Edward Saxon
Encyclopedia
Early life
Saxon was raised in St. Louis, MissouriSt. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
, and educated at Kirkwood
Kirkwood, Missouri
Kirkwood is an inner-ring suburb of St. Louis, located in St. Louis County, Missouri. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 27,540. Founded in 1853, the city is named for James Pugh Kirkwood, builder of the Pacific Railroad through that town. It was the first planned suburb located west...
High School from 1972 to 1976, and McGill University
McGill University
Mohammed Fathy is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Glasgow, Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...
from 1976 to 1980. He then studied at The Peter Stark Producing Program at the USC School of Cinema-Television
USC School of Cinematic Arts
The USC School of Cinematic Arts, until 2006 named the School of Cinema-Television , is a film school within the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California. It is the oldest and largest such school in the United States, established in 1929 as a joint venture with the Academy of...
. While at McGill, he founded the Tuesday Night Cafe Theatre with Veronica Brady and Peter Grossman, and the company is still running today. Saxon acted in many plays at the Players' Theatre, McGill's famous Red and White Review. He also founded a radio comedy troupe called The Circle Jerks.
Career
Saxon is arguably best known for the film The Silence of the Lambs, which is, to date, the third and last film to sweep the five main categories of Academy Award for Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Director, and Best Picture. (The others are It Happened One NightIt Happened One Night
It Happened One Night is a 1934 American romantic comedy film with elements of screwball comedy directed by Frank Capra, in which a pampered socialite tries to get out from under her father's thumb, and falls in love with a roguish reporter . The plot was based on the story Night Bus by Samuel...
and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (film)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a 1975 American drama film directed by Miloš Forman and based on the 1962 novel of the same name by Ken Kesey....
)
Formerly Jonathan Demme
Jonathan Demme
Robert Jonathan Demme is an American filmmaker, producer and screenwriter. Best known for directing The Silence of the Lambs, which won him the Academy Award for Best Director, he has also directed the acclaimed movies Philadelphia, Rachel Getting Married, the Talking Heads concert movie Stop...
's producing partner, his films include Beloved
Beloved (film)
Beloved is a 1998 film based on Toni Morrison's 1987 novel of the same name. It was directed by Jonathan Demme, and was produced by Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Productions. The film stars Oprah Winfrey and Danny Glover.-Plot:...
, Ulee's Gold
Ulee's Gold
Ulee's Gold is a 1997 film written and directed by Victor Nuñez, and starring Peter Fonda in the title role. Co-stars include Patricia Richardson, Christine Dunford, Tom Wood, Jessica Biel, J. Kenneth Campbell, Steven Flynn, Dewey Weber, and Vanessa Zima...
, That Thing You Do!
That Thing You Do!
That Thing You Do! is a 1996 comedy-drama musical film written and directed by Tom Hanks. Set in the summer of 1964, the movie tells the story of the quick rise and fall of a one-hit wonder rock band...
, The Truth About Charlie
The Truth About Charlie
The Truth About Charlie is a 2002 remake of the 1963 film Charade. It is also an homage to François Truffaut's 1960 film Shoot the Piano Player complete with that film's star, Charles Aznavour, making two surreal appearances singing his song "Quand tu m'aimes" .The Truth About Charlie was produced,...
, Married to the Mob
Married to the Mob
Married to the Mob is a 1988 American comedy film directed by Jonathan Demme, starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Matthew Modine.Michelle Pfeiffer, in something of a departure from her previous roles, gave an acclaimed lead performance as a gangster's widow from Brooklyn, opposite Matthew Modine as the...
, Miami Blues, and Philadelphia
Philadelphia (film)
Philadelphia is a 1993 American drama film that was one of the first mainstream Hollywood films to acknowledge HIV/AIDS, homosexuality and homophobia. It was written by Ron Nyswaner and directed by Jonathan Demme. The film stars Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington...
.
After parting ways with Demme, Saxon produced Charlie Kaufman
Charlie Kaufman
Charles Stuart "Charlie" Kaufman is an American screenwriter, producer, and director. His film work includes Being John Malkovich, Human Nature, Adaptation, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Synecdoche, New York...
and Spike Jonze
Spike Jonze
Spike Jonze is an American director, producer and actor, whose work includes music videos, commercials, film and television...
