Film & TV / Literature
Bruce Joel Rubin
born 1943 · screenwriter, meditation teacher, photographer
Oscar-winning screenwriter of Ghost and Jacob's Ladder, raised in Detroit, a Mumford High School graduate who discovered film at the city's Krim Theater and studied at Wayne State.
- Born
Detroit, Michigan
age 83- Detroit years
- 1943–1962
- Field
- Film & TV, Literature
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Bruce Joel Rubin was born in Detroit in 1943 into a Jewish family and grew up in the city, graduating from Mumford High School in 1960. He traced his love of cinema to a teenage evening at Detroit's Krim Theater, where he saw Ingmar Bergman's Wild Strawberries. He spent two years at Wayne State University before transferring in 1962 to New York University's film school, where his classmates included Martin Scorsese and Brian De Palma, who directed Rubin's first student script. After years of travel, spiritual study and odd jobs, his screenplays found their mark in Hollywood: Brainstorm, the metaphysical thriller Jacob's Ladder and above all Ghost (1990), the year's highest-grossing film, which won him the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. He also wrote and directed My Life (1993) and later wrote the stage musical version of Ghost. Alongside film he has taught meditation.
Highlights
- Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, Ghost (1990)
- Wrote Jacob's Ladder (1990) and wrote and directed My Life (1993)
- Mumford High School class of 1960; two years at Wayne State
- Fell for film watching Wild Strawberries at Detroit's Krim Theater
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 3
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Studied here · until 1960
Mumford High School
Northwest Detroit public high school; Rubin graduated in 1960.
Favorite haunt · 1950s
Krim Theater
Status being checked
Detroit movie house where the teenage Rubin saw Bergman's Wild Strawberries, the film he credits with sparking his interest in filmmaking. Address and fate not verified.
Studied here · 1960–1962
Wayne State University
Rubin studied here for two years before transferring to NYU in 1962.