Finn Taylor

Last updated

Finn Taylor (born July 4, 1958) is an American film writer and director.

Contents

Background

Taylor was born in Oakland, California, and lived in Norway for a few years in his childhood. He attended the University of Montana and later San Francisco State University. He studied poetry and playwriting at San Francisco State before moving into screenwriting in 1993. [1]

Taylor frequently works and produces films in the San Francisco bay area rather than for major studios in Hollywood and Los Angeles. Taylor told the San Francisco Chronicle , "I feel really strongly that I stay based up here. My roots in San Francisco go way back to when I ran a literary series at Intersection for the Arts. I see no reason to work anywhere else." [2] Taylor has also cited the greater creative control and the ability to make unconventional films as a reason for remaining independent. In 1994, Taylor wrote his first feature film, Pontiac Moon.

Career

Dream with the Fishes

Taylor's directorial debut was in 1997 with Dream with the Fishes . The film follows a suicidal man who forms a friendship with a terminally ill man. Taylor has claimed that the film is loosely autobiographical. Taylor himself once spent six years traveling around the country with a friend. In one interview, Taylor claimed, "When I was 19, I contemplated suicide and attempted to hold up a drug store." [3] The film debuted at the Sundance Film Festival, and would go on to earn $460,000 in limited release. [4] The film also received a relatively positive reception from critics. Roger Ebert said that the film, "shows some of the signs of unchained ambition." [5] The Los Angeles Times said "of all the towering blockbusters this summer, 'Dream With The Fishes' has more heart than the lot of them."

Cherish

Taylor's next film would be 2002's Cherish , a romantic comedy about a female animator who is implicated in a murder. Taylor conceived the film while studying people under house arrest in the bracelet program. The film is also recognizable for its soundtrack of pop music from the 1970s and 1980s, including Modern English, Soft Cell, The Turtles, and Tom Petty. The film debuted at Sundance and would receive mixed reviews from critics and had mediocre box office success. The San Francisco Chronicle said "Cherish is a film of real beauty". [6]

The Darwin Awards

Taylor's next film would be The Darwin Awards , which Taylor began writing in 1999. The film is set around a forensic detective investigating a potential Darwin award winner. It was also Taylor's highest budgeted film to date, and boasted a cast of well known actors including Joseph Fiennes, Winona Ryder, and David Arquette. In January 2006, The Darwin Awards premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. The film was the first to feature actor Chris Penn to be released after the actor's death. Taylor would say of Penn, "he gave an incredible performance in the film that's going to make a lot of people laugh for a years to come." [7]

Filmography

YearTitleDirectorWriter
1994 Pontiac Moon NoYes
1997 Dream with the Fishes YesYes
2002 Cherish YesYes
2006 The Darwin Awards YesYes
2016 Unleashed YesYes
2023Avenue of the Giants [8] YesYes

Notes

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sean Penn</span> American actor and filmmaker (born 1960)

Sean Justin Penn is an American actor and film director. He has won Academy Awards for his roles in the mystery drama Mystic River (2003) and the biopic Milk (2008).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Naomi Watts</span> British actress (born 1968)

Naomi Ellen Watts is a British actress. After her family moved to Australia, she made her film debut there in the drama For Love Alone (1986) and then appeared in three television series, Hey Dad..! (1990), Brides of Christ (1991), and Home and Away (1991), and the film Flirting (1991). After moving to the United States, Watts initially struggled as an actress, taking roles in small-scale films until she starred in David Lynch's psychological thriller Mulholland Drive in 2001 as an aspiring actress. The role began her rise to international prominence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patricia Arquette</span> American actress (born 1968)

Patricia Arquette is an American actress. She made her feature film debut as Kristen Parker in A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987) and has since starred in several film and television productions. She has received several awards including an Academy Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Arquette</span> American actor (born 1971)

David Arquette is an American actor and former professional wrestler. He is best known for his role as Dewey Riley in the slasher film franchise Scream, for which he won a Teen Choice Award and two Blockbuster Entertainment Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexis Arquette</span> American actress (1969–2016)

Alexis Arquette was an American actress and transgender activist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Casey Affleck</span> American actor (b. 1975)

