Background
Alexander Payne was born on February 10, 1961 in Omaha. He is the award-winning director of films like "Sideways", "The Descendants", "Election", and "Nebraska", among others.
In 2022, Alexander Payne became Greek Citizen.
Alexander Payne is currently working on the film "The Holdovers" with Paul Giamatti.
Education
Bachelor in History & Spanish Literature, Stanford University, 1984. Master of Fine Arts in Filmmaking, University of California at Los Angeles, 1990. Doctor of Humane Letters (honorary), University Nebraska, 2004.
Career
Throughout his critically acclaimed career, writer-director Alexander Payne showed a remarkably poignant vision with his films, in which the often quirky set-up was merely a launching point for a seriocomic exploration into human foibles. With "Citizen Ruth" (1996), Payne examined the gravely serious issue of reproductive rights, an unlikely subject for what turned out to be an adroit satire that managed to both present and rankle both sides of the issue. For his next film, "Election" (1999), he used a seemingly inconsequential high school presidential race to plumb the darkest recesses of our mutable human nature. Then there was "About Schmidt" (2002), which used a cross country journey to depict an anchorless average man trying to make sense of his life. But Payne - alongside longtime writing partner Jim Taylor - had perhaps his greatest critical success with "Sideways" (2004), an excursion into wine country that explored the unlikely friendship of two men struggling with their perceived failures. "Sideways" earned Payne numerous accolades, including an Academy Award for Best Screenplay. His critically acclaimed drama "The Descendants" (2011) also earned rave reviews and its director another Best Screenplay Oscar, all of which helped cement his reputation as a visionary filmmaker adept at making unflinching films depicting the more uncomfortable aspects of human nature.
Personality
Payne's films often revolve around middle-aged or older men who reach a breaking point in their lives, enter into transformative existential crises, and then emerge in the end as changed people, for better or worse. Some unexpected life experience forces the central male figure to "crack" and see the world in a new and surprising way. This theme appears in Election, About Schmidt, Sideways, The Descendants, and to a lesser extent in Nebraska, via the son, one of two main characters. His movies also tend to involve infidelity, road trips or travel, tragedy, despair, disappointment, and crises of masculinity. He has set many of his films in Omaha, his hometown. His films sometimes include scenes of historical landmarks, black and white photographs, and museums, and he often uses amateur actors for minor roles.
Physical Characteristics:
Alexander is 5' 10" (1.78 m) and has curly brown hair.
Connections
Married Sandra Oh, January 1, 2003 (divorced December 21, 2006).