Kimberly Peirce
Encyclopedia
Kimberly Peirce is an American feature film director
, notable for her debut feature film, Boys Don't Cry
(1999). Her second feature, Stop-Loss
, was released by Paramount Pictures
in 2008.
to Sherry and Bob Peirce. When Peirce was three she moved to New York City, and then two years later to Miami, Florida
where she eventually graduated from Miami Sunset Senior High School.
While attending the University of Chicago
, Peirce moved to Kobe, Japan for two years to work as a photographer and teach English, and then to New York City to work as a photography intern for Time
magazine under photojournalist Alfred Eisenstaedt
. She then returned to the University of Chicago to graduate with a degree in English
and Japanese Literature
.
Peirce then enrolled at Columbia University
, to pursue an MFA
in film. While at Columbia, Peirce completed The Last Good Breath, an experimental short film about two star-crossed lovers caught amidst a world war in which one lover always lives and the other always dies. The short screened as part of the Leopards of Tomorrow program at the Locarno International Film Festival
.
, Peirce read a Village Voice article about the life and death of Brandon Teena
, a transgender
man from Nebraska who was brutally raped and murdered when his gender history was discovered. Switching from her original thesis project, Peirce traveled to Falls City, Nebraska
where she conducted research, interviewed a number of people from the town including Lana Tisdale (Brandon's girlfriend) and Lana's mother, and attended the murder trial of the two homicide suspects. The subsequent film short
she made for her thesis in 1995 was nominated by Columbia faculty for a Princess Grace Award, and received an Astrea Production Grant.
After film producer Christine Vachon
saw a version of the short, Vachon and Peirce began working on a feature film. In order to fund the writing and development of the feature, Peirce worked as a paralegal on the midnight shift, as a 35mm film projectionist, and received a New York Foundation for the Arts grant. With help from the Sundance Institute's Filmmakers, Writers and Producers Labs in 1997, Peirce completed the feature film in 1999.
Upon its release, Boys Don't Cry
became one of the most acclaimed and talked about films of the year, opening at the Venice, Toronto and New York Film Festivals and earning many honors, including the Best Actress Oscar
, Golden Globe, Independent Spirit award and many other awards for the film's star, Hilary Swank
. Chloë Sevigny
was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar
and Golden Globe and won the Independent Spirit Award and many other awards for her role as Lana Tisdale.
The film received the International Critics prize for Best Film at both the London and Stockholm Film Festivals, the Satyajit Ray Foundation Award for Best First Feature at the London Film Festival, and was named "Best American Feature," by Janet Maslin
.
For her part, Peirce won honors as Best Debut Director from the National Board of Review and Best New Filmmaker from the Boston Society of Film Critics.
. Peirce traveled the country interviewing soldiers about their experiences and worked with novelist and screenwriter Mark Richard
to turn the research into a screenplay.
Released in 2008, Stop-Loss received positive reviews from critics. Peirce was honored with the Hamilton Behind the Camera True-Grit Directing Award as well as the Andrew Sarris Directing Awards for the film. In association with the film, Peirce created a website called SoundOff and gave soldiers and their families cameras to record and share their stories and opinions. Shortly after the film's release, Peirce spoke before the National Press Club and members of Congress on behalf of Soldiers and the Stop-Loss Compensation Act, which financially compensated soldiers for multiple tours of duty served because of the stop-loss policy
. The measure subsequently passed.
in an interview for The Film That Changed My Life
, much of the inspiration for her two films was said to come from her love of The Godfather
.
and The Town
for Universal Pictures and Imagine Entertainment. The film is inspired by a true story written about in Guy Lawson's GQ article 'Inside Man' about two men from opposite sides of the law - a rookie gang-banger trying to make it out of the gang alive and a hot-headed FBI agent intent on avenging the death of his partner - who must overcome their mistrust of one another and risk their lives in order to infiltrate the organization of a ruthless gang leader threatening to spread armed violence across Los Angeles and the urban centers of America. The script is being written by Vineet Dewan.
and Maria Jacquemetton
(Mad Men
). A job opportunity forces a family to move far from their hometown…and nothing is what it seems in their new community.
, Silent Star is a murder mystery about the 1922 death of Hollywood director William Desmond Taylor
and the scandals that nearly destroyed the film industry. Peirce co-wrote the script and had cast Hugh Jackman
, Annette Bening
, Ben Kingsley
, and Evan Rachel Wood
before the project stalled. The project is currently being revived.
and Universal Studios
.
