Todd Field: Difference between revisions
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==Biography== |
==Biography== |
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===Background and personal life=== |
===Background and personal life=== |
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Field was born in [[Pomona, California]], where his family ran a poultry farm.{{ |
Field was born in [[Pomona, California]], where his family ran a poultry farm.<ref name="Piczo.Field">{{cite web|title= Todd Field Biography -Movies@Piczo|url= http://movies.piczo.com/celebrity/todd-field}}</ref> When Field turned two his family moved to [[Portland, Oregon]], where his father went to work as a salesman, and his mother became a school librarian.<ref name="Yahoo!Field">{{cite web|title= Todd Field Biography - Yahoo! Movies|url= http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1800018940/bio}}</ref> He graduated from [[Centennial High School (Gresham, Oregon)|Centennial High School]] on Portland's eastside a budding jazz musician and briefly attending Southern Oregon State College (now [[Southern Oregon University]]) in [[Ashland, Oregon|Ashland]] on a music scholarship, but left after his freshman year favoring a move to New York to study acting. Once there, he began performing with the Ark Theatre Company as both an actor and musician.<ref>Levy, Shawn. You couldn't write a better script. ''[[The Oregonian]]'', March 23, 2002.</ref> |
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Field received his [[Master of Fine Arts]] from the [[American Film Institute]].<ref name="ToddIMDB">{{cite web|url= http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0276062/bio|title= Todd Field - Biography|accessdate= 2008-06-28|publisher= Roberta Bresci}}</ref> |
Field received his [[Master of Fine Arts]] from the [[American Film Institute]].<ref name="ToddIMDB">{{cite web|url= http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0276062/bio|title= Todd Field - Biography|accessdate= 2008-06-28|publisher= Roberta Bresci}}</ref> |
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[[Peter Travers]] – [[Rolling Stone]] <blockquote>"''Field shows his mastery. He performs a high-wire act that balances hard truth and hard-won tenderness. The film rides its dramatic challenges in perfect pitch. Most movies fade from memory. This one sticks. The film pulls you in like a magnetic force''."<ref>Travers, Peter. Todd Field's Little Children. ''[[Rolling Stone]]'', October 5, 2006.</ref></blockquote> |
[[Peter Travers]] – [[Rolling Stone]] <blockquote>"''Field shows his mastery. He performs a high-wire act that balances hard truth and hard-won tenderness. The film rides its dramatic challenges in perfect pitch. Most movies fade from memory. This one sticks. The film pulls you in like a magnetic force''."<ref>Travers, Peter. Todd Field's Little Children. ''[[Rolling Stone]]'', October 5, 2006.</ref></blockquote> |
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[[File:2007 Beverly Hills, CA Field attending AMPAS nominee luncheon.JPG|thumb|left| Field attending 79th Annual Academy Award nominee Luncheon. (2007)]] |
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''[[Little Children (film)|Little Children]]'' was named Best Picture of the Year by the San Francisco Film Critics Circle, received three Golden Globe nominations including Best Picture of the Year, went on to be nominated for two Screen Actors Guild awards, the Writer’s Guild Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, and three Academy Awards, including one for Field that he shared with [[Tom Perrotta]] for Best Adapted Screenplay. |
''[[Little Children (film)|Little Children]]'' was named Best Picture of the Year by the San Francisco Film Critics Circle, received three Golden Globe nominations including Best Picture of the Year, went on to be nominated for two Screen Actors Guild awards, the Writer’s Guild Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, and three Academy Awards, including one for Field that he shared with [[Tom Perrotta]] for Best Adapted Screenplay. |
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Revision as of 16:21, 23 April 2009
Todd Field | |
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| File:25 Feb 2007 Oscars.jpg Todd Field at the 79th Academy Awards ceremony on February 25, 2007. | |
| Born | William Todd Field |
| Occupation(s) | Film Director Producer Screenwriter |
| Years active | 1985 – present |
| Spouse | Serena Rathbun (1986 – ) |
| Awards | NBR Award for Best Director 2001 In the Bedroom NBR Award for Best Screenplay 2001 In the Bedroom |
William Todd Field, known professionally as Todd Field (born February 24, 1964) is an American actor, producer, composer, screenwriter, and three time Academy Award-nominated writer/director.
