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Gus Van Sant
Van Sant at a screening of Paranoid Park, December 2007
Born	Gus Green Van Sant, Jr. (1952-07-24) July 24, 1952 (age 59) Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.
Occupation	Film director
Years active	1982 - present
Notable work(s)	Drugstore Cowboy, Good Will Hunting, My Own Private Idaho, Milk, Elephant
Influenced by	Stanley Kubrick, Martin Scorsese, Stan Brakhage, Andy Warhol, Jonas Mekas

Gus Green Van Sant, Jr.^[1] (born July 24, 1952) is an American film director, screenwriter, painter, photographer, musician, and author. He is a two time nominee of the Academy Award for Best Director — for Good Will Hunting (1997) and Milk (2008), both of which were also nominated for Best Picture — and won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival for his film Elephant (2003).^[2] He lives in Portland, Oregon.

His early career was devoted to directing television commercials in the Pacific Northwest. In his films, he has dealt with themes concerning homosexuality and other marginalized subcultures.

His filmography as writer and director includes a 1994 adaptation of Tom Robbins' 1976 novel Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, which features a diverse cast (Keanu Reeves, Roseanne Barr, Uma Thurman, and k.d. lang, with cameos by William S. Burroughs and Heather Graham, among others); and My Own Private Idaho (1991), also starring Reeves as well as River Phoenix.

He wrote the screenplays for most of his early movies, and wrote one novel, Pink.^[3] A book of his photography has also been published, called 108 Portraits.^[4]

Early life[link]

Van Sant was born in Louisville, Kentucky, the son of Betty (née Seay) and Gus Green Van Sant, Sr, a clothing manufacturer^[1] and traveling salesman who rapidly worked his way up the corporate ladder into middle class prosperity. As a result of his father's job, the family moved continually during Van Sant's childhood. Van Sant is an alumnus of Darien High School in Connecticut and The Catlin Gabel School in Portland, Oregon. One constant in the director's early years was his interest in painting and Super-8 filmmaking; while still in school he began making semi-autobiographical shorts costing between 30 and 50 dollars. Van Sant's artistic leanings took him to the Rhode Island School of Design in 1970, where his classmates included David Byrne and other members of Talking Heads. It was also at RISD that Van Sant received an introduction to avant-garde directors like Stan Brakhage, Jonas Mekas, and Andy Warhol; this introduction quickly inspired him to change his major from painting to cinema.

Early career (1978–1989)[link]

After spending time in Europe, Van Sant went to Los Angeles in 1976. He secured a job as a production assistant to writer/director Ken Shapiro, with whom he developed a few ideas, none of which came to fruition. In 1981, Van Sant made Alice in Hollywood, a film about a naïve young actress who goes to Hollywood and abandons her ideals. It was never released. During this period, Van Sant began to spend time observing the denizens of the more down-and-out sections of Hollywood Boulevard. He became fascinated by the existence of this marginalized section of L.A.'s population, especially in context with the more ordinary, prosperous world that surrounded them. Van Sant would repeatedly focus his work on those existing on society's fringes, beginning with his 1985 film Mala Noche.

Mala Noche was made two years after Van Sant went to New York to work in an advertising agency. He saved $20,000 during his tenure there, enabling him to finance the majority of his tale of doomed love between a gay liquor store clerk and a Mexican immigrant. The film, which was taken from Portland street writer Walt Curtis' semi-autobiographical novella, featured some of the director's hallmarks, notably an unfulfilled romanticism, a dry sense of the absurd, and the refusal to treat homosexuality as something deserving of judgment. Unlike many gay filmmakers, Van Sant—who had long been openly gay—declined to use same-sex relationships as fodder for overtly political statements, although such relationships would frequently appear in his films.

