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John Sayles
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia:
John Sayles |
Related Videos:
John Sayles |
Columbia Encyclopedia:
John Sayles |
Sayles, John (John Thomas Sayles), 1950-, one of America's most influential independent filmmakers as well as a screenwriter, fiction writer, playwright, and actor, b. Schenectady, N.Y., grad. Williams College (1972). His earliest works are novels, e.g., Union Dues (1977), and short stories, e.g. The Anarchists' Convention (1979). He returned to fiction later in his career with the novel Los Gusanos (1991), the short stories of Dillinger in Hollywood (2004), and A Moment in the Sun (2011), a novel sprawling across the advent of the 20th-cent.
Sayles honed his screenwriting skills with B-movie scripts written for producer-director Roger Corman and with innovative horror-movie scripts, e.g., The Howling (1981). Working outside Hollywood, he began his directorial/writing career with the low-budget Return of the Secaucus Seven (1980), the tale of a reunion of 1960s activists that won several prizes. His subsequent films include the family drama Lianna (1983), the incisive Brother from Another Planet (1985), the historical Matewan (1987) and Eight Men Out (1988), and the grimly political City of Hope (1990). He achieved wide recognition for the script and direction of his two-character drama Passion Fish (1992). Among his later films are the mystical The Secret of Roan Inish (1994), the contemporary Western Lone Star (1996), the Spanish-language Men with Guns (1997), the Florida real-estate tale Sunshine State (2000), and the African-American music and rock 'n' roll roots fable Honeydripper (2007).
Sayles is primarily a storyteller whose original and realistic works feature nuanced and compelling characters, often in ensembles. Treating many themes and representing various genres, his films are unified by a sense of empathy, honesty, and social consciousness.
Bibliography
See G. Smith, ed., Sayles on Sayles (1998) and D. Carson, ed., John Sayles: Interviews (1999); biography by G. Molyneaux (2000); studies by J. Ryan (1998), D. Carson and H. Kanaga, ed. (2005), and M. Bould (2008).
AMG AllMovie Guide:
John Sayles |
Biography
One of America's preeminent and best-respected independent filmmakers, John Sayles has established a reputation for refusing to abandon his values in favor of becoming a studio filmmaker. As a result, his films tend to be rich, nuanced explorations of personal and political relationships, a style that reflects Sayles' beginnings as a novelist; he once admitted, "My main interest is making films about people...I'm not interested in cinematic art."Sayles' interest in storytelling began at an early age: before the age of nine, he was an avid novel reader. A native of Schenectady, NY, where he was born on September 28, 1950, he went on to study at Williams College. In addition to pursuing a degree in psychology, Sayles also appeared in school plays and summer stock. It was through such activities that he met many of the people who would be his future collaborators, including actor David Strathairn and Maggie Renzi, who would serve as his producer and offscreen companion.
Following his graduation from Williams, Sayles decided to embark on a career as a fiction writer. Supporting himself with jobs as an orderly, a day laborer, and a meat packer, he began to write, submitting stories to magazines and eventually publishing two novels. Both Pride of the Bimbos (1975) and Union Dues (1977) met with positive critical notices but little financial success. Sayles' 1979 short story anthology, The Anarchist's Convention, met a similar fate. Meanwhile, Sayles found additional employment, joining Roger Corman's stable of B-movie writers in the mid-'70s. Under Corman's auspices, he wrote Piranha (1978), The Lady in Red (1979), and Battle Beyond the Stars (1980). Armed with this rudimentary filmmaking experience, Sayles directed his first film, Return of the Secaucus 7, in four weeks in 1978. Shot for a reported 40,000 dollars, it was a poignant look at a reunion of 1960s activists on the cusp of adulthood. Featuring future Sayles regulars like Strathairn, Renzi, and Gordon Clapp, the film garnered critical praise, winning awards for Best Screenplay from both Los Angeles and New York film critic groups when it was released in 1980, and predating by several years Lawrence Kasdan's similar but more commercially successful The Big Chill.
