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Alexander Payne

Highest Rated: 97% Sideways (2004)

Lowest Rated: 8% Gray Matters (2006)

Birthday: Feb 10, 1961

Birthplace: Omaha, Nebraska, USA

Throughout his critically acclaimed career, writer-director Alexander Payne has shown a remarkably poignant vision with his films, in which the often quirky set-up was merely a launching point for a seriocomic exploration into human foibles. With "Citizen Ruth" (1996), Payne examined the gravely serious issue of reproductive rights, an unlikely subject for what turned out to be an adroit satire that managed to both present and rankle both sides of the issue. For his next film, "Election" (1999), he used a seemingly inconsequential high school presidential race to plumb the darkest recesses of our mutable human nature. Then there was "About Schmidt" (2002), which used a cross country journey to depict an anchorless average man trying to make sense of his life. But Payne - alongside longtime writing partner Jim Taylor - had perhaps his greatest critical success with "Sideways" (2004), an excursion into wine country that explored the unlikely friendship of two men struggling with their perceived failures. "Sideways" earned Payne numerous accolades, including an Academy Award for Best Screenplay. His critically acclaimed drama "The Descendants" (2011) also earned rave reviews and its director another Best Screenplay Oscar, all of which helped cement his reputation as a visionary filmmaker adept at making unflinching films depicting the more uncomfortable aspects of human nature.

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Highest rated movies

97% 79% Sideways Watchlist 97% 92% The Holdovers Watchlist
92% 79% Election
Watchlist
90% 83% Nebraska
Watchlist
89% 75% The Savages
Watchlist
88% 64% Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter
Watchlist
88% 79% The Descendants
Watchlist
86% 59% Cedar Rapids
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86% 74% About Schmidt
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86% 84% Paris, je t'aime
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Filmography

Movies

Credit
97% 92% The Holdovers Director $20.3M 2023
83% 90% Small Town Wisconsin Executive Producer - 2020
No Score Yet No Score Yet Joe Frank: Somewhere Out There Unknown (Character) - 2018
47% 25% Downsizing Director,
Screenwriter,
Producer
$24.4M 2017
50% 52% Crash Pad Executive Producer - 2017
88% 64% Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter Executive Producer $621.1K 2014
90% 83% Nebraska Director $17.6M 2013
88% 79% The Descendants Director,
Screenwriter,
Producer
$82.6M 2011
86% 59% Cedar Rapids Producer $6.9M 2011
No Score Yet 50% Sideways Executive Producer - 2009
62% 64% King of California Producer $263.7K 2007
89% 75% The Savages Executive Producer $6.6M 2007
15% 69% I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry Writer $119.7M 2007
86% 84% Paris, je t'aime Director,
Writer
$4.9M 2006
8% 45% Gray Matters Executive Producer $59.6K 2006
97% 79% Sideways Director,
Writer
$71.5M 2004
86% 74% About Schmidt Director,
Writer
$65.0M 2002
49% 37% Jurassic Park III Writer $181.2M 2001
92% 79% Election Director,
Screenwriter
$14.9M 1999
81% 74% Citizen Ruth Director,
Writer
$278.5K 1996
No Score Yet 40% The Passion of Martin Director,
Screenwriter,
Producer,
Film Editing
- 1991

TV

Credit
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Colbert Report Guest 2014
71% 64% Hung Executive Producer,
Director
2009-2011