Shot in black-and-white, Mala Noche earned its director almost overnight acclaim on the festival circuit, with the Los Angeles Times naming it the year's Best Independent Film. The film's success attracted Hollywood interest, and Van Sant was briefly courted by Universal; the courtship ended after Van Sant pitched a series of project ideas (including what would later become Drugstore Cowboy and My Own Private Idaho) that the studio declined to take interest in.

Van Sant moved back to Portland, Oregon, where he set up house and began giving life to the ideas rejected by Universal. With the assistance of independent production company Avenue, the director made Drugstore Cowboy, his 1989 film about four drug addicts who rob pharmacies to support their habit. Cowboy met with great critical success; in addition to furthering Van Sant's reputation as a gifted director, it helped to revive the career of Matt Dillon, who played the junkie leader of the gang.

Indie and arthouse success (1990–1995)[link]

Drugstore Cowboy's exploration of the lives of those living on society's outer fringes, as well as its Portland setting, were mirrored in Van Sant's next effort, the similarly acclaimed My Own Private Idaho (1991). Only with the success of Cowboy was Van Sant now given license to make Idaho (a project he had originally pitched but was knocked back several times as the script was deemed 'too risky' by studios). Now New Line Cinema had given Van Sant the green light, he was on a mission to get the Idaho script to his first choices for his two young leads. After months of struggle with agents and managers over the content of the script, Van Sant finally secured River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves in the roles of Mike Waters and Scott Favor. Centering around the dealings of two male hustlers (played by Phoenix and Reeves), the film was a compelling examination of unrequited love, alienation, and the concept of family (a concept Van Sant repeatedly explores in his films). The film won him an Independent Spirit Award for his screenplay (he had won the same award for his Drugstore Cowboy screenplay), as well as greater prestige. The film also gained River Phoenix best actor honors at the Venice Film Festival among others. In addition, it helped Reeves—previously best-known for his work in the Bill and Ted movies—to get the critical respect that had previously eluded him.

Van Sant's next project, a 1993 adaptation of Tom Robbins' Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, was an excessive flop, both commercially and critically. Featuring an unusually large budget (for Van Sant, at least) of $8.5 million and a large, eclectic cast including Uma Thurman, John Hurt, Keanu Reeves and a newcomer in the form of River Phoenix's younger sister Rain (at Phoenix's suggestion). The film was worked and then reworked, but the finished product nonetheless resulted in something approaching a significant disaster.

Van Sant's 1995 film To Die For helped to restore his luster. An adaptation of Joyce Maynard's novel, the black comedy starred Nicole Kidman as a murderously ambitious weather girl; it also featured Van Sant favorite Matt Dillon as her hapless husband and, the third Phoenix sibling in as many projects, Joaquin Phoenix, as her equally hapless lover (River had died from a drug overdose a year and half earlier). It was Van Sant's first effort for a major studio (Columbia), and its success paved the way for further projects of the director's choosing. The same year, he served as executive producer for Larry Clark's Kids; it was a fitting assignment, due to both the film's subject matter and the fact that Clark's photographs of junkies had served as reference points for Van Sant's Drugstore Cowboy.

Mainstream breakout (1997–2003)[link]

In 1997, the director gained mainstream acceptance thanks to Good Will Hunting, starring and written by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. The film—about a troubled, blue-collar mathematical genius—was a huge critical and commercial success. In addition to taking in more than $220 million worldwide, it received a number of Academy Award nominations, including a Best Director nomination for Van Sant. It won a Best Screenplay Oscar for Damon and Affleck, and a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Robin Williams. Van Sant, Damon and Affleck parodied themselves and the film's success in Kevin Smith's Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.

The success of Good Will Hunting afforded Van Sant the opportunity to remake the Alfred Hitchcock classic Psycho. As opposed to reinterpreting the 1960 film, Van Sant opted to recreate the film shot-for-shot, in color, with a cast of young Hollywood A-listers. His decision was met with equal parts curiosity, skepticism, and derision from industry insiders and outsiders alike, and the finished result met with a similar reception. Starring Anne Heche, Vince Vaughn, and Julianne Moore, Psycho, if not exactly a failure, wasn't much of a triumph, either. However, its mixed reception didn't deter the director, who was soon busy again with a number of projects. In addition to directing, he also devoted considerable energy to releasing two albums and publishing a novel, Pink, which was a thinly veiled exploration of his grief over River Phoenix's 1993 death.

