Constantine Alexander Payne better known as Alexander Payne is an award winning American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He was born on February 10, 1961 in Omaha, Nebraska. Growing up his mother was a college professor and his father ran a restaurant. His parents were like any blue collar family and they were hoping that their son would join one of the more prestigious fields such as law or medicine. Ironically Payne graduated from Stanford University with degrees in history and Spanish literature. After Stanford university, Payne attended the University of California, Los Angeles' also known as UCLA, prestigious film school. From the moment he walking into the university he already knew what he aspired to be, a director. For his first film Payne explored issues related to abortion in the 1996 Citizen Ruth. It stars Laura Dern in the title role of a poor, irresponsible and pregnant woman who somehow gets caught in the middle of an abortion debate and now each party is trying to sway her in their direction. In addition to directing the movie, Payne also wrote the screenplay with Jim Taylor.
In his next film he turned over to the political side in Election (1999). This film is an adaptation of a novel by Tom Perrotta. The film revolves around a high school election and pokes fun at both suburban high school life and politics. I starred Reese Witherspoon as a high school student and Matthew Broderick as a high school social studies teacher. Again working with Jim Taylor on the script, Payne and his co-writer picked up an Academy Award nomination for their screenplay.
In 2002 Payne released About Schmidt which was a coming of age comedy. The film was both a commercial and a critical success and it earned $105,834,556 on a $30 million budget. In an article by … he actually speaks about his budget and how he feels about the current state of Hollywood.
“NM: How do you see the current state of Hollywood? Do you see a future for the kind of films you make within it?
AP: Of course I see a future, because I'm actually making the films I would like to. I can decry that there aren't more adult comedies and dramas, but of course I have hope. I just wish more people were trying. I wish the studios would spend the money and the man-hours on adult comedies and dramas that cost between $25 million and $35 million. There's money to be made there. Not everything has to be a huge gamble and a huge home run. And we filmmakers have to keep our prices down. Films are too expensive. The Descendants cost $22 million or $23 million, and my current one is $13 million. I need my films to make money. I don't need a huge hit; I only need for my films to turn a decent profit, so that I can keep making movies. At the same time, I wish all my budgets weren't always so damned shrink-wrapped.”
Payne also received mostly positive reviews for his examination of aging in About Schmidt (2002). In the movie, Jack Nicholson stars as a Nebraskan actuary coping with retirement. Somewhere alog the line his wife dies and he was find meaning to his life. It was adapted from Louis Begley novel of the same name.
Soon after his about Schmidt film Payne developing into an award winning filmmaker. Films such as comedy Sideways (2004), Descendants (2011), dramatic comedy Nebraska (2013) all showcased his marvelous filmmaking. Each one of those films were comic and in an interview by light and sounds he explains as is to why he prefers to incorporate the genre no matter what type of film it may be.
“NM: Would humor still play a part? I know the other night you indicated that even if making a drama, thriller or period film you felt there should still be an element of humor included.
AP: I don't know if I can avoid who I am. In general, I am disappointed in films with no jokes. You have to have a joke in your film somehow. Even Amour (2012) has its funny moments, how she continues to control him and how hapless he is as she goes downhill.”
Works Cited
ALEXANDER PAYNE. (2014). Sight & Sound, 24(1), 46.
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