Sam Mendes - Biography - IMDb Sam Mendes Biography Showing all 72 items Jump to: Overview (4) | Mini Bio (1) | Spouse (1) | Trade Mark (5) | Trivia (38) | Personal Quotes (21) | Salary (2) Overview (4) 5' 9" (1.75 m) Mini Bio (1) Samuel Alexander Mendes was born on August 1, 1965 in Reading, England, UK to parents James Peter Mendes, a retired university lecturer, and Valerie Helene Mendes, an author who writes children's books. Their marriage didn't last long, James divorced Sam's mother in 1970 when Sam was just 5-years-old. Sam was educated at Cambridge University and joined the Chichester Festival Theatre following his graduation in 1987. Afterwards, he directed Judi Dench in "The Cherry Orchard", for which he won a Critics Circle Award for Best Newcomer. He then joined the Royal Shakespeare Company, where he directed such productions as "Troilus and Cressida" with Ralph Fiennes and "Richard III".

In 1992, he became artistic director of the reopened Donmar Warehouse in London, where he directed such productions as "The Glass Menagerie" and the revival of the musical "Cabaret", which earned four Tony Awards including one for Best Revival of a Musical. He also directed "The Blue Room" starring Nicole Kidman . In 1999, he got the chance to direct his first feature film, American Beauty (1999). The movie earned 5 Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director for Mendes, which is a rare feat for a first-time film director. - IMDb Mini Biography By: TrendEkiD@aol.com Spouse (1) ( 24 May 2003 - 3 October 2010) (divorced) (1 child) Trade Mark (5) Often begins his films with a voice-over narration from the main character; at the end of the movie the character finishes his narration in very much the same way it began. Music scores from Thomas Newman Very slow pull in, especially on table scenes Films typically deal with a family unit, be it real or surrogate.

In his films rain frequently marks the event of a death Trivia (38) Is a big cricket fan and is said to have incorporated the ideas of former England cricket captain Mike Brearly in his direction. Educated at Cambridge University in Cambridge, England, UK. He was awarded the C.B.E. (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2000 Queen's Birthday Honors List for his services to drama. Taught cricket (his passion) at Summer Fields School, Oxford, UK after leaving school for a year. Ranked #91 in Premiere's 2003 annual Power 100 List. Sam married English actress Kate Winslet in the West Indies in May 2003. Resides in both New York City and London, England. Son, Joe Alfie Winslet Mendes, was born on December 22, 2003, in New York, and weighed 7 pounds and 13 ounces. He was awarded the Laurence Olivier Theatre Award in 1996 (1995 season) for Best Director for both "Company" and "The Glass Menagerie" at the Donmar Warehouse.

He was nominated for Best Director at the 1999 Laurence Olivier Theatre Awards for the 1998 production of "The Blue Room". He was nominated for a 1998 Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for Best Director of the 1997 season for "Othello" at the Royal National Theatre. He was awarded the 2003 Laurence Olivier Theatre Award: Special for his services and contributions as Artistic Director of the Donmar Warehouse for the past ten years. He was awarded the 2003 Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for Best Director of 2002 for "Twelfth Night" and "Uncle Vanya" in repertory company at the Donmar Warehouse in London. He was awarded the 2002 London Critics Circle Theatre Award (Drama) for Best Director for both "Uncle Vanya" and "Twelfth Night" performed at the Donmar Warehouse. He was awarded the 1995 London Critics Circle Theatre Award (Drama Theatre) for Best Director for "The Glass Menagerie".

He was awarded the 1989 London Critics Circle Theatre Award (Drama Theatre Award) for Most Promising Newcomer as Director of Minerva Studio in Chichester, England. He was awarded the 2002 London Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Director for "Uncle Vanya" and "Twelfth Night" performed at the Donmar Warehouse. Has a home in Cotswolds, England. Was nominated for Broadway's 1998 Tony Award as Best Director (Musical), along with collaborator Rob Marshall , for a revival of "Cabaret." Was born in the same small Reading hospital where his wife, Kate Winslet , was born 10 years later. In 2000, he won his first Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play for his production of "The Real Thing". In 1999, he was Nominated for a Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play for "Electra". Ex-stepfather of Kate Winslet 's daughter, Mia. Childhood friend of Tom Hollander . Ranked #15 in the 2008 Telegraph's list "the 100 most powerful people in British culture".