Caleb Casey McGuire Affleck-Boldt is an American actor. He is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, and a Golden Globe Award. The younger brother of actor Ben Affleck, he began his career as a child actor, appearing in the PBS television film Lemon Sky (1988). He later appeared in three Gus Van Sant films: To Die For (1995), Good Will Hunting (1997), Gerry (2002), and in Steven Soderbergh's Ocean's film series (2001–2007). His first leading role was in Steve Buscemi's independent comedy-drama Lonesome Jim (2006).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Penn</span> American actor (1965–2006)

Christopher Shannon Penn was an American actor. He was the brother of actor Sean Penn and musician Michael Penn. Noted as a skilled character actor, he was typically cast as a tough character, featured as a villain or a working-class thug, or in a comic role and had roles in such films as The Wild Life, Reservoir Dogs, The Funeral, Footloose, Rush Hour, Corky Romano, True Romance, Beethoven's 2nd, Short Cuts, The Boys Club, All the Right Moves, At Close Range, Pale Rider, and Starsky & Hutch. During his career Penn had won the Volpi Cup for Best Actor for his performance in The Funeral. He also provided the voice of corrupt cop Edward "Eddie" Pulaski in the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

<i>The Pursuit of Happyness</i> 2006 film by Gabriele Muccino

The Pursuit of Happyness is a 2006 American biographical drama film directed by Gabriele Muccino and starring Will Smith as Chris Gardner, a homeless salesman. Smith's son Jaden Smith co-stars, making his film debut as Gardner's son, Christopher Jr. The screenplay by Steven Conrad is based on the best-selling 2006 memoir of the same name written by Gardner with Quincy Troupe. It is based on Gardner's nearly one-year struggle being homeless. The unusual spelling of the film's title comes from a mural that Gardner sees on the wall outside the daycare facility his son attended. The movie is set in San Francisco in 1981.

<i>Thirteen Conversations About One Thing</i> 2001 film by Jill Sprecher

Thirteen Conversations About One Thing is a 2001 American drama film directed by Jill Sprecher. The screenplay by Sprecher and her sister Karen focuses on five seemingly disparate individuals in search of happiness whose paths intersect in ways that unexpectedly affect their lives.

<i>TransGeneration</i> US documentary-style reality television series

TransGeneration is a US documentary-style reality television series that affords a view into the lives of four transgender college students during the 2004–2005 academic year. Two of the students are trans women, and two are trans men. Each of them attends a different school in the United States, and they are each at a different stage of their degree programs. The filmmakers document events in the students' academic careers, their social and family lives, and their transitions.

<i>The Darwin Awards</i> (film) 2006 American film

The Darwin Awards is a 2006 American adventure comedy film based on the website of the same name written and directed by Finn Taylor, the film premiered January 25, 2006, at the Sundance Film Festival. The film features Joseph Fiennes, Winona Ryder, David Arquette, Juliette Lewis, Wilmer Valderrama, Chris Penn, Julianna Margulies, Robin Tunney, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Brad Hunt, Adam Savage, Jamie Hyneman and Metallica. This was Chris Penn's last movie before his death on January 24, 2006, the day before the film's premiere. The film includes several full and partial re-enactments of "Darwin Awards", the earliest of which were fictitious, most notably the debunked JATO Rocket Car story.

<i>Little Miss Sunshine</i> 2006 American dark tragicomedy road film

Little Miss Sunshine is a 2006 American tragicomedy road film directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris from a screenplay written by Michael Arndt. The film stars an ensemble cast consisting of Greg Kinnear, Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Paul Dano, Abigail Breslin, and Alan Arkin, all of whom play members of a dysfunctional family taking the youngest (Breslin) to compete in a child beauty pageant. It was produced by Big Beach Films on a budget of US$8 million. Filming began on June 6, 2005, and took place over 30 days in Arizona and Southern California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lee Daniels</span> American filmmaker and television producer (born 1959)

Lee Daniels is an American film and television producer, director and screenwriter. His first producer credit was Monster's Ball (2001), for which Halle Berry won the Academy Award for Best Actress, making Daniels the first African-American film producer to solely produce an Oscar-winning film. He made his directorial debut with Shadowboxer in 2005 and has since then directed the films Precious (2009), The Paperboy, The Butler (2013) and The United States vs. Billie Holiday (2021). Of these, Precious was the most critically acclaimed, and was nominated for six Academy Awards, including two nominations for Daniels, for Best Director and Best Picture. Other films he has produced include The Woodsman (2004), Tennessee (2008), Pimp (2018) and Concrete Cowboy (2020).

