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Rod DanielAmerican film and television director
Date of Birth: 04.08.1942
Country:  USA |
Content:
- Early Life and Education
- Military Service and Advertising Career
- Television Directing Career
- Film Directing Debut: "Teen Wolf"
- Later Films and Career Conclusion
- Personal Life
- Rod and his wife Marty had two sons, John and Lucas.
- Rod Daniel passed away at his home in Chicago on April 16, 2016.
Early Life and Education
Rollin Augustus "Rod" Daniel was born on August 4, 1942, in Nashville, Tennessee. His father, Rollin Daniel Jr., was a surgeon, Chairman of Cardiac and Thoracic Surgery at Vanderbilt University, and a founding member of the Board of Thoracic Surgery. Rod attended Battle Ground Academy for high school, graduating in 1960. He then earned a degree from Vanderbilt University and briefly attended law school before realizing it was not for him.
Military Service and Advertising Career
Rod served in the United States Army as a Lieutenant during the Vietnam War. After his service, he worked as a producer and director of commercials, initially in his hometown of Nashville, and later in Atlanta and Chicago. He forged a friendship with director Hugh Wilson, who had success directing sitcoms. Wilson was creating a new television series called "WKRP in Cincinnati" and invited Daniel to observe the filming of the pilot. Daniel recalled, "On the set, I just seemed to instinctively know how to do what they did, so I badgered my way into directing."
Television Directing Career
In 1978, Daniel took the director's chair for "WKRP in Cincinnati," which helped launch his subsequent career in film and television. He went on to direct numerous episodes of various series, including "Newhart," "Magnum, P.I.," "Everybody Loves Raymond," and "The Mary Tyler Moore Show." He also directed episodes of series such as "Filthy Rich," "Caroline in the City," and "The Duck Factory." He directed the television films "How to Marry a Billionaire: A Christmas Tale" (2000) and "Home Alone 4" (2002).
Film Directing Debut: "Teen Wolf"
Daniel's feature film directorial debut was the fantasy film "Teen Wolf" (1985) starring Michael J. Fox. The film, which also featured James Hampton, Jerry Levine, Susan Ursitti, Lorie Griffin, Jay Tarses, and Mark Arnold, was unrelated to the popular television series of the same name. In a September 2011 interview with the Chicago Tribune, Daniel revealed that he secured the directing job after Fox asked all potential directors what they thought "Teen Wolf" was about. Everyone else said it was about a werewolf, but Daniel responded, "It's about the relationship between the son and the father." That answer won Daniel the job.
"Teen Wolf" grossed approximately $80 million worldwide against a production budget of $1.4 million. Daniel's next film was the 1987 comedy "Like Father Like Son" starring Dudley Moore and Kirk Cameron. In 1989, he helmed another comedy, "K-9," featuring Jim Belushi, Kevin Tighe, Ed O'Neill, and Mel Harris.
Later Films and Career Conclusion
Daniel directed the 1991 comedy "The Super" starring Joe Pesci. Reflecting on the film, he said, "The 'Super'? That's a perfect example of me taking on a movie knowing it has script problems...But if there's something wrong with the script, you just don't shoot it (into production)."
"It wasn't that Joe Pesci was miscast at all. Quite the contrary, he was perfectly cast, and that was the problem...The producer, Larry Gordon, initially said to me, 'Listen, I want to take Chevy Chase and put him in the ghetto.' That was the whole idea, but it was such a contrived idea, taking this white guy and having him make all the standard white-boy jokes about gangs and rap music. Just because it's Chevy, does that make it funny?"
"I remember sitting in a hotel room at the Regency in New York with pieces of that (expletive) screenplay all over the place, and Nora Ephron, who wrote a bunch of scenes. She was curled up in the fetal position under the dining table because we didn't know how to fix the middle of the movie."
Daniel continued, "So we just started shooting. Never do that. The movie was all over the place. I mean, I gave them a cut of two and a half hours. Can you imagine, a two-and-a-half-hour 'Super'? Just shoot me."
Daniel's final theatrical release was the 1903 comedy "Beethoven's 2nd," starring Charles Grodin, Bonnie Hunt, Nicholle Tom, Christopher Castile, and Sarah Rose Karr. "Beethoven's 2nd" was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song for the song "The Day I Fall in Love."
Personal Life
Rod returned to his hometown of Nashville in 2009 and moved to Chicago two years later. He also had a vacation home outside Traverse City, Michigan.
Daniel was a member of the Directors Guild of America and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He retired from filmmaking in 2003.
Rod and his wife Marty had two sons, John and Lucas.
Photography and DeathOne of Daniel's passions was photography. He was an accomplished fine art photographer, primarily working in black and white, often capturing scenes of rural America. His work was exhibited in competitions and galleries throughout the United States.