Suggested the idea for initiating production on "Shrek the Musical" to Jeffrey Katzenberg of DreamWorks Animation during the creation of Shrek 2 (2004). Is a big fan of the first "Shrek" film. His father is Trinidadian. Ex-son-in-law of Roger Winslet . It was announced in March 2010 that he and Kate Winslet had separated earlier the same year. His paternal grandparents were of Trinidad's ethnic Portuguese community. His grandfather is famed West Indian writer Alfred H. Mendes. Announced new film and theater production company, Scamp, with his two business partners, Pippa Harris (who heads the film division) and Caro Newling (who heads the theater division). Dreamworks is to automatically get first privileges with all of Scamp's film projects. [February 2004] He is directing Julianne Moore and Bill Nighy in the Broadway theater production of "The Vertical Hour" in New York City. [January 2007] Directing "Twelfth Night" and "Uncle Vanya" for the Donmar Warehouse Theatre Co. at the Brooklyn Academy of Music featuring Emily Watson .

[February 2003] He is the first Oscar-Winning director to helm a James Bond movie. He is also the first director, since John Glen , to helm two movies in a row. Along with Delbert Mann , Jerome Robbins , Robert Redford , James L. Brooks and Kevin Costner , he is one of only six people to win the Academy Award for Best Director for their directorial debut: Mann for Marty (1955), Robbins for West Side Story (1961) (which he co-directed with Robert Wise , Redford for Ordinary People (1980), Brooks for Terms of Endearment (1983), Costner for Dances with Wolves (1990) and Mendes for American Beauty (1999). Personal Quotes (21) Sex. What Fun. to the students of Atlantic Theater School If you shout in the theater, people think you've gone a bit mad. But if you raise your voice on a film set, people just work a bit harder. My process is slow and I enjoy it too much to rush. And I like to return to the theater between films.

But after not doing any movies for a few years, perhaps I might do two in two years. Regarding his commitment to directing Jarhead (2005) without a personal soldiering background: "This is new territory to me, but I hadn't spent two days in American suburbia when I directed American Beauty (1999). I only knew the script had an unusual and original voice and it was a challenge I wanted to take on. Jarhead (2005) is equal parts black humor, honesty, rage, lyricism, profanity and the mixture of machismo jarhead culture. With the exception of Three Kings (1999) this is a war that has been overlooked but which has a burning relevance to what is happening right now in the Middle East." "I feel very undeserving. I feel the award is a bank loan, which I'll take out and pay back by the end of 20 years, and by then I'll feel more deserving." - On receiving his Lifetime Achievement award from the Directors Guild of Great Britain. Regarding the different reactions of Europeans and Americans to his film, Jarhead (2005): "I feel they've understood in Europe.

In America, it's like talking about a different movie. Fundamentally, "Jarhead" disobeys all the laws of American movies, and not just the political laws of American movies right now, which demand on some level to tell us which side they're on. In Europe, there's a sense this film comes from the tradition of absurdist war movies about the futility of conflict. It has more in common with Beckett, Sartre and Banuel than it does with Oliver Stone . In America, they assumed I was trying to make an Oliver Stone movie and that I'd failed". I don't want to be known for one thing. I don't want to have an adjective based around my name. 'Lynchian', I know what that is, I know what 'Kubrickian' is, and I know what 'Bergmanesque' means. But there isn't going to be, and I don't want there to be, a 'Mendesian'. [on Stanley Kubrick ] Of course, his films are all chilling. 2001 blew away the three act structure, but his other films are equally unique. We are only now catching up.

Natasha combined the best of Redgrave and Richardson: the enormous depth and emotional force of a great actor on the one hand, and the intelligence and objectivity of a great director on the other. She was one of a kind, a magnificent actress. She was also an amazing mother, a loyal friend, and the greatest and most generous host you could ever hope to meet. It defies belief that this gifted, brave, tenacious, wonderful woman is gone. (on Natasha Richardson 's tragic death.) I am fascinated by America, no question about that. I will stop making films about it eventually, though, because I think there's a limited amount to say. But I am drawn to it. I don't think it's weird for an outsider to go and make movies that are quintessentially American. I think the 20th century shows that there is a tradition of people being drawn to America as the site of the great mythic landscape. You can tell big stories there that you might not be able to tell with such scale and grace elsewhere. [on Away We Go (2009)] All my films are linked by similar concerns, if you look below the surface.