Kurt Voss is an American film director, screenwriter, and musician-songwriter. Voss's credits include Will Smith's debut Where The Day Takes You; the Justin Theroux, Alyssa Milano and Ice-T action film Below Utopia; actress Jaime Pressly's debut feature Poison Ivy: The New Seduction, and rock and roll related films including Down and Out with the Dolls and Ghost on The Highway: A Portrait of Jeffrey Lee Pierce and The Gun Club.

<i>Boyhood</i> (2014 film) 2014 film directed by Richard Linklater

Boyhood is a 2014 American epic coming-of-age drama film written and directed by Richard Linklater, and starring Patricia Arquette, Ellar Coltrane, Lorelei Linklater, and Ethan Hawke. Filmed from 2002 to 2013, Boyhood depicts the childhood and adolescence of Mason Evans Jr. (Coltrane) from ages six to eighteen as he grows up in Texas with divorced parents. Richard Linklater's daughter Lorelei plays Mason's sister, Samantha.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jennifer Connelly</span> American actress (born 1970)

Jennifer Lynn Connelly is an American actress. She began her career as a child model before making her acting debut in the 1984 crime film Once Upon a Time in America. After a few more years of modeling, she began to concentrate on acting, starring in a variety of films including the horror film Phenomena (1985), the musical fantasy film Labyrinth (1986), the romantic comedy Career Opportunities (1991), and the period superhero film The Rocketeer (1991). She received praise for her performance in the science fiction film Dark City (1998) and playing a drug addict in Darren Aronofsky's drama film Requiem for a Dream (2000).

<i>Dream with the Fishes</i> 1997 American film

Dream with the Fishes is a 1997 American independent film directed by Finn Taylor. The film is Taylor's directorial debut and starred David Arquette, Kathryn Erbe and Brad Hunt. It was released on June 20, 1997, by Sony Pictures Classics.

<i>I Knew It Was You</i> 2009 American film

I Knew It Was You: Rediscovering John Cazale is a 2009 American documentary film about actor John Cazale, directed by Richard Shepard and produced by Brett Ratner, Stacey Reiss and Shepard.

Taylor Sheridan is an American writer, producer, director and actor. Sheridan portrayed David Hale in the FX television series Sons of Anarchy and Danny Boyd in Veronica Mars (2005–2007).

<i>The Last Black Man in San Francisco</i> 2019 film by Joe Talbot

The Last Black Man in San Francisco is a 2019 American drama film directed and produced by Joe Talbot in his directorial debut. He wrote the screenplay with Rob Richert and the story with Jimmie Fails, on whose life it is partly based. It stars Fails, Jonathan Majors, Tichina Arnold, Rob Morgan, Mike Epps, Finn Wittrock and Danny Glover.

References

  1. ↑ Sony Classics. About the Filmmakers: Dream with the Fishes. Retrieved 9 February 2006.
  2. ↑ Jane Ganahl. 'Darwin Awards' director has a blast filming stories about really stupid behavior. 8 February 2005. Retrieved 5 February 2006.
  3. ↑ "TAYLOR, FINN: Dream with the Fishes". Urban Cinefile. February 5, 2006. Archived from the original on 2017-05-29. Retrieved 2016-07-10.
  4. ↑ "Business Data for "Dream with the Fishes" . Retrieved 2006-02-05.
  5. ↑ "Review: Dream with the Fishes". Chicago Sun-Times. June 11, 1997. Retrieved 2006-02-05.
  6. ↑ SF Chronicle "Cherish is a film of real beauty"Review San Francisco Chronicle June 07, 2002
  7. ↑ WENN, 26 January 2006. Retrieved 6 February 2006.
  8. ↑ Ritman, Alex (May 18, 2023). "Cannes: Stephen Lang, 'Eighth Grade' Star Elsie Fisher Team for Emotional Drama 'Avenue of the Giants,' First Look Revealed (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved July 9, 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.