Date of Birth

Mini Biography

Raised and educated in Texas, Schmoeller began his career as a young playwright and was awarded the Texas Good Neighbor Scholarship for studies in Mexico attending the Universidad De Las Americas, 1967-1968. In Mexico, he studied theater with Alejandro Jodorowsky ("El Topo") and was mentored in film by the legendary director Luis Bunuel. After a stint as an interpreter for ABC Sports during the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, Schmoeller returned to Texas and completed a Masters program in Radio-TV-Film at the University of Texas at Austin. His Thesis Film, "The Spider Will Kill You," funded by a grant from the Directors Guild of America, received an Academy Award Student Film Nomination in 1974, losing in the finals to the Robert Zemeckis student short "Field Of Honor." Subsequently, under the auspices of the American Film Institute with funding from the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, Schmoeller spent six months as an intern with writer-director Peter Hyams on the film "Capricorn One." Schmoeller's first feature "Tourist Trap" (which he wrote and directed) is the favorite film of master storyteller of modern horror, Stephen King.

Schmoeller's writing and directing credits include work on the highly-praised television series "James At 15" as well as the feature films "Tourist Trap;" New World's "Warriors Of The Wind;" "The Seduction" for Embassy; "Crawlspace," "Ghost Town" and "Catacombs" for Empire Entertainment and the cult classic "Puppetmaster" for Paramount Studios. "Puppetmaster" subsequently became one of the most successful franchise horror films ever made, producing seven more sequels, the latest in 2003 ("Puppermaster, The Legacy"). Schmoeller's film "The Arrival," a science-fiction black comedy, was selected for the Midnight Madness screening at the Toronto Film Festival. After "The Arrival," Schmoeller wrote and directed "Netherworld," a ghost story filmed in New Orleans. Produced by Full Moon Entertainment, "Netherworld" was also released by Paramount. Schmoeller then directed two children's features: "The Secret Kingdom" and "Mysterious Museum" in Bucharest and Sinia, Romania and New Orleans. In addition to his feature work, Schmoeller has directed many hours of Network Television including three seasons of the CBS-USA Network television series "Silk Stalkings" as well as "Renegade" and the pilot and multiple episodes of "Cop Files," a series for the Fox Network.

He was honored on January 26, 2007 in Paris by the Cinematheque Francaise with a tribute to David Schmoeller screening, showing two of his early features (the cult classic films "Tourist Trap" and "Crawlspace" as well as his celebrated short documentary on directing enfant terrible Klaus Kinski: "Please Kill Mr. Kinski").

In March, 2007, Schmoeller was a Visiting International Artist at Objectifs Centre for Photography & Filmmaking in Singapore where he shot the Singapore segment of a film he is making called "Wedding Day" (set in Las Vegas, Paris and Singapore) about a bride in each city on her wedding day as something unexpected has happened.

Schmoeller has been an internationally recognized feature film and television writer-director (nine feature films, many hours of network television and numerous award-winning shorts) for over three decades. Schmoeller has two feature film projects in development: "Little Monsters," a crime drama and "Neon Desert," a romantic-comedy. His short "Spanking Lessons" recently won the Cinevegas Jury Award for Best Nevada Filmmaker.

Schmoeller is an Associate Professor of film production at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and runs the Film Department's UNLV Short Film Archive. He can be reached at schmoeller@cox.net.

Trivia

Has a special talent, he can spin a bottle on his finger, a talent he used to write himself a role in Netherworld (1992).

Attended film school at the University of Texas - Austin.

Studied theater in Mexico with Luis Bunuel and Alejandro Jodorowsky.

Where Are They Now

(January 2003) Employed as a film professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Directed by: David Schmoeller

Directed by: David Schmoeller