Todd Solondz

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Todd Solondz

Born October 15, 1959
Newark, New Jersey, U.S.
Occupation film director and screenwriter

Todd Solondz (born October 15, 1959 in Newark, New Jersey) is an American screenwriter and independent film director known for his style of dark, thought-provoking[1] socially conscious satire. Solondz has been critically acclaimed for his examination of the "dark underbelly of middle class American suburbia", a reflection of his own background in New Jersey.[2] His work includes the cult hit Welcome to the Dollhouse, the award-winning Happiness, Storytelling, and Palindromes.

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[edit] Biography

Solondz originally considered becoming a rabbi[1], but eventually set his sights on writing screenplays. He even wrote several while he had a job as a delivery boy for the Writers Guild of America.

As a child he was sent to a series of public and private schools by his parents. Solondz received his undergraduate degree in English from Yale and attended New York University's (NYU) Graduate MFA Program in film and television, but did not complete a degree.

Solondz is an atheist. In The A.V. Club's article "Is There a God?", he answered the question "Well, me, I'm an atheist, so I don't really believe there is. But I suppose I could be proven wrong."[3]

Solondz worked as a teacher of English as a second language to newly arrived Russian immigrants,[1] an experience he has described as deeply rewarding[citation needed] (although the character named "Joy" in his film Happiness finds a similar experience to be traumatic).

[edit] Early films

One of Solondz's short films was Schatt's Last Shot, made in 1985.[1] The title character is a high schooler who wants to get into Stanford, but his gym teacher hates him and fails him because he can't make a shot in basketball. He also has no luck with the girl of his dreams, but he wishes he was more like the coach, whom he challenges to a game of one-on-one. The short has seldom been seen outside film schools.

In 1989 he wrote and directed Fear, Anxiety & Depression,[1] an episodic comedy about fledgling playwright Ira (played by Solondz himself) and his frustrating interactions with the opposite sex. The film's fractured narrative structure and casual relationship with the "fourth wall" are somewhat reminiscent of Annie Hall, and a far cry from the more astringent and naturalistic surface Solondz has been moving towards ever since. Characterizations are broader than viewers of Solondz's more deadpan later films might expect. The film contains several musical interludes, including three songs written especially for the film. Stanley Tucci appears in one of his earliest roles as an old, disliked acquaintance of Ira's, who takes up playwriting on a whim and instantly becomes the toast of Off-Broadway. The studio's second-guessing soured Solondz on the film and directing in general; as a result the film rarely appears on Solondz's official filmography.

[edit] Welcome to the Dollhouse

The frustrations of his first feature led Solondz to swear off further involvement with the industry. More than five years later, an attorney friend urged Solondz to give filmmaking another go, and promised to partially finance any project Solondz came up with.[citation needed] The end result was 1995's Welcome to the Dollhouse, which went on to win the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival.[2] The dark comedy follows the travails of Dawn Wiener, a bespectacled, toothy, and shy 7th grade girl who is mercilessly teased at school and treated to alternating contempt and neglect at home. It was a major success among critics,[1] and a moderate success at the box office, but was a festival hit, with screenings all over the world, paving the way for a film which would occupy a much larger canvas.

[edit] Happiness

Solondz's next piece was Happiness (1998), a highly controversial film due to the themes explored in it, which range from rape, murder and pedophilia to a bizarre sexual phone caller. The original distributor, October Films, dropped it and then it was scooped up by Good Machine Releasing.[1] The movie received numerous awards,[1] including International Critics' Prize at the Cannes Film Festival,[2] and yielded strong critical praise for Solondz.

[edit] Storytelling and Palindromes

In 2001, Solondz released Storytelling, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.[1] It is a film separated into two parts, entitled "Fiction" and "Nonfiction." The two stories share two thematic elements, but deal with each in an autonomous manner. This format was utilized because the filmmaker wanted to "find a fresh structure, a fresh form and a different way of tackling what may be identical geographical material."[4] When Solondz initially presented the film to the MPAA, he was told that if he wished to receive a rating other than NC-17, he would have to remove a scene of explicit sex involving a white female and a black male. However, due to a clause in Solondz's contract, the censors were forced to admit the scene with a bright red box covering the actors. "For me it's a great victory to have a big red box, the first red box in any studio feature [...] it's right in your face: You're not allowed to see this in our country."[4] Solondz did, however, remove a portion of the film (which has variously been reported as either a subplot of the second story, or a third story entirely) which contained a scene of sensuality involving two male actors (one of whom was James Van Der Beek).[5]

Solondz's next film, Palindromes (2004), raised the eyebrows of many conservative, as well as liberal, pundits and reviewers due to its themes of child molestation, statutory rape and abortion. The film was financed largely by the filmmaker. Like all of Solondz's previous films, Palindromes is set in suburban New Jersey. It was released unrated in the US.

[edit] Life During Wartime

Life During Wartime is Todd Solondz's new film in the production stages, produced by John Hart at Evamere Entertainment.[6] The new film was said by Solondz in an interview at Cannes to be a companion piece to Happiness and Welcome to the Dollhouse.[7] It has also been described as "A Dark Comedy of Sexual Obsession." It has been said that it will star Emma Thompson, Demi Moore, Paul Reubens, Chi McBride, Chane't Johnson, Paul Dano, Renee Taylor, Faye Dunaway, Dennis Franz and Hope Davis, with a budget of $4.5 million. Production was originally slated to begin on May 15, 2008, but it has been pushed back three times due to financing problems and it is not known if or when the film will eventually be made.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i The Todd Solondz Picture Pages. Retrieved on 2007-06-29.
  2. ^ a b c Todd Solondz - WOLFMAN PRODUCTIONS. Retrieved on 2007-06-29.
  3. ^ The A.V. Club - Is There A God?. Retrieved on 2006-09-26.
  4. ^ a b Interview at Salon.com, 1/30/2002
  5. ^ Interview in The Guardian, 4/15/2005
  6. ^ According to IMDB, and [1]
  7. ^ CHUD.com - A film site for the brilliant

[edit] External links