‘Glengarry Glen Ross,’ ‘Fifty Shades,’ and ‘Fear’ Director James Foley Dead at 71

The filmmaker also helmed episodes of "House of Cards," "Hannibal," "Billions," and "Twin Peaks." 

Acclaimed director James Foley has died at age 71. A representative for the Foley family confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that the filmmaker passed “peacefully in his sleep earlier this week following a years-long struggle with brain cancer.” It is unclear when Foley was diagnosed and for how long his illness was.

Foley most famously helmed the 1992 film adaptation of David Mamet’s “Glengarry Glen Ross,” starring Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Alec Baldwin, Ed Harris, Alan Arkin, and Kevin Spacey. Foley would later reunite with Spacey for 12 episodes of Netflix’s first-ever series, “House of Cards.”

Foley made his feature directorial debut in 1984 with “Reckless” starring Daryl Hannah and Aidan Quinn. He was best known for working in the domestic thriller genre, despite defying filmmaker labels. His features include directing Mark Wahlberg and Reese Witherspoon in “Fear,” Halle Berry and Bruce Willis in “Perfect Stranger,” and “Fifty Shades Darker” and “Fifty Shades Freed” starring Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan.

As for TV, Foley directed episodes of “House of Cards,” “Hannibal,” “Billions,” and “Twin Peaks.” He also famously helmed Madonna’s “Papa Don’t Preach” music video, along with the music videos for “Dress You Up” “Live to Tell,” “True Blue,” “Who’s That Girl,” and “The Look of Love.”

Foley told The Hollywood Reporter in 2017 that he preferred to work in a litany of genres and mediums. “The thing I would say I least like is there is an understandable tendency to, of course, pigeonhole somebody or identify them as, ‘He does this kind of movie, so if we’re making that kind of movie, we should get him and he’ll make it like the other ones he’s made,’” he said. “That is of no interest to me, personally, to repeat myself. So I’ve always just followed my nose, for better or for worse, sometimes for worse.”

He added, “What’s best and what’s worst [about the industry] are almost the same to me. Because what’s worst is you get pigeonholed and what’s best is I haven’t been. It means that I’m still making movies, despite hopping all over the place, so there’s a great thing about Hollywood where it’s not so purely linear, in terms of a director having a success critically and commercially and continuing that in an unbroken stream, which is true of no one, but the idea that you can make missteps and then redeem yourself by doing something else and then you’re resurrected. What’s horrible is you’re buried so fast when you have a misstep or flop but there’s resurrection potentially and that is the best part.”