Alexander Payne

At 63 years old, Alexander Payne has this physical status:

Constantine Alexander Payne (born February 10, 1961) is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer best known for the films Election (1999) (1999), About Schmidt (2002), Sideways (2004), Nebraska (2013), and Downsizing (2017).

His films have been known for their humour and satirical representations of modern American life.

Payne is a two-time recipient of the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and a three-time nominee for Best Director.

Early life

Payne was born in Omaha, Nebraska, to Peggy and George Payne, restauranteurs. He is the youngest of three brothers and grew up in the Dundee neighborhood.

He is of Greek origins. Nicholas "Nick" Payne, Payne's paternal grandfather, anglicized the last name from "Papadopoulos." His family traces from three Greek islands: Syros, Livadia, and Aegio.

Payne's family was a member of Omaha's fabric, which he refers to as part of his upbringing. His grandfather, who was a founder of The Virginia Cafe, was the restaurant's father, with Payne's father taking over the restaurant. Payne went to the hospital on a daily basis as an infant. In 1969, the restaurant was destroyed by a fire; on the site, the W. Dale Clark Library was later constructed.

Clara Payne (née Hoffman), Payne's paternal grandmother, was from a German Nebraska family from Lincoln, Nebraska.

Payne, a student in Omaha, attended Brownell-Talbot Elementary School, Dundee Elementary School, and Lewis and Clark Junior High. In 1979, he graduated from Creighton Prep for high school. Payne, a writer for his high school newspaper and editor of the high school yearbook, wrote a humor column for his high school newspaper.

Payne earned his degree in Spanish and History at Stanford University. He studied at the University of Salamanca, Spain, as part of his Spanish degree. He later spent a few months in Medellin, Colombia, where he published an article about social changes between 1900 and 1930. Payne earned his MFA degree from the UCLA Film School in 1990.

Personal life

After dating Sandra Oh for three years and working with her in Sideways, Payne married her on January 1, 2003. A publicist announced their departure on March 12, 2005. The divorce was officially signed on December 22, 2006, but the former couple's debt took longer than two years to settle. Payne married Maria Kontos, a Greek philologist who met while visiting the Aigio region of Greece, where some of his ancestors came from. Kontos is 27 years old and his junior. In 2017, he became a father for the first time at the age of 56. He gained Greek citizenship in 2022.

Payne is on the Board of Directors of Film Streams, an Omaha non-profit film theater. He has a passion for preservation. In recent years, he has helped save a historic film theater in Scottsbluff, Nebraska.

Payne was co-owner (along with colleague Ann Beeder) of King Fong (now officially closed), a Chinese restaurant in Omaha.

Payne has been a long-time supporter of the Nebraska Coast Connection, a social networking group that meets monthly in Culver City, California. On the Paramount Studio lot in November 2013, he held a special screening of Nebraska for the organization's members.

In a 2018 interview with Ronan Farrow, actress Rose McGowan accused a "prominent" man in Hollywood of statutory rape, but she did not identify the individual in question. McGowan said it was Payne and that he committed the act sometime in 1988 or 1989, when McGowan was 15 years old and Payne was 28 years old. Payne responded to McGowan's allegations by writing a guest column in Deadline Hollywood in which he confessed to a consensual friendship with her but denied any impropriety, alleging that they met in 1991 when she was over the age of consent, which is 18 in California. "While I cannot allow false representations of events 29 years ago to go uncorrected, I will continue to wish only the best for Rose" says Payne.

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Career

In the 1960s, Payne's father received a Kraft Foods Super 8mm projector as a thank-you gift and later handed it over to his son when Alexander was 14 years old.

Payne received his MFA from UCLA Film School, and after his commercial success, The Passion of Martin attracted industry attention—Payne got a Universal Pictures writing/directing contract. About Schmidt would eventually be the ensuing screenplay, which was rejected. He claims he raised about $60,000, which was enough to fund his simple life for about five years.

