Jerry Stahl
Jerry Stahl (born September
28, 1953) is an American
novelist and screenwriter, He is best known for memoir of
addiction Permanent
Midnight. A film adaptation followed with
Ben Stiller in the lead role. Since their
initial pairing, the two have become friends and
collaborators.
Stahl has worked extensively in film and television.
Biography
Early life
Stahl grew
up in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania
. His father, a Jewish immigrant from Russia,
became a federal judge, though his working class roots include a
stint as a coal miner.
After the untimely loss of his father, Stahl’s education proved to
be a commanding culture shock. He moved from being a kid educated
in a lower class of Pittsburgh neighborhood, to a fish out of
water, suddenly shipped away to a private boarding school and a
world far removed from anything he had ever known. He is a graduate
of Columbia University. Post-college found Stahl living abroad in
Greece – in caves outside of Matala, on Crete. He also traveled the
streets of Paris, then London, where he landed a job as a bartender
at a working class Irish pub. Once stateside, Jerry found himself
in New York with a burgeoning career as a writer.
He began publishing short fiction, won a
Pushcart Prize, and made a living writing for
magazines and doing porn stories for cash. One writing job as humor
editor for Hustler meant moving to Columbus, Ohio and living at the
YMCA until the magazine moved its headquarters to California. Stahl
lost his job six months to the day after taking it and ended up on
unemployment in California, alongside an escalating heroin drug
dependency.
Career
His most noteworthy television credit to date is the highly rated
100th episode of
CSI. It is a standout
episode for its provocative subject matter and story construction.
Stahl pushed the envelope and the medium to great success and
critical praise.
The wide critical acclaim for the film adaptation of Stahl’s memoir
Permanent Midnight set
the stage for his ongoing work in film. He wrote the screenplay for
Bad Boys II, which starred
Will Smith and
Martin Lawrence and has gone on to pen other
projects for Smith’s company. His most recent film collaboration is
with actor
Johnny Depp who is producing
his celebrated novel
I, Fatty, the
fictional autobiography of legendary movie comedian
Roscoe Arbuckle.
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Writing style
Stahl’s books telescope the underbelly of dysfunction and
isolation. His characters are people who for the most part suffer
self-destructive behavior, straddling the line of addiction and
self-debauchery.
His stories are distinctively stark and unsentimental, yet infused
with pathos and humor.
Works
Memoir
Novels
Short Stories
- Love Without:Stories (2007)
References
External links
Wikis
Quiz
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