Jarrett Schaefer (born 1979) is an American film director and screenwriter. His feature debut, ''

Chapter 27 ''Chapter 27'' is a 2007 Biographical film, biographical Drama (film and television), drama film depicting the murder of John Lennon by Mark David Chapman. It was written and directed by Jarrett Schaefer, based on the 1992 book ''Let Me Take You ...

'' (2007), premiered and received substantial media and critical attention at the 2007

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

Biography

Born on a U.S. Air Force base in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

but raised in the United States, Schaefer studied film writing at

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

, in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. After graduating, he worked as an editor at ''Fade In'' magazine and as a videostore clerk while writing scripts and poetry in his spare time. Schaefer made his feature-length debut in 2007 with ''

'', a

biographical film A biographical film or biopic () is a film that dramatizes the life of a non-fictional or historically-based person or people. Such films show the life of a historical person and the central character's real name is used. They differ from docudra ...

depicting the murder of John Lennon by Mark David Chapman. It takes place in December 1980, and is intended to be an exploration of Chapman's psyche. The script took Schaefer four years to write, but when it was finished, the film came together quickly. With the help of producers Alexandra Milchan and Robert Salerno, Schaefer cast

Jared Leto Jared Joseph Leto ( ; born December 26, 1971) is an American actor and musician. Known for his method acting in a variety of roles, he has received numerous accolades over a career spanning three decades, including an Academy Award and a Golde ...

as Mark David Chapman. ''Chapter 27'' premiered at the

2007 Sundance Film Festival The 2007 Sundance Film Festival ran from January 18 until January 28, 2007, in Park City, Utah with screenings in Salt Lake City, Utah and Ogden, Utah. It was the 23-rd iteration of the Sundance Film Festival. The opening night film was '' Chica ...

where it received polarized reactions from critics. It later went into limited theatrical release in the United States on March 28, 2008. ''Chapter 27'' was cited as one of the most controversial films of 2007. The film received substantial accolades from critics who praised the depiction of the mental state of Mark David Chapman in the days leading up the murder of John Lennon in December 1980. It won the Debut Feature Prize for Schaefer at the

Zurich Film Festival Zurich Film Festival (ZFF) is an annual film festival that has been held in Zürich, Switzerland, since 2005. The festival's main focus is to promote emerging filmmakers from all over the world. In three competition categories only first, second ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Schaefer, Jarrett 1979 births American film directors American male screenwriters English-language film directors Living people People from Kaiserslautern (district) USC School of Cinematic Arts alumni