They're all about one or more people who are lost and trying to find a way through. It's no different with this one, it just happens that they do find a way through. Get in touch with your inner 12 year old. He or she was an interesting kid. On the day, be prepared - but also be prepared to make shit up. Making an action sequence is only interesting when you're in the cutting room. Up until then, it is literally the most tedious thing you will ever do. You can only ever point the camera at one thing at a time. You are playing roulette with someone else's money. If you are going to bet it all on black, you need to be able to explain why. You need to learn to tune out the white noise. You can not please everyone. Tarantino, Spielberg, Nolan, Scorsese, Greengrass, J.J. and Paul Thomas Anderson all still shoot on film. There is a reason. You're trying to surf the big wave, so be prepared to be wiped out - but when you catch it, it feels like nothing else.

When you're choosing for collaborators, do not listen to the people who tell you, "Yes, but I've never done a big movie." If they are any good, they will learn - just like I did. When you get excited, don't be afraid to leap out of your chair and sing the James Bond theme. Salary (2) Sam Mendes | Biography, Movie Highlights and Photos | AllMovie twitter Biography by Michael Hastings Director Sam Mendes was already a veteran of the Broadway and London stage when he made one of the most auspicious feature film debuts in recent memory with American Beauty , a dark, satirical, and ultimately revelatory vision of suburban discontent. The low-budget Hollywood production struck a chord with audiences and critics, garnering Mendes a truckload of year-end awards. The soft-spoken director was born in 1965 in England, an only child of Portuguese descent. His parents divorced when he was five. After graduating from Cambridge University, the young Mendes made his mark with several popular, innovative stage productions in London's West End before joining the ranks of the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1992.

By his mid-twenties, Mendes had staked a claim among such peers as Danny Boyle and Nicholas Hytner -- future film directors themselves -- and had already coaxed attention-getting performances from such luminaries as Dame Judi Dench and Ralph Fiennes . Mendes then became artistic director of London's Donmar Warehouse Theater, where he programmed an eclectic mix of Shakespeare, Stephen Sondheim , and Tennessee Williams . Critics noted the director's ability to attract big-name talents seeking to prove their mettle, exemplified by Nicole Kidman 's daring, multi-character performance in Mendes ' London and Broadway productions of The Blue Room. It was his stark, Tony-winning rendition of Cabaret, however, which prompted Steven Spielberg to hand Mendes the script for American Beauty . Spielberg 's DreamWorks company was the only Hollywood studio to respond to sitcom writer Alan Ball 's elliptical tale of Middle American redemption; and in Cabaret, Spielberg saw the work not just of an actor's director but of a distinctly cinematic visionary. In the film's production, Mendes rehearsed extensively with his cast, storyboarding the film with the aid of Spielberg and legendary cinematographer Conrad Hall .

Though the picture was conceived as a dark, ironic comedy, Mendes discovered in the editing process a more reverent, spiritual side to the material. Through careful marketing, the film enjoyed a long run at the box office; in a year filled with scandal and tragedy, American audiences responded to its caustic but inspiring tone. Critics and the industry took note as well, as was particularly evidenced by the slew of year-end attention garnered by the film and its director: among American Beauty 's many honors were 5 Academy Awards, including a Best Picture win and a Best Director Oscar statuette for Mendes . Immediately following the win, Mendes laid low for a while, choosing to focus on the Donmar Theatre instead of the piles of scripts that were being thrown his way. (Among the projects Mendes turned down was Charlie Kaufman's Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, which would later become George Clooney's directorial debut.) He re-emerged in 2002 with the big-budget Tom Hanks vehicle Road to Perdition, a dark rumination on the nature of violence and the seemingly-inextricable bonds between fathers (or father figures) and sons.

Prepped for a high-profile Oscar-season bow, Perdition was moved up to the summer to make way for another Hanks/DreamWorks epic, Catch Me If You Can. Still, upon its release, the R-rated Perdition garnered a sizable amount of awards talk for its stark, poetic visual sense, its mournful tone, and a muted, restrained performance from the usually-sunny Tom Hanks. Better yet, DreamWorks' careful, "counter-programming" platform release ensured a healthy box-office life for the film, as it opened to $20 million on less than 2,000 screens. In 2003 Mendes married Titanic actress Kate Winslet, returning to the director's chair shortly thereafter to explore the futility of war in Jarhead (2005) -- a complex drama that drew decidedly mixed reviews. But if Mendes was disapponted it wouldn't last long, because after serving as producer of director Marc Foster's powerful 2007 drama The Kite Runner he scored a major hit with his adaptation of Richard Yates' acclaimed novel Revolutionary Road.

