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+ "page_name": "How Many Children Does Director Robert Zemeckis Have? | ...",
+ "page_url": "https://ecelebritybabies.com/celebrity-babies/robert-zemeckis-children/",
+ "page_snippet": "Director Robert Zemeckis is a proud father of 4 children from his two marriages. He has 3 sons; Alexander Zemeckis, Zane Zemeckis, Rhys Zemeckis and a daughter Zsa Zsa Rose Zemeckis.He lost his mother to pancreatic cancer in 2015. Also Read: Get To know Adam Scott\u2019s Parents, Douglas Scott And Anne Scoot \u00b7 As aforementioned, Robert Zemeckis married Leslie Zemeckis after his separation from his first wife. Zemeckis and Leslie shared their marital vows on December 4, 2001. Zane Zemeckis is the second child of Robert Zemeckis with his second wife, Leslie Zemeckis. The couple gave birth to Zane in 2005, after two years of birth of their first son Rhys. Like Rhys, not much is know about Zane too. At present, Zane is enjoying his teenage life and is far away from the reach of media. The couple gave birth to Zane in 2005, after two years of birth of their first son Rhys. Like Rhys, not much is know about Zane too. At present, Zane is enjoying his teenage life and is far away from the reach of media. Now let\u2019s talk about the youngest member of his family. Zsa Zsa Rose Zemeckis is the youngest daughter of Robert Zemeckis and Leslie Zemeckis. The Forrest Gump director, Robert Zemeckis, is a father of four. As aforementioned, he has been married twice and has children from both the marriage. Though his first marriage was a failure, he has now realized where he made mistakes and has been trying to become more of a family man. Today, he is a proud father of four and likes to keep his children away from the radar. You, as his fans, might be curious to know about their life, so we\u2019ve accumulated information about them and prepared this article.",
+ "page_result": "\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n \n \n\t\n\n \n\t\n\tHow Many Children Does Director Robert Zemeckis Have? | eCelebrityBabies\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n
Robert Zemeckis has four children from two marriages. Image Source: Instagram/lesliezemeckis.
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Table of Contents
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You are not a cinephile if you have not heard the name Robert Zemeckis. Robert Zemeckis (Robert Lee Zemeckis), a big name in the American film industry, is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. Zemeckis is known to be great for being the pioneer of visual effects in the entertainment industry. Some of the films that Zemeckis worked in are Romancing the Stone, Back to the Future trilogy; these films brought him huge media attention and success. After that, he demonstrated his excellent direction skills in movies like Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Death Becomes Her. Despite these great movies, his great work is considered to be Forrest Gump, which got him Academy Award for Best Director. The movie starring Tom Hanks, Forrest Gump\u00a0also won the Academy Award for Best Picture. You might already know all these things, so now let’s take a ride along another side of his life.
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Unlike his career, his first marriage to Marry Ellen Trainor did not turn out to be successful. After splitting up with Marry, he married writer cum actress Leslie Zemeckis (Elizabeth Harter). Although these facts are known to the public, Zemeckis excels in keeping things private- especially his children. You might want to find out how many children director Robert Zemeckis has. Read this article to find out the answer and know more about Zemeckis’s children.
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Director Robert Zemeckis Is A Father Of Four
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The Forrest Gump director, Robert Zemeckis, is a father of four. As aforementioned, he has been married twice and has children from both the marriage. Though his first marriage was a failure, he has now realized where he made mistakes and has been trying to become more of a family man. Today, he is a proud father of four and likes to keep his children away from the radar.
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You, as his fans, might be curious to know about their life, so we’ve accumulated information about them and prepared this article. Continue reading to know more about Robert Zemeckis’s children.
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Alexander Zemeckis Is The First Child Of Robert Zemeckis
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Robert Zemeckis married his first wife, Mary Ellen Trainor, in 1980. The (then) couple welcomed their first child on the 11th of December, 1985, after five years of their marriage. Zemeckis and Mary were delighted to welcome their first child and their first parenthood experience, and they decided to name him Alexander Francis Zemeckis.
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Zemeckis’s first child, Alexander, is an aspiring actor who debuted in this industry through the movie directed by his father, Forrest Gump. After that, he has also worked in other movies and projects such as Contact and Rabbit Fever. His IMDb profile says that he was in the additional crew of movies Beowulf\u00a0and\u00a0The Polar Express.\u00a0Alexander’s last appearance in the industry was in 2007; after that, there is no sign of him in Hollywood. He lost his mother to pancreatic cancer in 2015.
