Paris, I Love You (2006)

Olivier Assayas

In the ’90s Olivier Assayas emerged as one of the key figures in the new generation of French filmmakers. As a former critic for Cahiers du Cinema and a die-hard cinephile, he makes his films both personal and referential to the works of directors that he adores. His father was a director/screenwriter in the 1940s who later worked mainly for TV. When it was increasingly difficult for him to work because of a health condition, Olivier started to help him, first merely as a secretary, and then ghostwriting a few screenplays for the Maigret TV series. In the late 1970s he joined the team of influential film magazine Cahiers du Cinema, that once launched the French New Wave. While working for Cahiers he wrote essays on his favorite European filmmakers, Robert Bresson, Ingmar Bergman, Andrei Tarkovsky, and published extensive studies on American horror films and Hong Kong Cinema (the latter came out long before Hong Kong cinema became fashionable with Western filmgoers and critics). He collaborated… read more

Ethan Coen

Born in St. Louis Park, MN, in 1957, Ethan Coen studied philosophy at Princeton University. Soon after he graduated, he and his brother began writing their first screenplays, and, in 1984, they made their debut with Blood Simple. Both of them wrote and edited the film, while Joel took the directing credit and Ethan billed himself as the producer. It earned considerable critical acclaim and established the brothers as fresh, original talent. Their next major effort (after Crimewave, a 1985 film they wrote that was directed by Sam Raimi), 1987’s Raising Arizona was a screwball comedy miles removed from the dark, violent content of their previous movie, and it won over critics and audiences alike. Their fan base growing, the Coens went on to make Miller’s Crossing (1990), a stark gangster epic with a strong performance from John Turturro, whom the brothers also used to great effect in their next film, Barton Fink (1991). Fink earned Joel a Best Director award and a Golden Palm at the 1991… read more

Born in St. Louis Park, MN, in 1957, Ethan Coen studied philosophy at Princeton University. Soon after he graduated, he and his brother began writing their first screenplays, and, in 1984, they made their debut with Blood Simple. Both of them wrote and edited the film, while Joel took the directing credit and Ethan billed himself as the producer. It earned considerable critical acclaim and established the brothers as fresh, original talent. Their next major effort (after Crimewave, a 1985 film they wrote that was directed by Sam Raimi), 1987’s Raising Arizona was a screwball comedy miles removed from the dark, violent content of their previous movie, and it won over critics and audiences alike. Their fan base growing, the Coens went on to make Miller’s Crossing (1990), a stark gangster epic with a strong performance from John Turturro, whom the brothers also used to great effect in their next film, Barton Fink (1991). Fink earned Joel a Best Director award and a Golden Palm at the 1991 Cannes Film Festival, as well as the festival’s Best Actor award for Turturro. A surreal, nightmarish movie revolving around a writer’s creative block, it was a heavily stylized, atmospheric triumph that further established the Coens as visionary arbiters of the bizarre.

Their 1994 follow-up to Barton Fink, The Hudsucker Proxy, was a relative critical and commercial disappointment. Whatever failings The Hudsucker Proxy exhibited, however, were more than atoned for by the unquestionable success of the Coens’ next film, Fargo (1996). A black, violent crime comedy that recalled Blood Simple in its themes of greed, corruption, and murder, but provided more redemptive sentiment than was afforded to the characters of the previous film. The brothers shared a Best Original Screenplay Oscar for their work, and another Oscar, for Best Actress, went to Frances McDormand. Following Fargo, the Coens went on to make The Big Lebowski in 1998. In 1999, Ethan closed out the decade by publishing Gates of Eden, a collection of his short stories.

The Coens next served up the depression-era comedy O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000), which turned out to be their biggest box-office. 2001 saw the release of The Man Who Wasn’t There, yet another ode to film noir and another award winner at Cannes. In 2003, Ethan and Joel were credited as executive producers on Terry Zwigoff’s hit comedy Bad Santa largely due to the fact that the origin of the film’s story came from the Coens. That same year, the brothers re-teamed with George Clooney for the screwball comedy Intolerable Cruelty. In 2004, the duo released The Ladykillers starring Tom Hanks, a remake of the classic British comedy. The film marked the first time Ethan Coen officially shared the directing credit with Joel, as well as the first time they shared producer credit. After a three year layoff from movies, the brothers returned with an adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s No Country for Old Men. The taut but philosophically minded thriller, which brought universal praise and several award nominations to the brothers, including the Oscars.