Not only did that film offer the esteemed British filmmaker yet another opportunity to explore the American landscape but it also provided him a chance to work with his wife Winslet, whose intense performance in the film earned her a BAFTA nomination for Best Leading Actress (an award which the double-nominated actress did indeed win, but for her captivating turn as a former Nazi in Stephen Daldry's The Reader instead of her intense performance as a frustrated American housewife opposite Leonardo DiCaprio). Though Mendes' subsequent study of the American family, 2009's Away We Go, was notably more optimistic than his previous ones, the gentle road comedy came and went with little fanfare at the box office. Shortly thereafter, it was announced that Mendes would take on a quintessentially British property as the director of Skyfall -- the 23rd film in the long-running James Bond franchise, and the third to feature actor Daniel Craig as the globe-trotting super spy. Movie Highlights Factsheet Began directing for the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1990 when he was 25 years old.

Won Best Director at the 1996 Laurence Olivier Awards for Company and The Glass Menagerie, and became the Awards' first triple winner in 2003 when he received Best Director for Twelfth Night and Uncle Vanya, as well as a special award for his work as artistic director of the Donmar Warehouse theater. His feature-film directorial debut came in 1999 with the critically acclaimed and Oscar-winning American Beauty. Received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Directors Guild of Great Britain Awards in 2005, despite having directed only two features at that point in his career. Engaged in early talks with composer Stephen Sondheim to create a film version of the Tony Award-winning musical Sweeney Todd, but the project fell through. Tim Burton later stepped up to direct the film in 2007. Sam Mendes: Updated News, Videos, Wiki and Photos - TopEntity.com SAM MENDES SAM MENDES Samuel Alexander "Sam" Mendes, CBE (born 1 August 1965) is an English stage and film director.

He is best known for directing the comedy-drama film American Beauty (1999), which earned him the Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Director, the crime film Road to Perdition (2002), and the James Bond films Skyfall (2012) and Spectre (2015). He also is known for dark re-inventions of the stage musicals Cabaret (1994), Oliver! (1994), Company (1995), and Gypsy (2003). He directed an original West End stage musical for the first time with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2013). In 2000 Mendes was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II for "services to drama" and in the same year was awarded the Shakespeare Prize by the Alfred Toepfer Foundation in Hamburg, Germany. In 2005, he received a lifetime achievement award from the Directors Guild of Great Britain. In 2008 The Daily Telegraph ranked him number 15 in their list of the "100 most powerful people in British culture".

Movie Interview: Sam Mendes On 'Skyfall' : NPR Heard on Morning Edition NPR Staff Sam Mendes, best known for his Academy Award-nominated films American Beauty and Revolutionary Road, takes a turn with the action film Skyfall. Stuart Wilson/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Stuart Wilson/Getty Images A new James Bond movie opens this week, 50 years after the first film, Dr. No. The latest installment, Skyfall, finds Daniel Craig once again in 007's perfectly tailored suit. And this time, Bond is battling both the bad guys and his own mortality. Skyfall is directed by an English theater veteran, albeit a young one. Sam Mendes was a boy wonder of that scene in the late '80s, directing Judi Dench in The Cherry Orchard when he was just 24. He staged a much-acclaimed revival of Cabaret, first in London and then on Broadway. And his first feature film, American Beauty, won him a Best Director Oscar. It was on his second movie, Road to Perdition, that Mendes met Craig. They'd meet up again just a few years later at a party and start discussing James Bond.

The director explains to NPR's Renee Montagne how that conversation would lead him to the world of the MI6 agent — and how he made the experience his own. Interview Highlights On how he came to direct the film "[Daniel Craig and I] both had a couple of drinks, and I asked him ... when he was doing the new Bond movie. And he said, 'I don't know.' And I said, 'And who's going to direct it?' And he said, 'I don't know. Why don't you do it?' And I can honestly say that I hadn't any strategy. I hadn't any particular agenda in asking him. I was just making small talk, literally. But it never occurred to me until he said it. I think Daniel sobered up the next day, realized that he'd offered me the job, and it wasn't really his position to do that. So he called the producers, and two weeks later I met them. And they were very, very collaborative and very open. It was very clear from the beginning what they wanted was not a Bond movie, but my Bond movie.

