Alexander Payne
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"Alexander Payne" is an American film director, screenwriter, and Film producer/producer, known for the films Citizen Ruth (1996), Election (1999 film)/Election (1999), About Schmidt (2002), Sideways (film)/Sideways (2004), The Descendants (2011), and Nebraska (film)/Nebraska (2013). His films are noted for their dark humor and satire/satirical depictions of contemporary American society. Payne is a two time winner of the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, and a three time nominee of the Academy Award for Best Director.

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A pitfall of making a comedy with a studio-and it's also an American cultural thing-is that I get tired of being encouraged to go always for laughs.

You just never know when you're living in a golden age.

Hollywood films have become a cesspool of formula and it's up to us to try to change it... I feel like a preacher! But it's really true. I feel personally responsible for the future of American cinema. Me personally.

I mean, look, I love movies, not just the ones I make... In fact, I don't like the movies I make very much.

[asked which wine he would drink to celebrate] We're having some tequila.

To be fair-not that I really care about being fair to anyone, ever-but to be fair, I'm sure that same ratio of bad films to good probably exists in every studio.

But it's just that the whole country is making generally lousy films these days and has been for quite a while. That's the big problem that we all have to think about.

You would own the negative after seven years. The company would actually own the film. It's kind of a financial and moral thing about owning your own creative work.

That's how I like to do it with actors, have them really go for it and I'll tell them when it's too much. It's always easier to bring it back then to push it further.