Amir Shervan (Persian: امیر شروان‎), born Amir Hosein
Ghaffari (Persian: اميرØسين غ٠اری; May 24, 1929 â€"
November 1, 2006), was an Iranian film director, producer, actor, and
screenwriter.After studying theatre in Pasadena, California, he
returned to his home country, Iran, and had a prolific cinema career
that began with Parviz Khatibi's 1949 film Vaareite Bahari
(واریته بهاری). all the way to his own directorial debut
Torkaman.As a result of the Iranian Revolution, many Iranian films
were censored or "purified" by the government, making it difficult for
any films without a pro-Islamic angle to be made. This halted his
filmmaking career, so he relocated to California in 1980. Between 1980
and 1987, Shervan worked to build his production company, Hollywood
Royal Productions, where he aimed to make American action films,
taking influence from other massive hits of the 1980s, primarily
Lethal Weapon.From 1987 to 1992, produced and directed several action
films, including, Hollywood Cop, Killing American Style, and Samurai
Cop, which starred Matt Hannon and Robert Z'Dar. A common thread that
only the most adept fan of Shervan's work would be able to pick up on,
is that multiple of the same locations are used throughout his
different films. For example, the estate that the majority of Killing
American Style is set on, is the same building that the climax of both
Samurai Cop and Hollywood Cop is set at. Shervan was known to cut the
budget in other places, such as filming all of his movies during the
day to avoid buying lighting equipment to use for the night sequences,
or using his own production van for car chase sequences.
Ghaffari (Persian: اميرØسين غ٠اری; May 24, 1929 â€"
November 1, 2006), was an Iranian film director, producer, actor, and
screenwriter.After studying theatre in Pasadena, California, he
returned to his home country, Iran, and had a prolific cinema career
that began with Parviz Khatibi's 1949 film Vaareite Bahari
(واریته بهاری). all the way to his own directorial debut
Torkaman.As a result of the Iranian Revolution, many Iranian films
were censored or "purified" by the government, making it difficult for
any films without a pro-Islamic angle to be made. This halted his
filmmaking career, so he relocated to California in 1980. Between 1980
and 1987, Shervan worked to build his production company, Hollywood
Royal Productions, where he aimed to make American action films,
taking influence from other massive hits of the 1980s, primarily
Lethal Weapon.From 1987 to 1992, produced and directed several action
films, including, Hollywood Cop, Killing American Style, and Samurai
Cop, which starred Matt Hannon and Robert Z'Dar. A common thread that
only the most adept fan of Shervan's work would be able to pick up on,
is that multiple of the same locations are used throughout his
different films. For example, the estate that the majority of Killing
American Style is set on, is the same building that the climax of both
Samurai Cop and Hollywood Cop is set at. Shervan was known to cut the
budget in other places, such as filming all of his movies during the
day to avoid buying lighting equipment to use for the night sequences,
or using his own production van for car chase sequences.
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