Robert Zemeckis’s Children From His Second Marriage
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As aforementioned, Robert Zemeckis married Leslie Zemeckis after his separation from his first wife. Zemeckis and Leslie shared their marital vows on December 4, 2001. As of now, the couple has completed 19 years of happily married life and are parents to three kids- two sons and a daughter.
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Rhys Zemeckis : Eldest Son Of Robert Zemeckis With Leslie Zemeckis
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In 2003, after three years of marriage, Robert Zemeckis and his current wife Leslie Zemeckis welcomed their first child, Rhys Zemeckis, into this world. The couple was more than happy to hold their first child together in their hands. It surely was heavenly as they were experiencing their first parenthood together.
\nDirector Robert Zemeckis has three children, two sons, and one daughter, from his second marriage with Leslie Zemeckis. Image Source: Instagram/lesliezemeckis.\n
Robert Zemeckis does not want his son Rhys to suffer from media scrutiny, i.e., why he likes to keep him away from the eyes of the media. Rhys also has two siblings- a younger brother and a younger sister.
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Zane Zemeckis: Second Child Of Robert Zemeckis With Leslie Zemeckis
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Zane Zemeckis is the second child of Robert Zemeckis with his second wife, Leslie Zemeckis. The couple gave birth to Zane in 2005, after two years of birth of their first son Rhys. Like Rhys, not much is know about Zane too. At present, Zane is enjoying his teenage life and is far away from the reach of media. Now let’s talk about the youngest member of his family.
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Zsa Zsa Rose Zemeckis: The Only Daughter Of Robert Zemeckis
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Zsa Zsa Rose Zemeckis is the youngest daughter of Robert Zemeckis and Leslie Zemeckis. The celebrity couple welcomed their youngest child Zsa Zsa Rose in July 2007. Her parents gave her a unique name Zsa Zsa which is derived from her mom’s original name Elizabeth. Zsa Zsa, being the youngest member of the family, is certain to receive special care and treatment from her parents and elder brothers.
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The celebrity couple does not want too much media attention and wants their children to live a normal childhood. Well, not so normal when their parents have a net worth of more than $60 million.
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Name Meaning: Alexander Francis Zemeckis
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‘Alexander’ is a masculine name of Greek origin. It means ‘Defender’. The middle name ‘Francis’ originated from the Greek language and means ‘Free.’
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Name Meaning: Rhys Zemeckis
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‘Rhys’ is a name that originated from Welsh, and it means ‘Enthusiasm.’
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Name Meaning: Zane Zemeckis
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The name ‘Zane’ is an English version of the name John, which is of Hebrew origin. The meaning of ‘Zane’ is ‘God is Gracious.’
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Name Meaning: Zsa Zsa Rose Zemeckis
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The name ‘Zsa Zsa’ is a girl name of Hungarian origin meaning ‘God’s Promise.’ The middle name ‘Rose’ originates from Latin and means ‘Rose, a flower.’