Payne has referred to Tennessee Williams' essay The Catastrophe of Achievement, in which he sees his potential as one of the learned economy.

Payne appeared on film and television before co-wrote and directed his first full-length film, Citizen Ruth (1996). The film is a satirical black comedy revolving around the subject of abortion rights. Laura Dern plays Laura Dern, a dimwitted woman with substance use issues and who happens to get pregnant. She has erroneously become a pawn of figures from both sides of the abortion controversy. Kelly Preston, Burt Reynolds, and Tippi Hedren appear in the film. The film premiered at the 1996 Sundance Film Festival in which it received high praise.

When New Yorker film critic David Denby named Election, starring Matthew Broderick and Reese Witherspoon, it attracted notice. For Election, Payne received his first Academy Award for Adapted Screenplay. "Here is a film about an obnoxious student, but also about an ineffective instructor, a lockstep system, and a student body that is mostly symbolic until it can reach the world and occupy valuable space," Roger Ebert said of three actors out of four. With Election, the film has risen to #61 on Bravo's list of the "Best High School Movies" and #9 on Entertainment Weekly's list of the "100 Greatest Film Performances of All Time," while Witherspoon's appearance ranked at #60 on Bravo's "100 Funniest Movies" and #9 on Entertainment Weekly's list of the "100 Greatest Film Performances of All Time," while Witherspoon's list of the "100 Greatest Film ranked at #50 on Bravo's ranked at #61 on Bravo's "50 Greatest Films "Best Movies" and #61, while Wither's "50 Greatest Cinema's of All Time" list of the film Performances "Best Movies on the "50 Greatest Film Performances No. It is also President Barack Obama's most popular political film, according to Payne.

About Schmidt, Payne's film about a recently widowed widower who embarks on a journey to his estranged daughter's wedding anniversary in 2002, was published. Jack Nicholson was the title character in the film, Warren Schmidt, and the script was based on Louis Begley's book of the same name. Hope Davis, Dermot Mulroney, June Squibb, and Kathy Bates appeared in the film alongside Hope Davis, Douglas Squibb, and Kathy Bates. Criticals praised Nicholson's appearance at the Cannes Film Festival, and the film premiered at the 55th Cannes Film Festival to rave reviews, with critics highlighting the film's excellence. Payne was a winner of the Golden Globe for his screenplay, which was also nominated for the Best Adapted Screenplay award from the Writers Guild of America. Payne and his writing partner Jim Taylor were not nominated for an Oscar for the About Schmidt screenplay, much to the surprise of many who followed Hollywood news.

Payne introduced Sideways, a film about two middle-aged men who embarked on a week-long road trip to Santa Barbara County, California, to celebrate Jack's forthcoming wedding. Paul Giamatti, Thomas Hayden Church, Thomas Hayden Church, and Virginia Madsen and Sandra Oh as the two friends. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, where it received rave reviews. "What happens during the seven days adds up to the best human comedy of the year – comedy, because it is funny, and sad because it is so touching." In 2005, Payne received both the Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Adapted Screenplay, while the film also received the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy. Overall, Sideways received five Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture.

Payne returned to directing in 2011 after a seven-year absence with the film The Descendants, a film about a man who was stuck in the aftermath of a boating tragedy involving his wife, leaving her in a coma. George Clooney, Shaliene Woodley, Beau Bridges, Judy Greer, Matthew Lillard, and Robert Forster appeared in the film. The film premiered at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival, where it earned near universal acclaim, ranked on many critics' top ten lists of the year. Payne co-wrote the screenplay with Nat Faxon, and Jim Rash, who received the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Bruce Dern, a veteran character actor on Payne's Nebraska, and Will Forte of Saturday Night Live slammed Bruce Dern. It was published on November 15, 2013.

