Mark L. Lester

Mark L. Lester (born November 26, 1946) is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer.[1] He is known as a prolific director of cult films, including the disco musical Roller Boogie (1979), the vigilante thriller film Class of 1984 (1982), the Stephen King-adaptation Firestarter (1984), the Arnold Schwarzenegger action film Commando (1985), and the action-comedy Armed and Dangerous (1986), starring John Candy, Eugene Levy, and Meg Ryan.

Mark L. Lester
Born	November 26, 1946 Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.
Occupation	Film director, film producer, screenwriter
Notable work	Roller Boogie Class of 1984 Commando Armed and Dangerous Poseidon Rex

Career

After his debut in 1970 with the film Twilight of the Mayas, Lester quickly became a prolific B-movie director/producer/writer, initially making his mark with a trio of road movies designed for the drive-in market: Steel Arena (1973), Truck Stop Women (1974), and Bobbie Jo and the Outlaw (1976). In 1977, he directed the high-concept thriller Stunts, an early outing for New Line Cinema, starring Robert Forster, Joanna Cassidy, and Richard Lynch, with a score composed by Michael Kamen. Two years later, he capitalized on the disco trend with Roller Boogie, starring Linda Blair. The film had a significantly higher budget than his previous films and was the first to be distributed by a major studio, to modest success. While it received negative reviews upon its initial release, it has since gained cult status as a proverbial time capsule of the bygone Disco Era. He then made the exploitation action crime-thriller Class of 1984, a film revolving around violence in an inner-city school. The Canadian-made production, which featured an early appearance by Michael J. Fox, was controversial at the time of release, but has since gained cult status.

Lester entered the mainstream in 1984 with the Stephen King adaptation Firestarter, and had his biggest hit the following year with Commando, a big-budget, Joel Silver-produced, Arnold Schwarzenegger action film that grossed over $57 million worldwide. In 1986, he directed and produced his first comedy, Armed and Dangerous, starring John Candy, Eugene Levy and Meg Ryan. In 1990, he directed Class of 1999, a semi-sequel to Class of 1984, starring Malcolm McDowell, Pam Grier, and Stacy Keach. In 1991, he directed the cult classic Showdown in Little Tokyo, starring Dolph Lundgren and Brandon Lee.

Lester also founded American World Pictures, an independent production and distribution company. Recent films include action film The Base (1999), the thrillers Hitman's Run (1999) and Blowback (2000), and the TV movie Pterodactyl (2005), produced for the Sci Fi Channel. In 2012, after getting a divorce from wife Dana Dubovsky, he formed a new distribution company called Titan Global Entertainment.

In January 2013, almost 10 years after directing his last picture, Lester helmed the film Poseidon Rex on location in Belize. The production was disrupted briefly when lead actor Corin Nemec was severely injured during a boating accident while the Belizean Coast Guard was transporting the cast to set;[2] Nemec was later replaced by Charmed co-star Brian Krause.[3]

Personal life

Lester married Dana Dubovsky, with whom he had two children: Jason and Justin. The couple divorced in 2010. Lester also has a daughter from a prior relationship, Janessa (James), who is a musician and singer-songwriter.

Filmography

Director or writer

Year	Title	Director	Producer	Writer	Notes
1971	Twilight of the Mayas	Yes	Yes	No	Directorial debut
1973	Steel Arena	Yes	Yes	Yes
1974	Truck Stop Women	Yes	Yes	Yes
1975	White House Madness	Yes	Yes	No
1976	Bobbie Jo and the Outlaw	Yes	Yes	No
1977	Stunts	Yes	No	No
1979	Gold of the Amazon Women	Yes	No	No	Television film
	Roller Boogie	Yes	No	No
1982	Class of 1984	Yes	Executive	Yes
1984	Firestarter	Yes	No	No
1985	Commando	Yes	No	No
1986	Armed and Dangerous	Yes	No	No
1990	Class of 1999	Yes	Yes	Story
1991	Showdown in Little Tokyo	Yes	Yes	No
1993	Extreme Justice	Yes	No	No
1995	Night of the Running Man	Yes	Yes	No
1996	Public Enemies	Yes	Yes	No	Direct-to-video films
1997	The Ex	Yes	Yes	No
1998	Double Take	Yes	Yes	No
	Misbegotten	Yes	Yes	No
1999	The Base	Yes	Yes	No	Direct-to-video film
	Hitman's Run	Yes	Yes	No
2000	Blowback	Yes	Yes	No
	Sacrifice	Yes	Yes	No	Television films
	The Base 2: Guilty as Charged	Yes	Yes	No
2003	Lady Jayne: Killer	Yes	Yes	No
	Stealing Candy	Yes	Yes	Story
	White Rush	Yes	Yes	No
2005	Pterodactyl	Yes	Yes	No
2008	Yeti: Curse of the Snow Demon	No	Executive	Story	Television film
2010	Groupie	Yes	Executive	No
2013	Poseidon Rex	Yes	Yes	No
2014	Dragons of Camelot	Yes	Yes	No
TBA	Kwa-Heri	Yes	No	No	Television film; pre-production

Producer only

Year	Title	Notes
1971	Tricia's Wedding	Short film
2001	Devil's Prey
2007	Wraiths of Roanoke	Television film
2010	Beauty and the Beast
2011	Sinbad and the Minotaur	Television films
	Jabberwock
2012	Sand Sharks
2018	Social Animals
	High Resolution
2019	Sleeping With My Student

Executive producer only

Year	Title	Notes
1981	The Funhouse
2001	Instinct to Kill
2002	Bad Karma
	The Wisher
2006	Day of Wrath
2012	Dragonwasps	Television film
2013	Jurassic Attack
2015	Toxin
2020	The Gardener	Post-production

References

1. "Mark L. Lester biography". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2016-03-07.
2. "Parker Lewis' Star Boat Crash". TMZ. January 24, 2013.
3. "Trailer for Firestarter and Commando Director Mark L. Lester's Sea Monster Flick Poseidon Rex". Dread Central. May 20, 2013.

External links

• Mark L. Lester at IMDb