In 1983, Sayles made Lianna and Baby, It's You. The former was an examination of the changes facing a married woman who realizes that she's a lesbian, while the latter was the first and last film the director made under the control of a studio. Sayles' negative experiences while making the film caused him to vow that he would never again trade the rights to a final cut for funding; fortunately, he didn't have to. The same year that Baby, It's You was released, the director was awarded a MacArthur Foundation genius grant, which provided him with at least 32,000 dollars per year, tax-free, for five years. One of the results was The Brother From Another Planet (1984), the story of a mute, black alien (Joe Morton) who wanders the streets of Harlem. A look at a variety of issues, including racial prejudice and drug addiction, the film won further acclaim for its director, who also wrote, edited, scored, and acted in it. Matewan (1987) and Eight Men Out (1988) followed, providing complex studies of union politics in a 1920s West Virginia coal-mining town and the 1919 Black Sox scandal in baseball, respectively. Both films provided unconventional looks at pivotal aspects of American history, further marking Sayles as a director who traveled down his own road.
After beginning the 1990s with a similar exploration of (contemporary) American society in City of Hope (1991), Sayles earned further praise and a Best Original Screenplay Oscar nomination for Passion Fish (1992), a film that examined the often-fractious relationship between a paralyzed former soap opera star (Mary McDonnell) and her live-in nurse (Alfre Woodard). Sayles then changed pace with The Secret of Roan Inish in 1994. A mystical story about a small girl living in Ireland, the film was aimed at both children and adults. A return to grittier subjects followed in 1996 with Lone Star, which examined the personal and public politics at work in a small Texas border town through the lens of a murder investigation. The film, which featured superb performances by such actors as Chris Cooper, Matthew McConaughey, and Kris Kristofferson, earned Sayles another Best Original Screenplay Oscar nomination. It also provided him with one of his biggest (relative) commercial successes, unlike the subsequent Men With Guns (1997), which returned Sayles to arthouse territory. That film's political allegory, taking place in an unnamed Latin American country and spoken entirely in Spanish, delivered a powerful message; unfortunately, that message reached relatively few people. In 1999, Sayles again stepped behind the camera, this time to make Limbo. Starring Strathairn, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, and Lone Star's Vanessa Martinez, the film was the unsettling, open-ended story of three people trapped between an unappealing past and a potentially deadly future. A complex character study in the tradition of the director/screenwriter's best films, it premiered that year at the Cannes Festival.
The following years found the critically hailed director busier than ever; if his pace had been lagging in the eyes of some, his output in 2002 and 2003 would find Sayles remaining in top form as both a writer and director. Ever original in his writing and acutely retaining his ability to craft well-defined, three-dimensional characters, Sayles' 2002 drama, Sunshine State, dealt with the effect of real-estate development on a small Florida community in a delicate, humorous, and non-damning manner that earned the effort near-universal acclaim. The performances turned in by stars Angela Bassett and Edie Falco proved both memorable and endearing. It wasn't long before Sayles was back behind the camera, and the result was an equally compelling study of six women who travel to South America in hopes of becoming adoptive mothers. Graced with a talented cast that included Maggie Gyllenhaal, Daryl Hannah, and Marcia Gay Harden, the intimate independent film pleased longtime fans of the director and perhaps even won over a few new converts.
In 2004, Sayles wrote and directed the political satire Silver City, starring Chris Cooper as an aspiring, not-so-bright politician (shades of George W. Bush) and sporting an impressing ensemble cast that included Richard Dreyfuss, Tim Roth, Kris Kristofferson, Thora Birch, and Daryl Hannah, and Maria Bello. Sayles also co-wrote the screenplay for the dinosaur horror sequel Jurassic Park IV (2005).
On top of writing and directing, Sayles has edited most of his films, acted in his own movies and many others, and served as executive producer for Santitos (1999) and Girlfight (2000). In addition to his feature-film work, Sayles has made many contributions to other media. He has done extensive television work, such as creating the 1989 TV series Shannon's Deal, and has helmed several of Bruce Springsteen's best music videos, including "Born in the USA." Sayles has also continued to write, penning the plays New Hope for the Dead and Turnbuckle. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, Rovi
Filmography:
John Sayles |
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Wikipedia on Answers.com:
John Sayles |
| John Sayles | |
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 John Sayles, March 2008 |
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| Born | John Thomas Sayles September 28, 1950 Schenectady, New York, U.S. |
| Occupation | Director/Screenwriter |
| Years active | 1978–present |
John Thomas Sayles (born September 28, 1950) is an American independent film director, screenwriter and author.
