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10:37 AM
Date of Birth10 February 1961, Omaha, Nebraska, USA
Birth Name
Alexander Papadopoulos
Height
5' 10" (1.78 m)
Spouse
Sandra Oh (1 January 2003 - 21 December 2006) (divorced)
Trade Mark
Sets his films in and around Omaha, Nebraska.
Frequently films scenes at natural history museums.
Frequently casts Phil Reeves.
Frequently uses actual people in roles of minor characters in his movies (real life policemen for policemen, real life restaurant servers for servers, real life teachers for teachers)
Frequently incoporates telephone monologues as a dramatic device
His films often revolve around adultery in marriage and relationships.
His films often deal with a sense of loneliness depicted by the main character
Trivia
Attended Creighton Prep High School in Omaha, Nebraska
Studied at the University of Salamanca (Spain).
Of Greek Ancestry. Family name was changed from Papadopoulos.
Graduate of Stanford University.
Graduated in 1990 from UCLA Filmschool with a MFA in Theater Arts.
He grew up down the street from billionaire Warren Buffett.
Owns the Winnebago driven by Warren Schmidt (Jack Nicholson) in About Schmidt (2002).
Is on the short list of directors who has final cut rights to his films.
Studied Spanish and history at Stanford.
Did an uncredited polishing-up of the final draft of Meet the Parents (2000).
Is a friend of David O. Russell.
One of his motivations to move the title character of About Schmidt (2002) from New York City in the novel to Payne's hometown of Omaha, Nebraska was as a tribute to the great history of "creative" people that hail from that small Midwestern city. The famous people other than Payne who are originally from Omaha include Henry Fonda, Marlon Brando, Fred Astaire, Montgomery Clift and Nick Nolte.
Member of the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Directors Branch) [2005-]
Among his favorite filmmakers: Akira Kurosawa, Luis Bunuel, Hal Ashby, Martin Scorsese and Sergio Leone.
Personal Quotes
[about Reese Witherspoon on Election (1999)]: "She inhabited that role fully, but she can do all these other roles. You see a woman in her, not a girl. She's going to be interesting for a long time."
[talking about Reese Witherspoon]: "She has such intelligence and humor, so it was a joyous leap of faith. Working with her, I kept thinking of Holly Hunter, she is an actress who is equally at home in character roles and in leads and in comedy and in drama. Reese has that kind of range, as an actress and as a human being."
"They [the studios] go through that process where they think you have to find the most famous people possible and then they go down the line. That's a game I'm increasingly uninterested in - unless the most famous possible person also happens to be very correct in the part, like Jack Nicholson." [on casting]
"When studios entrust big Hollywood blockbusters to strong, intelligent directors, like Steven Soderbergh or Sam Raimi [Spider-Mans 1 and 2] or Alfonso Cuarón [the latest Harry Potter], I say 'God bless 'em', because those films will have legs and might stand the test of time. But if they rely on just product, like two examples from this year, Van Helsing (2004) and Catwoman (2004) - I'm glad they tanked".
"I want all of my films to belong to me. There is an audience out there for literate films - slower, more observant, more human films, and they deserve to be made. Which is why I want Sideways (2004) to succeed, to encourage other film-makers".
While accepting his Director of the Year award for Sideways (2004) at the Palm Spring Film Festival: "I thank you for this award, though I think there may be a problem with a world in which making small, human and humorous films is 'an achievement.' It should be the norm".
We don't have movies about ourselves, and we don't have a national film culture. It shouldn't be an epic aspiration to make simple human stories, but it is.
Where is it written that if you are not getting your money from a studio you have more freedom? If I had tried to make Sideways with independent funding I would have had to secure foreign presales and cast big stars in order to get my budget. This movie took a studio to say 'We're gambling on you. Cast whoever you want.'
"It's my hope that we're getting into an era where the value of a film is based on its proximity to real life rather than its distance from it. To do that, you need actors - stars, basically - who don't necessarily look like Ben Affleck".
