Todd Solondz
Todd Solondz
Todd Solondzis an American independent film screenwriter and director known for his style of dark, thought-provoking, socially conscious satire. Solondz has been critically acclaimed for his examination of the "dark underbelly of middle class American suburbia," a reflection of his own background in New Jersey. His work includes Welcome to the Dollhouse, Happiness, Storytelling, Palindromes, Life During Wartime, and Dark Horse...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionDirector
Date of Birth15 October 1959
CountryUnited States of America
Artwork can be a portal, a kind of rethinking and reseeing of the world as we live it.
Compromise is part and parcel of making a movie. It's a question of the kinds of compromises that you have to make.
It's one of the great gifts of having so little money that you are able to make these kinds of radical conceits that you could never afford to do had you had a reasonable budget,.
I mean, there are many other directors who are probably both more skilled and excited to adapt novels or work within certain genre conventions. I'd like to do that kind of work someday, but for better or worse I'm too drawn by my own material.
So far, at least, I haven't found a way to tell my kind of stories without making them both sad and funny.
People came up to me afterwards and, it didn't matter whether it was a beautiful model or a heavy-set construction worker, they'd all think the same thing: they'd say, 'That was me, I was Dawn Wiener',
To be honest, I am often unsettled by the responses some people have had to my movies, and that includes many people who like them.
Many people think my movies come out of the deepest feelings of bitterness and cynicism and hostility and not out of any positive feelings at all.
With Storytelling, at least, it's explicit: this is what the censors say American citizens, no matter what age, are not permitted to see, even though it can be seen by other people all over the world. I suppose you could call it a political statement.
We are so defined by our prejudices and our preconceptions, ... that it's sometimes shocking to realise to what extent we are so conditioned.
target anyone in particular. I only hope that some people will find the work entertaining and come to my films with an open mind.
When I was making Storytelling, I couldn't watch while the violent sex scene between the student and the professor was being shot. It was too intense.
Well, so far, at least, my own ideas always take priority over those of other writers. As long as the well doesn't run dry, I imagine this will be the case.
But you're right, I did think about acting more and then decided against it.