The creator of the film versions of "The Addams Family" and "Men in Black" celebrates his birthday

Few Hollywood directors can be proud of creating a cult franchise, but Barry Sonnenfeld has two, both extremely popular - "The Addams Family" and "Men in Black".

And that's not all - before becoming a director himself, he was the main cameraman for such outstanding directors as the Coen brothers ("Miller's Crossing", "Raising Arizona"). And also - for Rob Reiner (the dark thriller based on Stephen King "Misery") and even Danny DeVito in his directorial debut "Throw Momma from the Train". Perhaps it was after watching DeVito's unsuccessful example that Sonnenfeld thought that a cameraman could become a director no worse than an actor - and he was right.

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His directorial debut "The Addams Family" literally blew up audiences all over the world. The original version of the story of this famous family, which was born in the USA in the early 40s in the cult magazine of the American intelligentsia "The New Yorker", was created by the young artist Charles Addams, who gave it his last name and came up with characters that were the direct opposite of the entire American popular culture of that time - and over time became an integral part of this culture. Then came the TV series about this family, which became a cult in the USA, but it was Sonnenfeld who made the Addams family a global phenomenon in the early 90s.

Another would have had enough of this for an entire director's career, but a few years later Barry launched another legendary franchise - "Men in Black". Again, it was not based on his original plot, but on Lowell Cunningham's comics edited by Marvel, but, as in the case of the Addamses, it was again Sonnenfeld who brought "Men in Black" into global orbit.

Experienced viewers will remember that the premiere of the first film in the franchise in 1997 was a real bomb. A great cast of young Will Smith and not-so-old Tommy Lee Jones, plus an unconventional plot, unusual characters and a great sense of humor (like in "The Addams") simply blew up both the audience and film critics.

Film critics liked the second and third "Men in Black" much less. The ratings on Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic for the second film in the franchise fell several times, and for the third they grew a little, but still did not reach the figures of the first film. Viewers were much more forgiving, although the box office receipts for the second film were also slightly less than for the first - $441.8 million versus $589.3.

Perhaps this is why Sonnenfeld was no longer a director for the fourth "Men in Black", but a producer. And then he went on to direct films that, let's be honest, weren't even close to the ones mentioned above. But you can't be a genius forever - you have to take a break...

Photo: Barry Sonnenfeld on the set Facebook