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Contents
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Early life
Sayles was born in Schenectady, New York, the son of Mary (née Rausch), a teacher, and Donald John Sayles, a school administrator.[1] He was raised Catholic and took to labeling himself "a Catholic atheist".[citation needed] Both of Sayles's parents were of half-Irish descent.[2]
Career
Like Martin Scorsese and James Cameron, among others, Sayles began his film career working with Roger Corman. Sayles went on to fund his first film, Return of the Secaucus 7, with $30,000 he had in the bank from writing scripts for Corman.[citation needed] He set the film in a large house so that he did not have to travel to or get permits for different locations, set it over a three-day weekend to limit costume changes, and wrote about people his age so that he could have his friends act in it. In November 1997, the National Film Preservation Board announced that Return of the Secaucus 7 would be one of the 25 films selected that year for preservation in the National Film Registry at the Library of Congress.
In 1983, after the films Baby It's You (starring Rosanna Arquette) and Lianna (a sympathetic story in which a married woman becomes discontented with her marriage and falls in love with another woman), Sayles received a MacArthur Fellowship. He used the money to partially fund the fantasy The Brother from Another Planet,[3] a film about a black, three-toed slave who escapes from another planet and finds himself at home among the people of Harlem.
In 1989, he created and wrote the pilot episode for the short-lived television show Shannon's Deal about a down-and-out Philadelphia lawyer played by Jamey Sheridan. Sayles received a 1990 Edgar Award for his teleplay for the pilot. The show ran for only 16 episodes before being canceled in 1991.
Sayles has funded most of his films by writing genre scripts such as Piranha, Alligator, The Howling and The Challenge.[citation needed] Having collaborated with Joe Dante on Piranha and The Howling, Sayles acted in Dante's movie Matinee. In deciding whether to take a job, Sayles reports that he mostly is interested in whether there is the germ of an idea for a movie which he would want to watch.[citation needed] Sayles gets the rest of his funding by working as a script doctor; he did rewrites for Apollo 13, and Mimic.
One such genre script, called Night Skies, inspired what would eventually become the highly successful film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.[citation needed] That film's director, Steven Spielberg, later commissioned Sayles to write the script for Jurassic Park IV.
He has written and directed his own films, including Lone Star, Passion Fish, Eight Men Out, The Secret of Roan Inish, and Matewan. He serves on the advisory board for the Austin Film Society.[citation needed]
Sayles works with a regular repertory of actors, most notably Chris Cooper, David Strathairn, and Gordon Clapp, each of whom has appeared in at least four of his films.
In early 2003, Sayles signed the Not In Our Name "Statement of Conscience" (along with Noam Chomsky, Steve Earle, Brian Eno, Jesse Jackson, Viggo Mortensen, Bonnie Raitt, Oliver Stone, Marisa Tomei, Susan Sarandon and others) which opposed the invasion of Iraq.[citation needed]
In February 2009, Sayles was reported to be writing an upcoming HBO series based on the early life of Anthony Kiedis of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The drama, tentatively titled Scar Tissue, centers on Kiedis's early years living in West Hollywood with his father. At that time, Kiedis's father, known as Spider, sold drugs (according to legend, his clients included The Who and Led Zeppelin) and mingled with rock stars on the Sunset Strip, all while aspiring to get into showbiz.[4]
In February 2010, Sayles began shooting his 17th feature film, the historical war drama Amigo, in the Philippines. The film is a fictional account of events during the Philippine–American War, with a cast that includes Joel Torre, Chris Cooper, and Garret Dillahunt.[5]
His novel A Moment in the Sun, set during the same period as Amigo, in the Philippines, Cuba, and the US, was released in 2011 by McSweeney’s.[6]
Filmography
- Piranha (1978)
- Return of the Secaucus 7 (1979) (Director/Writer)
- The Lady in Red (1979)
- Alligator (1980)
- Battle Beyond the Stars (1980)
- A Perfect Match (with Mel Damski) (1980) (TV)
- The Howling (1981)
- The Challenge (with Richard Maxwell) (1982)
- Lianna (1983) (Director/Writer)
- Enormous Changes at the Last Minute (with Susan Rice) (1983)
- Baby It's You (1983) (Director/Writer)
- The Brother from Another Planet (1984) (Director/Writer)
- The Clan of the Cave Bear (1986)
- Unnatural Causes (1986) (TV)
- Wild Thing (1987)
- Matewan (1987) (Director/Writer)
- Eight Men Out (1988) (Director/Writer)
- Shannon's Deal (1989) (TV) (Creator)
- Breaking In (1989)
- City of Hope (1991) (Director/Writer)
- Passion Fish (1992) (Director/Writer)
- The Secret of Roan Inish (1994) (Director/Writer)
- Men of War (with Ethan Reiff and Cyrus Voris) (1994)
- Apollo 13 (1995) (uncredited)
- Lone Star (1996) (Director/Writer)
- Men with Guns (1997) (Director/Writer)
- Limbo (1999) (Director/Writer)
- Sunshine State (2002) (Director/Writer)
- Casa de los Babys (2003) (Director/Writer)
- Silver City (2004) (Director/Writer)
- Honeydripper (2007) (Director/Writer)
- The Spiderwick Chronicles (with David Berenbaum and Karey Kirkpatrick) (2008)
- Amigo (2010) (Director/Writer)
Bibliography
Novels
- Pride of the Bimbos (1975) (novel)
- Union Dues (1977) (novel)
- Los Gusanos (1991) (novel)
- A Moment in the Sun (2011) (novel)
Collections and Non-Fiction
- The Anarchists Convention (1979) (short story collection)
- Thinking in Pictures: The Making of the Movie "Matewan" (1987) (non-fiction)
- Dillinger in Hollywood (2004) (short story collection)
Music videos
 |
This biographical section of an article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (August 2010) |
- Bruce Springsteen - Born in the U.S.A.