Van Sant fared somewhat better with 2000's Finding Forrester, a drama about a high-school student from the Bronx (Rob Brown) who becomes unlikely friends with a crusty, reclusive author (Sean Connery). Critical response was mixed but generally positive, singling out Van Sant's skill at melding the performance styles of first-time actor Brown and Hollywood legend Connery. However, those same reviewers were less impressed with the script's schematic Scent of a Woman-meets-Good Will Hunting template.

[edit] Return to arthouse cinema (2003–present)

Van Sant, longing to return to more intimate production methods, decided to leave behind big-budget studio filmmaking for his next two features. Inspired by the works of Hungarian director Bela Tarr and American maverick John Cassavetes,^{[citation needed]} Van Sant retreated to the deserts of Argentina, Utah, and Death Valley for 2002's Gerry, a loosely devised, largely improvised feature in which stars Matt Damon and Casey Affleck—both playing characters named Gerry—wander through the desert, discussing Wheel of Fortune, video games, and nothing in particular. Premiering at the Sundance Film Festival, the film earned as much derision as it did praise, polarizing audiences with its elliptical, purposefully uneventful storyline, punctuated by cinematographer Harris Savides' stunning landscape photography.^{[citation needed]}

It took Gerry over a year to make it to theaters, in which time Van Sant began production on his next film, the controversial Elephant. Approached by HBO and producer Diane Keaton to craft a fictional film based on the 1999 Columbine High School massacre, the director chose to shoot in his hometown of Portland, employing dozens of untrained teen actors to chronicle an "ordinary" high-school day—albeit one underlined by an unexpected tragedy. Melding improvisational long takes like those in Gerry with Savides' fluid camerawork, the finished film provoked strong reactions from audiences at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival, who either embraced or rejected Van Sant's aesthetic decision not to offer a definitive rationale for his characters' homicidal tendencies. The consensus from the Cannes jury was unanimous, however: in a surprise decision, they awarded Elephant with their top prize, the Palme d'Or, and Van Sant with his first Best Director statue from the festival.^[2] The success of Elephant led Van Sant to show the U.S. premiere of Elephant as a fundraiser for Outside In, an organization working to help youth living on the streets of Portland, Oregon.

In 2005 Van Sant released Last Days, the final component of what he refers to as his "Death Trilogy," (the other parts being Gerry and Elephant). It is a fictionalized account of what happened to Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain in the days leading up to his death.

In 2006 Van Sant began work on Paranoid Park based on the book by Blake Nelson, about a skateboarding teenager who accidentally causes someone's death. The film was released in Europe in February 2008. He also directed the "Le Marais" segment of the omnibus film Paris, je t'aime.

Released in 2008, his feature film Milk is a biopic of openly gay San Francisco supervisor Harvey Milk, who was assassinated in 1978, played by Sean Penn. The film was released to much acclaim and earned numerous accolades from film critics and guilds. Ultimately, it received eight Oscar nominations at the 81st Academy Awards, including Best Picture, winning two for Best Actor in a Leading Role for Penn and Best Original Screenplay for writer Dustin Lance Black. Van Sant was nominated for Best Director.^{[citation needed]}

Van Sant's 2011 project Restless^[5] was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.^[6] Van Sant will begin production on Promised Land, starring Matt Damon and John Krasinski, in April 2012.^[7]

In media[link]

Van Sant has released two musical albums: Gus Van Sant and 18 Songs About Golf.

At the Broken Social Scene concert held in Singapore in July 2010, Kevin Drew said that the track Art House Director was written about Van Sant.

