Francis Delia | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1947 or 1948 (age 76–77)[1] |
| Other names | Frank Delia, F.X. Pope, Francis X. Wolfe |
| Occupation(s) | Director, writer, producer, cinematographer, photographer, guitarist |
| Years active | 1965–1966 (with The Bruthers) 1975–present (photography, film and television) |
| Relatives | Joe Delia (brother) |
Francis Delia (c. 1948)[1] is an American filmmaker, photographer, writer and musician, at times credited as Francis X. Wolfe or F.X. Pope[2][3]
As Frank Delia, he was the guitarist of The Bruthers, a 1960s New York garage rock band whose four members were all brothers.[4]
Delia worked as a photographer in the 1970s, working for a time with Hustler magazine.[5] His first experiences as a cinematographer and director were in the pornographic film genre.[3][5]
After relocating to Los Angeles with Hustler in 1978, he became co-founder and president of Wolfe Co., a film production company.[5][6] He directed music videos in the 1980s, such as the videos for Wall of Voodoo's "Mexican Radio", "Somebody's Watching Me" by Rockwell as well as several videos for The Ramones, including the video for "Psycho Therapy", which made Rolling Stone's 1993 list of "The Top 100 Videos".[6][7][8]
He also directed episodes of several television series in the 1980s and 1990s, as well as the feature films Freeway, Trouble Bound and Time of Her Time.[9][10]
The Bruthers. . .are Al, 21, Mike 20, Frank, 18, and Joe, 17.
Some fathers dream of having nine sons for a family baseball team, but Alfred W. Delia had these nine sons and baseball is the farthest from his mind . . . Four of his sons -- Al, Mike, Frank, and Joe -- have opened at the New York young adult night club, The Cheetah, for 2 weeks after 6 years of local entertaining and touring the Eastern college circuit. . . The Pearl River group, who call themselves the Bruthers. They first performed in January 1960 for the Teaneck Jewish Community Center camp reunion. . . Frank described his father as the greatest single force directing the group's success. He always encouraged us, but never forced us into anything, he said. . . Delia senior is the group's co-manager with Sidney Bernstein who is also talent coordinator for the "Hullabaloo" T.V. show. Bernstein also discovered, and now manages, The Rascals.
Frank Delia's "Mexican Radio" video for Wall of Voodoo has earned him a lot of attention. Great song, great video -- MTV is still playing it after nine months. . . The Ramones were impressed. They told their manager to find out who made the video, and Delia got a call from Joey Ramone in March. Would he video a song called "Psychotherapy" for their new album? . . This was followed by videos for the Bangles, the Plimsouls, the Flesheaters, Johnny Koonce, and a film of Gary Numan in concert. . . You can say that Delia -- who had never made a rock video before "Mexican Radio," and did only then because he and the band were long-time friends -- and his Wolfe Company (up until then a filmmaking company) are on a roll. . . The unsettling image is also a part of Delia's formula. In "Psychotherapy"...the protagonist undergoes a lobotomy, and his head is split in half, out writhes a hideous and uncontrollable being, a grotesque face that pushes its way up into the camera providing chills a la Eraserhead. The Ramones loved it. MTV labeled it as "totally offensive" and banned the video until the offending scenes were cut. . . The arresting image has been Delia's stock in trade before. Following a ten-year stint with a rock band in New York, Delia became a commercial photographer, putting together promotional photos for films like Dressed to Kill, The Fog, Escape from New York and The Exterminator. It was filmmaker Abel Ferrara -- of Ms. 45 fame -- who first put a movie camera in Delia's hands.
Cast: Darlanne Fluegel, James Russo, Michael Callan. Director:Francis Delia. Writers Darell Fetty and Delia based on the novel by Deanne Barkley.
About Francis Delia: A native New Yorker, Delia began as a performer with RCA recording group "The Bruthers". (Sundazed Records digitally re-mastered "Bruthers" recordings discovered in BMG's vaults and released album, "Bad Way To Go", October 2003). Delia went on to study at The School of Visual Arts and Cooper Union, emerged as a commercial photographer in 1975 for Madison Avenue Ad agencies, magazines such as National Lampoon & High Times, and in the same year gained first motion picture experience as cinematographer on early Abel Ferrara films. Delia migrated to L.A., photographed key art for movie ads including De Palma's "Dress To Kill", Carpenter's "The Fog", "Escape From New York"; produced/directed scores of music videos including #1's Sara (w/Rebecca De Mornay)/We Built This City (Starship) and Rockwell's Somebody's Watching Me (BET's Top 100 Videos). Four music videos were adapted for VH-1's POP-UP VIDEO; "Mexican Radio" (Wall of Voodoo) and "Psychotherapy" (The Ramones) listed on Rolling Stone's Top 100 Videos of All Time. Delia's feature films as director and/or writer include "Freeway" (New World, 1988), "Troublebound" (ITC/Fox Video, 1993) and "The Time of Her Time", adaptation of Norman Mailer short novel (released in Europe, 2001); Delia completed director's cut (2004) and currently seeks U.S. distribution. TV directorial credits include pilot of "War of the Worlds" (Paramount), "Against the Law" (Fox), "Max Headroom" (ABC), episodes of Michael Mann's "Crime Story" (NBC) and multiple episodes of "Friday the 13th, the Series" (Paramount). Currently, Delia is directing music video, writing feature screenplays including "Che" (Davis-Panzer, 2004), adapting Mailer short novel, "The Man Who Studied Yoga" (2006, attached as director); co-exec-producer (uncredited writer), "An American Haunting", 2006, starring Donald Sutherland/Sissy Spacek) released in May 2006; developing slate of features for development/production company, RadioActiveDigital Pictures.