Alexander Payne

Although his UCLA thesis film THE PASSION OF MARTIN was screened at Sundance, Alexander Payne made his feature film debut with the critically acclaimed CITIZEN RUTH, a provocative satire about the abortion rights war. He followed in 1999 with the critically acclaimed ELECTION, which led the year’s critics’ Top Ten lists, earned Best Director and Best Film Independent Spirit Awards and, for Payne and co-writer Jim Taylor, won a number of Best Screenplay awards, including the Writers Guild of America, the New York Film Critics Circle and the Independent Spirit Award, as well as an Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. Payne followed with ABOUT SCHMIDT, starring Jack Nicholson and Kathy Bates. The film earned two Golden Globes (Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Director) and was voted Best Film of 2002 by the Los Angeles and London Film Critics Circles. Payne’s latest feature, SIDEWAYS, was the critical smash of 2004 earning five Oscar nominations and winning for Best Adapted Screenplay.