Van Sant plays himself in one episode of the HBO series Entourage.

Van Sant is directing the pilot for the Starz television program Boss, starring Kelsey Grammer.

Awards and nominations[link]

• Drugstore Cowboy (1989)
  • Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Screenplay^{[citation needed]}
  • National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Director
  • National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Screenplay
  • New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Screenplay

• My Own Private Idaho (1991)
  • Venice Film Festival Official Selection
  • Toronto Film Festival FIPRESCI Prize

• Good Will Hunting (1997)
  • Berlin Film Festival Official Selection^[8]
  • Academy Award nomination for Best Director
  • Directors Guild of America (DGA) nomination for Outstanding Directorial Achievement In Motion Pictures
  • Satellite Award nomination for Best Director^{[citation needed]}

• Psycho (1998)
  • Razzie Award for Worst Director

• Finding Forrester (2000)
  • Berlin Film Festival Prize of the Guild of German Art House Cinemas

• Gerry (2002)
  • Toronto Film Festival Vision Awards - Special Citation^{[citation needed]}

• Elephant (2003)
  • Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or^[2]
  • Cannes Film Festival Prix de la mise en scène^[2]

• Last Days (2005)
  • Cannes Film Festival Official Selection^[9]

• Paranoid Park (2007)
  • Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Director (also for Milk)
  • Cannes Film Festival Prix du 60ème anniversaire (also acknowledging his body of works)^[10]

• Milk (2008)
  • Academy Award nomination for Best Director
  • Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Director (also for Paranoid Park)^{[citation needed]}
  • Broadcast Film Critics Association Award nomination for Best Director
  • Directors Guild of America (DGA) nomination for Outstanding Directorial Achievement In Motion Pictures
  • Satellite Award nomination for Best Director

Filmography[link]

Feature films[link]

• Mala Noche (1985)
• Drugstore Cowboy (1989)
• My Own Private Idaho (1991)
• Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (1993)
• To Die For (1995)
• Good Will Hunting (1997)
• Psycho (1998)
• Finding Forrester (2000)
• Gerry (2002)
• Elephant (2003)
• Last Days (2005)
• Paranoid Park (2007)
• Milk (2008)
• Restless (2011)

Short films[link]

^[11]

• Fun with a Bloodroot (1967) (2 min 20 sec, 8 mm color)
• The Happy Organ (1971) (20 min, 16 mm black and white)
• Little Johnny (1972) (40 sec, 16 mm black and white)
• 1/2 of a Telephone Conversation (1973) (2 min, 16 mm black and white)
• Late Morning Start (1975) (28 min, 16 mm color)
• The Discipline of DE (1978) (9 min, 16 mm black and white, adaptation of William S. Burroughs' short story, narrated by Ken Shapiro)
• Alice in Hollywood (1981) (45 min, 16 mm color)
• My Friend (1982) (3 min, 16 mm black and white)
• Where'd She Go? (1983) (3 min, 16 mm color)
• Nightmare Typhoon (1984) (9 min, 16 mm black and white)
• My New Friend (1984) (3 min, 16 mm color)
• Ken Death Gets Out of Jail (1985) (3 min, 16 mm black and white)
• Five Ways to Kill Yourself (1986) (3 min, 16 mm black and white)
• Thanksgiving Prayer (1991) (2 min, 35 mm color, written by and starring William S. Burroughs)
• Four Boys in a Volvo (1996) (4min, color)
• Paris, je t'aime (2006) (segment "Le Marais")
• Chacun son cinéma / To Each His Own Cinema (2007) (segment "First Kiss") (3 min)
• 8 (2008) (segment "Mansion on the Hill")

Music videos[link]

^[12]

