William Lustig

For the American gang leader and labor racketeer, see Billy Lustig.

William Lustig
Born	(1955-02-01) February 1, 1955 (age 69) New York City, New York, U.S.
Occupations	Film director film producer

William "Bill" Lustig (born February 1, 1955, in The Bronx, New York) is an American film director[1] and producer who has worked primarily in the horror film genre. He is the nephew of former middleweight champion Jake LaMotta.

Film career

As a film director, Lustig is best known for his low-budget horror films Maniac,[2] Vigilante, Uncle Sam, and the Maniac Cop series.[3] Lustig has also worked as an actor playing small roles in his own films as well as in films by Sam Raimi, most notably as a fake shemp in Army of Darkness and a dockworker in Darkman.[4] As of 2009, Lustig is the CEO of Blue Underground; an entertainment company specializing in the release of obscure films and exploitation films on DVD.[5] He also produced a remake of his film Maniac (2012) and is rumoured to be producing a new upcoming Maniac Cop with Nicolas Winding Refn.[6] In an interview with Vulture in January 2023, Refn, when asked whether the creation of the series was still under discussion, said: "All I can say is, unfortunately, it’s not going to happen."[7]

Selected filmography

Year	Title	Notes
1974	Death Wish	Apprentice editor (uncredited)
1976	The Zebra Force	Stunts (uncredited)
1977	Hot Honey	Credited as Billy Bagg
	The Violation of Claudia
	Sylvia	Production manager (uncredited) Assistant director (uncredited)
1978	The Squeeze	Production manager (uncredited)
1980	Inferno
	Maniac	Also producer Uncredited role as Al the hotel manager
	Bella	Production manager (uncredited)
1982	Vigilante	AKA Street Gang Also producer Uncredited role as First man exiting elevator
	Tenebrae	Production manager (uncredited)
1988	Maniac Cop	Uncredited role as Motel Manager
	Cameron's Closet	Uncredited cameo appearance as Man eating ice cream
1989	Hit List
	Relentless	Also role as Cop #2
1990	Darkman	Cameo appearance as Dockworker #4
	Maniac Cop 2
1992	Army of Darkness	Cameo appearance as Fake Shemp
1993	Maniac Cop III: Badge of Silence	Credited as Alan Smithee
1995	The Expert	Uncredited Co-directed with Rick Avery
1996	Uncle Sam	Direct-to-video
2012	Maniac	Producer
TBA	Untitled Maniac Cop remake	Executive producer

References

1. Lustig, William; Steve Voce (Spring 1995). "William Lustig; Interview by Steve Voce". Psychotronic Video. 20: 52–59.
2. Canby, Vincent (1981-01-31). "Maniac". The New York Times. Retrieved 2011-05-04.
3. "NYC Horror Film Festival Announces 2009 Lineup and Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient". DreadCentral. November 6, 2009.
4. March 2008 Interview with L.A. Record
5. Cultfilms en Kutfilms Interview with Bill Lustig (April 13, 2007)
6. "'Maniac Cop' Sales Art Presented by Nicolas Winding Refn!". Bloody Disgusting. 13 November 2015.
7. "Nicolas Winding Refn Answers Some Questions, Leaves the Rest to His Shrinks". Vulture. 9 January 2023.

External links

• William Lustig at IMDb