And so I felt very comfortable from that moment on, really." Article continues after sponsorship Credit: Sony Pictures On taking on the Bond franchise "Well the main trepidation was that I would not make a movie that was personal to me in some way. And then I had to make a decision of whether to go back and look at all the Bond movies, or to sort of not look at them — to remember the ones that I remembered and forget the others and maybe go back to the books, which I did. "I chose the latter course, which was to not think about it too much as a Bond movie, but as a movie.

And there was something else as well, which was that I wanted to kind of get back in touch with my 12-year-old self, [who] had sat down and watched Live and Let Die with Roger Moore in, whatever it was, the mid-'70s, which was my first Bond experience, and remember some of that excitement." On first experiencing the Bond mystique "There's a great — with the significant risk of sounding a bit pretentious — there's a great Camus quote, in which he says something like, I may paraphrase, but, 'A man's work is nothing more or less than the slow trek to rediscover, through the detours of art, those two or three great and simple images in the presence of which his heart first opened.' "It's that you're sort of changed by those — those two or three ... 'great and simple images.' [In] those days, in the prehistoric times before DVD and video and access to these movies at the touch of a button, the previous Bond movies were aired at Christmas, traditionally, on the BBC — and as a consequence ...

they were freighted with significance, and they were big events in family life." On the evolution of James Bond as a character "We didn't really create Bond as a dark character, you know. It was always there. It's in the Flemings. Really, we've come back to things that were suggested many years ago in the novels. One of the things I love about the creation of Bond by [Ian] Fleming is that there's a sort of cruel wit. And, particularly in the last trilogy of novels, the character is suffering from a kind of ennui, a mixture of boredom, cynicism, self-loathing, loathing of his job. I mean, he's very, very dark. Mendes on the set of Skyfall with Judi Dench, who plays M. Francois Duhamel/Sony Pictures "In fact, these are all things that were features of Bond right at the beginning. The issue became, as they moved towards the more difficult novels, they started abandoning some of the dark stuff, because they thought it wasn't commercial. And Bond became a much more, I won't say 'jokey,' but a much lighter character and more self-referential.

"So I think this idea that somehow we've created a dark and complex Bond is — I'd love to feel that that was true, but I don't think it is. I think it's always been there. ... You just need to dig a little under the surface." On the element of fun in the Bond movies "Part of the fun of doing a Bond movie is being able to play on the audience's prior knowledge of all sorts of things. And not only large-ticket items like, for example, the Aston Martin DB5, which I was very keen to get into the movie because it's something that, as a child, was my way in, and I loved it. "But also lines, echoes, tiny moments, musical quotes — that's the fun of it. And I think that, you know, there has to be that sense of fun. ... There's a danger that films like this can take themselves too seriously, and it's the humor that tells you that you're watching something that is made in a style — in a high style sometimes, but, you know, [a style] that hovers a foot above reality, that never quite touches down.

"Because in the era where Bond began, you know, there were no such things as franchise films, there were no such things as a series of movies or, indeed, you know, [movies] featuring an antihero. But now you can't move for tripping over them, from Bourne to The Dark Knight. ... And it forces you to define what makes Bond, Bond — as opposed to Bourne or Bruce Wayne or any of these other characters. "And you come back again and again to a tonal issue, but you can push the character through some, you know, some dark protest of the soul — some something that is ... stripping away layers of him, and we hope to try to achieve that in the movie. But at the same time you have to find the tonal moments when you know you're watching a Bond movie." On keeping Bond relevant "You sort of rediscover him in each new story, and I think that in that regard, dealing with an iconic character like this is not so far away from where I originally came from — from theater. You know, you're doing a production of Richard III or The Cherry Orchard, [and] you can't be unaware of the other productions of the play that have existed.

But it doesn't stop you somehow rediscovering it and insisting that the audience goes on the journey as if for the first time, each time." NOW: The Film | Now In the Wings on a World Stage (Official Trailer) | Kevin Spacey's Latest Movie - Kevin Spacey Sign up SYNOPSIS Kevin Spacey, Sam Mendes and the Bridge Project Company go on the road in NOW: in the Wings on a World Stage. In over 200 performances, and across 3 continents, Kevin and the troupe reveal some of the most intimate moments behind the scenes of their staging of Shakespeare’s classic tragedy, “Richard III.” Their story and experiences weave around, and reflect on, excerpts from the play from their various locations, from Epidaurus to Doha, and provides a great opportunity for those who have never experienced Spacey on stage to witness his immersive and captivating interpretation of Richard III. NOW chronicles the first collaboration between Spacey and Mendes since both won Academy Awards® for their work on American Beauty. ABOUT MY NEW EXCLUSIVE FILM I have quietly been working on this 90 minute feature for the last few years.