's Adaptation.
Adaptation.
Adaptation. is a 2002 American comedy-drama film directed by Spike Jonze and written by Charlie Kaufman. The film is based on Susan Orlean's non-fiction book The Orchid Thief through self-referential events...
. He produced Richard Linklater
Richard Linklater
-Early life:Linklater was born in Houston, Texas. He studied at Sam Houston State University and left midway through his stint in college to work on an off-shore oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. While working on the rig he read a lot of literature, but on land he developed a love of film through...
's Fast Food Nation
Fast Food Nation
Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal is a book by investigative journalist Eric Schlosser that examines the local and global influence of the United States fast food industry....
in 2006. His most recently released project is Away We Go
Away We Go (film)
Away We Go is a 2009 comedy-drama directed by Academy Award-winning director Sam Mendes and written by the husband-and-wife team of Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida...
. It is a Focus Features
Focus Features
Focus Features is the art house films division of NBC Universal's Universal Pictures, and acts as both a producer and distributor for its own films and a distributor for foreign films....
and Big Beach comedy directed by Sam Mendes
Sam Mendes
Samuel Alexander "Sam" Mendes, CBE is an English stage and film director. He is best known for his Academy Award-winning work on his debut film American Beauty and his dark re-inventions of the stage musicals Cabaret , Oliver! , Company and Gypsy . He's currently working on the 23rd James Bond...
and written by Dave Eggers
Dave Eggers
Dave Eggers is an American writer, editor, and publisher. He is known for the best-selling memoir A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius and for his more recent work as a screenwriter. He is also the co-founder of the literacy project 826 Valencia.-Life:Eggers was born in Boston, Massachusetts,...
and Vendela Vida
Vendela Vida
Vendela Vida is an American novelist, journalist, and editor who lives in the Bay Area.-Books:Vida has written four books....
. Saxon is currently producing Untitled Family Wedding with Fox Searchlight. The comedic film stars Forest Whitaker
Forest Whitaker
Forest Steven Whitaker is an American actor, producer, and director. He has earned a reputation for intensive character study work for films such as Bird and Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, and for his recurring role as ex-LAPD Lieutenant Jon Kavanaugh on the gritty, award-winning television...
and America Ferrera
America Ferrera
America Georgina Ferrera is an American actress, best known for playing the lead role in the television comedy series Ugly Betty...
and will be released Spring 2010.
Originally an actor, Saxon was one of VH1's first VJ's in New York City. He has made several cameos in the films he has produced, most notably as a head in a jar in Silence of the Lambs.
Filmography (Producing)
- Our Family Wedding (20102010 in filmThe year 2010 saw many new films released worldwide. 2010 saw a dramatic increase and prominence in the use of 3D-technology in filmmaking and film releases after the success of Avatar in the format, with releases such as Alice in Wonderland, Clash of the Titans, Jackass 3D, all animated films and...
) - Away We GoAway We Go (film)Away We Go is a 2009 comedy-drama directed by Academy Award-winning director Sam Mendes and written by the husband-and-wife team of Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida...
(20092009 in filmThe year 2009 saw the release of many films. Seven made the top 50 list of highest-grossing films, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that as of this year, their Best Picture category would consist of ten nominees, rather than five .- Highest-grossing films :Please note...
) - Fast Food NationFast Food NationFast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal is a book by investigative journalist Eric Schlosser that examines the local and global influence of the United States fast food industry....
(20062006 in film- Highest-grossing films :Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top-grossing films that were first released in the United States in 2006...
) - Adaptation.Adaptation.Adaptation. is a 2002 American comedy-drama film directed by Spike Jonze and written by Charlie Kaufman. The film is based on Susan Orlean's non-fiction book The Orchid Thief through self-referential events...
(20022002 in filmThe year 2002 in film involved some significant events. The first significant releases of sequels took place between The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, Men in Black II, Analyze That, Spy Kids 2: The Island of...
) - The Truth About CharlieThe Truth About CharlieThe Truth About Charlie is a 2002 remake of the 1963 film Charade. It is also an homage to François Truffaut's 1960 film Shoot the Piano Player complete with that film's star, Charles Aznavour, making two surreal appearances singing his song "Quand tu m'aimes" .The Truth About Charlie was produced,...