(From http://www.allmovie.com/cg/avg.dll?p=avg&sql=2:85372)

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Joel Coen

Combining thoughtful eccentricity, wry humor, arch irony, and often brutal violence, the films of the Coen brothers have become synonymous with a style of filmmaking that pays tribute to classic American movie genres, especially film noir, while sustaining a firmly postmodern feel. Born in St. Louis Park, MN, in 1954, Joel Coen studied at New York University before moving into filmmaking in the early ‘80s. He and his younger brother began writing screenplays while Joel worked as an assistant editor on good friend Sam Raimi’s 1983 film The Evil Dead. In 1984, they made their debut with Blood Simple. Both of them wrote and edited the film (using the name Roderick Jaynes for the latter duty), while Joel took the directing credit and Ethan billed himself as the producer. It earned considerable critical acclaim and established the brothers as fresh, original talent. Their next major effort (after Crimewave, a 1985 film they wrote that was directed by Raimi), 1987’s Raising Arizona was a… read more

Combining thoughtful eccentricity, wry humor, arch irony, and often brutal violence, the films of the Coen brothers have become synonymous with a style of filmmaking that pays tribute to classic American movie genres, especially film noir, while sustaining a firmly postmodern feel. Born in St. Louis Park, MN, in 1954, Joel Coen studied at New York University before moving into filmmaking in the early ‘80s. He and his younger brother began writing screenplays while Joel worked as an assistant editor on good friend Sam Raimi’s 1983 film The Evil Dead. In 1984, they made their debut with Blood Simple. Both of them wrote and edited the film (using the name Roderick Jaynes for the latter duty), while Joel took the directing credit and Ethan billed himself as the producer. It earned considerable critical acclaim and established the brothers as fresh, original talent. Their next major effort (after Crimewave, a 1985 film they wrote that was directed by Raimi), 1987’s Raising Arizona was a screwball comedy miles removed from the dark, violent content of their previous movie, and it won over critics and audiences alike. Their fan base growing, the Coens went on to make Miller’s Crossing (1990), a stark gangster epic with a strong performance from John Turturro, whom the brothers also used to great effect in their next film, Barton Fink (1991). Fink earned Joel a Best Director award and a Golden Palm at the 1991 Cannes Film Festival, as well as the festival’s Best Actor award for Turturro.

Their 1994 follow-up to Barton Fink, The Hudsucker Proxy, was a relative critical and commercial disappointment. Whatever failings The Hudsucker Proxy exhibited, however, were more than atoned for by the unquestionable success of the Coens’ next film, Fargo (1996). A black, violent crime comedy with a surprisingly warm heart. The brothers shared a Best Original Screenplay Oscar for their work, and another Oscar, for Best Actress, went to Frances McDormand, to whom Joel had been married since 1984. Following Fargo, the Coens went on to make The Big Lebowski in 1998. A blend of bungled crime and warped comedy, Lebowski was a laid-back, irreverent revision of the hardboiled L.A. detective genre. It met with mixed critical reception, though it did receive a Golden Bear nomination for Joel Coen at the Berlin Film Festival. The year 2000 brought the Coens into the depression-era with O Brother, Where art Thou? An admittedly loose adaptation of Homer’s The Odyssey, O Brother starred George Clooney, John Turturro, and Tim Blake Nelson as escaped convicts on a surreal journey through 1930s Mississippi. Wasting no time in production of their next feature, the following year found Joel the recipient of his third Best Director award at Cannes for the darkly comic, monochromatic post-noir The Man Who Wasn’t There. Starring Billy Bob Thornton as a humble, small-town barber who gets mixed up in a tangled web of blackmail and deceit. Two years later, Joel and Ethan re-teamed with Clooney for Intolerable Cruelty, a film that represented their version of a ‘30s screwball comedy. The film was noteworthy in that it was the first movie made by the brothers that did not originate with them; they rewrote a script that was already in existence. Joel and Ethan were also listed as executive producers on the 2003 Terry Zwigoff film Bad Santa, a story that came from one of their original ideas. 2004 saw the release of the Coens’ first remake, The Ladykillers starring Tom Hanks. That film also marked the first time Joel shared directorial credit with Ethan. After a three year layoff from movies, the brothers returned with an adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s No Country for Old Men. The taut but philosophically minded thriller opened to nearly universal praise and became one of the two films to dominate year end critics and industry awards. Joel and Ethan won the best Director award from the Director’s Guild of America, and found themselves nominated as directors, writers, and producers at that year’s Oscar telecast.

