Todd Haynes
- Directing
- January 2, 1961 · Los Angeles, California, USA
Biography
Todd Haynes (/heɪnz/; born January 2, 1961; Los Angeles) is an American filmmaker. His films span four decades with themes examining the personalities of well-known musicians, dysfunctional and dystopian societies, and blurred gender roles. Haynes first gained public attention with his controversial short film Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story (1987), which chronicles singer Karen Carpenter's life and death, using Barbie dolls as actors. Superstar became a cult classic. Haynes's feature directorial debut, Poison (1991), a provocative exploration of AIDS-era queer perceptions and subversions, established him as a figure of a new transgressive cinema. Poison won the Sundance Film Festival's Grand Jury Prize and is regarded as a seminal work of New Queer Cinema. Haynes received further acclaim for his second feature film, Safe (1995), a symbolic portrait of a housewife who develops multiple chemical sensitivity. Safe was later voted the best film of the 1990s by The Village Voice Film Poll. His next feature, Velvet Goldmine (1998), is a tribute to the 1970s glam rock era. The film received the Special Jury Prize for Best Artistic Contribution at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival. Haynes gained acclaim and a measure of mainstream success with Far from Heaven (2002) earning his first Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay. He continued to direct critically lauded films such as I'm Not There (2007), Carol (2015), Wonderstruck (2017) and Dark Waters (2019). He directed his first feature-length documentary, The Velvet Underground (2021). Haynes directed and co-wrote the HBO mini-series Mildred Pierce (2011) for which he was nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards.
Known for
Filmography
- Barbara Forever · Self
- All We Do Is Watch Movies · Self
- Earthlings · Executive producer
- Off Script with The Hollywood Reporter · Self
- May December · Director
- Art-House America: Austin Film Society · Self
- Image Book · Director
- Douglas Sirk – Hope as in Despair · Self
- Cal State Long Beach, CA, January 2020 · Thanks
- The Velvet Underground · Writer, Director
- Dark Waters: The Cost of Being a Hero · Self
- Dark Waters · Director
- Earthquake Bird · Thanks
- At the Video Store · Self
- Marcians · Self
- Wonderstruck · Director
- Certain Women · Executive producer
- Xavier Dolan: Bound to Impossible · Self
- Carol · Director
- Still Alice · Thanks
- Night Moves · Executive producer
- Six by Sondheim · Director
- Buoy · Executive producer
- Enlightened · Director
- Meek's Cutoff · Executive producer
- Mildred Pierce · Director, Executive producer
- Great Directors · Self
- Wendy and Lucy · Executive producer
- I'm Not There · Director, Screenplay
- Notes on the Death of Kodachrome · Self
- Infinite Pleasure: Todd Haynes on Max Ophuls' Le Plaisir · Interviewee
- Maternal Overdrive · Self
- Quinceañera · Executive producer
- Old Joy · Executive producer
- Fabulous! The Story of Queer Cinema · Self
- Eine Zärtlichkeit wie bei Sirk - Todd Haynes über Fassbinder und das Melodram · Self
- Far from Heaven: "Making of"
- Far from Heaven · Director, Writer
- Madame Satã · Thanks
- SexTV
- Velvet Goldmine · Director, Screenplay
- Office Killer · Co-Writer
- Safe · Director, Writer
- At Sundance · Self
- Totally F***ed Up · Thanks
- Dottie Gets Spanked · Writer, Director
- Swoon · Phrenology Head
- Goo · Director
- Poison · Director, Writer
- Anemone Me · Producer
- La Divina · Co-producer, Assistant Director
- He Was Once · Randy, Producer
- Natural History · Child, Producer
- Muddy Hands · Producer
- Cause and Effect · Producer, Assistant Director
- American Lunch · Producer
- Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story · Todd Donovan, Director
- Tommy's · Producer
- Assassins: A Film Concerning Rimbaud · Director
- A Man in Your Room · Producer
- The Suicide · Director, Screenplay
- De Noche · Director, Writer