• "Thanksgiving Prayer" by William Burroughs (1990)
• "Fame '90" by David Bowie (1990)
• "I'm Seventeen" by Tommy Conwell & The Young Rumblers (1991)
• "Under the Bridge" by Red Hot Chili Peppers (1992)
• "Bang Bang Bang" by Tracy Chapman (1992)
• "Runaway" by Deee-Lite (1992)
• "The Last Song" by Elton John (1992)
• "San Francisco Days" by Chris Isaak (1993)
• "Just Keep Me Moving" by k.d. lang (1993)
• "Creep" (alternate version) by Stone Temple Pilots (1993)
• "Understanding" by Candlebox (1995)
• "The Ballad of the Skeletons" by Allen Ginsberg with Paul McCartney, Philip Glass, Lenny Kaye et al. (1996)
• "Weird" by Hanson (1998)
• "Who Did You Think I Was?" (turntable version) by John Mayer Trio (2005)
• "Desecration Smile" by Red Hot Chili Peppers (2007)

Executive producer[link]

• Kids (1995)
• Speedway Junky (1999)
• Tarnation (2003)
• Wild Tigers I Have Known (2006)
• Lightfield's Home Videos (2006)
• Howl (2010)
• What's Wrong with Virginia (2010)
• Act Up! (2012)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Gus Van Sant on Myspace
• Gus Van Sant at the Internet Movie Database
• Gus Van Sant on Charlie Rose
• Works by or about Gus Van Sant in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Gus Van Sant collected news and commentary at The Guardian
• Gus Van Sant at the New York Times Movies
• Future Movies Paranoid Park interview (01/2008)
• Interview (11/2003)
• Senses of Cinema essay
• Reverse Shot Gus Van Sant: Vague Recollections
• Literature on Gus Van Sant

Taylor Lautner
Lautner at the Abduction premiere in September 2011.
Born	Taylor Daniel Lautner (1992-02-11) February 11, 1992 (age 20) Grand Rapids, Michigan, U.S.
Occupation	Actor, voice actor, model
Years active	2001–present
Signature

Taylor Daniel Lautner (pronounced /ˈlaʊtnər/, LOWT-ner; born February 11, 1992)^[1] is an American actor, voice actor, model, and martial artist. As a child, Lautner took up martial arts at Fabiano's Karate^[2] in Holland, Michigan and was ranked number one in his category by the American Sports Karate Association. Lautner soon thereafter began his acting career, appearing in bit roles in comedy series such as The Bernie Mac Show (2003) and My Wife and Kids (2004), before having voice roles in television series like What's New, Scooby-Doo? (2005) and Danny Phantom (2005). In 2005, he appeared in the film Cheaper by the Dozen 2 and starred in The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D.

Lautner is best known for playing Jacob Black in The Twilight Saga film series based on the novels of the same name by Stephenie Meyer. He also starred in the action film, Abduction, which became a sleeper hit.

The late 2000s saw Lautner become a teen idol and rise as a sex symbol, after extensively changing his physique to keep the role of Jacob Black in further Twilight installments, and thereafter generating media attention for his looks. In 2010, he was ranked second on Glamour's "The 50 Sexiest Men of 2010" list, and fourth on People's "Most Amazing Bodies" list. Also in the same year, Lautner was named the highest-paid teenage actor in Hollywood.

Early life[link]

Lautner was born on February 11, 1992 in Grand Rapids, Michigan to Deborah and Daniel Lautner.^[3] His mother works for a software development company, while his father is a Midwest Airlines pilot.^[3][4] He has one younger sister named Makena.^[3] Raised as a Roman Catholic,^[5][6] Lautner is of mixed German, French, and Dutch heritage, and has "distant" Native American ancestry (specifically Ottawa and Potawatomi) through his mother.^[7][8] Lautner grew up in Hudsonville, Michigan, a suburb of Grand Rapids.^[9] Lautner stated that when he was younger he was bullied in school because he was an actor. He commented, "I just had to tell myself I can't let this get to me. This is what I love to do. And I'm going to continue doing it."^[10]