(From http://www.allmovie.com/cg/avg.dll?p=avg&sql=2:85375~T1)

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Alfonso Cuarón

Among the most successful and talked-about Mexican filmmakers of his generation, director Alfonso Cuarón has shown a remarkable versatility, able to embrace old-school Hollywood elegance as well as rough-edged and darker-themed contemporary stories. Cuarón was born in Mexico City in 1961; he went on to study both filmmaking and philosophy at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. After graduating, Cuarón began working in television in Mexico; in 1991, he landed his first big-screen directorial assignment. Sólo Con Tu Pareja was a dark comedy about a womanizing businessman who learns he’s contracted AIDS; the film was a massive hit in Mexico, and was enthusiastically received around the world.

In 1995, Cuarón released his first feature film produced in the United States, A Little Princess, a graceful and elegant adaptation of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s classic novel. Cuarón’s next feature was also a literary adaptation, a modernized version of Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations… read more

Among the most successful and talked-about Mexican filmmakers of his generation, director Alfonso Cuarón has shown a remarkable versatility, able to embrace old-school Hollywood elegance as well as rough-edged and darker-themed contemporary stories. Cuarón was born in Mexico City in 1961; he went on to study both filmmaking and philosophy at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. After graduating, Cuarón began working in television in Mexico; in 1991, he landed his first big-screen directorial assignment. Sólo Con Tu Pareja was a dark comedy about a womanizing businessman who learns he’s contracted AIDS; the film was a massive hit in Mexico, and was enthusiastically received around the world.

In 1995, Cuarón released his first feature film produced in the United States, A Little Princess, a graceful and elegant adaptation of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s classic novel. Cuarón’s next feature was also a literary adaptation, a modernized version of Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations starring Ethan Hawke, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Robert De Niro. Cuarón’s next project found him making a severe left turn; shot in Mexico with a Spanish-speaking cast, Y Tu Mamá También (2001) was a funny, provocative, and controversial road comedy about two sexually obsessed teenagers who take an extended road trip with an attractive woman in her thirties. The film’s open portrayal of sexuality and frequent rude humor, as well as the politically and socially relevant asides, made the film an international hit and a major success with critics.

In 2004, Cuarón inherited the reins of the successful Harry Potter series, shooting Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban with a sense of atmosphere and character theretofore lacking in the Chris Columbus-helmed installments. In 2006, Cuarón release Children of Men, based on P.D. James’ near-future tale of a totalitarian Britain stricken by plague, infertility, and xenophobia, Cuarón echoed a very urgent sense of fear and dread over terrorism and the conflict in Iraq. Working once again with cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, the director put lead Clive Owen through grueling long takes to achieve a “you are there” immediacy. Released in time for awards season in the U.S., Children was met with glowing reviews and promising box-office results, given its grim nature.

(From http://www.allmovie.com/cg/avg.dll)

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Christopher Doyle

A hard-drinking Australian seems an unlikely figure to be one of the most important and influential cinematographers in Asian cinema, but that is exactly what Christopher Doyle is. His richly atmospheric, improvisational style has worked its way into the lexicon of both music videos and mainstream Hollywood fare. Moreover, his photo-collage artwork and his bizarre, often drunken public antics have made him a sort of cult celebrity in much of Asia.

