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John Sayles
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Sayles in March 2008
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| Born | John Thomas Sayles (1950-09-28) September 28, 1950 (age 73) |
| Education | Williams College |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1971–present |
John Thomas Sayles (born September 28, 1950) is an American independent film director, screenwriter, editor, actor, and novelist. He is known for writing and directing the films The Brother from Another Planet (1984), Matewan (1987), Eight Men Out (1988), Passion Fish (1992), The Secret of Roan Inish (1994), Lone Star (1996), and Men with Guns (1997).
For Eight Men Out, Sayles was nominated for the USC Scripter Award. He has twice been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, for Passion Fish and Lone Star. At the 56th Golden Globe Awards, Men with Guns was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film. His directorial debut, Return of the Secaucus 7 (1980), as well as Matewan were added to the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 1997 and 2023, respectively.
Sayles was born on September 28, 1950, in Schenectady, New York, the son of Mary (née Rausch), a teacher, and Donald John Sayles, a school administrator.[1] Both of Sayles's parents were Catholic and of half-Irish descent. Sayles has referred to himself as a "Catholic atheist".[2] He attended Williams College with frequent collaborators Gordon Clapp and David Strathairn, as well as his longtime partner, Maggie Renzi. Sayles earned a B.A. in psychology in 1972.[3]
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After college, Sayles moved to Boston where he worked a variety of blue-collar jobs while writing short stories for The Atlantic.[3] These writings culminated in his first novel, The Pride of the Bimbos, published in 1975.
Like Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola, Sayles began his film career working with Roger Corman. He was discovered by Frances Doel. Sayles has been called "the greatest screenwriter to ever work at New World."[4]
In 1979, Sayles used $30,000 he earned writing scripts for Corman to fund his first film, Return of the Secaucus 7.[5] To make the film on a limited budget, he set the film in a large house so that he did not have to travel to or get permits for different locations, set the story over a three-day weekend to limit costume changes, and wrote about people his age so he could cast his friends in it. The film received near-unanimous critical acclaim at the time and has held its reputation. In November 1997, the National Film Preservation Board announced that Return of the Secaucus 7 would be one of the 25 films selected that year for preservation in the National Film Registry at the Library of Congress.
In 1983, after the films Baby It's You (starring Rosanna Arquette) and Lianna (a story in which a married woman becomes discontented with her marriage and falls in love with another woman), Sayles received a MacArthur Fellowship. He put the money into the science fiction feature The Brother from Another Planet,[6] a film about a three-toed humanoid who escapes bondage on another world and crash-lands in New York harbor; because he is Africanoid in appearance, he finds himself at home among the people of Harlem, being pursued by European-looking alien enslavers men in black.
In 1989, Sayles created and wrote the pilot episode for the short-lived television show Shannon's Deal about a down-and-out Philadelphia lawyer played by Jamey Sheridan. Sayles received a 1990 Edgar Award for his teleplay for the pilot. The show ran for 16 episodes before being cancelled in 1991.
Sayles has funded most of his films by writing genre scripts, such as Piranha, Alligator, The Howling, and The Challenge.[7] Having collaborated with Joe DanteonPiranha and The Howling, Sayles acted in Dante's movie, Matinee. Sayles gets the rest of his funding by working as a script doctor; he did rewrites for Apollo 13[8] and Mimic.
A genre script, called Night Skies, inspired what would eventually become the film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.[9] That film's director, Steven Spielberg, later commissioned Sayles to write a script (unused) for the fourth Jurassic Park film.
He has written and directed his own films, including Lone Star, Passion Fish, Eight Men Out, The Secret of Roan Inish, and Matewan. He serves on the advisory board for the Austin Film Society.[10] Maggie Renzi has been John Sayles's long-time companion (and collaborator), but they have not married. Renzi has produced most of his films since Lianna. They met as students at Williams College.
Sayles works with a regular repertory of actors, most notably Chris Cooper, David Strathairn, and Gordon Clapp, each of whom has appeared in at least four of his films.