He took his first karate class at the age of six.^[3] A year later, he attended the national karate tournament in Louisville, Kentucky, where he met Michael Chaturantabut, the founder of Xtreme Martial Arts. Chaturantabut invited Lautner to a camp he held at University of California, Los Angeles.^[3] Lautner trained with Chaturantabut for several years, earning his black belt by the age of eight, and winning several junior world championships.^[9] He appeared in an ISKA karate event televised on ESPN in 2003 that was later lampooned on the sports-comedy show Cheap Seats that first aired in 2006.^[11]

In junior high, Lautner—who was involved in karate, baseball and hip-hop dance—won the award for "Best Smile" and played in the school's Turkey Bowl American Football game.^[12] He went to public school in Valencia until his sophomore year of high school.^[13]

Chaturantabut, who once portrayed the Blue Ranger in Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue, suggested to Lautner that he take up acting.^[3] For a few years, the Lautners flew from Michigan to Los Angeles for auditions when his talent agency called, and returned to Grand Rapids for school sometimes the same day.^[3] Lautner balanced karate and acting with being on the football and baseball teams at his school, and taking up jazz and hip-hop dance.^[14] After that became tiring, Lautner and his family decided to move to California for a month, to try it out, before moving to Santa Clarita, California, permanently in 2002.^[3][14]

Career[link]

2001–07: Early career[link]

In his first months after moving to Los Angeles, Lautner appeared in small television roles, small film roles, and ads and commercials. In 2001, Lautner first appeared in the made-for-television film, Shadow Fury. He then got a voice-over job in a commercial for Rugrats Go Wild.^[9] He then appeared in small television parts on The Bernie Mac Show, My Wife and Kids, and Summerland.^[3] Lautner then earned voice-over roles in animated series such as Danny Phantom, Duck Dodgers, and What's New, Scooby-Doo?. In 2005, he had a role as Elliot Murtaugh in the comedy film Cheaper by the Dozen 2.^[3] The same year, he earned his first breakout role, starring in the film, The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D.^[3] Lautner spent three months on location in Austin, Texas, to film the movie,^[3] which was received with negative reviews from critics, and was a minor international success. However, Lautner was nominated at the 2006 Young Artist Awards for Best Performance in a Feature Film by a Leading Actor.^[15] For the film, Lautner choreographed all of his fight scenes after director Robert Rodríguez learned of his extensive martial arts training.^[14] Months later, he was cast as Eliot Murtaugh in Cheaper by the Dozen 2, which was panned by critics, being named one of the "Worst Films of the 2000s" by Rotten Tomatoes.^[16] After returning from Canada filming the latter movie, Lautner said he realized his newfound fame, from Sharkboy and Lavagirl.^[3] In 2008 he appeared in the show Love Inc. and the TV special He's a Bully, Charlie Brown. Two years later, Lautner appeared in a lead role in the short-lived NBC drama, My Own Worst Enemy, portraying Christian Slater's son, Jack Spivey.^[17] Rolling Stone coined his early roles as either "the popular kid, jock, or bully."^[10]

[edit] 2008–09: Breakthrough and The Twilight Series

In 2007, filmmakers began a search for actors to portray Jacob Black, a Native American friend of lead character Bella Swan in Twilight, the first film in the The Twilight Saga film series.^[17] In January 2008, an open casting call was held in Portland, Oregon. Lautner had not heard of the Twilight series before, but was urged by his agent to audition.^[17] At his audition, he read lines with Kristen Stewart, who had already been cast as Bella, and they acted out scenes from The Twilight Saga: New Moon and The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.^[17] The film was a commercial success, earning $69 million its opening weekend, and has grossed $392 million worldwide. It received mixed reviews from critics, having a "Rotten" rating with a weighted average of 5.5/10.^[18] In describing the critical consensus, it stated: "Having lost much of its bite transitioning to the big screen, Twilight will please its devoted fans, but do little for the uninitiated."^[18] On Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 reviews from film critics, it has an average score of 56 from the 37 reviews.^[19] At the 2009 MTV Movie Awards, Lautner was nominated for Male Breakthrough Performance, which was won by co-star Robert Pattinson.^[20]

Lautner with Twilight costars Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson at the 2009 MTV Movie Awards.