Born in 1952 in Sydney, Doyle fled the banality of the suburbs to spend much of his early life on the road. At various points in his life he was a well digger in India, a Norwegian merchant marine, a cow herder on an Israeli kibbutz, and a doctor of Chinese medicine in Thailand. In the late ‘70s, Doyle was rechristened Du Kefeng by his professor at the University of Hong Kong, and his life has not been the same since. Soon afterward, he moved to Taiwan and fell in with the Taipei art crowd, including such future members of the cultural… read more

A hard-drinking Australian seems an unlikely figure to be one of the most important and influential cinematographers in Asian cinema, but that is exactly what Christopher Doyle is. His richly atmospheric, improvisational style has worked its way into the lexicon of both music videos and mainstream Hollywood fare. Moreover, his photo-collage artwork and his bizarre, often drunken public antics have made him a sort of cult celebrity in much of Asia.

Born in 1952 in Sydney, Doyle fled the banality of the suburbs to spend much of his early life on the road. At various points in his life he was a well digger in India, a Norwegian merchant marine, a cow herder on an Israeli kibbutz, and a doctor of Chinese medicine in Thailand. In the late ‘70s, Doyle was rechristened Du Kefeng by his professor at the University of Hong Kong, and his life has not been the same since. Soon afterward, he moved to Taiwan and fell in with the Taipei art crowd, including such future members of the cultural elite as Hou Hsiao Hsien and Stan Lai. In 1978, he was one of the founding members of the Lanling Theatre Workshop, the first modern theater company in Taiwan; he also created a landmark television series, Travelling Images. Yet Doyle’s first breakthrough occurred in 1981, when Edward Yang asked him to shoot his feature debut That Day on the Beach over the angry protests of the studio’s 23 salaried cameramen. Fearful that Taiwan’s relatively modest film industry might stunt his career, he again hit the road and got a gig shooting Claire Devers’ Noir et Blanc (1986) in France, only to discover that his heart still belonged to Asia. That same year, he returned to Hong Kong and shot Shu Kei’s second feature, Soul, a pastiche of John Cassavete’s Gloria (1980) starring noted Taiwanese directors Hou Hsiao-Hsien and Ke Yizhong. Though the reviews for the film itself were mixed, people noticed Doyle’s unique camera work and he soon found regular work in the Hong Kong film industry.

Doyle’s true artistic and commercial breakthrough occurred with his first collaboration with auteur Wong Kar-Wai in Days of Being Wild (1991). Doyle’s loose, ambient style seemed to match perfectly with Wong’s melancholy, largely improvised script; the two quickly formed a lasting professional relationship that would prove to be extremely beneficial to both of them. Wong films such as Ashes of Time soon became synonymous with Doyle’s ethereal look, while Wong’s loose and woolly directorial approach allowed Doyle to experiment and perfect his trademark style. Though he worked with such noted Hong Kong directors as Sylvia Chang in Mary From Beijing (1992) and Stanley Kwan in his Red Rose White Rose (1994), he gained international attention with his groundbreaking cinematography in Wong Kar-Wai’s Chungking Express (1994). Featuring a lush, saturated color palette and dazzling camera work, Doyle’s atmospheric look made the film crackle with a rare vitality. After shooting Chungking Express’ quasi-sequel Fallen Angel, Doyle adopted a more restrained look for fifth-generation filmmaker Chen Kaige in Temptress Moon (1996). After teaming up with Wong Kar-Wai again for Happy Together (1997), featuring sumptuous black and white cinematography that seems to swoon with melancholy, Doyle began to get gigs on the other side of the Pacific. His cinematography was one of the few bright spots in Gus Van Sant’s Psycho (1998), and he also shot Barry Levinson’s return to Baltimore, Liberty Heights (1999). During that same time, he made his directing debut with Away With Words (1999). Co-scripted by film critic Tony Rayns and starring Japanese indie star Tadanobu Asano, the film received divergent reviews when it was screened at Cannes. Some attacked it for being self-indulgent while others hailed it as extraordinary. Doyle kicked off the new decade in high style earning international acclaim for his work on Wong-Kar Wai’s In the Mood for Love. He then changed gears by shooting the low budget Jon Favroau feature Made. He continued to act as cinematographer on a series of internationally well-received films such as Hero, Rabbit Proof Fence, Eros, The Quiet American, and Three…Extremes. He collaborated again with Won-Kar Wai on 2046, and although the film itself failed to match the acclaim of In the Mood for Love, critics universally marveled over Doyle’s cinematography. In 2006 he joined forces with M. Night Shyamalan on his 2006 effort Lady in the Water.

