Michael Almereyda (born April 7, 1960) is an American film director, screenwriter, and film producer.

Early work

Almereyda studied art history at Harvard but dropped out after three years to pursue filmmaking. He acquired a Hollywood agent on the strength of a spec script about

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A Hero of Our Time ''A Hero of Our Time'' ( rus, Герой нашего времени, links=1, r=Gerój nášego vrémeni, p=ɡʲɪˈroj ˈnaʂɨvə ˈvrʲemʲɪnʲɪ) is a novel by Mikhail Lermontov, written in 1839, published in 1840, and revised in 1841. It ...

'', based on Mikhail Lermontov's novel of the same title. Shot in 1985, it was finished in 1987 and screened in the 1992

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. Early screenplays include '' Cherry 2000'' (1987), the first draft for

Wim Wenders Ernst Wilhelm "Wim" Wenders (; born 14 August 1945) is a German filmmaker, playwright, author, and photographer. He is a major figure in New German Cinema. Among many honors, he has received three nominations for the Academy Award for Best Doc ...

’ '' Until the End of the World'' (1991), and uncredited work on '' Total Recall'' (1990). Almereyda's films range across many genres, styles, and formats. His first feature, '' Twister'' (1989), based on Mary Robison’s novel Oh, was a comedy about a dysfunctional mid-Western family. '' Another Girl Another Planet'' (1992) was a romantic chamber piece, a black-and-white, one-hour featurette shot with a

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Pixelvision camera. ''Nadja'' (1994) was a comic vampire film shot on 35mm with Pixelvision inserts. ''

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'' (2000) was shot on Super 16mm and featured

Ethan Hawke Ethan Green Hawke (born November 6, 1970) is an American actor and film director. He has been nominated for four Academy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards and a Tony Award. Hawke has directed three feature films, three off-Broadway plays, and a doc ...

Bill Murray William James Murray (born September 21, 1950) is an American actor and comedian. He is known for his deadpan delivery. He rose to fame on '' The National Lampoon Radio Hour'' (1973–1974) before becoming a national presence on ''Saturday Ni ...

Kyle MacLachlan Kyle Merritt MacLachlan (; ' McLachlan, February 22, 1959) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Dale Cooper in ''Twin Peaks'' (1990–1991; 2017) and its film prequel '' Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me'' (1992), as well as roles ...

, Julia Stiles, Liev Schreiber and

Sam Shepard Samuel Shepard Rogers III (November 5, 1943 – July 27, 2017) was an American actor, playwright, author, screenwriter, and director whose career spanned half a century. He won 10 Obie Awards for writing and directing, the most by any writ ...

. The adaptation layered a contemporary New York setting on Shakespeare's text.

2000s

Almereyda directed features set in pre- and post-Katrina New Orleans: '' Happy Here and Now'' (2002) and '' New Orleans, Mon Amour'' (2008). In 2004, he directed an episode of the HBO series ''

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'', His most recent work has mainly involved documentaries and shorts. '' William Eggleston in the Real World'' (2005) was nominated for a Gotham Award for Best Documentary from the Independent Filmmaker Project,Gotham Awards Nominations Announced
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Filmmaker (magazine) ''Filmmaker'' is a quarterly publication magazine covering issues relating to independent film. The magazine was founded in 1992 by Karol Martesko-Fenster, Scott Macaulay and Holly Willis. The magazine is now published by the IFP ( Independent F ...

. Accessed 8 August 2014.'Brokeback,' 'Capote' Get Gotham Award Nods
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Fox News Channel The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is ...

. Accessed 8 August 2014. as was the sketchbook film ''

Paradise In religion, paradise is a place of exceptional happiness and delight. Paradisiacal notions are often laden with pastoral imagery, and may be cosmogonical or eschatological or both, often compared to the miseries of human civilization: in paradis ...

'' (2009). He has recently returned to fiction film with a 2013 adaptation of Shakespeare’s ''

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'', a spiritual successor to his earlier ''Hamlet''. '' Experimenter'' (2015), was based on the life of

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, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, and received critical acclaim. '' Marjorie Prime'' (2017), a philosophical science-fiction film based on Jordan Harrison's play of the same name, again screened at Sundance and won the Sloan Feature Film Prize. Most recently, he has directed a documentary on Hampton Fancher and adapted his Tesla spec script into a 2020 film of the same name. Almereyda edited and contributed texts for ''Night Wraps the Sky: Writings by and About Mayakovsky'', published by

Farrar, Straus and Giroux Farrar, Straus and Giroux (FSG) is an American book publishing company, founded in 1946 by Roger Williams Straus Jr. and John C. Farrar. FSG is known for publishing literary books, and its authors have won numerous awards, including Pulitzer ...

in 2008, and ''William Eggleston: For Now'', published by Twin Palms in 2010. He has written criticism and commentary for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

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Film Comment ''Film Comment'' is the official publication of Film at Lincoln Center. It features reviews and analysis of mainstream, art-house, and avant-garde filmmaking from around the world. Founded in 1962 and originally released as a quarterly, ''Film Co ...

