Director James Foley, best known for his work on the ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ movies, has died at the age of 71 following a battle with brain cancer, his publicist has confirmed
James Foley, the acclaimed film director, has died at the age of 71. Foley, known for his work on films like ‘Fifty Shades of Grey: Fifty Shades Darker’, ‘Fifty Shades Freed’, and the Madonna-starring ‘Who’s That Girl’, lost his battle with brain cancer, it was confirmed on Thursday.
His publicist shared with The Hollywood Reporter that James had “died peacefully in his sleep earlier this week” after a prolonged fight against the disease that spanned several years.
Beyond his notable film career, James also collaborated with the one and only Madonna on several iconic music videos, including ‘Live to Tell’, ‘Papa Don’t Preach’, and ‘True Blue’, under the pseudonym Peter Percher.
Their close friendship even led to him standing as best man at her 1985 wedding to then-husband Sean Penn.
After completing his studies at New York University and the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, a fortuitous encounter set the stage for his professional journey.
In an interview with Film Freak Central, James recalled: “I was very lucky, and in the perverse calculus of Hollywood I was in the last year of film school and shared a house with a guy. There was a woman who was pursuing my friend so we had this film school party, which consisted of people projecting their student films onto a white wall and getting stoned.
“And this girl came. Hal Ashby was pursuing her – she was pursuing my friend and Hal was pursuing her – and Hal called her up and asked to come to this party full of film students. Just as he walked through the door, my film was showing on the wall. I’ll never know whether he was being polite or anything, but he told me he liked it and stuff and he was going to form a company that was going to produce other people’s movies and what did I want to do? I could write something and direct it.”
Fans took to social media to pay tribute to him, as one wrote: “RIP James Foley. Better known as the director to the 50 Shades sequels, but he’ll always be remembered for directing Papa Don’t Preach, Live to Tell, and True Blue. And of course the 1987 film, Who’s That Girl.”
A second said: “I’m really sad to hear that director James Foley has passed away. His Glengarry Glen Ross is a masterpiece, packed with powerhouse performances balanced to perfection by Foley. It is, and always will be, an essential classic.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