(Source: http://www.allmovie.com/cg/avg.dll?p=avg&sql=2:88185)

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Walter Salles

Director/writer Walter Salles Jr. spearheaded the return of Brazilian cinema to international prominence in the latter half of the 1990s, particularly with his esteemed hit Central Station (1998). Born in Rio de Janeiro, the son of a well-heeled banker, Salles was raised in France and the United States before Brazil became his permanent home during his teens. Salles entered the Brazilian film industry as an award-winning documentary filmmaker during the industry’s 1980s/early-‘90s decline. After he moved to fiction with the thriller Exposure (1991), Salles’ feature career was stalled by Brazil’s disastrous economic freeze in the first half of the 1990s. Though he remained active by making documentaries for European television, Salles opted to stay in Brazil and made one of the first key films in the industry’s resurgence, Foreign Land (1995). Co-directed by Daniela Thomas, the internationally acclaimed Foreign Land addressed the fallout from Brazil’s economy through a mystery yarn set… read more

Director/writer Walter Salles Jr. spearheaded the return of Brazilian cinema to international prominence in the latter half of the 1990s, particularly with his esteemed hit Central Station (1998). Born in Rio de Janeiro, the son of a well-heeled banker, Salles was raised in France and the United States before Brazil became his permanent home during his teens. Salles entered the Brazilian film industry as an award-winning documentary filmmaker during the industry’s 1980s/early-‘90s decline. After he moved to fiction with the thriller Exposure (1991), Salles’ feature career was stalled by Brazil’s disastrous economic freeze in the first half of the 1990s. Though he remained active by making documentaries for European television, Salles opted to stay in Brazil and made one of the first key films in the industry’s resurgence, Foreign Land (1995). Co-directed by Daniela Thomas, the internationally acclaimed Foreign Land addressed the fallout from Brazil’s economy through a mystery yarn set in Brazil and Portugal, as one man’s financial desperation sets the plot in motion. Salles’ next film, Central Station, helped seal Brazilian cinema’s revival. Inspired by his documentary Life Somewhere Else (1995), partly funded by a Sundance Film Institute award and shot by a neophyte film crew, Central Station’s metaphorical road story unstintingly revealed the harsh effects of Brazil’s poverty while mining profound emotion from the reluctant relationship between Fernanda Montenegro’s cynical letter writer Dora and motherless innocent Vinicius de Oliviera. A festival smash and international hit, Central Station won the top prize at the Berlin Film Festival and received an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Film, while stage star Montenegro earned several critics’ and festival awards and a Best Actress Oscar nod for her restrained performance. Collaborating again with Thomas, Salles followed up his breakthrough success with the millennial tale Midnight (1998), part of the 2000 Seen By… series for the French-German television station Arte that also included films by film festival favorites Hal Hartley and Alain Berliner.

(From http://www.allmovie.com/cg/avg.dll?p=avg&sql=2:109635~T1)

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Tom Tykwer

TOM TYKWER was born in 1965 in Wuppertal. “Peter Pan” was probably the first film he saw, and he says that the youthful fantasy of creating a magical parallel world remains an inspiration to this day. The dreamy, childlike sense of wonder in “Peter Pan” fascinated him, as did Vittorio de Sica’s “Miracle in Milan”. Another important cinematic experience was seeing “King Kong” – nine-year-old Tykwer realized that cinema was artificial, man-made. This particular film marked the start of his fondness for the horror genre. Tykwer also names James Whales’ “Bride of Frankenstein”, “Miracle in Milan” and John Carpenter’s "Halloween” as some other early discoveries. From this point on Tykwer’s adolescence revolved round his passion for the cinema. To get greater access to films he helped out in an art-house cinema, which also allowed him to circumvent age restrictions.