(20022002 in filmThe year 2002 in film involved some significant events. The first significant releases of sequels took place between The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, Men in Black II, Analyze That, Spy Kids 2: The Island of...
) - The OpportunistsThe OpportunistsThe Opportunists is a 2000 film starring Christopher Walken, with an appearance by Cyndi Lauper as the New Yorker Sally Mahon. It is assigned the criteria of a comedy/crime drama.-Plot:...
(20002000 in filmThe year 2000 in film involved some significant events.The top grosser worldwide was Mission: Impossible II. Domestically in North America, Gladiator won the Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Actor ....
) - BelovedBeloved (film)Beloved is a 1998 film based on Toni Morrison's 1987 novel of the same name. It was directed by Jonathan Demme, and was produced by Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Productions. The film stars Oprah Winfrey and Danny Glover.-Plot:...
(19981998 in film-Events:* February 14 - Sharon Stone marries Phil Bronstein.* Former child star Gary Coleman is charged with assaulting a young female bus driver at a California shopping mall.-Top grossing films:...
) - Storefront HitchcockStorefront HitchcockStorefront Hitchcock is the title of a soundtrack album by Robyn Hitchcock, released in support of a film of the same name, which was directed by Jonathan Demme....
(19981998 in film-Events:* February 14 - Sharon Stone marries Phil Bronstein.* Former child star Gary Coleman is charged with assaulting a young female bus driver at a California shopping mall.-Top grossing films:...
) - SUBWAYStories: Tales from the Underground (20021997 in televisionThe year 1997 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1997.- Events :-Debuts:-Miniseries:*Knots Landing: Back to the Cul-de-Sac, a reunion of the 1979–93 series*The Last Don...
) (TV) - Ulee's GoldUlee's GoldUlee's Gold is a 1997 film written and directed by Victor Nuñez, and starring Peter Fonda in the title role. Co-stars include Patricia Richardson, Christine Dunford, Tom Wood, Jessica Biel, J. Kenneth Campbell, Steven Flynn, Dewey Weber, and Vanessa Zima...
(19971997 in film-Events:* The original Star Wars trilogy's Special Editions are released.* Production begins on Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.* Titanic becomes the first film to gross US$1,000,000,000 at the box office making it the highest grossing film in history until Avatar broke the record in 2010.*...
) - MandelaMandela (film)Mandela is a 1996 documentary film directed by Angus Gibson and Jo Menell. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.-Synopsis:...
(19961996 in filmMajor releases this year included Scream, Independence Day, Fargo, Trainspotting, The English Patient, Twister, Mars Attacks!, Jerry Maguire and a version of Evita starring Madonna.-Events:...
) - That Thing You Do!That Thing You Do!That Thing You Do! is a 1996 comedy-drama musical film written and directed by Tom Hanks. Set in the summer of 1964, the movie tells the story of the quick rise and fall of a one-hit wonder rock band...
(19961996 in filmMajor releases this year included Scream, Independence Day, Fargo, Trainspotting, The English Patient, Twister, Mars Attacks!, Jerry Maguire and a version of Evita starring Madonna.-Events:...
) - Devil in a Blue DressDevil in a Blue DressDevil in a Blue Dress is a 1990 hardboiled mystery novel by Walter Mosley.The text centers on the main character, Ezekiel "Easy" Rawlins, and his transformation from a day laborer into a detective. The story begins with Easy out-of-work and unable to pay his mortgage...
(19951995 in film-Top grossing films:-Events:* March 22 - The Dogme 95 movement is officially announced in Paris by Danish directors Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg.* March 28 - Actress Julia Roberts and singer Lyle Lovett announce their plans for separation....
) - One Foot on a Banana Peel, the Other Foot in the Grave: Secrets from the Dolly Madison Room (19941994 in film1994 was a significant year in film.The top grosser worldwide was The Lion King, which to date stands as the highest-grossing traditionally-animated film of all time...
