Name Gene Phillips Role Author | Organization Society of Jesus | |
Occupation priest, professor, and author Known for books on filmmakers, literature and film Education Loyola University Chicago, Fordham University Books The encyclopedia of Stanley, Creatures of Darkness, Beyond the Epic, The Francis Ford Cop, Fiction - film - and Faulkner | ||
Gene D. Phillips, S.J. (born 1935) is an American author, educator, and Catholic priest. Phillips has been a prolific author of biographical books on filmmakers, and has published extended interviews with many filmmakers including Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick, Fritz Lang, and Joseph Losey.
Phillips was raised near Springfield, Ohio. He received his A.B. and M.A. (1957) degrees from Loyola University of Chicago, and a Ph.D. in English Literature from Fordham University in 1970. Phillips is a member of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits), and was ordained a priest in 1965. His decision to become a Jesuit at age 17 was strongly affected by his viewing of the film The Keys of the Kingdom (1944) as a boy. Since 1970 Phillips has taught at Loyola University of Chicago. He has written or edited more than 20 books on filmmakers and film (see bibliography); several of these have been reviewed by major newspapers.
Phillips has served on juries at the Cannes, Berlin, and Chicago International Film Festivals. He has been a member of the editorial board for the journal Literature/Film Quarterly since its founding in 1973; this journal claims to be "the longest standing international journal devoted to the study of adaptation" (i.e. the adaptation of literature to film).