Tykwer started making Super 8 films at the age of eleven, a purely fan-driven exercise in which he essentially rehashed… read more

TOM TYKWER was born in 1965 in Wuppertal. “Peter Pan” was probably the first film he saw, and he says that the youthful fantasy of creating a magical parallel world remains an inspiration to this day. The dreamy, childlike sense of wonder in “Peter Pan” fascinated him, as did Vittorio de Sica’s “Miracle in Milan”. Another important cinematic experience was seeing “King Kong” – nine-year-old Tykwer realized that cinema was artificial, man-made. This particular film marked the start of his fondness for the horror genre. Tykwer also names James Whales’ “Bride of Frankenstein”, “Miracle in Milan” and John Carpenter’s "Halloween” as some other early discoveries. From this point on Tykwer’s adolescence revolved round his passion for the cinema. To get greater access to films he helped out in an art-house cinema, which also allowed him to circumvent age restrictions.

Tykwer started making Super 8 films at the age of eleven, a purely fan-driven exercise in which he essentially rehashed his favourite films and – as he readily admits – bored his long-suffering circle of friends stiff. Nevertheless, he continued to work on similar projects all through school. He was much impressed by a visit to Berlin, an apparent film paradise. Every night literally dozens of film classics were on offer. After graduating from school and numerous unsuccessful applications to just about every film school in Europe, he moved to Berlin and worked there as a projectionist. In 1987 he became the programmer at the ambitious ‘Moviemento’ cinema, and even at that young age was a highly respected film buff and contact point for German directors. At the same time he was analysing screenplays for the story department and interviewed many of his cinematic idols for TV profiles.

The desire to make his own films didn’t really take firm shape until he met and became friends with filmmaker Rosa von Praunheim, who vigorously purged his fixations with genre, urging him instead to come up with stories born of his own experience. For example, he suggested Tykwer record arguments with his girlfriend of the time and – in exaggerated form – turn it into a short film. BECAUSE (1990) was screened at the Hof Film Festival, which at that time was for Tykwer a veritable mecca of film culture. BECAUSE was greeted by the public with laughter and sympathetic identification, a totally unexpected reaction that turned out to be a watershed experience for the young director. To communicate intense personal truths, but at the same time challenge with formal experimentation – that was he now envisaged as the way forward. Another short film, EPILOG (1992) plunged Tykwer into personal financial debt, but allowed he and his cameraman partner Frank Griebe to gain important technical experience.

In Hof in 1990 he met Stefan Arndt, who also ran a cinema in Berlin. Their idea of doing something in tandem finally came to fruition when the producers of “Kleines Fernsehspiel” at German public broadcaster, ZDF, gave Tykwer the go-ahead to shoot his screenplay DEADLY MARIA, his first feature film. Here the horror film influences of his youth are very evident, but it then evolves into a love melodrama. The unusual story and extravagant, streamlined visual shaping of the film created a stir in the industry, highly unusual for a television drama, and enabled a – modest – cinematic release. Although audiences were far from large, dozens of film festivals around the world were now aware of Tykwer’s talent. The film was screened at over a hundred festivals and even in cinemas in some countries, such as Spain, Holland, Sweden, Norway and Brazil. Viewer reaction to the first German television broadcast was impassioned, confirming the impact – both disturbing and moving – that DEADLY MARIA had had at festivals.

Together with Stefan Arndt, Wolfgang Becker and Dani Levy, Tykwer founded production company ‘X Filme Creative Pool’ in 1994. It was to be a filmmaker collective that gave maximum creative control over their productions, yet still guaranteed a certain amount of structure and financial security. Together with Wolfgang Becker Tykwer wrote the screenplay for LIFE IS ALL YOU GET, while at the same time working on his second cinema feature WINTER SLEEPERS (1996/97). This ensemble film is clearly a bigger and far more complex production than DEADLY MARIA. The shooting in the mountains of Berchtesgaden was the first really big challenge for Tykwer and the new company. The hypnotic qualities of the film, already typical of Tykwer, brought the young director to the attention of the thinking members of the young German cinema-going public. The film itself became an insider tip at festivals. —www.tomtykwer.com

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Gus Van Sant

A director who is capable of crafting both deeply unconventional independent films and mainstream crowd-pleasers, Gus Van Sant has managed to carve an enviable niche for himself in Hollywood. Since debuting in 1985 with Mala Noche, Van Sant has become one of the premiere bards of dysfunction, populating his films with a parade of hustlers, junkies, psychopathic weather girls, homicidal teens, and troubled geniuses.