Biography
Background and personal life
Field was born in Pomona, California, where his family ran a poultry farm.[1] When Field turned two his family moved to Portland, Oregon, where his father went to work as a salesman, and his mother became a school librarian.[2] He graduated from Centennial High School on Portland's eastside a budding jazz musician and briefly attending Southern Oregon State College (now Southern Oregon University) in Ashland on a music scholarship, but left after his freshman year favoring a move to New York to study acting. Once there, he began performing with the Ark Theatre Company as both an actor and musician.[3]
Field received his Master of Fine Arts from the American Film Institute.[4]
He married Serena Rathbun on July 25, 1986; they have four children, two of whom have appeared in Field's films.
Career
Field began making motion pictures in 1985 when he was cast by Woody Allen in Radio Days. He went on to work with some of America's greatest film makers including Stanley Kubrick, Victor Nuñez, and Carl Franklin. It was Franklin and Nunez (both AFI alumnists) who encouraged Field to enroll as a Directing Fellow at the AFI, which he did in the fall of 1992. Since that time he has received the Franklin J. Schaffner Fellow Award from the AFI, the Satyajit Ray Award from the British Film Institute, a Jury Prize from the Sundance Film Festival, and his short films have been exhibited at various venues overseas and domestically at the Museum of Modern Art. To date, unadjusted box office receipts for the films in which Field has participated exceed a billion dollars worldwide. [5]
In the Bedroom
Field became one of Hollywood's hottest new writer/directors with the release of In the Bedroom, a film based on the short story Killings by author Andre Dubus. (Both Kubrick and Dubus were among Field's mentors; tragically, both died right before the production of In the Bedroom.) In the Bedroom was nominated for five Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Actor (Tom Wilkinson, his first nomination), Best Actress (Sissy Spacek, her sixth nomination), Supporting Actress (Marisa Tomei, her second nomination), and Best Screenplay (Adapted).
The film was made in a small town in New England in which Field resides– the house where he, his wife (Serena Rathbun), and their four children live was even used as the setting for one sequence. Rathbun and Sissy Spacek did a portion of the set designing and Field handled the camera himself on many of the shots. The result, critics said, was stunning.
"Todd Field exhibits a mastery of his craft many filmmakers never acquire in a lifetime. With one film he’s guaranteed his future as a director. He has the magnificent obsession of the natural-born filmmaker."[6][7]
Neil Norman – The Evening Standard
"It is apparent that Field has not only studied the masters of cinematic understatement, such as Ozu and Bergman, but that he fully understands their processes. Consequently, this is a film that lives beyond its two hours. Field's achievement is such a perfectly consummated marriage of intent and execution that he need never make another movie. I would not be alone, I think, in hoping he will make many more."[8]
Stephen Holden – The New York Times
"It feels almost miraculous, a shimmering piece of art. In the Bedroom belongs to a handful of films that stand the best chance of one day being regarded as classics."[9]
"Todd knows how to let scenes unfold. He's going for the combustion that happens when you play a scene, and things happen that you don't expect."[10]
For his work on In the Bedroom, Field was named Director of the Year by the National Board of Review, and his script was awarded Best Original Screenplay. The film went on to win Best Picture of the Year by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, and the New York Film Critics Circle awarded Best First Film to Field. In the Bedroom received six AFI nominations including Best Picture, Director, and Screenplay, three Golden Globe nominations, and five Academy Award nominations including Best Picture, Actor, Actress, Supporting Actress, and two individually for Field both as Screenwriter and Producer. The American Film Institute honored Field with the Franklin Schaffner Alumni Medal. With the exception of the AFI Life Achievement Award, the Schaffner Award is the highest honor an individual can achieve.