In early 2003, Sayles signed the Not In Our Name "Statement of Conscience" (along with Noam Chomsky, Steve Earle, Brian Eno, Jesse Jackson, Viggo Mortensen, Bonnie Raitt, Oliver Stone, Marisa Tomei, Susan Sarandon and others) which opposed the invasion of Iraq.[11]
In February 2009, Sayles was reported to be writing an HBO series based on the early life of Anthony Kiedis of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The drama, tentatively titled Scar Tissue[needs update], centers on Kiedis's early years living in West Hollywood with his father. At that time, Kiedis's father, known as Spider, sold drugs (according to legend, his clients included The Who and Led Zeppelin) and mingled with rock stars on the Sunset Strip, all while aspiring to get into show business.[12]
In February 2010, Sayles began shooting his 17th feature film, the historical war drama Amigo, in the Philippines. The film is a fictional account of events during the Philippine–American War, with a cast that includes Joel Torre, Chris Cooper, and Garret Dillahunt.[13]
His novel A Moment in the Sun, set during the same period as Amigo, in the Philippines, Cuba, and the U.S., was released in 2011 by McSweeney's. It includes an account of the Wilmington Insurrection of 1898 in North Carolina, the only coup d'état in United States history in which a duly elected government was overthrown.[14]
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Editor |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1978 | Piranha | No | Yes | No |
| 1979 | The Lady in Red | No | Yes | No |
| 1980 | Return of the Secaucus 7 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Battle Beyond the Stars | No | Yes | No | |
| Alligator | No | Yes | No | |
| 1981 | The Howling | No | Yes | No |
| 1982 | The Challenge | No | Yes | No |
| 1983 | Lianna | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Baby It's You | Yes | Yes | No | |
| Enormous Changes at the Last Minute | No | Yes | No | |
| 1984 | The Brother from Another Planet | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 1986 | The Clan of the Cave Bear | No | Yes | No |
| 1987 | Wild Thing | No | Yes | No |
| Matewan | Yes | Yes | No | |
| 1988 | Eight Men Out | Yes | Yes | No |
| 1989 | Breaking In | No | Yes | No |
| 1991 | City of Hope | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 1992 | Passion Fish | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 1994 | The Secret of Roan Inish | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Men of War | No | Yes | No | |
| 1995 | Apollo 13 | No | Uncredited | No |
| 1996 | Lone Star | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 1997 | Men with Guns | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 1999 | Limbo | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 2002 | Sunshine State | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 2003 | Casa de los babys | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 2004 | Silver City | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 2007 | Honeydripper | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 2008 | The Spiderwick Chronicles | No | Yes | No |
| 2010 | Amigo | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 2013 | Go for Sisters | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 2018 | The Devil's Highway | No | Yes | No |
| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1980 | Return of the Secaucus 7 | Howie |
| 1983 | Lianna | Jerry |
| 1984 | The Brother from Another Planet | Man in Black #2 |
| 1986 | Something Wild | Motorcycle Cop |
| 1987 | Matewan | Hardshell Preacher |
| 1988 | Eight Men Out | Ring Lardner |
| 1991 | City of Hope | Carl |
| 1992 | Passion Fish | Soap Doctor |
| 1993 | Matinee | Bob |
| 1996 | Gridlock'd | Cop |
| 2009 | In the Electric Mist | Michael Goldman |
| 2012 | The Normals | Dr. Marx |
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This section of a biography of a living person does not include any references or sources. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living people that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately.
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Awards for Honeydripper:
Award for Silver City:
Awards for Sunshine State:
Awards for Limbo:
Awards for Men with Guns/Hombres armados:
Awards for Lone Star:
Awards for The Secret of Roan Inish:
Awards for Passion Fish:
Awards for City of Hope:
Awards for Matewan:
Awards for The Brother from Another Planet:
Awards for Return of the Secaucus 7:
Sayles's first published story, "I-80 Nebraska", won an O. Henry Award; his novel, Union Dues, was nominated for a National Book Award as well as the National Book Critics Circle Award.
In 1983,[34] Sayles received the John D. MacArthur Award, given to 20 Americans in diverse fields each year for their innovative work. He has also been the recipient of the Eugene V. Debs Award, the John Steinbeck Award and the John Cassavetes Award. He was honored with the Ian McLellan Hunter Award for Lifetime Achievement by the Writers Guild of America (1999).
Actors who have regularly worked with Sayles include Maggie Renzi, David Strathairn, Joe Morton, Chris Cooper, Mary McDonnell, Vincent Spano, Kevin Tighe, Josh Mostel, Tom Wright, Gordon Clapp and Angela Bassett.[35]
Work Actor |
1980 | 1983 | 1984 | 1987 | 1988 | 1991 | 1992 | 1994 | 1996 | 1997 | 1999 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2007 | 2010 | 2013 | |
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| Jace Alexander |  N |
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| Eliot Asinof | N |
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| Angela Bassett | N |
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| Jesse Borrego | N |
N
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| Leo Burmester | N |
N |
N |
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| Gordon Clapp | N |
N |
N |
N |
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| Bill Cobbs | N |
N |
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| Chris Cooper | N |
N |
N |
N |
N |
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| Liane Alexandra Curtis | N |
N |
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| Vondie Curtis-Hall | N |
N |
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| Richard Edson | N |
N |
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| Miguel Ferrer | N |
N |
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| Kathryn Grody | N |
N |
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| Lisa Gay Hamilton | N |
N
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| Daryl Hannah | N |
N |
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| Clifton James | N |
N |
N |
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| Kris Kristofferson | N |
N |
N |
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| Perry Lang | N |
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| Susan Lynch | N |
N |
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| Vanessa Martinez | N |
N |
N |
N
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| Mary McDonnell | N |
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| Sam McMurray | N |
N |
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| Joe Morton | N |
N |
N |
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| Josh Mostel | N |
N |
N |
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| Bill Raymond | N |
N |
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| Maggie Renzi | N |
N |
N |
N |
N |
N |
N |
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| John Sayles | N |
N |
N |
N |
N |
N |
N |
N |
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| Vincent Spano | N |
N |
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| Mary Steenburgen | N |
N |
N |
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| Fisher Stevens | N |
N |
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| David Strathairn | N |
N |
N |
N |
N |
N |
N |
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| Kevin Tighe | N |
N |
N |
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| Ralph Waite | N |
N |
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| Tom Wright | N |
N |
N |
N |
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Films directed by John Sayles
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