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
, notable for her debut feature film, Boys Don't Cry
Boys Don't Cry (film)
Boys Don't Cry is a 1999 American independent romantic drama film directed by Kimberly Peirce and co-written by Andy Bienen. The film is a dramatization of the real-life story of Brandon Teena, a transgender man played by Hilary Swank, who pursues a relationship with a young woman, played by Chloë...
(1999). Her second feature, Stop-Loss
Stop-Loss (film)
Stop-Loss is a 2008 American drama film directed by Kimberly Peirce and starring Ryan Phillippe, Channing Tatum, Abbie Cornish and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. It was distributed by Paramount Pictures and produced by MTV Films.-Plot:...
, was released by Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
in 2008.
Early life and career
Peirce was born on September 6, 1967 in Harrisburg, PennsylvaniaHarrisburg, Pennsylvania
Harrisburg is the capital of Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 49,528, making it the ninth largest city in Pennsylvania...
to Sherry and Bob Peirce. When Peirce was three she moved to New York City, and then two years later to Miami, Florida
Miami, Florida
Miami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...
where she eventually graduated from Miami Sunset Senior High School.
While attending the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
, Peirce moved to Kobe, Japan for two years to work as a photographer and teach English, and then to New York City to work as a photography intern for Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine under photojournalist Alfred Eisenstaedt
Alfred Eisenstaedt
Alfred Eisenstaedt was a German-American photographer and photojournalist. He is renowned for his candid photographs, frequently made using various models of a 35mm Leica rangefinder camera...
. She then returned to the University of Chicago to graduate with a degree in English
English literature
English literature is the literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; for example, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Joseph Conrad was Polish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, J....
and Japanese Literature
Japanese literature
Early works of Japanese literature were heavily influenced by cultural contact with China and Chinese literature, often written in Classical Chinese. Indian literature also had an influence through the diffusion of Buddhism in Japan...
.
Peirce then enrolled at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, to pursue an MFA
Master of Fine Arts
A Master of Fine Arts is a graduate degree typically requiring 2–3 years of postgraduate study beyond the bachelor's degree , although the term of study will vary by country or by university. The MFA is usually awarded in visual arts, creative writing, filmmaking, dance, or theatre/performing arts...
in film. While at Columbia, Peirce completed The Last Good Breath, an experimental short film about two star-crossed lovers caught amidst a world war in which one lover always lives and the other always dies. The short screened as part of the Leopards of Tomorrow program at the Locarno International Film Festival
Locarno International Film Festival
The Film Festival Locarno is an international film festival held annually in the city of Locarno, Switzerland since 1946. After Cannes and Venice and together with Karlovy Vary, Locarno is the Film Festival with the longest history...
.
Boys Don't Cry
While at Columbia working on an idea for her thesis film about a female soldier in drag during the American Civil WarAmerican Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, Peirce read a Village Voice article about the life and death of Brandon Teena
Brandon Teena
Brandon Teena was an American trans man who was raped and murdered in Humboldt, Nebraska. His life and death were the subject of the Academy Award-winning 1999 film Boys Don't Cry, which was based on the documentary film The Brandon Teena Story.-Life:Teena was born Teena Renae Brandon in Lincoln,...
, a transgender
Transgender
Transgender is a general term applied to a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups involving tendencies to vary from culturally conventional gender roles....
man from Nebraska who was brutally raped and murdered when his gender history was discovered. Switching from her original thesis project, Peirce traveled to Falls City, Nebraska
Falls City, Nebraska
Falls City is a city in Richardson County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 4,671 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Richardson County.-Geography:Falls City is located at ....
where she conducted research, interviewed a number of people from the town including Lana Tisdale (Brandon's girlfriend) and Lana's mother, and attended the murder trial of the two homicide suspects. The subsequent film short
Short subject
A short film is any film not long enough to be considered a feature film. No consensus exists as to where that boundary is drawn: the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all...
she made for her thesis in 1995 was nominated by Columbia faculty for a Princess Grace Award, and received an Astrea Production Grant.
