Oscar Profile #559: Todd Haynes

Born January 2, 1961 in Los Angeles, California, Todd Haynes was one of four children of Allen and Shelley Haynes. His mother’s family was Ashkenazi Jewish (from Poland, Romania, and Russia) and his father, who was a cosmetics importer, had English/Welsh ancestry.

Haynes developed an interest in film at an early age. In 1978, he produced the short film, The Suicide while still in high school. He studied art and semiotics at Brown University, where he directed the short film, Assassins: A Film Concerning Rimbaud in 1985. The film was inspired by the French poet Arthur Rimbaud (a personality Haynes would later reference in his film I’m Not There). At Brown, he met Christine Vachon, who would go on to produce all his feature films. After graduating from Brown, Haynes moved to New York City and became involved in the independent film scene, launching Apparatus Productions, a non-profit organization for the support of independent film

In 1987, while a student at Bard College, Haynes made the short, Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story, which chronicles the life of singer Karen Carpenter, using Barbie dolls as actors. The film presents Carpenter’s struggle with anorexia and bulimia, featuring extensive use of Carpenter’s songs, showcasing his love of popular music (which would be a recurring feature of his later films). Haynes failed to obtain proper licensing to use the music, prompting a lawsuit from Karen’s brother Richard for copyright infringement. Carpenter won the suit, and Superstar was removed from public distribution.

Haynes made his feature film debut with 1991’s Poison based on the life of Jean Genet, which won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance. His second feature film was 1995’s Safe starring Julianne Moore as an affluent suburbanite who develops a difficult to understand sensitivity to her surroundings. His third was 1998’s Velvet Goldmine which explored the world of 1970s British glam rock. The film, which starred Ewan McGregor, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Christian Bale, and Toni Colette, earned an Oscar nominations for its costume design.

The writer-director’s fourth film, 2002’s Far from Heaven established him as a major Hollywood director. The film, clearly patterned after Douglas Sirk’s 1956 film, All That Heaven Allows, won numerous awards including Best Film, Director, Supporting Actor (Dennis Quaid), Supporting Actress (Patricia Clarkson), and Cinematography (Ed Lachman). Julianne Moore placed second in the voting to Diane Lane in Unfaithful for Best Actress. It received four Oscar nominations including Best Actress, Cinematography, Score (Elmer Bernstein), and Original Screenplay (for Haynes).

Haynes’ career post-Far from Heaven has been exemplary, but sparse. Since then, he has directed just four feature films, 2007’s I’m Not There, 2015’s Carol, 2017’s Wonderstruck, and 2019’s Dark Waters, as well as a major TV mini-series, his 2011 remake of Michael Curtiz’s 1945 film, Mildred Pierce.

Up next for the 60-year-old writer-director are the documentary The Velvet Underground and the biopic, Fever starring Michelle Williams as legendary singer Peggy Lee.

ESSENTIAL FILMS

FAR FROM HEAVEN (2002)

Haynes received his only Oscar nomination to date for his original screenplay for his homage to the 1950s films of Douglas Sirk. A virtual remake of 1956’s All That Heaven Allows with themes that couldn’t be presented then, Oscar nominated cinematographer Ed Lachman created the 1950s look using the same type of lighting equipment and techniques, as well as the same types of lens filters that would have been used then. Elmer Bernstein’s 16th Oscar nomination for his score would be his last. Julianne Moore’s fourth nomination would be her last until her win for 2014’s Still Alice.

MILDRED PIERCE (2011)

Twenty-one Emmy nominations and five wins went to Todd’s faithful version of James M. Cain’s novel previously filmed in an altered version in 1945. The nearly six-hour miniseries featured Emmy winner Kate Winslet in every scene as the divorced mother of two whose homemade pies lead her on a path to fame and fortune. Guy Pearce as the heel who loves Winslet for her money was the only supporting player to also take home an Emmy for his work. Brian F. O’Byrne as her ex-husband, Evan Rachel Wood as her defiant daughter and Melissa Leo and Mare Winningham as her friends and business partners had to settle for nominations.

CAROL (2015)

Haynes received his second New York Film Critics award for this adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s novel, The Price of Salt but Oscar once again failed to follow suit. Oscar did, however, take notice of the film about a same-sex romance in 1950s New York. Six nominations went to Best Actress Cate Blanchett as the title character, Supporting Actress Rooney Mara as the salesclerk who is besotted by her, and by now Haynes’s regulars, Ed Lachman for his cinematography, Carter Burwell for his score, and Sandy Powell for her costume design.

WONDERSTRUCK (2017)

Numerous critics organizations took good note of Haynes’ film of Brian Selznick’s novel, singling out Haynes’s regulars, Lachman, Burwell, and Powell once again. Oscar, however, turned a blind eye to this charming tale of two children separated by fifty years. In 1927, Rose searches for the actress whose life she chronicles in her scrapbook; in 1977, Ben runs away from home to find his father. Rose is played by deaf actress Millicent Simmonds and Ben by Oakes Fegley. Haynes’s regular, Julianne Moore, plays the actress who holds such fascination for Simmonds.

DARK WATERS (2019)

Mark Ruffalo received an Oscar nomination for taking on the DuPont family in 2014’s Foxcatcher. This time as close as he got to Oscar was a Satellite nomination playing the lawyer who takes on the giant chemical corporation for his clients, filing environmental lawsuits that result in hard fought wins for his clients dying of cancer. Anne Hathaway co-stars as his supportive wife with Tim Robbins, Bill Pullman, Bill Camp, Victor Garber, and Mare Winningham in key supporting roles. Camp is especially moving as Ruffalo’s client slowly dying from the disease that killed his cattle.