Michael Lehmann

Michael Stephen Lehmann was born on March 30, 1957, in San Francisco, California. An American film and television director, he is best known for directing the notable dark comedy, Heathers. Lehmann graduated from Columbia University in 1978 and is of Jewish descent. He commenced his film industry career by answering phones at Francis Ford Coppola's American Zoetrope film company. This role paved the way for higher roles, such as supervising cameras on films, including 1983's The Outsiders. Later, Lehmann attended the USC School of Cinematic Arts, graduating in 1985. His time at USC was well-spent, marked by the creation of a student film, The Beaver Gets a Boner.

Lehmann's repertoire expanded when a short film he made, titled Ed's Secret Life (An Unauthorized Biography), was featured on Saturday Night Live. Besides Heathers, he directed films such as 40 Days and 40 Nights, The Truth About Cats & Dogs, Hudson Hawk, Meet the Applegates, Airheads, and Because I Said So. Lehmann also pursued careers in TV commercials, directing his first one for McDonald's through the Leo Burnett Company in June 1996. In television, he has directed episodes of The Larry Sanders Show, Watching Ellie, Century City, Big Love, True Blood, Californication, Wonderfalls, White Famous, Betas, American Horror Story, Snowfall, Veronica Mars, and 68 Whiskey. Lehmann expressed unequivocally that there would be no sequel to Heathers, despite Winona Ryder's interest in one.