'Batman' Director Joel Schumacher Has Died at 80

After a years-long battle with cancer, director Joel Schumacher died Monday according to reports. The news was confirmed by his publicist. The multihyphenate, who started his career as a costume designer, directed over 24 films, most notably directing Batman Forever as well as Batman & Robin.

Through his career, Schumacher has performed as director, screenwriter, costume designer, and more. Outside of Batman he worked on The Lost Boys, The Phantom of the Opera, The Wiz, A Time to Kill, The Client, and the original 1976 Sparkle. His work extended to television, working on episodes of Netflix's House of Cards. Within the legacy of his work, he's also credited with having significantly helped the careers of Matthew McConaughey and Colin Farrell with his casting decisions.

Before getting into the business he attended Parsons School of Design at New School University and the Fashion Institute of Technology, working for fashion and beauty names like Revlon and Bendel's department store.

The creative has been out for the majority of his career -- and has spoken openly about his sex life. In 2019 he gave a few details of that sex life. He spoke of a life before the AIDS epidemic when he says gay men were less concerned with getting married and having children.

"There wasn't any of that when I was young," he told Vulture, estimating that he's had sex with more than 20,000 men. " If you went into a gay bar and there were 200 men in there, and you said, 'Okay, who wants to have a little house with a white picket fence, and a dog, and a child, raise your hands', or 'Who wants to get laid tonight?'

"The concept of a lovely suburban life or raising children was not a high concept."

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