Source: imdb.com
Birth Name
Alexander Papadopoulos
Height
5' 10" (1.78 m)
Spouse
Sandra Oh (1 January 2003 - 21 December 2006) (divorced)
Trade Mark
Sets his films in and around Omaha, Nebraska.
Frequently films scenes at natural history museums.
Frequently casts Phil Reeves.
Frequently uses actual people in roles of minor characters in his movies (real life policemen for policemen, real life restaurant servers for servers, real life teachers for teachers)
Frequently incoporates telephone monologues as a dramatic device
His films often revolve around adultery in marriage and relationships.
His films often deal with a sense of loneliness depicted by the main character
Trivia
Attended Creighton Prep High School in Omaha, Nebraska
Studied at the University of Salamanca (Spain).
Of Greek Ancestry. Family name was changed from Papadopoulos.
Graduate of Stanford University.
Graduated in 1990 from UCLA Filmschool with a MFA in Theater Arts.
He grew up down the street from billionaire Warren Buffett.
Owns the Winnebago driven by Warren Schmidt (Jack Nicholson) in About Schmidt (2002).
Is on the short list of directors who has final cut rights to his films.
Studied Spanish and history at Stanford.
Did an uncredited polishing-up of the final draft of Meet the Parents (2000).
Is a friend of David O. Russell.
One of his motivations to move the title character of About Schmidt (2002) from New York City in the novel to Payne's hometown of Omaha, Nebraska was as a tribute to the great history of "creative" people that hail from that small Midwestern city. The famous people other than Payne who are originally from Omaha include Henry Fonda, Marlon Brando, Fred Astaire, Montgomery Clift and Nick Nolte.
Member of the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Directors Branch) [2005-]
Among his favorite filmmakers: Akira Kurosawa, Luis Bunuel, Hal Ashby, Martin Scorsese and Sergio Leone.
Personal Quotes
[about Reese Witherspoon on Election (1999)]: "She inhabited that role fully, but she can do all these other roles. You see a woman in her, not a girl. She's going to be interesting for a long time."
[talking about Reese Witherspoon]: "She has such intelligence and humor, so it was a joyous leap of faith. Working with her, I kept thinking of Holly Hunter, she is an actress who is equally at home in character roles and in leads and in comedy and in drama. Reese has that kind of range, as an actress and as a human being."
"They [the studios] go through that process where they think you have to find the most famous people possible and then they go down the line. That's a game I'm increasingly uninterested in - unless the most famous possible person also happens to be very correct in the part, like Jack Nicholson." [on casting]
"When studios entrust big Hollywood blockbusters to strong, intelligent directors, like Steven Soderbergh or Sam Raimi [Spider-Mans 1 and 2] or Alfonso Cuarón [the latest Harry Potter], I say 'God bless 'em', because those films will have legs and might stand the test of time. But if they rely on just product, like two examples from this year, Van Helsing (2004) and Catwoman (2004) - I'm glad they tanked".
"I want all of my films to belong to me. There is an audience out there for literate films - slower, more observant, more human films, and they deserve to be made. Which is why I want Sideways (2004) to succeed, to encourage other film-makers".
While accepting his Director of the Year award for Sideways (2004) at the Palm Spring Film Festival: "I thank you for this award, though I think there may be a problem with a world in which making small, human and humorous films is 'an achievement.' It should be the norm".
We don't have movies about ourselves, and we don't have a national film culture. It shouldn't be an epic aspiration to make simple human stories, but it is.
Where is it written that if you are not getting your money from a studio you have more freedom? If I had tried to make Sideways with independent funding I would have had to secure foreign presales and cast big stars in order to get my budget. This movie took a studio to say 'We're gambling on you. Cast whoever you want.'
"It's my hope that we're getting into an era where the value of a film is based on its proximity to real life rather than its distance from it. To do that, you need actors - stars, basically - who don't necessarily look like Ben Affleck".
Source: imdb.com
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