After film producer Christine Vachon
Christine Vachon
Christine Vachon is an American film producer active in the American independent film sector and daughter of noted photographer John Vachon....
saw a version of the short, Vachon and Peirce began working on a feature film. In order to fund the writing and development of the feature, Peirce worked as a paralegal on the midnight shift, as a 35mm film projectionist, and received a New York Foundation for the Arts grant. With help from the Sundance Institute's Filmmakers, Writers and Producers Labs in 1997, Peirce completed the feature film in 1999.
Upon its release, Boys Don't Cry
Boys Don't Cry (film)
Boys Don't Cry is a 1999 American independent romantic drama film directed by Kimberly Peirce and co-written by Andy Bienen. The film is a dramatization of the real-life story of Brandon Teena, a transgender man played by Hilary Swank, who pursues a relationship with a young woman, played by Chloë...
became one of the most acclaimed and talked about films of the year, opening at the Venice, Toronto and New York Film Festivals and earning many honors, including the Best Actress Oscar
Academy Award for Best Actress
Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
, Golden Globe, Independent Spirit award and many other awards for the film's star, Hilary Swank
Hilary Swank
Hilary Ann Swank is an American actress. Swank's film career began with a small part in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and then a major part in The Next Karate Kid , as Julie Pierce, the first female protégé of sensei Mr. Miyagi...
. Chloë Sevigny
Chloë Sevigny
Chloë Stevens Sevigny is an American film actress, fashion designer and former model. Sevigny gained reputation for her eclectic fashion sense and developed a broad career in the fashion industry in the mid 1990s, both for modeling and for her work at New York's Sassy magazine, which labeled her...
was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
and Golden Globe and won the Independent Spirit Award and many other awards for her role as Lana Tisdale.
The film received the International Critics prize for Best Film at both the London and Stockholm Film Festivals, the Satyajit Ray Foundation Award for Best First Feature at the London Film Festival, and was named "Best American Feature," by Janet Maslin
Janet Maslin
Janet Maslin is an American journalist, best known as a film and literary critic for The New York Times. She served as the Times film critic from 1977–1999.- Biography :...
.
For her part, Peirce won honors as Best Debut Director from the National Board of Review and Best New Filmmaker from the Boston Society of Film Critics.
Stop-Loss
In 2005, inspired by the real-life stories of American soldiers, including her own brother, fighting in Iraq and coming home, Peirce began work on Stop-LossStop-Loss (film)
Stop-Loss is a 2008 American drama film directed by Kimberly Peirce and starring Ryan Phillippe, Channing Tatum, Abbie Cornish and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. It was distributed by Paramount Pictures and produced by MTV Films.-Plot:...
. Peirce traveled the country interviewing soldiers about their experiences and worked with novelist and screenwriter Mark Richard
Mark Richard
Mark Richard is an American short story writer, novelist, screenwriter, and poet. He is the author of two award-winning short story collections, The Ice at the Bottom of the World and Charity, and a bestselling novel, Fishboy....
to turn the research into a screenplay.
Released in 2008, Stop-Loss received positive reviews from critics. Peirce was honored with the Hamilton Behind the Camera True-Grit Directing Award as well as the Andrew Sarris Directing Awards for the film. In association with the film, Peirce created a website called SoundOff and gave soldiers and their families cameras to record and share their stories and opinions. Shortly after the film's release, Peirce spoke before the National Press Club and members of Congress on behalf of Soldiers and the Stop-Loss Compensation Act, which financially compensated soldiers for multiple tours of duty served because of the stop-loss policy
Stop-loss policy
Stop-loss is a term primarily used in the United States military. In the U.S. military, it is the involuntary extension of a service member's active duty service under the enlistment contract in order to retain them beyond their initial end of term of service date and up to their contractually...
. The measure subsequently passed.
Style
As told to Robert K. ElderRobert K. Elder
Robert K. Elder is an American journalist, author and film columnist.- Early life and education :A Montana native, Elder interviewed Ken Kesey for his high school newspaper. The author encouraged Elder to attend his alma mater, the University of Oregon, which Elder did two years later...
in an interview for The Film That Changed My Life
The Film That Changed My Life
The Film That Changed My Life is a non-fiction collection of interviews compiled by American journalist, author and film columnist Robert K. Elder...
, much of the inspiration for her two films was said to come from her love of The Godfather
The Godfather
The Godfather is a 1972 American epic crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, based on the 1969 novel by Mario Puzo. With a screenplay by Puzo, Coppola and an uncredited Robert Towne, the film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Sterling Hayden, John Marley, Richard...
.
