| Profile | E1 |
Waiting For Guffman: The Story
"WAITING FOR GUFFMAN" is a comedy directed by Christopher Guest and produced by Karen Murphy, both of whom were among the creative forces on the comic mockumentary "This is Spinal Tap." For "Guffman," Guest teamed up with Eugene Levy to create the characters and story outline which shaped the film, and also collaborated with Michael McKean and Harry Shearer for the music on "Red, White and Blaine."
Roberto Schaefer was the Director of Photography, and Andy Blumental edited the film. Also featured in the cast are LARRY MILLER, PAUL BENEDICT, PAUL DOOLEY and BRIAN DOYLE-MURRAY.
The Filmmakers of "Waiting For Guffman"
Producer KAREN MURPHY brings versatility to her film projects, many of which benefit from her strong background in the documentary field.
Her first feature length film was the documentary parody of a fictitious rock band, "This is Spinal Tap," directed by Rob Reiner. Her second feature, "True Stories," was directed by The Talking Heads' David Byrne, followed by Gus Van Sant's "Drug Store Cowboy" which The Washington Post hailed as "stunningly bold and eccentric," and Paul Michael Glaser's "The Cutting Edge." Recently, she produced "Twenty Bucks," an independent film directed by Keva Rosenfeld.
Her additional credits include "The Secret Life of Mr. Ed," directed by Michael Lehmann for "Saturday Night Live," Harry Shearer's HBO comedy special, "It's Just TV" and Showtime's "Unlikely Stories," a compilation of short comedy films from Rob Reiner, Billy Crystal and Christopher Guest.
Her documentary work includes the PBS project "Scientology," the American Film Institute's "Save the Last Dance For Me," the MTV Award-winning Talking Heads video "Wild, Wild Life" and the B-52s video "Summer of Love."
A native New Yorker who attended Washington University's School of Fine Arts in St. Louis, Schaefer returned to New York after graduation and got his first job at a commercial production house. He transitioned to working as a freelance cameraman for numerous international news outlets, and then spent ten years in Italy as a cameraman, shooting international films, television projects and music videos. Schaefer shot with a Steadicam for five years and in 1982, made his own "no budget" feature called "Dead at Last."
In 1992, Italy's economic slump prompted his return to the U.S. but he quickly got work shooting music videos. His film credits include "The Red Shoe Diaries," two films for Showtime, "Road Racers," directed by Robert Rodriguez and Ralph Bakshi's "Cool and Crazy." He shot an independent film called "Loungers" which won a prize at last year's alternative film festival, Slamdance and also photographed "Whiskey Down" for Propaganda.
Editor ANDY BLUMENTHAL faced a Herculean challenge in his collaboration with Christopher Guest, endeavoring to craft a documentary parody from 60 hours of great material.
A Los Angeles native who attended the University of California, Berkeley as an undergrad, he earned a Master’s from the UCLA Film School. Breaking into the business as Steve McQueen's dialogue coach on "Enemy of the People," Blumenthal soon transitioned into editing.
He apprenticed with editors Sheldon Kahn and Stu Linder, and worked as an assistant on films such as "Diner" and "Six Weeks," among others. Blumenthal worked solo on several low-budget films for Roger Corman's company including "Hardbodies" and "Lucky 13."
He teamed up with the Emmy-Award winning George Schaefer, on four movies for television, and subsequently edited a feature film called "Five Corners" for Tony Bill. Other film credits include "The Natural," "Irresistible Force" and "The Last Word."
