Name: Luca Bercovici
Date of Birth: 22 February 1957 Luca Josef Bercovici was born in New York on the Feb. 22, 1957. He has quite mixed origins: Romanian gypsy Jew on his father's side and Italian on his mother's side. His great-great-grandfather, in order to escape conscription into the Romanian army, bought falsified letters of transit under the name of "Halpern", trying to get the family out of Romania, but he got caught. A little while later he tried again and bought letters of transit under the name of "Bercovici", and this time he made it ou... t with his family. Luca's original family name is "Halevy", but they've been Bercovicis ever since. His father, 'Eric Bercovici' (qv), and his grandfather, 'Leonardo Bercovici' (qv), were both directors and screenwriters. Leonardo wrote the script for _The Bishop's Wife (1947)_ (qv), which starred 'Cary Grant' (qv), and _Portrait of Jennie (1948)_ (qv), which starred 'Joseph Cotten (I)' (qv) and 'Jennifer Jones (I)' (qv). Eric wrote the screenplay for _Hell in the Pacific (1968)_ (qv), the famous 'John Boorman' (qv) film starring 'Lee Marvin' (qv) and Toshiro Mifune', and later went on to adapt and produce 'James Clavell' (qv)'s _"Shogun" (1980/II) (mini)_ and _"Noble House" (1988)_ (qv). Luca's brother, 'Hilary Bercovici' (qv), and his stepmother, 'Karen Bercovici' (qv), both work in the film industry. Karen is a writer and an actress and has appeared in 'Michael Mann (I)' (qv)'s _Thief (1981)_ (qv) and Hilary is a composer (_Rockula (1990)_ (qv), _Think Big (1989)_ (qv)) and is currently a VP of an independent record label, Morrowland Records. From ages five to ten, Luca and his family lived in Rome, Italy, in the beautiful area of Villa Borghese. He still speaks a little Italian. He was also raised in such farflung places as London, New York and California. After attending the College of the Redwoods and Santa Monica College, he graduated from Loyola Marymount University. In 1979 Luca spent six months in Japan, working on the miniseries _"Shogun" (1980/II) (mini)_ as Dialogue Director, specifically working with Japanese actress 'Yoko Shimada', winner of a Golden Globe Award and an Emmy Nominee. Once returned to the US, Luca started his acting career and has starred in many feature films, including _American Flyers (1985)_ (qv), _Clean and Sober (1988)_ (qv), _Pacific Heights (1990)_ (qv), _Drop Zone (1994)_ (qv) and _The Big Squeeze (1996)_ (qv). In 1982 he began his professional writing career, working with his partner 'Jefery Levy' (qv) (director of _S.F.W. (1994)_ (qv)), developing new series concepts for MGM, culminating in a pilot script for CBS and MGM, "The Storytellers". He has also written for Aaron Spelling Productions and others. In 1984, he and Levy co-wrote a feature film script, "New Deal" which was subsequently purchased by 20th Century Fox. Also that year, Luca made his directorial debut with the hugely successful _Ghoulies (1985)_ (qv), which he and Levy co-wrote for Empire Films. "Ghoulies" was the top grossing independent film in 1985 and has spawned three sequels. In 1988 Luca directed his second feature, a musical comedy about a vampire, _Rockula (1990)_ (qv), which he also co-wrote. In 1993 HE directed his third film, _Dark Tide (1993)_ (qv), for Trimark and Tapestry Films, an action thriller starring 'Chris Sarandon (I)' (qv), 'Richard Tyson (I)' (qv) and 'Brigitte Bako' (qv) (the film was #1 R.O.I, at the Showest 1994). In 1994 he directed his fourth feature, a horror-comedy which he scripted, entitled _The Granny (1995) (V)_ (qv) starring 'Stella Stevens (I)' (qv) and 'Shannon Whirry' (qv) for Tapestry Films and WarnerVision. _The Chain (1996/I)_ (qv), an action drama starring 'Gary Busey' (qv), is Luca's fifth feature film. It sold exceptionally well at AFM and was picked up by HBO for a World Premiere. In addition to directing, he also co-wrote the script. In 1997 Luca directed his sixth film, _Convict 762 (1997)_ (qv) for EGM International and in 1998, his seventh, _BitterSweet (1999) (V)_ (qv), for King Films International. Luca has just completed his eighth feature, _Luck of the Draw (2000)_ (qv), which stars 'William Forsythe (I)' (qv), 'Dennis Hopper' (qv), 'Eric Roberts (I)' (qv), 'Ice-T' (qv), 'Michael Madsen (I)' (qv) and 'Patrick Kilpatrick' (qv). He is about to direct his ninth feature, "Restoration". Luca lives in Mar Vista, California. He has a son, Nicholas.Read more Luca Bercovici movies (actor)Luca Bercovici movies (director)User Comments |