It showed me that I can take that love of the gangster movie and I can screen it through a family drama. In both my movies family is really important, violence is really important. I’m really interested in the psychological and the authentic portrayal of violence—particularly violence that comes out of emotions. Before The Godfather, I don’t know that you could have such a violent psychological film that was that broadly entertaining.
The Knife
On February 16, 2011 it was announced that Peirce will direct The Knife, a crime thriller in the vein of The DepartedThe Departed
The Departed is a 2006 American crime thriller film, fashioned as a remake of the 2002 Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs. The film was directed by Martin Scorsese and written by William Monahan...
and The Town
The Town (2010 film)
The Town is a 2010 crime film starring, co-written, and directed by Ben Affleck adapted from Chuck Hogan's novel Prince of Thieves. The film opened in theaters in the United States on September 17, 2010 at number one with more than $23 million and positive reviews...
for Universal Pictures and Imagine Entertainment. The film is inspired by a true story written about in Guy Lawson's GQ article 'Inside Man' about two men from opposite sides of the law - a rookie gang-banger trying to make it out of the gang alive and a hot-headed FBI agent intent on avenging the death of his partner - who must overcome their mistrust of one another and risk their lives in order to infiltrate the organization of a ruthless gang leader threatening to spread armed violence across Los Angeles and the urban centers of America. The script is being written by Vineet Dewan.
The Enclave
Peirce is in negotiations to direct and executive produce a limited series for USA Network written by Andre JacquemettonAndre Jacquemetton
Andre Jacquemetton is an American television writer and producer. He served as a producer for the first season of Mad Men and co-wrote -- with spouse Maria Jacquemetton -- three episodes of the season...
and Maria Jacquemetton
Maria Jacquemetton
Maria Jacquemetton is an American television writer and producer. She served as a producer for the first season of Mad Men and co-wrote -- with spouse Andre Jacquemetton -- three episodes of the season...
(Mad Men
Mad Men
Mad Men is an American dramatic television series created and produced by Matthew Weiner. The series premiered on Sunday evenings on the American cable network AMC and are produced by Lionsgate Television. It premiered on July 19, 2007, and completed its fourth season on October 17, 2010. Each...
). A job opportunity forces a family to move far from their hometown…and nothing is what it seems in their new community.
Silent Star
In the vein of Chinatown and Mildred PierceMildred Pierce (film)
Mildred Pierce is a 1945 American drama film starring Joan Crawford, Ann Blyth, Jack Carson, Zachary Scott, and Eve Arden in a film noir about a long-suffering mother and her ungrateful daughter. The screenplay by Ranald MacDougall, William Faulkner, and Catherine Turney was based upon the 1941...
, Silent Star is a murder mystery about the 1922 death of Hollywood director William Desmond Taylor
William Desmond Taylor
William Desmond Taylor was an Irish-born American actor, successful film director of silent movies and a popular figure in the growing Hollywood film colony of the 1910s and early 1920s...
and the scandals that nearly destroyed the film industry. Peirce co-wrote the script and had cast Hugh Jackman
Hugh Jackman
Hugh Michael Jackman is an Australian actor and producer who is involved in film, musical theatre, and television.Jackman has won international recognition for his roles in major films, notably as action/superhero, period and romance characters...
, Annette Bening
Annette Bening
Annette Carol Bening is an American actress. Bening is a four-time Oscar nominee for her roles in The Grifters, American Beauty, Being Julia and The Kids Are All Right, winning Golden Globe Awards for the latter two films...
, Ben Kingsley
Ben Kingsley
Sir Ben Kingsley, CBE is a British actor. He has won an Oscar, BAFTA, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild awards in his career. He is known for starring as Mohandas Gandhi in the film Gandhi in 1982, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor...
, and Evan Rachel Wood
Evan Rachel Wood
Evan Rachel Wood is an American actress and singer. She began her acting career in the late 1990s, appearing in several television series, including American Gothic and Once and Again...
before the project stalled. The project is currently being revived.
Untitled Romantic Sex Comedy
Peirce is currently working on a sex comedy "with a gender twist" for producer Judd ApatowJudd Apatow
Judd Apatow is an American film producer, director, and screenwriter. He is well known for his work in comedy films, especially for films he has been involved with throughout the latter half of the 2000s. He is the founder of Apatow Productions, a film production company that also developed the...
and Universal Studios
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
.
