Australian filmmaker Jamie Blanks has died, the Melbourne-raised “Urban Legend” helmer passing away at the age of 54.
On Friday morning, Blanks’ family issued a statement on X announcing his death saying: “His death was unexpected, despite some ill health in recent years. It comes at a time when Jamie was preparing to direct another film. He was still very active supporting other film-makers and developing his own projects.”
Blanks rose to fame when he missed out on the job of directing “Scream”. When the script for “I Know What You Did Last Summer” came by his desk, he wanted to show producers what he could do.
Spending $3,000 and calling in favours, he created a faux trailer for the film which was very well received – trouble is they had already hired Jim Gillespie to direct the film.
They promised they would find something for him, and nine months later came back with “Urban Legend” which proved a hit – the Alicia Witt, Jared Leto, Tara Reid and Joshua Jackson-led film grossing more than $70 million worldwide. Impressive for a 26-year-old filmmaker with only one student film and a faux trailer under his belt.
He followed that up with 2001’s “Valentine” which didn’t fare as well. A few years later he helmed a pair of Aussie horror films – the killer bogan movie “Storm Warning” and the Jim Caviezel-led remake of 1970s psychothriller classic “Long Weekend”.
Our sincerest condolences go out to his family, friends and fans.
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