Captain Samouflage is a character created by Director Sam Irvin. Sam has been in the movie industry since the 80’s getting his start as an assistant to Director Brian De Palma on films such as Dressed to Kill and The Fury.
During the 1980s, Irvin served as Vice President of Marketing for three film distributors: United Artists Classics, Spectrafilm, and Vestron. During this period, Irvin won Hollywood Reporter Key Art Awards for designing the movie posters for Francois Truffaut’s “Confidentially Yours” and Paul Verhoeven’s “The Fourth Man.” He also helped spearhead the record breaking year long run of Jean-Jacques Beineix’s “Diva” in New York City.
Irvin’s first directorial effort, which he also wrote and produced, was the 1985 dark comedy short “Double Negative” starring Bill Randolph, Justin Henry, Wayne Knight, and William Finley. It premiered as an official selection at the Sundance Film Festival and subsequently played theatrically in New York and Los Angeles. Janet Maslin of the New York Times wrote that it was “an exceptionally promising first effort.” This short film has been included as an extra bonus featurette on the 2013 European Blu-Ray DVD release of Brian DePalma’s “The Fury.”
Irvin went on to direct many feature films, including:
“Guilty as Charged” starring Rod Steiger, Lauren Hutton, Heather Graham, and Isaac Hayes. (The film won the Gold Special Jury Award for Best Independent Feature at Houston Worldfest.)
“Out There” a Showtime Original Movie starring Billy Campbell, Billy Bob Thornton, Rod Steiger, Jill St. John, Paul Dooley, Robert Picardo, David Rasche, Bill Cobbs, and Julie Brown.
“Acting on Impulse” a Showtime Original Movie starring C. Thomas Howell, Linda Fiorentino, Nancy Allen, Paul Bartel, Mary Woronov, Isaac Hayes, and Cassandra Peterson.
“Fat Rose and Squeaky” a Showtime Original Movie starring Louise Fletcher, Cicely Tyson and Julie Brown.
“A Very Cool Christmas” (aka “Too Cool for Christmas”) starring George Hamilton and Donna Mills.
“Deadly Skies”(aka “Force of Impact”) starring Antonio Sabato Jr., Rae Dawn Chong and Michael Moriarty.
“Elvira’s Haunted Hills” starring Cassandra Peterson as Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, and Richard O’Brien. (The film won the Audience Award at the 2002 Provincetown International Film Festival.)
“My Santa” starring Samaire Armstrong, Matthew Lawrence, Julie Brown, Jim O’Heir, and Paul Dooley.
“Proof of Innocence” starring Joely Fisher, Denise Richards, Patrick Muldoon, Jim O’Heir, and Debra Wilson.
From his own original screenplay, Irvin directed the Showtime Original Movie “Kiss of a Stranger” starring Mariel Hemingway, Dyan Cannon, Corbin Bernsen and David Carradine.
Irvin directed the cult science fiction westerns “Oblivion” and its sequel “Oblivion 2: Backlash” starring Julie Newmar, George Takei, Isaac Hayes, Meg Foster and Maxwell Caulfield. (“Oblivion” won the Gold Award for Best Fantasy / Science Fiction Feature at Houston Worldfest.)
He also directed the Disney Channel time travel pirate fantasy “Magic Island” starring Zachery Ty Bryan and French Stewart.
Irvin directed three full seasons of “Dante’s Cove” starring Tracy Scoggins, Charlie David, Jenny Shimizu, Thea Gill, Stephen Amell, Booboo Stewart, and Reichen Lehmkuhl. (Irvin also co wrote the series’ international hit theme song, “Dying to Be with You”).
Also for television, Irvin directed the opening of the 100th Anniversary of the World Series (2003), for Fox Television (a “through the ages” montage featuring the music of and starring Sheila E.).
Irvin directed several segments for the 2004 Super Bowl including a comedy sketch starring Eugene Levy as a scientist trying to improve the entertainment value of football. Other vignettes included Will Smith, Drew Barrymore and Jimmy Fallon.
And, for the Fox Sports opening of the 2007 Sugar Bowl, Irvin directed “Dueling Musicians,” shot on the streets of New Orleans.