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+ "page_last_modified": ""
+ },
+ {
+ "page_name": "All About Robert De Niro and Tiffany Chen\u2019s Baby Girl, Gia",
+ "page_url": "https://people.com/all-about-robert-de-niro-and-tiffany-chen-daughter-8386466",
+ "page_snippet": "Robert De Niro and Tiffany Chen welcomed a daughter named Gia in April 2023. Here's everything to know about the actor's baby girl, who is his youngest child.\"And then a week after giving birth, that was when it all hit.\u201d After she began to slur her words, she knew something was wrong. She noted that she was immediately told, \"'Go right to the hospital.' [The hospital] admitted me. And I lost all facial function the minute I got into the hospital,\" she said. Speaking with The Guardian in October 2023, De Niro opened up about life with his new little one, noting how Chen jumped into motherhood. After Chen gave birth to her baby with De Niro, she experienced a scary postpartum health complication and eventually was diagnosed with Bell's palsy. She opened up about her experience during an interview with Gayle King on CBS Mornings in July 2023. Like, my face was melting on itself,\" Chen explained. \"And then a week after giving birth, that was when it all hit.\u201d After she began to slur her words, she knew something was wrong. She noted that she was immediately told, \"'Go right to the hospital.' [The hospital] admitted me. He continued about his parenting evolution, \"I have certain awareness \u2014 when you\u2019re older you have awareness of certain things in life, dynamics, everything, family dynamics. You can\u2019t avoid learning certain things and how you can deal with those and manage them and this and that, the usual. It's amazing, but I'm very happy about it.\"",
+ "page_result": "\n\t\t\t\t\n\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t \n \n \n\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAll About Robert De Niro and Tiffany Chen\u2019s Baby Girl, Gia\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\n\n\n\n\nSkip to content\n\n
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+ "page_last_modified": ""
+ },
+ {
+ "page_name": "Every Robert Zemeckis Movie, Ranked",
+ "page_url": "https://www.vulture.com/article/best-robert-zemeckis-movies.html",
+ "page_snippet": "Which Robert Zemeckis movies are the best? We rank them all, including Back to the Future, Forrest Gump, Welcome to Marwen, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and more.Knowingly old-fashioned, the film shifts gears in its second half, in which Pitt\u2019s character begins to distrust his wife (and the mother of his child) when it appears she might be a double agent. There\u2019s a universal anxiety coursing through Allied \u2014 can we ever fully know our partner? \u2014 and Zemeckis explores that with an emotional nuance not always seen in his films. Even his most acclaimed films have a pop pulse to them, a multiplex vibe.) But Zemeckis has no patience for cynicism or gloom, which might explain why his \u201cweirder\u201d films are some of his most intriguing: Do not forget that the master of feel-good also gifted the world with the poisonous Death Becomes Her and the scrappy Used Cars. Zemeckis\u2019s first film made plain what his career\u2019s driving thematic obsession would be: the power of the past. I Wanna Hold Your Hand takes us back to ground zero of Beatlemania, the night the Fab Four played The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964, by focusing on a handful of teens who are determined to see their heroes live in the flesh. He and co-writer (and former USC classmate) Bob Gale aren\u2019t so interested in interrogating the cultural and political currents of the era \u2014 they just want to revel in the epochal music that meant so much to these characters (and themselves). It\u2019s a limited worldview, to be sure, but Zemeckis loves it so deeply that his affection rubs off on the viewer.",
+ "page_result": " \n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n Best Robert Zemeckis Movies, Ranked\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n \n\n \n\n\n \n\n\n\n \n\n \n\n\n\n \n\n \n \n \n \n\n \n\n\n\n\n \n \n \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n\n \n \n\n\n \n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n
Robert Zemeckis has always talked about how he never fit in at film school at the University of Southern California. \u201cThe graduate students at USC had this veneer of intellectualism,\u201d Zemeckis has said. \u201cSo [partner Bob Gale] and I gravitated toward one another because we wanted to make Hollywood movies. We weren\u2019t interested in the French New Wave. We were interested in Clint Eastwood and James Bond and Walt Disney because that\u2019s how we grew up.\u201d This made him a perfect avatar for his time, when populist entertainment was taking over Hollywood: He was Spielberg-adjacent before he even knew who Spielberg was. (They ended up longtime partners, although Zemeckis has sometimes picked up Spielberg\u2019s bad habits and few of his good ones.)
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Zemeckis has his flaws as a filmmaker, most notable a tendency to choose his soundtrack songs from the Now That\u2019s What I Call Period Appropriate! collection. But he has a big heart and a comfortable, cheerful idealism, consistently believing that good things happen to good people and it all works out in the end. That makes him an ideal Hollywood filmmaker, but can make his films often feel a bit shallow. (Unlike Spielberg, he\u2019s rarely evinced much interest in being a serious auteur. Even his most acclaimed films have a pop pulse to them, a multiplex vibe.) But Zemeckis has no patience for cynicism or gloom, which might explain why his \u201cweirder\u201d films are some of his most intriguing: Do not forget that the master of feel-good also gifted the world with the poisonous Death Becomes Her and the scrappy Used Cars.
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With the release of Zemeckis\u2019s Welcome to Marwen,we ranked his 19 theatrically released films.
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\n \n \n 19. Beowulf (2007)\n\n
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The epic poem everybody has to read in middle school and everybody hates gets an entirely unnecessary motion-capture 3-D rendering that seems to exist mostly so Zemeckis can make a video-game version of Angelina Jolie for fanboys to fantasize over. Honestly, this is a bit much.