The film chronicles my latest collaboration with Sam Mendes; a stage production of “Richard III.” It had been more than a decade since we worked together on American Beauty, when the opportunity arose for Sam and I to take this theatre production on tour to 12 cities around the world with him as director, and myself as the tyrannical Richard III. NOW is a close, backstage look at the total experience of being an actor and what it takes to form a company – from rehearsing every day and beginning to create a role with your director, crew and fellow actors to going on tour and spending a year together on the road in many different cultures and countries. There are a multitude of challenges that come with being in a new theatre in an unknown city every few weeks. There were some tears, but also a lot of laughs. Sharing these unforgettable moments as well as practicing our craft across three continents over ten months time brought us together as a family. Our journey took us from London to the deserts of Doha, across the Great Wall of China, through Istanbul, Singapore, Sydney, Naples, San Francisco, Beijing, Hong Kong and ultimately brought us to New York City.

We called the film NOW not only because it is the first word of the first sentence of "Richard III" ("Now is the winter of our discontent"), but also because it illustrates how the film puts you in the present tense, into the live moment onstage and brings the audience on the journey alongside us. This is the first feature film directed by my longstanding friend and collaborator, Jeremy Whelehan. Jeremy’s unique eye and background in theatre allowed him to blend into the company and because of this he was able deliver an intimate, honest and revealing film of our shared experiences. Our production of “Richard III” was part of a larger endeavor called The Bridge Project which was born from mine and Sam’s love of the living theatre.

As Sam puts it: "The idea behind The Bridge Project was born out of a simple desire: a wish for artists, collaborators, and audiences on both sides of the Atlantic to experience one another's work, talent, and artistry in the theater." Our commitment to this 3-year project saw Sam direct five plays: Shakespeare's “The Winter's Tale,” “As You Like It,” and “The Tempest,” as well as Tom Stoppard's adaptation of Chekhov's “The Cherry Orchard.” What started out as our own passionate and idealistic project turned into a success beyond my highest hopes. The artwork for NOW was kindly donated by a good friend of mine Jonathan Yeo ( ) who is an incredible artist. He painted a portrait of me as Richard lll which hung at the National Gallery in London for a time. I thank both Sam and the entire company of actors for giving Jeremy and his team such access to their experiences. I am also extremely grateful to all our partners throughout the world and to the audiences which came out and packed every theatre we played in for over ten months. I've made this film for my fans and for all those people who ask why the theatre means so much to me, and indeed to all actors.

I hope this film might answer some of those questions. NOW is in select USA theatres and available for download here May 2 Kevin Sam Mendes - Spectre Sam Mendes Sam Mendes Director Sam Mendes’ work directing theatre and film spans 25 years. He became the first Artistic Director of the Minerva Theatre in Chichester at 24 years of age, and three years later founded the Donmar Warehouse in London, which he ran for ten years. During that time he directed numerous productions for the Royal Shakespeare Company, National Theatre, in the West End and on Broadway. In 2009 he founded the Bridge Project, a transatlantic classical theatre company. His many theatre awards include: four Olivier Awards, two Tony Awards, four Evening Standard Awards, several Critics’ Choice Awards and the Hamburg Shakespeare Prize. His feature film debut was 1998’s American Beauty, winner of the Academy Award for Best Director and Best Picture, and he has since directed, among others, The Road To Perdition, Jarhead, Revolutionary Road and Skyfall, the most successful film of all time in the UK and one of the most successful of all time worldwide. Spectre is his seventh feature film.

In 2003 he founded Neal Street Productions with Pippa Harris and Caro Newling to produce theatre, film and television. He is a recipient of a CBE, and the Directors’ Guild Lifetime Achievement Award. Sam Mendes, 'Skyfall' Director, On Bringing Humor Back To James Bond & Flirting With The Idea Of Casting Sean Connery | The Huffington Post Sam Mendes, 'Skyfall' Director, On Bringing Humor Back To James Bond & Flirting With The Idea Of Casting Sean Connery 11/05/2012 10:16 am ET | Updated Nov 05, 2012 Mike Ryan Senior Entertainment Writer, The Huffington Post Sam Mendes faced two big challenges when he set about making a new James Bond movie. The first was to re-energize a franchise that had just been rebooted two films ago.

