1961: Born in Omaha, Nebraska.
1996: Citizen Ruth.
1999: Election.
2002: About Schmidt.
2004: Sideways.
A true independent who manages to work within the Hollywood system, Alexander Payne is a writer-director who does not have to compromise his own personal vision. He grew up in Omaha and in crucial ways has never left, even though he went to Stanford and majored in history and Spanish literature, did post-graduate work in Spain, and then got his MFA from UCLA Film School.
His thesis film was screened at Sundance, and attracted notice that gave him a foothold in the industry. Not shy of addressing taboos, his first commercial feature was a fearless plague-on-both-sides satire on the abortion controversy. Laura Dern is Citizen Ruth, an excessively fertile, paint-sniffing lowlife who is ordered by an Omaha judge to have an abortion, and who exploits the situation by becoming the poster child for each side in the ensuing public brouhaha.
Payne emerged as a critical darling with his second film, the hilarious and painfully real Election, which showcases Reese Witherspoon in a star-making role as Tracy Flick, a ruthless Omaha girl determined to be president of her school, as a springboard to greater success in the political realm. The genius of both director and actress is that she remains a sympathetic character, though clearly a monster. Her foil is Matthew Broderick as the teacher who wants to stop the Tracy bandwagon before it’s too late, and slimes himself in the process, a perfect comeuppance for the erstwhile Ferris Bueller.
About Schmidt induced Jack Nicholson to play against type, as a retiring Omaha businessman who is left bereft by the death of the wife he never really knew. He gets a Winnebago and goes on a cross-country quest to reconnect with his daughter, before she marries into a family of California hippie-dippies, with Kathy Bates as the be-muu-muu-ed matriarch. Payne and his longtime writing partner, Jim Taylor, transpose Louis Begley’s novel from NYC to the midwest, and as they always do, shamelessly adapt the source to their own themes and purposes.
Same with Sideways, which last year became a real standard-bearer for skeptical, ambiguous, humorous character studies as opposed to the glorified cartoons that rule the roost in Hollywood, sweeping the Independent Spirit Awards while also nominated for five Academy Awards. Bringing his observant attention to real life in real locales, Payne roadtripped through California wine country with a couple of guys, and the girls they hook up with. He considers casting an extension of writing and matched his characters beautifully with Paul Giamatti, Thomas Haden Church, Virginia Madsen, and his then-wife Sandra Oh.
Payne went so far as to publish a “Declaration of Independents” in Variety magazine, a real credo in which he declares, that regardless of funding source, “Cinema is independent only to the degree that it reflects the voice of one person, the director (in conjunction with his or her hand-picked creative team).” He argues that films should be “intelligent, uplifting, and human,” a mirror to life and not a “consumer-oriented projection.” (Read the whole statement at www.alexanderpayne.net/articles.)
Sardonic and ruthless, and yet somehow warm-hearted and sympathetic, with a fine palate for the taste of human foible, Payne is reputed to be returning to Nebraska for his next film. Many confirmed fans will take that or any other trip with him.
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