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The movie was sold almost entirely on that scene \u2014 the trailers made it look like it was CGI porn \u2014 and the rest of the narrative barely rises above that level. Needless to say, the CGI looks downright primitive now. Also, it\u2019s strange that Zemeckis ever worked with Neil Gaiman and old Quentin Tarantino pal Roger Avary.
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\n \n \n 18. A Christmas Carol (2009)\n\n
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Truth be told, we prefer this Jim Carrey Yuletide film to his other, better-remembered one, How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Of Zemeckis\u2019s three mo-cap movies, A Christmas Carol actually grossed the most worldwide \u2014 and thank god the technology had improved significantly in the five years between this and The Polar Express, bringing more character detail and emotional shading to the digital faces. Carrey ably plays Scrooge, as well as the three ghosts who visit him on Christmas Eve, and Zemeckis is willing to go dark, illustrating the depth of the man\u2019s cruelty and the horrifying fate that awaits him unless he changes his ways. Unfortunately, the filmmaker also tries to improve Charles Dickens\u2019s enduring tale by adding action sequences and comedic high jinks, almost as if he was nervous that he\u2019d lose the holiday family audience if he didn\u2019t play to the cheap seats. Zemeckis returned to live-action films after A Christmas Carol, which was probably best \u2014 he\u2019d spent enough time on a marginal technological advancement that not enough people were interested in seeing. (We do wonder, however, how he now feels about living in a world of Jungle Books and Mowglis.)
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\n \n \n 17. The Polar Express (2004)\n\n
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The film that introduced the term \u201cuncanny valley\u201d to moviegoers, Zemeckis\u2019s ambitious animated adaptation of Chris Van Allsburg\u2019s children\u2019s book boldly embraced motion-capture technology, giving us a virtual world in which a group of kids take a nocturnal ride to the North Pole to meet Santa Claus. A lot of The Polar Express is wondrous (all the stuff that doesn\u2019t involve the human characters), and much of it is creepy (the human characters). For all of Zemeckis\u2019s visual acumen, the film\u2019s subpar rendering of people became an easy metaphor for The Polar Express\u2019s overall limitation: It\u2019s all glitz but no soul. (CNN critic Paul Clinton said at the time that the film \u201cshould be subtitled The Night of the Living Dead. The characters are that frightening.\u201d) And yet, the movie has its considerable charms, playing into the nostalgia and wonder of Christmas, which mostly transcends the technical flaws. It\u2019s become a holiday staple almost in spite of itself.
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\n \n \n 16. Welcome to Marwen (2018)\n\n
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In April 2000, visual artist Mark Hogancamp was savagely beaten outside a bar \u2014 it was a hate crime; he told his attackers he occasionally likes wearing women\u2019s shoes \u2014 and nearly died, left without any concrete memories of his earlier life. He reacted to the emotional and physical trauma by crafting a fictional world of dolls set in World War II Belgium in which he stars as a tough-talking military hero. Hogancamp\u2019s story was turned into the superb 2010 documentary Marwencol, and Zemeckis adds a Hollywood gloss to this tale while also tapping into the man\u2019s need to escape into his imagination. This is undoubtedly a Forrest Gump-esque tale of an innocent, and the director uses his expertise in motion-capture to bring Hogancamp\u2019s doll world to life. But while Steve Carell is heartfelt and vulnerable as Hogancamp, Welcome to Marwen rarely rises above a shallow examination of how art can heal broken souls, and the extended Back to the Future references feel too cheeky for a film about a man whose life was shattered by violence and intolerance.
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\n \n \n 15. Back to the Future Part III (1990)\n\n
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So you\u2019ve got the most thrilling time-travel action-comedy of all time, and you\u2019re coming off a whizbang lunatic sequel in which timelines cross over timelines that then cross over more timelines. What do you do to close out the series? You make a \u2026 Western? The Old West locale does the series no favors; it\u2019s fine when Hill Valley is shot on a Universal back lot, but this Western looks as fake as a Family Ties set. The movie ultimately does right by its characters in the end, but seriously, this is how you finish off the Back to the Future saga?
