Purple Rain
With his 1984 film debut, the multi-talented Minnesotan proved that all you really need to carry a movie are some killer dance moves and a dyn-o-mite set list guaranteed to rock the house for 111 minutes. Purple Rain is directed by Albert Magnoli in the most prosaic fashion possible but at least he stays out of the way of the musical performers, in particular the kinetically funny Morris Day who gives the film a funk-ified hot foot with his Cab Calloway Meets James Brown version of Jungle Love. The movie was enormously popular but even that success was overshadowed by its soundtrack which spent 24 consecutive weeks at the top of the Billboard album chart.
More Trailers with Josh Olson
About Josh Olson
Josh Olson was the only student in his second grade class to see The House That Dripped Blood. Many years later, he wrote and directed the no-budget horror film, Infested, a brutal assault on The Big Chill, with zombies. He went on to write the screenplay for A History Of Violence and was nominated for the WGA, BAFTA and Academy Awards for Best Screenplay. He kept losing to Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana, but that’s okay.
He has written features and TV shows with Harlan Ellison, Walter Hill, Slash, Willie Nelson, and Mick Jagger. His Village Voice essay “I Will Not Read Your Fucking Script” became an internet phenomenon, getting upwards of five million hits.
The ten-part audio drama Bronzeville which he wrote, starring Laurence Fishburne, Larenz Tate, Tracee Ellis Ross, Omari Harwicke and Tika Sumpter was a popular and critical hit, and is currently being developed for TV. He and John Brancato (The Game) recently wrote and sold the feature spec Trigger Warning, which is being produced by Thunder Road.
Josh is the host of Trailers From Hell's official podcast, The Movies That Made Me, available everywhere podcasts are streamed and downloaded!