During his seven-year absence between Sideways (2004) and The Descendants (2011), Payne and his working partner Jim Taylor were creating the satire Downsizing, which Payne has described as "a large canvas, science-fiction social satire, and "an epic masterpiece." The film, about an impoverished married couple who decide to move forward is based on shrinking themselves, was superseded by The Descendants and Nebraska. Kristen Wiig and Giamatti were replaced by Matt Damon in March 2016. Christoph Waltz, Udo Kier, Neil Patrick Harris, Neil Patrick Harris, and Jason Sudeikis appeared in Hong Chau. On December 22, 2017, Paramount Pictures released the film. It has received mixed reviews, with some commentators describing it as the worst film of Payne's career.

Payne will direct Paul Giamatti in Miramax's David Hemingson-scripted film The Holdovers.

The short film Run Fast was produced by a Payne executive. Anna Musso, his long-serving assistant and protege, wrote and directed the film, which was shot in March 2014. A Kickstarter campaign helped fund the project partially.

Payne completed an uncredited polish-up of the screenplay for Meet the Parents in 2000. Payne drafted a draft of Jurassic Park III in 2001.

Payne appeared on King of California and The Savages as an executive producer. He also collaborated with writer Jim Taylor on a draft of the screenplay for Dennis Dugan's film I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, which also stars Adam Sandler and Kevin James. Payne disliked the final product, citing that Adam Sandler rewrote so much of the tale that Payne and Taylor's book was lost.

Payne was also executive producer of Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter directed by David Zellner.

Payne was reportedly in talks to direct Esquivel, a biopic starring Mexican singer Juan Garca Esquivel. Payne was expected to co-write and direct an untitled film based on Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray, but no further information was given regarding this venture.

Payne is thought to have directed the film adaptation of Daniel Clowes' graphic novel Wilson in November 2010. Payne said in November 2011 that he will send Wilson after Nebraska (2013). However, Payne later revealed in a 2014 interview with Parade that he was no longer attached to the Wilson campaign.

In 2012, it was revealed that Payne and Jim Taylor wrote a script called The Lost Cause. The initiative is said to be an extension of Taylor's 2004 short film of the same name.

Payne was in talks to produce The Judge's Will, a Fox Searchlight Pictures film released in November 2013. The initiative was supposed to be based on Ruth Prawer Jhabvala's article about an elderly judge from Delhi who needs to ensure his much younger wife is taken care of after his demise. In May 2018, it was announced that James Ivory would write the screenplay for Payne. Payne may have fired The Judge's Will in Chicago in June 2018.

Payne will produce My Saga, a collection of essays that were written by Karl Ove Knausg and published by The New York Times Magazine in February 2016. The Knausgrd traces the Vikings' voyages in North America. Mads Mikkelsen, a Netflix and actress, was supposed to have distributed the film. The project was cancelled a week before filming was scheduled due to Knausgard's opposition to his life story being turned into a feature film in October 2019.

Payne was in talks to produce The Burial, Amazon Studios' legal drama film in March 2018. The project was supposed to be based on Willie Gary's true story, who brings forth Jeremiah O'Keefe, the administrator of a chain of funeral homes who said he was swindled by a large funeral parlor company conglomerate.

Payne was attached to direct a comedy horror film titled The Menu for Gary Sanchez Productions, according to the magazine in February 2019. The story revolves around a young couple who arrives at a luxurious restaurant in a tropical island only to find some "shocking surprises." Emma Stone and Ralph Fiennes were set to appear in the film by April 2019. Mark Mylod has been on The Menu until May 2020, replacing Payne.

Payne was attached to direct an American remake of Babette's Feast, a 1987 Oscar-winning Danish film, in December 2019. Payne's version is said to be set in Minnesota.

Payne would also direct the HBO miniseries Landscapers in December 2019. However, Payne dropped out of the project due to a schedule conflict and was replaced by Will Sharpe in October 2020.

Payne had also announced in the 2010s that he would produce La Vida Norte. The initiative was supposed to be about a Latin music promoter who befriends a Nebraska mayor.

Payne will also be seen in a film called Fork in the Road, according to the source. That was supposed to be an extension of a Denis Hamill novel.

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