Little Children
Field followed In the Bedroom with Little Children, which was nominated for three Academy Awards including two for his actors: Kate Winslet (her fifth nomination, and with it a record for the youngest actor to be nominated for five Academy Awards) and Jackie Earle Haley (his first nomination, and first leading role in over fifteen years). After having written, directed and produced just two feature films, Field had garnered five Academy Award nominations for his actors, and three for himself, personally.
The film, based on the novel of the same name by Tom Perrotta, premiered at the 2006 New York Film Festival to similar accolades:
A. O. Scott – The New York Times
"Superb! Mr. Field proves to be among the most literary of American filmmakers. In too many recent movies intelligence is woefully undervalued, and it is this quality — even more than its considerable beauty — that distinguishes “Little Children” from its peers. A movie that is challenging, accessible, and hard to stop thinking about.."[11]
"One of the Best Films of the Year. Extraordinary. A Beautifully Crafted Piece of Work. The picture moves swiftly and surely with uncanny precision. Field works with such fluid grace and perception that the movie goes right to the top."[12]
"Field shows his mastery. He performs a high-wire act that balances hard truth and hard-won tenderness. The film rides its dramatic challenges in perfect pitch. Most movies fade from memory. This one sticks. The film pulls you in like a magnetic force."[13]
Little Children was named Best Picture of the Year by the San Francisco Film Critics Circle, received three Golden Globe nominations including Best Picture of the Year, went on to be nominated for two Screen Actors Guild awards, the Writer’s Guild Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, and three Academy Awards, including one for Field that he shared with Tom Perrotta for Best Adapted Screenplay.
"'It's clear to me how much he has absorbed from working with wonderful directors like Stanley Kubrick and Victor Nuñez. Like Nuñez, Todd is one of the few American directors who really understands social dynamics."[14]
Geoffrey Gilmore, New York Times.
Future Work
According to the Los Angeles Times, Field is currently in the process of adapting a film version of Cormac McCarthy's novel Blood Meridian, which is expected to be released in 2009.[15]
Filmography
Writer/Director/Producer
Feature Films
| Year | Film | Oscars | BAFTA | Golden Globe | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominations | Wins | Nominations | Wins | Nominations | Wins | ||
| 2001 | In the Bedroom | ||||||
| 2006 | Little Children | ||||||
Short Films
| Year | Film | Duties | Notes and Awards |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | The Dog | Co-Director with Alex Vlacos | Short experimental film |
| Too Romantic | Writer/Director | AFI First Year Cycle Project | |
| 1993 | When I Was a Boy | Co-Director with Alex Vlacos & Matthew Modine | Premiered at Sundance Film Festival in front of Victor Nuñez's Grand Jury Prize winning Ruby in Paradise in which Field also starred. Exhibited at MoMA as part of the New Directors/New Films Series |
| The Tree | Writer/Director | AFI First Year Cycle Project | |
| Delivering | Writer/Director | AFI First Year Cycle Project | |
| 1995 | Nonnie & Alex | Director | AFI Second Year Thesis Project
Winner Sundance Film Festival Special Jury Award, Winner College Emmy Best Film Award, Winner Aspen Short Fest Grand Prize |
Filmography
Actor
| Year | Film | Role | Director |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | Radio Days | Crooner | Woody Allen |
| The Allnighter | Bellhop | Tamar Hoffs | |
| Student Exchange | Neil Barton/Adriano Fabrizzi | Molly Miller | |
| 1988 | Eye of the Eagle 2: Inside the Enemy | Private Anthony Glenn | Carl Franklin |
| Back to Back | Todd Brand | John Kincaide | |
| The End of Innocence | Richard | Dyan Cannon | |
| 1989 | Fat Man and Little Boy | Robert Rathbun Wilson | Roland Joffe |
