Happy Birthday: Alexander Payne

Alexander Payne

Born: February 10, 1961 in Omaha, Nebraska, USA

[on Reese Witherspoon in Election (1999)] She inhabited that role fully, but she can do all these other roles. You see a woman in her, not a girl. She’s going to be interesting for a long time.

[on casting] They [the studios] go through that process where they think you have to find the most famous people possible and then they go down the line. That’s a game I’m increasingly uninterested in – unless the most famous possible person also happens to be very correct in the part, like Jack Nicholson.

I want all of my films to belong to me. There is an audience out there for literate films – slower, more observant, more human films, and they deserve to be made. Which is why I want Sideways (2004) to succeed, to encourage other film-makers.

SUBMIT your TV PILOT Screenplay or TV SPEC Script Voted #1 TV Contest in North America.

SUBMIT your Short Screenplay or FEATURE Script FULL FEEDBACK on all entries. Get your script performed

FIRST SCENE (first 10pgs) Screenplay CONTEST Submit the first stages of your film and get full feedback!