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John Sayles Information

John Thomas Sayles (born September 28, 1950) is an American independent film director, screenwriter and author.

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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". 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. 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. 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. 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.

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.

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

Bibliography

Novels

Collections and Non-Fiction

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)

Awards/nominations

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:

Award for SILVER CITY:

Awards for SUNSHINE STATE:

Awards for LIMBO:

Awards for MEN WITH GUNS/HOMBRES ARMADOS:

Awards for LONE STAR:

Awards for THE SECRET OF ROAN INISH:

Awards for PASSION FISH:

Awards for CITY OF HOPE:

Awards for MATEWAN:

Awards for THE BROTHER FROM ANOTHER PLANET:

Awards for RETURN OF THE SECAUCUS SEVEN:

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

Further reading

References

  1. ^ John Sayles Biography (1950-) from filmreference.com
  2. ^ John Sayles Interview
  3. ^ 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.
  4. ^ Sayles red hot for HBO's 'Scar' from Variety
  5. ^ Joel Torre believes ‘Baryo’ may stir controversy from www.mb.com.ph
  6. ^ "BIOGRAPHY OF JOHN SAYLES". johnsayles.com. http://www.johnsayles.com/body-bio.html. Retrieved 2010-08-13.

External links

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Name Sayles, John
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Date of birth September 28, 1950
Place of birth Schenectady, New York, U.S.
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