- Bruce Springsteen - I'm on Fire
- Bruce Springsteen - Glory Days
Awards/nominations
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This biographical section of an article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (August 2010) |
Films
Awards for Honeydripper:
- Outstanding Independent or Foreign Film (Win) – 2008 NAACP Image Awards
- Outstanding Writing in a Motion Picture (Theatrical or Television) (Nominated) – John Sayles – 2008 NAACP Image Awards
- Top 10 Independent Films of 2007 - National Board of Review
- Best Screenplay (Win) – John Sayles - 2007 San Sebastián International Film Festival (Tied with Gracia Querejeta and David Planell for Siete mesas de billar francés (2007)
Award for SILVER CITY:
- Golden Seashell Award for Best Film (Nominated) - John Sayles - 2004 San Sebastián International Film Festival
Awards for SUNSHINE STATE:
- Golden Orange Award (Win) - John Sayles - 2003 Florida Film Critics Circle Awards
- Special Mention For Excellence In Filmmaking (Win) - 2002 National Board of Review
Awards for LIMBO:
- Best Director Golden Space Needle Award (Win) - John Sayles -1999 Seattle International Film Festival
- Outstanding Indies (Win) - 1999 National Board of Review
Awards for MEN WITH GUNS/HOMBRES ARMADOS:
- Best Foreign Independent Film (Nominated) - 1998 British Independent Film Awards
- Best Foreign Film (Nominated) - 1999 Golden Globes
- Peace Award (Nominated) - 1999 Political Film Society
- FIPRESCI Prize (Win) - John Sayles - 1997 San Sebastián International Film Festival
- OCIC Award (Win) - John Sayles - 1997 San Sebastián International Film Festival
- Solidarity Award (Win) - John Sayles - 1997 San Sebastián International Film Festival
- Golden Seashell Award for Best Film (Nominated) - John Sayles - 1997 San Sebastián International Film Festival
Awards for LONE STAR:
- Best Original Screenplay (Nominated) - John Sayles - 1997 Academy Awards
- Best Original Screenplay (Nominated) - John Sayles - 1997 BAFTA Awards
- Best Screenplay, Motion Picture (Nominated) - John Sayles - 1997 Golden Globes
- Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen (Nominated) - John Sayles - 1997 Writers Guild of America
- Best Picture (Nominated) - 1997 Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards
- Best Motion Picture Original Screenplay (Win) - John Sayles - 1997 Golden Satellite Awards
- Best Motion Picture - Drama (Nominated) - Maggie Renzi & R. Paul Miller - 1997 Golden Satellite Awards
- Best Screenplay (Nominated) - John Sayles - 1997 Independent Spirit Awards
- Best Film (Win) - Lone Star - 1996 Lone Star Film & Television Awards
- Best Director (Win) - John Sayles - 1996 Lone Star Film & Television Awards
- Best Screenplay (Win) - John Sayles - 1996 Lone Star Film & Television Awards
- Special Achievement Award for Outstanding Feature Film (Win) - 1996 NCLR Bravo Awards
- Best Director (Win) - John Sayles - 1997 Southeastern Film Critics Association Awards
Awards for THE SECRET OF ROAN INISH:
- Best Genre Video Release (Nominated) - 1996 Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films
- International Critics Award (Win) - John Sayles - 1996 Gérardmer Film Festival
- Best Director (Nominated) - John Sayles - 1996 Independent Spirit Awards
- Best Screenplay (Nominated) - John Sayles - 1996 Independent Spirit Awards
Awards for PASSION FISH:
- Best Original Screenplay (Nominated) - John Sayles - 1993 Academy Awards
- Golden Spur Award (Win) - John Sayles - 1993 Flanders International Film Festival
- Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen (Nominated) - John Sayles - 1993 Writers Guild of America
Awards for CITY OF HOPE:
- Critics Award (Nominated) - John Sayles - 1991 Deauville Film Festival
- Special Award, Democracy Award (Win) - 1992 Political Film Society