Though 2006's "Casino Royale" -- Daniel Craig's first as Bond -- generated plenty of goodwill, much of it was squandered by the lackluster "Quantum of Solace." It was fun seeing Bond get gritty in "Royale," but after "Solace" there was a general consensus that a little bit of fun might be nice. The second challenge Sam Mendes faced was overcoming the fact that he's Sam Mendes, Oscar-winner. Mendes won Best Director for his first feature film, "American Beauty." And although he's directed films with action -- "Road to Perdition" and "Jarhead" qualify, though both are a little more nuanced than, say, "The Expendables 2" -- "Sam Mendes" is not the most obvious answer to the the question, "Who should direct the next James Bond movie?" Fortunately, he knows that. I met a rather jovial Mendes in his Manhattan hotel room to discuss his ambitions for "Skyfall," his strategy for bringing humor back to the franchise and his rationale for almost but not quite inviting Sean Connery to take a role in the new film.

I have to admit, when I first heard your name attached to this movie ... You went, "Oh, noooo!" Not at all, but I did think, Really? Of course. Yeah. You're not the first name I thought of. No, everyone thought the same thing. But, that's why I wanted to do it. That was the reason that I just thought, You know what? It's time for a challenge and to see whether I can do something that's outside of my comfort zone. And, also, I was dying to do something that was a genre movie. I wasn't like walking a tightrope between different genres or trying to, you know, do something that was a balancing act of different tones. Right. "Skyfall" is a lot different than "Away We Go." Oh, yeah, that's true. But, you know, that's how I've always been, career-wise. But I also feel like I was getting pigeonholed and in danger of repeating myself. Really? Why? Well, now, people come in -- like your good self just said ...

I don't take offense to it, but, "You do heavy, dramatic films." And it's like, "OK, I didn't really." My first movie I made, "American Beauty," was a comedy. The last film I made was a comedy. But, the perception is serious. Well, I didn't mean it that way. I just didn't picture you doing a more straightforward action film. You see, to me, Bond isn't straightforward. That's true. And it's not pure action, you know? It's roots are in thriller. And I always felt -- even now -- that the roots of Bond movies, rather than the novels, is not Fleming but Hitchcock. It was "North by Northwest." That, to me, is the first true Bond movie. And Cary Grant is the antecedent of Bond. And that is the ideal, almost, of a thriller. And it also has great action sequences in it and great romance. You can see the echoes of that movie throughout the '60s movies. You know, Connery, when he started, was an echo of Cary Grant. Cary Grant was the real thing. He was the sexiest and the most suave -- the best actor.

I was going to ask you which of the previous Bond movies did you most try to capture a tone from, but is the answer "North by Northwest"? No, I think that would be like trying to get the tone of "Citizen Kane." Of course I want to! But I'm not sure I can. You should just say that every time: "Citizen Kane." [Laughs] We'd all like to get "North by Northwest." It doesn't get any better than that. But, no, I wanted it to have its own distinctive tone. I wanted to have a combination of the things that you expect from a Bond movie, but I wanted it to carry more weight. I wanted to go further back into his past. I wanted to learn more about him. And I wanted to reintroduce the great, kind of flamboyant villain again. Do you think that was missing from the first two Daniel Craig Bond movies? A bit ... in comparison with "Dr. No" or "Goldfinger." With Rosa Klebb, these were great actors -- with Robert Shaw in "From Russia with Love" -- these guys, they somehow have more to them.

And, on top of that, I wanted to reintroduce the MI6 world that had been eradicated in "Casino Royale." I wanted to bring back Q, I wanted to deal with M. I wanted get a sense of place in London of what the point of MI6 was -- and, therefore, what the point of Bond was. And, therefore, the point of Bond movies. People loved "Casino Royale," but didn't care as much for "Quantum of Solace"... Right. But with "Casino Royale," the message was, "Forget what you knew about James Bond before now." "Skyfall" seems to be saying, "Now, remember all of the stuff that came before." [Laughs] Right. Right. It was taking the new, tougher Bond -- the realer Bond, who has much more of an inner world -- and bringing back some of the things that could reconnect me to my inner 13-year-old, that gave a thrill when I was a kid: the DB5, the Bond theme. And doing them in a way that was dramatically justifiable in the story. That's really important.

