Sam Mendes, 47, is probably best
known as a great dramatic director, making films that typically compete for
Oscars come awards season. This month, Mendes’s new film Skyfall marks a completely
different direction for the director – an action spy thriller. Having never
made an action movie before, Mendes seems like an odd choice to front the new
James Bond adventure. However, given his talent with actors and stage
background (plus, he is British), I think the choice is inspired, and Skyfall
very well could be the best Bond film yet. It stars Daniel Craig, Judi Dench, Ralph Fiennes, Javier Bardem, Naomie Harris, and Berenice Marlohe. Watch there
trailer here.
Early Career:
Mendes studied at Peterhouse within
the University of Cambridge. He got his start when he joined the Marlowe
Society at Cambridge, directing several stage plays including Cyrano de
Bergerac. From there, he went on the Royal Shakespeare Company where he
directed Troilus and Cressida, Richard III and The Tempest. Mendes also
directed a few West End plays and worked as an assistant director for the
Chichester Festival Theatre.
Mendes continued to have success
as a stage director. In 1990, he was appointed the artistic director of the
Donmar Warehouse in London. His first production was Stephen Sondheim’s
Assassins in 1992. He then did John Kander and Fred Ebb’s Cabaret, which
received four Olivier Award nominations (and a couple Tony Award wins).
Mendes’s acclaim endured with productions of Lionel Bart’s Oliver!, Tennessee
Williams’s The Glass menagerie, Stephen Sondheim’s Company, Alan Bennet’s
Habeas Corpus, and his farewell double-feature Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya and
Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night.
Having succeeded on stage, Mendes
looked to next try his luck at film-directing.
Collaborations with
Conrad Hall:
For Mendes’s first film, he
teamed up with playwright and TV writer Alan Ball, also looking to make
the jump to film. The film was American
Beauty. Ball was impressed with Mendes’s revival of Cabaret and wanted him
to directed, but Mendes had a tough time convincing DreamWorks’ production
executives. Finally, the studio came around and offered Mendes the film (but
after Robert Zemeckis and Mike Nichols had already turned
it down). His work on the film is top notch (winning an Oscar for Best
Director), especially his collaborations with composer Thomas Newman (whose score is
fantastic) and particularly cinematographer Conrad Hall (who won an Oscar
for the film as well). In addition to Mendes’s directing and Hall’s
cinematography Oscar, the film won Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, and
Best Leading Actor for Kevin
Spacy. One film in, and Sam Mendes was already on top in Hollywood.
For his next project, Mendes
decided to direct the screen adaptation of Max Allan Collins’s graphic novel Road to Perdition. He liked
that the story had no moral absolutes and found it to be the most interesting
of the prospects he was exploring (which included A Beautiful Mind, which won
Best Picture in 2002). Steven
Spielberg had brought the film to DreamWorks, but could not direct it
himself due to his full slate; however Tom Hanks and writer David Self had joined the project.
With Mendes taking over as director and producer, he brought his American
Beauty team of composer Thomas Newman and director of photography Conrad Hall
with him. While the film did not achieve quite the same level of acclaim for
Mendes as American Beauty, it is still a fascinating film (and maybe even an
infuriating one, as it is so close to being amazing but not quite there) –
built on great performances (including Paul Newman’s last great role),
deft directing and brilliant visuals (Hall’s cinematography is among the decade’s
best), but with some narrative issues.
One of the great things to come
out of Sam Mendes’s first two films was the resurgence of Conrad Hall. He is
one of the great cinematographers in film history (winning three Oscars, two
working with Mendes, and seven additional nominations). Mendes’s films,
especially Road to Perdition, revitalized Hall allowing his work to reach new
heights. Sadly, he died six months after Road to Perdition was released.
Mendes took a break from film
following the death of Hall to direct the revival of the musical Gypsy in New
York.
Continuing to Make
Great Films:
Mendes made his return to film in
2005 to direct Jarhead, his
most polarizing film (and my least favorite of his work). It is also his first
film to not be nominated for (or win) an Oscar.
Next, Mendes was given the script
for Revolutionary Road (and
the novel by Richard Yates that it is based on) by his (then) wife Kate Winslet. She wanted to play
the lead and the film’s producer Scott
Rudin wanted Mendes to direct. It went into production immediately after
Winslet got her friend Leonardo
DiCaprio to star opposite her (marking their first reunion following Titanic). Mendes again brought
Thomas Newman onto the project and cinematographer Roger
Deakins (both of whom also worked on Jarhead and are working on Skyfall).
The film features some of the best performances of 2008 (I would argue that Michael Shannon’s supporting
work is second only to Heath
Ledger’s the Joker) and powerful melodrama. It is very underrated.
Mendes’s last film of the decade
(and last before Skyfall) saw him make a decidedly different film than his
typical Hollywood prestige films. Away
We Go is a sparse indie dramedy. Mendes also used an unfamiliar principal
crew, when in the past he collaborated with the same people over and over. The
film was met with mixed reviews and disappointing box office receipts (though,
I think that it is fairly charming – even if the characters are somewhat
elitist).
Producing Projects:
In addition to producing his own
films (Road to Perdition and Revolutionary Road), Mendes has also produced a
few features: Starter for 10,
Things We Lost in the Fire
and The Kite Runner, as well
as the current British TV miniseries The Hollow Crown.
Upcoming:
Mendes is returning to the stage
in 2013 with Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, set to open at the
London Palladium in June. Mendes is also working with his Skyfall screenwriter John Logan again, as they are
developing a TV series about an 1800s Vampire Hunter. Mendes is apparently
considering returning to direct another Bond film as well.
Career Highlights:
*Editor’s picks
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