 Larry J. FrancoI started with Larry Franco because of his original ties to one of my all time favorite directors, John Carpenter.From almost the beginning of Carpenter's career, Franco has been his producer (along with Carpenter's wife Sandy King). Starting with Carpenter's eighth film, Escape From New York, Franco went on to produce Carpenter's next six films. The Thing, Christine, Starman, Big Trouble in Little China, Prince of Darkness and They Live. Franco branched out afterwards, producing such films as Tango & Cash, The Rocketeer, Batman Returns, Jumanji, Mars Attacks!, October Sky, Sleepy Hollow and the soon to be released Jurassic Park III, directed by Joe Johnston (The Rocketeer, Jumanji, October Sky). The following was taken from the Official John Carpenter website. LARRY FRANCO, a native of Sonora, California, is a long time associate of John Carpenter. They first teamed on Elvis, when Franco served as first assistant director. He continued to perform in this capacity during their subsequent films together. After The Fog however, Franco added duties as associate producer on The Thing, co-producer on Christine and producer on Escape From New York, Starman, Big Trouble in Little China, Prince of Darkness and They Live. A 1971 graduate of the UCLA film school, Franco entered the Director's Guild of America Training Program in 1974. There he worked as a DGA trainee on feature films such as Battle of Midway in 1975 and Harry and Walter Go To New York. He graduated from DGA trainee to 2nd assistant director in 1976 on the feature film Black Sunday and continued with this position on Foul Play. Then came the long and trying task as 2nd assistant director for Francis Coppola's overwhelming production of Apocalypse Now. Franco worked for more than six months in the Philippines under conditions less than conducive to filmmaking. "It was a real lesson, he says a tough training ground. Whatever else I do with my career will be easy by comparison." Franco moved up to first assistant director on films such as Straight Time with Dustin Hoffman and The Rose with Bette Midler. He also served as associate producer and first assistant director on Cutter's Way. "It's great - a Hollywood dream - to go from trainee to co-producer," says Franco, "and the secret is simple. It just takes hard work." If you've ever studied the works of John Carpenter, you will see the subtle hints of Franco, everywhere. The attentions to detail, to the sets, to the special effects. This is specifically apparent in the films Escape From New York, The Thing, Big Trouble in Little China and They Live. There is a similar feel to all of these movies, and I know it's partly due to the duo of Carpenter/Franco. Films post They Live, of Carpenter's, lost that edge, a very apparent missing piece of the puzzle. I tried looking up some additional info on him, but the majority of it was in foreign languages, if you can believe that. The following are a list of his credits as Producer:
1.X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes (2001) (producer) The following are a list of his credits as Second Unit Director or Assistant Director:
1.They Live (1988) (first assistant director)
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