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\n \n \n 14. What Lies Beneath (2000)\n\n
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We\u2019re going to assume that an 18-year-old movie doesn\u2019t need a Spoiler Alert, so we\u2019ll just say at the top that one of What Lies Beneath\u2019s chief selling points is that Harrison Ford turns out to be the bad guy. This film, written by Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. actor Clark Gregg, is a grown-up horror story concerning Claire (Michelle Pfeiffer), an empty-nester who becomes obsessed with her neighbors, convinced that the husband killed the wife. Sort of a supernatural Rear Window, What Lies Beneath follows Claire as she tries to figure out what happened, while paranormal forces seemingly guide her investigation when they\u2019re not freaking her out. When Zemeckis dabbles in genre exercises, you can sense his remove \u2014 for better or worse, they\u2019re not infused with the emotional investment that marks his biggest hits. That said, What Lies Beneath is expertly crafted, and the reveal of Ford, playing Claire\u2019s patronizing husband, as the story\u2019s villain proved to be a fun counterpoint to his years as America\u2019s unofficial action-hero dad. But this is mostly an accomplished doodle.
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\n \n \n 13. Allied (2016)\n\n
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Sometimes, tabloid gossip kills a film before it even had a chance. In the buildup to Allied\u2019s release, rumors swirled that stars Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard had engaged in an affair, and no amount of denials could keep that from becoming this espionage thriller\u2019s prevailing narrative. That\u2019s unfortunate for Allied, which deserved to be judged on its own terms \u2014 although, to be fair, the movie has flaws that are completely separate from any celebrity scandal. Pitt and Cotillard play Resistance spies trying to take out a German ambassador in 1942 Casablanca and end up falling in love \u2014 so, right, Allied is like Casablanca if Rick and Ilsa had gotten their happy ending. Knowingly old-fashioned, the film shifts gears in its second half, in which Pitt\u2019s character begins to distrust his wife (and the mother of his child) when it appears she might be a double agent. There\u2019s a universal anxiety coursing through Allied \u2014 can we ever fully know our partner? \u2014 and Zemeckis explores that with an emotional nuance not always seen in his films. Allied was a commercial disappointment, and while we won\u2019t make the case that it\u2019s some misunderstood masterpiece, it\u2019s a film that might warrant reappraisal in a few years.
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\n \n \n 12. Contact (1997)\n\n
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After capturing the Zeitgeist with Forrest Gump, Zemeckis would have been hard-pressed to re-create that lightning-in-a-bottle moment with his follow-up film. Nonetheless, he swung for the fences, delivering a wannabe epic by adapting Carl Sagan\u2019s 1985 best seller about alien contact. Jodie Foster plays Ellie, a scientist who\u2019s convinced there\u2019s life Out There. (Meanwhile, Matthew McConaughey is a hippieish philosopher and Ellie\u2019s onetime lover.) Contact yearns to marry the procedural tone of Close Encounters of the Third Kind to the my-God-it\u2019s-full-of-stars wonder of 2001, and Zemeckis builds suspense for the movie\u2019s inevitable big finale where Ellie says hello to the aliens \u2014 and, conveniently, also resolves her daddy issues. There\u2019s a bit too much doe-eyed preciousness to Contact, but its scope and its daring \u2014 not to mention its touchingly na\u00efve belief in its own profundity \u2014 produce its share of awe-inspiring instances. \u00a0
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\n \n \n 11. I Wanna Hold Your Hand (1978)\n\n
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Zemeckis\u2019s first film made plain what his career\u2019s driving thematic obsession would be: the power of the past. I Wanna Hold Your Hand takes us back to ground zero of Beatlemania, the night the Fab Four played The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964, by focusing on a handful of teens who are determined to see their heroes live in the flesh. The missing link between American Graffiti and Dazed and Confused, I Wanna Hold Your Hand is perhaps the director\u2019s most unbridled, purely fun film. He and co-writer (and former USC classmate) Bob Gale aren\u2019t so interested in interrogating the cultural and political currents of the era \u2014 they just want to revel in the epochal music that meant so much to these characters (and themselves). It\u2019s a limited worldview, to be sure, but Zemeckis loves it so deeply that his affection rubs off on the viewer.
