Allan Moyle
- Director
- Actor
- Writer
Unconventional filmmaker who moved from independent cinema into the
Hollywood mainstream. Moyle became a sought-after writer-director after
the surprising success of Pump Up the Volume (1990), a sleeper hit about teen angst
starring Christian Slater. His previous directorial outing occurred a full
decade earlier: the critically lambasted Times Square (1980), a flop which
concerned the surprisingly tame adventures of two runaway teenage girls
in the Big Apple. This film--Moyle's first studio directing
assignment--was such an unpleasant experience for the neophyte
filmmaker that he succumbed to a stress-related disorder that caused
all his hair to fall out.
Moyle began his career as an actor and screenwriter working in close
collaboration with Frank Vitale, a Canada-based independent filmmaker. Their
film Montreal Main (1974) was a loosely structured quasi-documentary about gay life
in Montreal. Moyle made his directorial debut with The Rubber Gun (1977), an
exploration of the city's drug culture. In addition to acting in his
own films, Moyle appeared in David Cronenberg's Rabid (1977) and had a major
supporting role in Richard Benner's cult favorite, Outrageous! (1977). After the failure
of TIMES SQUARE he left the industry for a ten-year period during which
he wrote a novel and several screenplays, before PUMP UP THE VOLUME
restored his commercial credibility.
Hollywood mainstream. Moyle became a sought-after writer-director after
the surprising success of Pump Up the Volume (1990), a sleeper hit about teen angst
starring Christian Slater. His previous directorial outing occurred a full
decade earlier: the critically lambasted Times Square (1980), a flop which
concerned the surprisingly tame adventures of two runaway teenage girls
in the Big Apple. This film--Moyle's first studio directing
assignment--was such an unpleasant experience for the neophyte
filmmaker that he succumbed to a stress-related disorder that caused
all his hair to fall out.
Moyle began his career as an actor and screenwriter working in close
collaboration with Frank Vitale, a Canada-based independent filmmaker. Their
film Montreal Main (1974) was a loosely structured quasi-documentary about gay life
in Montreal. Moyle made his directorial debut with The Rubber Gun (1977), an
exploration of the city's drug culture. In addition to acting in his
own films, Moyle appeared in David Cronenberg's Rabid (1977) and had a major
supporting role in Richard Benner's cult favorite, Outrageous! (1977). After the failure
of TIMES SQUARE he left the industry for a ten-year period during which
he wrote a novel and several screenplays, before PUMP UP THE VOLUME
restored his commercial credibility.