) - PhiladelphiaPhiladelphia (film)Philadelphia is a 1993 American drama film that was one of the first mainstream Hollywood films to acknowledge HIV/AIDS, homosexuality and homophobia. It was written by Ron Nyswaner and directed by Jonathan Demme. The film stars Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington...
(19931993 in filmThe year 1993 in film involved many significant films, including the blockbuster hits Jurassic Park, The Fugitive and The Firm. -Events:...
) - Cousin BobbyCousin BobbyCousin Bobby is a 1992 American documentary film directed by Jonathan Demme. The film focuses on Demme's cousin, Robert W. Castle, an Episcopalian minister in Harlem, New York....
(19921992 in filmThe year 1992 in film involved many significant films. -Top grossing films:-Awards:Academy AwardsGolden Globe AwardsNational Film Awards...
) - Women & Men 2: In Love There Are No Rules (19911991 in televisionFor the American TV schedule, see: 1991-92 United States network television schedule.The year 1991 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1991.-Events:-Debuts:-1950s:...
) (TV) - The Silence of the Lambs (19911991 in filmThe year 1991 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*April 28 - Bonnie Raitt marries actor Michael O'Keefe in New York* Terminator 2: Judgment Day, became one of the landmarks for science fiction action films with its groundbreaking visual effects from Industrial Light & Magic.*November...
) - Miami Blues (19901990 in filmThe year 1990 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* CGI technique is expanded with motion capture for CGI characters, used in Total Recall .* The first digitally-manipulated matte painting is used, in Die Hard 2....
) - Married to the MobMarried to the MobMarried to the Mob is a 1988 American comedy film directed by Jonathan Demme, starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Matthew Modine.Michelle Pfeiffer, in something of a departure from her previous roles, gave an acclaimed lead performance as a gangster's widow from Brooklyn, opposite Matthew Modine as the...
(19881988 in film-Top grossing films :- Awards :Academy Awards:* Act of Piracy* Action Jackson, starring Carl Weathers, Craig T. Nelson, Vanity, Sharon Stone* The Adventures of Baron Munchausen* Akira* Alice...
) - Haiti Dreams of Democracy (19881988 in televisionThe year 1988 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1988.For the American TV schedule, see: 1988-89 United States network television schedule.-Events:-Debuts:...
) (TV) - Something Wild (19861986 in film-Events:*April 12 - Actor Morgan Mason marries The Go-Go's Belinda Carlisle.*April 26 - Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger marries television journalist Maria Shriver.*May - Actress Heather Locklear marries Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee....
)
Filmography (Acting)
- Scout's Honor (19991999 in filmThe year 1999 in film involved several noteworthy events and has been called "The Year That Changed Movies". Several significant feature films, including Stanley Kubrick's final film Eyes Wide Shut, Pedro Almodóvar's first Oscar-winning film All About My Mother, science fiction The Matrix, Deep...
) - BelovedBeloved (film)Beloved is a 1998 film based on Toni Morrison's 1987 novel of the same name. It was directed by Jonathan Demme, and was produced by Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Productions. The film stars Oprah Winfrey and Danny Glover.-Plot:...
(19981998 in film-Events:* February 14 - Sharon Stone marries Phil Bronstein.* Former child star Gary Coleman is charged with assaulting a young female bus driver at a California shopping mall.-Top grossing films:...
) - The RefThe RefThe Ref is a 1994 American black comedy film directed by Ted Demme and starring Denis Leary, Judy Davis, and Kevin Spacey.-Plot:...
(19941994 in film1994 was a significant year in film.The top grosser worldwide was The Lion King, which to date stands as the highest-grossing traditionally-animated film of all time...
) - Women & Men 2: In Love There Are No Rules (19911991 in televisionFor the American TV schedule, see: 1991-92 United States network television schedule.The year 1991 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1991.-Events:-Debuts:-1950s:...
) (TV) - Miami Blues (19901990 in filmThe year 1990 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* CGI technique is expanded with motion capture for CGI characters, used in Total Recall .* The first digitally-manipulated matte painting is used, in Die Hard 2....
) - Something Wild (19861986 in film-Events:*April 12 - Actor Morgan Mason marries The Go-Go's Belinda Carlisle.*April 26 - Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger marries television journalist Maria Shriver.*May - Actress Heather Locklear marries Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee....
)