Biography
Michael Wadleigh (born September 24, 1942) is an American film director and cinematographer best known for his groundbreaking documentary on the 1969 Woodstock Festival, titled Woodstock.
Born in Akron, Ohio, Wadleigh began his film career in his early twenties as a cinematographer on independently produced low-budget films such as David Holtzman's Diary and I Call First (both 1967), and My Girlfriend's Wedding (1969). Credited as Michael Wadley, he gained recognition from critics interested in independent and underground cinema, though these films, targeting a niche counterculture audience, did not bring him financial success.
In April and May of 1969, Wadleigh took on the significant challenge of documenting the rock music festival planned near Woodstock, New York, from August 15 to 18. Arriving in Bethel with over a thousand reels of film and a crew of several camera operators, he captured approximately 120 miles of footage. Over the following months, this was edited down to a 184-minute film. Warner Brothers, the main financial backer, released the documentary on March 26, 1970.
Produced at a reported cost of $600,000, the film grossed over $50 million in the United States and earned additional millions internationally. However, due to a complex agreement with Warner Brothers, Wadleigh received only a small portion of the profits. Woodstock remains a landmark in documentary filmmaking and won the Academy Award for Documentary Feature in 1971.
The 1974 documentary Janis, about Janis Joplin, credited Wadleigh as cinematographer for his archival footage. However, it was eleven years after Woodstock before he earned another directorial credit. Wolfen, a distinctive 1981 horror film inspired by Whitley Strieber's novel, was praised for its surreal atmosphere and striking visuals. Despite a strong performance by Albert Finney, the film was too unconventional to achieve commercial success. Wadleigh also wrote the screenplay and appeared briefly as "Terrorist Informer."
In August 1994, a 228-minute "director's cut" of Woodstock was released, 24 years after the original. In 1999, the documentary Jimi Hendrix: Live at Woodstock credited Wadleigh again for his archival cinematography work.
