Overview
Alexander Payne
Known For
Election - "The Passion of Martin" Introduction
Introductory piece to Alexander Payne's student film "The Passion of...
Program Notes: An Introduction To The Last Detail By Alexander Payne
The acclaimed director Alexander Payne gives his notes on the...
About a Trip: Alexander Payne on Hal Ashby's 'The Last Detail'
An appreciation of the film “The Last Detail” by Alexander...
The Cutting Edge: The Magic of Movie Editing
Documentary about the art of film editing. Clips are shown...
Biography
Alexander Payne (born February 10, 1961) is an Oscar-winning filmmaker whose work has helped define modern-day American cinema. He is best known for the features Election (1999), Sideways (2004), The Descendants (2011), About Schmidt (2002), Nebraska (2013) and The Holdovers (2023). His movies have garnered a total of 24 Academy Award nominations, including four times for Best Picture and three times for Best Director. He has won two Oscars for Best Adapted Screenplay (Sideways, The Descendants), and two of his films have won the Golden Globe for Best Picture. His most recent film, The Holdovers, earned a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Da’Vine Joy Randolph. Five of his movies were shot at least partially in Nebraska, where he continues to live, dividing his time between there and Los Angeles. An Omaha native, Payne studied History and Spanish Literature at Stanford before earning an MFA in Film at UCLA. He serves on the boards of the Telluride Film Festival and The Film Foundation.