The easiest thing in the world is to pull a stunt like the DB5, but bringing it at the right time in the movie -- you've been through this incredible chase sequence, which, I hope people are on the edge of their seats -- it's just a chance to breath again. And to enjoy the fact that you're in a Bond movie before you come into the third act. So, you can get away with those things as long as they're rhythmic in the right place in the movie. Same with the little in-jokes: I invented that thing with the martini on the day -- just shaking it. [In "Skyfall," Bond, who famously orders his martinis "shaken, not stirred," watches in silence as a bartender shakes his drink without being told to do so. When it's delivered, he simply says, "Perfect."] Because I've never seen it actually shaken. So it's there, but it's not there. That, for me, was to make the familiar strange. And I assume you wanted more comedy back in the movie. I don't remember laughing much during the last two and I laughed out loud quite a few times during this one. Especially during the scene with a Komodo dragon.

See, you're laughing right now just thinking about it. [Laughing] Well, that made me laugh and that, by the way, was Daniel. I didn't tell him to do that. He just said, "I think it would be really funny if he was really freaked out. Like, 'What the fuck is that?'" I'm glad "sad James Bond" seems to be gone. You know, I had a joke with Daniel. I said, "James Bond has two eyebrows. He doesn't have a unibrow." There can be mischief and playfulness and droll humor throughout. And Daniel was very keen on having some of that back, because he felt that he'd got a little bit humorless. He likes comedy -- he just did "SNL." Right! But the danger in "we need to get some laughs back in" is to put jokes in. The laughs have to come from situations -- just like the one you just described. There are some great one-liners, like Q saying, "Were you expecting an exploding pen?" Where you know an audience is going to say, "OK, fine." There's an obvious laugh. Then there are ones that are more circumstantial.

And then Javier [Bardem] does some fabulous things. You brought back a lot of nostalgia. There's a scene in Scotland with Albert Finney. Was there any thought of approaching Sean Connery for that role? There was a definite discussion about that -- way, way early on. But I think that's problematic. Because, to me, it becomes too ... it would take you out of the movie. Connery is Bond and he's not going to come back as another character. It's like, he's been there. So, it was a very brief flirtation with that thought, but it was never going to happen, because I thought it would distract. Did he have the authority to do that? No [Laughs]. Whose party was this? It was Hugh Jackman's -- [Daniel] was doing a play with Hugh Jackman and it was Hugh's birthday party. I had seen the play and I said, "When are you doing the next Bond?" He said, "I don't know." I asked, "Who's directing it?" He said, "I don't know. Do you want to do it?" And I went, "Yeah." And there literally was a feeling in the pit of my stomach.

I can honestly tell you that I've never even thought about it -- it just suddenly occurred to me. But, the moment he said it, I thought, You know, I'd really love that. I'd love to do something like that. And the more I thought about it, the more I felt, You know what, it's going to surprise a few people -- maybe even me. But, maybe that's a good thing. And it snowballed from there. Is there any detriment to winning the Academy Award for Best Picture with your first movie? Best Picture? No. Best Director? Possibly. How so? Because, you know, weight of expectations. People still reviewing your first picture when you make your second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth picture. You know what I mean? Like, still reviewing it. I'm like, "Just review what's in front of you" -- those sorts of things. But, mostly, it's positive. It's just remarkable that it was your first movie. That doesn't happen very often. That's true. It was a strange and in many ways wonderful and in many ways perplexing time.

But, the thing that is funny about it -- and it's very difficult to explain without sounding un-generous and you never want that, but -- if you win the Super Bowl or the World Series, the act and the event are the same thing. The winning of it and the award is the same thing. You just performed on the field, now you get this. You did it. You're the best baseball player this year, this team has won. The act of making the film and the event of being awarded are two totally different things. Completely unconnected, so there's no actual visceral thrill in it. You're like, "I made this movie a year ago." And now it's like, "Ohhhhh, OK!" You haven't "done it." Other people have done it and given it to you. And you can't prove that you're the best the way that you can when you have four runs to San Diego's three. You won the game! You can't prove anything and it's a very odd experience, because you don't feel like it's been in your control.

And then people review the event, the award -- and the fact that the movie has won the award -- as opposed to just looking at the film again. And that's very odd. And it's very particular to this merry-go-round that is the Academy Awards. Mike Ryan is senior writer for Huffington Post Entertainment. You can contact him directly on Twitter. Skyfall London Premiere

Question: What is the title of the first feature film directed by Sam Mendes?
Answer: American Beauty