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Artforum ''Artforum'' is an international monthly magazine specializing in contemporary art. The magazine is distinguished from other magazines by its unique 10½ x 10½ inch square format, with each cover often devoted to the work of an artist. Notably ...

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Bookforum ''Bookforum'' is an American book review magazine devoted to books and the discussion of literature that was based in New York City, New York. The magazine was founded in 1994 and announced in December of 2022 it would cease publishing after 2 ...

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'', and '' Triple Canopy''. In 2015 Almereyda received the Moving Image

Creative Capital Creative Capital is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization based in New York City that supports artists across the United States through funding, counsel, gatherings, and career development services. Since its founding in 1999, Creative Capital has commi ...

Award. Almereyda frequently uses the same actors. He has worked more than once with

Suzy Amis Suzy Amis Cameron (born Susan Elizabeth Amis; January 5, 1962) is an American environmental advocate, and a former actress and model. Her acting career began in 1985, known for roles in ''The Ballad of Little Jo'', ''The Usual Suspects'' and '' ...

Karl Geary Karl John Geary (born 31 May 1972) is an Irish-born American actor and author. Early life Geary was born in Dublin. In 1987, at the age of 15, he moved to the United States; he later obtained a green card in a visa lottery for undocumented Iri ...

, Jared Harris,

Isabelle Gillies Isabel Boyer Gillies (born February 9, 1970) is an American author and actress. She played Kathy Stabler, Elliot Stabler's wife in '' Law & Order: Special Victims Unit''. Her memoir ''Happens Every Day'' was a '' New York Times'' bestseller, and ...

John Leguizamo John Alberto Leguizamo Peláez (; ; born July 22, 196013:04) is an American actor, comedian, and film producer. He has appeared in over 100 films, produced over 20 films and documentaries, made over 30 television appearances, and has produced ...

Lois Smith Lois Arlene Smith (née Humbert; born November 3, 1930) is an American character actress whose career spans eight decades. She made her film debut in the 1955 drama film '' East of Eden'', and later played supporting roles in a number of movies ...

, Hannah Gross, and

Jim Gaffigan James Christopher Gaffigan (born July 7, 1966) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and producer. His material often addresses fatherhood, laziness, food, religion, and general observations. He is regarded as a "clean" comic, using l ...

Partial filmography

* ''

'' (1985) * '' Twister'' (1989) * '' Another Girl Another Planet'' (1992) * ''

Nadja Nadja may refer to: * Nadja (given name) * Nadja, pen-name of Louisa Nadia Green (1896—1934), British poet * ''Nadja'' (novel), 1928 surrealist novel by André Breton * ''Nadja'' (film), 1994 vampire film by Michael Almereyda * Nadja (band), ...

'' (1994) * ''

At Sundance AT or at may refer to: Geography Austria * Austria (ISO 2-letter country code) * .at, Internet country code top-level domain United States * Atchison County, Kansas (county code) * The Appalachian Trail (A.T.), a 2,180+ mile long mounta ...

'' (1995) * '' The Rocking Horse Winner'' (1997) * '' The Eternal'' (1998) * ''

'' (2000) * '' Happy Here and Now'' (2002) * ''

This So-Called Disaster This may refer to: * ''This'', the singular proximal demonstrative Demonstratives (abbreviated ) are words, such as ''this'' and ''that'', used to indicate which entities are being referred to and to distinguish those entities from others. They ...

'' (2004) * '' William Eggleston in the Real World'' (2005) * '' New Orleans, Mon Amour'' (2008) * ''

Big River Blues Big or BIG may refer to: * Big, of great size or degree Film and television * ''Big'' (film), a 1988 fantasy-comedy film starring Tom Hanks * ''Big!'', a Discovery Channel television show * ''Richard Hammond's Big'', a television show present ...

'' (2008) * '' Tonight at Noon'' (2009) * ''

'' (2009) * ''

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'' (2011) * ''

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'' (2012) * '' Skinningrove'' (2013) * ''

'' (2014) * '' Experimenter'' (2015) * '' Marjorie Prime'' (2017) * '' Escapes'' (2017) * '' Tesla'' (2020)

References

External links

*
Fleeting Joy
A website devoted to Almereyda's work.

by Jeremiah Kipp, Senses of Cinema website
King of Infinite Space
''Filmmaker Magazine'', Winter 1999 {{DEFAULTSORT:Almereyda, Michael American film directors American male screenwriters Harvard College alumni 1959 births Living people English-language film directors Alfred P. Sloan Prize winners