April 2024

Jim Jarmusch and Stranger Than Paradise

This article originally appeared in AC, March 1985 Two years ago, Jim Jarmusch had an idea to make a short half-hour film with his friends who were actors, musicians and fellow alumni of New York University film school. He made the film for $8,000 and while he edited the short, Jarmusch wrote the second two-thirds for a feature. The film made the rounds in Europe and won several critic awards. Armed with the minor success of his first feature, Permanent Vacation, and the short, the poet-turned-filmmaker approached various producers for additional funds to complete the film, Stranger Than Paradise. “I was meeting producers,” recalls Jarmusch, “giving them my script and discussing many possibilities. Some of them were liars and some of them...more