The son of a traveling salesman, Van Sant was born in Louisville, KY, on July 24, 1952. One constant in the director’s early years was his interest in painting and Super-8 filmmaking. Van Sant’s artistic leanings took him to the Rhode Island School of Design in 1970, where introduction to Avant-Garde cinema quickly inspired him to change his major from painting to cinema. After mobving to LA, Van Sant became fascinated by the existence of the marginalized section of L.A.‘s population, especially in context with the more ordinary prosperous world that surrounded them… read more

A director who is capable of crafting both deeply unconventional independent films and mainstream crowd-pleasers, Gus Van Sant has managed to carve an enviable niche for himself in Hollywood. Since debuting in 1985 with Mala Noche, Van Sant has become one of the premiere bards of dysfunction, populating his films with a parade of hustlers, junkies, psychopathic weather girls, homicidal teens, and troubled geniuses.

The son of a traveling salesman, Van Sant was born in Louisville, KY, on July 24, 1952. One constant in the director’s early years was his interest in painting and Super-8 filmmaking. Van Sant’s artistic leanings took him to the Rhode Island School of Design in 1970, where introduction to Avant-Garde cinema quickly inspired him to change his major from painting to cinema. After mobving to LA, Van Sant became fascinated by the existence of the marginalized section of L.A.‘s population, especially in context with the more ordinary prosperous world that surrounded them.Van Sant would repeatedly focus his work on those existing on society’s fringes, beginning with his 1985 Mala Noche, which was a tale of a doomed love between a gay liquor store clerk and a Mexican immigrant. The film featured some of the director’s hallmarks, notably an unfulfilled romanticism, a dry sense of the absurd, and the refusal to treat homosexuality as something deserving of judgment. Unlike many gay filmmakers, Van Sant, who had long been openly gay, declined to use same-sex relationships as fodder for overtly political statements, although such relationships would frequently appear in his films.Mala Noche earned its director almost overnight acclaim on the festival circuit. Later, with the assistance of independent production company Avenue, the director made Drugstore Cowboy, his 1989 film about four drug addicts who rob pharmacies to support their habit.The film’s exploration of the lives of those living on society’s outer fringes were mirrored in Van Sant’s next effort, the similarly acclaimed My Own Private Idaho (1991). Centering around the dealings of two male hustlers (River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves). The film won him an Independent Spirit Award for his screenplay, as well as greater prestige.

Van Sant’s next project, a 1994 adaptation of Tom Robbins’ Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, was an excessive flop, both commercially and critically. His next project, 1995’s To Die For, helped to restore his luster.The same year, he served as executive producer for Larry Clark’s Kids. In 1997 came true mainstream acceptance for the director; Good Will Hunting. Starring and written by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, the film, about a troubled, blue-collar genius, was a huge critical and commercial success. In addition to taking in more than 220 million dollars worldwide, it received a number of Academy Award nominations, including a Best Director nomination, and it won a Best Screenplay and a Best Supporting Actor Oscar. The unprecedented success of Good Will Hunting allowed Van Sant to pursue whatever project his heart desired, which ended up being an unusually faithful remake of the Alfred Hitchcock classic Psycho. In addition to directing, Van Sant also devoted considerable energy to releasing two albums and published a novel, Pink.

Van Sant fared somewhat better with 2000’s Finding Forrester, a drama about a high-school student from the Bronx (Rob Brown) who becomes unlikely friends with a crusty, reclusive author (Sean Connery). Later Van Sant – longing to return to more-intimate production methods — decided to leave behind big-budget studio filmmaking for his next two features. Inspired by the works of Hungarian director Bela Tarr and American maverick John Cassavetes, Van Sant retreated to the deserts of Argentina, Utah, and Death Valley for 2002’s Gerry. It took Gerry over a year to make it to theaters, in which time Van Sant began production on his next film, the controversial Elephant. Melding improvisational long takes like those in Gerry with Savides’ fluid camerawork, the finished film provoked strong reactions from audiences at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival, who either embraced or rejected Van Sant’s aesthetic decision not to offer a definitive rationale for his characters’ homicidal tendencies. The Cannes jury awarded Elephant with their top prize, the Palm d’Or, and Van Sant with his first Best Director statue from the festival.

(From http://www.allmovie.com/cg/avg.dll?p=avg&sql=2:115102~T1)

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