Alexander Payne
Alexander Payne
Alexander Payneis an American film director, screenwriter, and producer, known for the films Citizen Ruth, Election, About Schmidt, Sideways, The Descendants, and Nebraska. His films are noted for their dark humor and satirical depictions of contemporary American society. Payne is a two time winner of the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, and a three time nominee of the Academy Award for Best Director...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionDirector
Date of Birth10 February 1961
CityOmaha, NE
CountryUnited States of America
In the moment of making films, I want to share my observations of life, not of other films.
If you're not making epic, archetypal films on some level, I think you're wasting a great potential of cinema.
The biggest fear I have is to die with regrets, and of course that will come true.
I think a badly crafted, great idea for a new film with a ton of spelling mistakes is just 100 times better than a well-crafted stale script.
I like actors who, when you see them on screen, you sense a person, not just an actor.
If you have your movies so that everyone understands everything, I think that's probably not a very good movie.
If you were falling in love and you could go back in time and relive a day and see the banal things you did that you'd forgotten about, you'd weep, looking at that day,
There is an audience out there for literate films - slower, more observant, more human films, and they deserve to be made.
What is filmmaking but groping in the dark?
The novel succeeds on terms exclusive to literature. A good film succeeds on terms exclusive to the cinema. That's why so many bad novels can become good movies, like 'Jaws' or 'The Godfather.'
You look at how many years you have left, and you start to think: 'How many more films do I have in me?'
The hardest part of this whole movie-making endeavor is finding ideas.
The best actors are always the ones who've directed as well, as they understand all the problems you face.
Omaha, like Rome, is built on seven hills.