Alexander Payne is a director, producer, and writer from Omaha, Nebraska. He graduated from Stanford University in 1986 with a degree in English. He started his career as a freelance illustrator for the Omaha World-Herald in 1985. From there, he got into film production, working on an adaptation of one of his college short films. After that, he worked for about seven years as a writer for “The Daily Show.”
He then founded Field of View Productions and made the independent film The Grandmother, which was also nominated for best screenplay at Sundance Film Festival. He then started making live-action films and had his directorial debut with Election. He was nominated for an Academy Award for writing the film Election, and in 2005 he won a Golden Globe for the screenplay of Sideways. From there, he made About Schmidt, The Descendants, and won an Academy Award for Best Screenplay, along with Nat Faxon, for The Descendants. In 2015 he won a Golden Globe for writing the “Sideways” screenplay, which is about two men going on a wine-tasting weekend to mend a broken heart.
Attainments of Alexander Payne
PUSH: a film by Alexander Payne. In 1991, a group of young unemployed men in Omaha, Nebraska, banded together to form PUSH (People United to Save Humanity) to challenge their area’s more conservative political establishment.
THE ELECTION: A documentary about the Election of Omaha Mayor Mike Bloomquist in 1982 starring John Hawkes, the late Oliver Stone, Alan Arkin, and Molly Ringwald. Written and directed by Alexander Payne, which won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at Sundance Film Festival in 1986. The film is narrated by Paul Mazursky, who also served as an executive producer on the film.
THE DESCENDANTS: An adventurous Honolulu lawyer (George Clooney) is forced to deal with his two rebellious teenage daughters and their influential aunt after discovering his wife was unfaithful.
About Schmidt: Jack Nicholson stars as Warren Schmidt, a retired actuary on an adventure into the great wide open, a bold and profoundly emotional quest to discover the true meaning of life. As Warren travels across America, he learns that what’s most important in life isn’t money or power or working hard, but love and responsibility.