- Tokyo Grand Prix Award (Win) - John Sayles - 1991 Tokyo International Film Festival
Awards for MATEWAN:
- Critics Award (Nominated) - John Sayles - 1987 Deauville Film Festival
- Best Director (Nominated) - John Sayles - 1988 Independent Spirit Awards
- Best Screenplay (Nominated) - John Sayles - 1988 Independent Spirit Award
- Human Rights Award (Win) - 1988 Political Film Society
Awards for THE BROTHER FROM ANOTHER PLANET:
- Best Screenplay Caixa de Catalunya Award (Win) - John Sayles - 1984 Catalonian International Film Festival, Sitges, Spain
- Grand Jury Prize - Dramatic (Nominated) - John Sayles - 1985 USA Film Festival (later became the Sundance Film Festival)
Awards for RETURN OF THE SECAUCUS SEVEN:
- Best Independent Film (Win) - 1981 Boston Society of Film Critics Awards
- Best Screenplay (Win) - John Sayles - 1980 Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards
- National Film Registry - 1997 Library of Congress, National Film Preservation Board
- Best Comedy Written Directly for the Screen (Nominated) - John Sayles - 1981 Writers Guild of America
- Best Screenplay (Nominated) - John Sayles - 1980 New York Film Critics Circle
- Second Place - 1981 US Film Festival (later became the Sundance Film Festival)
Other recognition
Sayles' first published story, "I-80 Nebraska," won an O. Henry Award; his novel, Union Dues, was nominated for a National Book Award as well as the National Book Critics Circle Award.
In 1985, Sayles received the John D. MacArthur Award, given to 20 Americans in diverse fields each year for their innovative work. He has also been the recipient of the Eugene V. Debs Award, the John Steinbeck Award and the John Cassavetes Award. He was honored with the Ian McLellan Hunter Award for Lifetime Achievement by the Writer's Guild of America (1999).
See also
- Night Skies - for a more complete history of the Close Encounters of the Third Kind sequel becomes E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial story
Further reading
- Diane Carson and Heidi Kenaga, eds., Sayles Talk: New Perspectives on Independent Filmmaker John Sayles, Wayne State University Press, 2006
- John Sayles, Thinking in Pictures: The Making of the Movie Matewan, Da Capo Press, 2003
References
- ^ John Sayles Biography (1950-) from filmreference.com
- ^ John Sayles Interview
- ^ Richard Corliss (October 1, 1984). "Blues for Black Actors". Time. http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,954425,00.html. Retrieved 2010-08-13.
- ^ Sayles red hot for HBO's 'Scar' from Variety
- ^ Joel Torre believes ‘Baryo’ may stir controversy from www.mb.com.ph
- ^ "BIOGRAPHY OF JOHN SAYLES". johnsayles.com. http://www.johnsayles.com/body-bio.html. Retrieved 2010-08-13.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: John Sayles |
- John Sayles' official website
- John Sayles at the Internet Movie Database
- Senses of Cinema: Great Directors Critical Database
- Interview April 2007 by Cathy Pryor in the London Independent
- (audio) John Sayles interview at KCRW
- The Rumpus interview
- Return of the Independent: Sayles on Sayles (5-part interview) from siffblog.com
- An Extended Interview with John Sayles — video report by Democracy Now!
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- American Storytellers (2000 Film, TV & Radio Film)
- Rob Roy (1995 Album by Carter Burwell)
- Men with Guns (Hombres Armados) [Rykodisc] (1998 Album by Original Soundtrack)
- Jo Henderson (Actor, Drama/Crime)
- Stuart Dryburgh (Cinematographer, Drama/Romance)
- Blazing Ninja (1983 Action Film)
- The Brother from Another Planet (1984 Science Fiction Film)
- Honeydripper (2007 Drama Film)
- Silver City (2004 Drama Film)
- The Secret of Roan Inish (1995 Album by Original Soundtrack)
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