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\n \n \n 10. Used Cars (1980)\n\n
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If this were the only Zemeckis movie you ever saw, you might think that the director was some sort of pitch-black satirist constantly undermining our collective delusion about the American Dream. It turns out that Zemeckis is as capitalist a filmmaker as has ever existed, but Used Cars points to what might have been, and what once was, with its story of dueling sleazy car dealers in Las Vegas. He gets wild, fun performances out of both Kurt Russell and Jack Warden, and the energy he brings to this project feels like Joe Dante, or even early Spielberg. He\u2019d settle down and fly straight after this movie, but it\u2019s sort of giddy to see back when he was so cheerfully anarchic.
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\n \n \n 9. The Walk (2015)\n\n
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If you happen to have a giant IMAX screen in your home, The Walk might leap to No. 1 on this list. Since you probably don\u2019t, it\u2019s a little tougher to forgive the dopey story choices, too cutesy tone, and typically overly obvious music choices that mar this otherwise cheerful and occasionally awe-inspiring fictionalization of Philippe Petit\u2019s high-wire walk between the two World Trade Center towers. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is fun but maybe a little too affected as Petit, and his story, away from the towers, is never particularly interesting. But the minute he steps on that wire, the narrative fades away and you are instantly right there, back at the towers, back on top of the towers. The wire-walking segments are inspiring, even if you are watching them on your phone \u2026 but seriously, you should have seen it in IMAX.
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\n \n \n 8. Flight (2012)\n\n
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After three straight mo-cap films, Zemeckis was bound to be overpraised for his return to live-action filmmaking, simply because he was leaving behind those zombie-ish, dead-eyed characters. And yet, Flight really did feel like a comeback of sorts \u2014 and not just for him, but also Denzel Washington, who hadn\u2019t found a role of such complexity in years. He plays Whip, an addict who\u2019s also a commercial pilot; on a routine flight, electrical issues force him to make an emergency landing, skillfully saving his passengers from certain death. Just as Whip is declared a hero, though, his substance abuse comes to light, threatening his livelihood and his freedom. Relatively low-budget by the standards of most Zemeckis films, Flight is largely a character drama \u2014 the technical razzle-dazzle is relegated to the harrowing opening sequence \u2014 and the director acquits himself beautifully. What we have here is a story about denial, and Washington superbly portrays Whip\u2019s bluster as a defense mechanism that keeps him from admitting the truth to himself.
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\n \n \n 7. Romancing the Stone (1984)\n\n
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As hard as it might be to imagine now, there was shortly a stretch where America thought that Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner might be the next Tracy and Hepburn. That all began with this old-timey romantic swashbuckler that displayed the two\u2019s undeniable comedic chemistry while feeling, like a lot of Zemeckis\u2019s movies, like a lighter, less serious, still perfectly pleasant version of a Spielberg movie. This was Zemeckis\u2019s first real hit, and its success allowed him to make Back to the Future,which launched him into the stratosphere and is the primary reason you\u2019re reading a list about him today. Douglas and Turner would make two more movies together, TheJewel of the Nile (a direct sequel that was a lot worse) and War of the Roses (a much darker satire from Danny DeVito that\u2019s a lot better).
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\n \n \n 6. Back to the Future Part II (1989)\n\n
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The first one is a picture-perfect piece of Baby Boomer Fantasia. The third is, as mentioned, a dopey Western. But this one is just pure time-travel silliness, taking the conceit from the first film and just running gonzo with it. The movie is often moving so quickly that it takes you a second to realize exactly which timeline you\u2019re in. Zemeckis is far too straightforward an entertainer to go too far down the rabbit hole; this isn\u2019t Philip K. Dick by any stretch of the imagination. But it still wrings every bit of pleasure out of its time-travel conceit that it can find, and it does it in an enjoyable enough way that, to this day, the idea of traveling back in time and wagering on sporting events to make yourself rich is known as \u201cpulling a Biff Tannen.\u201d It\u2019s not as well-constructed as the original, but it\u2019s just as enjoyable.
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\n \n \n 5. Death Becomes Her (1992)\n\n
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More than any other of his major studio movies, Death Becomes Her feels like a throwback to Zemeckis\u2019s hellzapoppin\u2019 crazy Used Cars days: Perhaps not surprisingly, audiences and critics rejected it out of hand. But it has aged well, and the grand-dame battle between Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn is now seen as two beloved comedic actresses having a blast hacking at each other for two hours. (And bonus points for an amusingly neutered Bruce Willis.) Zemeckis goes darker and more satirical than he had in years, to often uproarious results. That everybody hated it at the time led him to get \u201cserious\u201d with Forrest Gump two years later, which turned out great for him. But you can\u2019t help but wonder what would have happened if he continued down this path.