Filmography
- The Last Good Breath (1994) (16mm shortShort subjectA short film is any film not long enough to be considered a feature film. No consensus exists as to where that boundary is drawn: the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all...
) (director and writer) - Leopard of Tomorrow Program at 1994 Locarno International Film FestivalLocarno International Film FestivalThe Film Festival Locarno is an international film festival held annually in the city of Locarno, Switzerland since 1946. After Cannes and Venice and together with Karlovy Vary, Locarno is the Film Festival with the longest history...
- Boys Don't CryBoys Don't Cry (film)Boys Don't Cry is a 1999 American independent romantic drama film directed by Kimberly Peirce and co-written by Andy Bienen. The film is a dramatization of the real-life story of Brandon Teena, a transgender man played by Hilary Swank, who pursues a relationship with a young woman, played by Chloë...
(1999) (director and writer) - The L WordThe L WordThe L Word is an American co-production television drama series originally shown on Showtime portraying the lives of a group of lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people and their friends, family and lovers in the trendy Greater Los Angeles, California city of West Hollywood...
(2006) ("Lifeline") (director) - Stop-LossStop-Loss (film)Stop-Loss is a 2008 American drama film directed by Kimberly Peirce and starring Ryan Phillippe, Channing Tatum, Abbie Cornish and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. It was distributed by Paramount Pictures and produced by MTV Films.-Plot:...
(2008) (director and writer)
Appearances
- This Film Is Not Yet RatedThis Film Is Not Yet RatedThis Film is Not Yet Rated is a 2006 independent documentary film about the Motion Picture Association of America's rating system and its effect on American culture, directed by Kirby Dick and produced by Eddie Schmidt. It premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and was released limited on...
- Peirce about the trouble Boys Don't Cry had with the MPAA, particularly the censoring of the sex scenes. Peirce displayed anger over the fact the MPAA wanted the sex scene between Brandon and Lana removed but were satisfied with the overall brutality and violence in the murder scene. - Raging Bull - 30th Anniversary Release, Special Features
- Chinatown - Centennial Collection DVD, Special Features
- The GodfatherThe GodfatherThe Godfather is a 1972 American epic crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, based on the 1969 novel by Mario Puzo. With a screenplay by Puzo, Coppola and an uncredited Robert Towne, the film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Sterling Hayden, John Marley, Richard...
- The Coppola Restoration, Special Features, 'The Masterpiece That Almost Wasn't'
Awards
- Second place, Canada International Film Festival - The Last Good Breath
- Golden Award, Experiment Division, Chicago International Film FestivalChicago International Film FestivalThe Chicago International Film Festival is an annual film festival held every fall. Founded in 1964, it is the longest-running competitive film festival in North America....
- The Last Good Breath - First place, Suffolk Film Festival
- Best Debut Director - National Board of ReviewNational Board of Review of Motion PicturesThe National Board of Review of Motion Pictures was founded in 1909 in New York City, just 13 years after the birth of cinema, to protest New York City Mayor George B. McClellan, Jr.'s revocation of moving-picture exhibition licenses on Christmas Eve 1908. The mayor believed that the new medium...
- Best New Filmmaker - Boston Society of Film CriticsBoston Society of Film CriticsThe Boston Society of Film Critics is an organization of film reviewers from Boston, Massachusetts, United States, based publications.The BSFC was formed in 1981 to make "Boston's unique critical perspective heard on a national and international level by awarding commendations to the best of the...
- Young Hollywood Best Director and Best Screenwriter Awards
- Las Vegas Film Critics Society Sierra Award, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay
- Satyajit RaySatyajit RaySatyajit Ray was an Indian Bengali filmmaker. He is regarded as one of the greatest auteurs of 20th century cinema. Ray was born in the city of Kolkata into a Bengali family prominent in the world of arts and literature...
Award, 1999 - London Film Festival, FIPRESCI Prize
- Stockholm Film Festival, Best Screenplay and FIPRESCI Prize
- St. Louis International Film Festival, Audience Choice Award
- Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) Media Award, Best Limited Release
- Lambda Legal Liberty Award
- Hamilton Behind-the-Camera Directing Award
- Andrew SarrisAndrew SarrisAndrew Sarris is an American film critic and a leading proponent of the auteur theory of criticism.-Career:Sarris is generally credited with popularizing the auteur theory in the U.S...
Directing Award