| Gross Anatomy | David Schreiner | Thom Eberhardt | |
| 1990 | Full Fathom Five | Johnson | Carl Franklin |
| 1991 | Queens Logic | Cecil | Steve Rash |
| 1993 | Ruby in Paradise | Mike McCaslin | Victor Nuñez |
| 1994 | Sleep With Me | Duane | Rory Kelly |
| 1996 | Twister | Tim 'Beltzer' Lewis | Jan de Bont |
| Walking and Talking | Frank | Nicole Holofcener | |
| 1999 | Broken Vessels | Jimmy Wazniack | Scott Ziehl |
| Eyes Wide Shut | Nick Nightingale | Stanley Kubrick |
Academy Awards and other distinctions
- In the Bedroom nominated for five Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Actor in a Leading Role, Best Actress in a Leading Role, Best Actress in a Supporting Role and Best Adapted Screenplay
- In the Bedroom nominated for three Golden Globe Awards: Best Picture, Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
- Todd Field named by the National Board of Review: Best Writer and Director of the Year - In the Bedroom
- In the Bedroom winner of two Sundance Film Festival Jury Prizes: Best Actor and Best Actress
- In the Bedroom winner of four Independent Spirit Awards: Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Screenplay, Best First Film
- Little Children nominated for three Academy Awards: Best Actress in a Leading Role, Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Best Adapted Screenplay
- Little Children nominated for three Golden Globe Awards: Best Picture, Best Actress and Best Screenplay of the Year
- Little Children nominated by the Writers Guild of America: Best Adapted Screenplay of the Year
- Ruby in Paradise - Independent Spirit Award: Best Supporting Actor (Todd Field)
- Nonnie & Alex winner Sundance Film Festival
External Links
Publications
- Delicately Dissecting the Quiet Life – 18 November 2001, New York Times
- 'In the Bedroom' Without Frills – 9 August 2002, New York Times
- The Best DVD's of 2002 – 3 January 2003, New York Times
- Acting all grown up in a land of `Children’ – 21 January 2007, Los Angeles Times
- Field on Bergman – 1 August 2007, Los Angeles Times
- In the Bedroom: A Screenplay
- Little Children: The Shooting Script
- In the Bedroom, preface by Todd Field
Audio
- Chicago Public Radio's Film Spotting Interview (mp3) 28 October 2006
- Elvis Mitchell's The Treatment KCRW 11 October 2006
- Renee Montagne NPR Morning Edition - DVD Commentaries, 26 February 2003
- Scott Horsley NPR Morning Edition - DVD Sales Challenge Video-Rental Business, 25 February 2003
- Warren Olney Interview KCRW 15 March 2002
Video
Web
References
- ^ "Todd Field Biography -Movies@Piczo".
- ^ "Todd Field Biography - Yahoo! Movies".
- ^ Levy, Shawn. You couldn't write a better script. The Oregonian, March 23, 2002.
- ^ "Todd Field - Biography". Roberta Bresci. Retrieved 2008-06-28.
- ^ . Box Office Mojo. March 6, 2009.
{{cite news}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help); Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ Ansen, David (December 3, 2001). "Their House Torn Asunder". Newsweek.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|work=(help) - ^ Ansen, David. (January 21, 2002). "Break On Through To The Oscar Side". Newsweek.
- ^ Norman, Neil (January 24, 2002). "A fatal summer affair". The Evening Standard.
- ^ Holden, Stephen. When Grief Becomes A Member of the Family. The New York Times, November 23, 2001.
- ^ Winters, Laura (November 18, 2001). "Delicately Dissecting the Quiet Life". The New York Times.
- ^ Scott, A.O.. Playground Rules: No Hitting, No Sex. The New York Times, September 29, 2006.
- ^ Denby, David. Small Worlds. The New Yorker, October 16, 2006.
- ^ Travers, Peter. Todd Field's Little Children. Rolling Stone, October 5, 2006.
- ^ Winters, Laura (November 18, 2001). "Delicately Dissecting the Quiet Life". The New York Times.
- ^ Medina, Jeremy (August 28, 2008). "Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian film changes directors". The Los Angeles Times.
{{cite news}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help)