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\n \n \n 4. Cast Away (2000)\n\n
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Tom Hanks\u2019s performance \u2014 the best of any Robert Zemeckis movie, and there isn\u2019t anything particularly close \u2014 carries Cast Away as far as it can possibly go. (By the way, we\u2019ve always found remarkable, when he\u2019s been on the island for years and has lost all that weight, how much the actor looks like the old Bachelor Party Hanks.) Working as minimalist as he has to with just one actor onscreen for most of the movie, Zemeckis is forced to be spare and thus resist some of his more over-the-top, time\u2013for\u2013a\u2013Creedence Clearwater Revival\u2013song instincts. But for a director who was about to go down the motion-capture well, there\u2019s something awfully appealing to Zemeckis just having to stick his camera at Hanks and get out of the way. The movie loses its momentum when he escapes the island, and the ending is a big groaner, but for that middle hour-plus, this is riveting, timeless cinema.
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\n \n \n 3. Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)\n\n
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The craziest thing to us, to this day, about Who Framed Roger Rabbit is how much it gets away with in a corporate sense: You\u2019ll never ever see Donald Duck and Daffy Duck performing together again. This ability to balance studio interests and what the audience came here to see is one of Zemeckis\u2019s signature traits, and he pulls off the magic trick here, with the help of an impressively game Bob Hoskins in the lead role. The movie\u2019s film noir setting never quite jives with Zemeckis\u2019s sensibility \u2014 as usual, everything he shoots feels made on a back lot \u2014 but it works just fine as a canvas with which to slap whatever is in arm\u2019s reach onto. And shout-out to Jessica Rabbit, who didn\u2019t invent cosplay \u2026 but she was drawn that way.
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\n \n \n 2. Forrest Gump (1994)\n\n
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\u201cJack Rapke, my agent at the time, said, \u2018I really need you to read this script. It\u2019s a quality piece.\u2019 He actually said, \u2018It\u2019s a quality piece.\u2019\u201d That\u2019s how Zemeckis was introduced to screenwriter Eric Roth\u2019s adaptation of Winston Groom\u2019s novel about a quixotic man who stumbles his way through some of American history\u2019s most tumultuous recent moments. Forrest Gump is among Zemeckis\u2019s purest distillations of his filmmaking strengths and thematic interests: The film is technical know-how and bighearted emotions infused with comforting reassurances that, deep down, we\u2019re all basically good people. The reason that so many viewers loathe this Oscar-winning generational statement is the same reason that so many others love it \u2014 Forrest Gump presents sappiness as honesty and intellectual simplicity as hard-earned wisdom. And you may still bawl your eyes out anyway \u2014 even if you know there\u2019s something a little phony and orchestrated about the whole thing. But what has already redeemed Forrest Gump is the sincerity Zemeckis and Tom Hanks brought to the material. Without a shred of doubt, they wholeheartedly believe in the film\u2019s lightly sarcastic vision of an America that\u2019s weathered trying times and found its equilibrium, despite all the tragedies along the way. This remains a movie worth wrestling with, its sentiment and ideas no less powerful and pointed a couple decades down the road.
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\n \n \n 1. Back to the Future (1985)\n\n
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Who among us hasn\u2019t, at one point, wanted to go back and see our parents when they were young, before we showed up and made their lives so complicated \u2026 and them so dull? The genius of Back to the Future is not the time machine, or Doc Brown, or those Libyans. (That, and the Chuck Berry gag, are the only things that haven\u2019t aged so well in 33 years.) It\u2019s that universal notion: What were my parents like when they were my age? Marty McFly gets to find out, and in the process, gets his parents to remember what they loved about each other in the first place. The structure is so simple and yet also profound: The movie is fiendishly and sturdily put together like the watches you see in the opening shots. And Michael J. Fox is the ideal \u201980s avatar, the cool, cocky kid you can\u2019t help but cheer for. Most of Zemeckis\u2019s films feel of their moment, for better or for worse. But Back to the Future, fittingly, remains timeless.
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