Initially, director Chris Weitz wanted to recast the role of Jacob Black for Twilight's sequel, The Twilight Saga: New Moon, due to the major physical changes that occur in Black between the two novels, and have an actor that would accurately portray "the new, larger Jacob Black."^[21] Black's role in the novel also increases significantly, with him falling in love with Bella and becoming a werewolf, putting the actor in a starring role. Representatives for Weitz had stated that they were make a full effort to recast the "high-profile gig," and MTV News confirmed that Weitz was looking at Michael Copon to take on the role; however, Summit Entertainment said a decision had not been made.^[21] In an attempt to keep the role, Lautner weight-trained extensively and gained approximately 30 pounds of muscle.^[22] In January 2009, Weitz and Summit Entertainment announced that Lautner would continue to play the role of Jacob in the sequel.^[22] In an interview, fellow cast member Kristen Stewart talked about Lautner's transformation saying, "He's an entirely different person physically."^[23] Stewart later said, "He gets a lot of attention because he's buff, but I think as soon as the movie comes out, people are going to realize that's not why he got the job."^[10] Co-star Robert Pattinson said after seeing Lautner's body, "I saw him and thought 'Jesus, I'm going to get fired."^[24] In an interview with The Wrap, Weitz said Lautner deserved a lot of credit for the movie's box office, stating, "If you look at the movie, it should have been the weakest in the franchise, because Robert Pattinson doesn't play as big a role."^[25] Weitz said Lautner had to "pick up that slack, and if his character hadn't been emotionally, not just physically, appealing, the movie wouldn't have been as big a hit."^[25] The commercial performance of the film outpaced the first film, setting several box office records including the biggest midnight opening in the United States and Canada and the biggest single-day opening.^[26] The opening weekend of New Moon is the third highest opening weekend in domestic history with $142,839,137.^[27] The Twilight Saga: New Moon also has the sixth highest worldwide opening weekend with $274.9 million total.^[28] Critical reception was less favorable, with the movie getting a 4.6/10 average from Rotten Tomatoes, and a 44 on Metacritic.^[29][30] Lautner won Favorite Breakout Movie Actor at the 35th People's Choice Awards.^[31]

Although it began after the release of the first film, upon release of New Moon, Lautner and his co-stars Stewart and Pattinson transitioned to teen idol status, with Lautner particularly admired by teens for his new physical characteristics, becoming a sex symbol. The trio appeared on many covers and televised appearances together.^[32] In between the second and third films in the Twilight series, Lautner was a part of the ensemble cast in the movie Valentine's Day as Willy Harrington, acting alongside his rumored girlfriend at the time, American country pop singer Taylor Swift. The duo was nominated at the 2010 MTV Movie Awards for Best Kiss. Although it received generally negative reviews,^[33] the film grossed $213 million and had the second biggest opening in the United States for a romantic comedy film.^[34] Lautner presented at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards and the 82nd Academy Awards.^[35][36] Lautner hosted Saturday Night Live on December 12, 2009, making him one of the youngest celebrity hosts in the show's history.^[37]

[edit] 2010 to present: Continuing Twilight and other projects

Lautner returned for the third Twilight film, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, in 2010. Receiving mixed reviews from critics, the film surpassed its predecessor to become the highest-grossing film of the franchise and the highest-grossing romantic fantasy, werewolf and vampire movie of all time at the American and Canadian box office.^[38] It ranks as the 36th highest grossing film of all-time in the U.S. and Canada. The popularity of Lautner and his cast members continued to summit, especially via the "Team Edward vs. Team Jacob" campaign that promoted the film.^[39] Lautner's fanbase also began to expand to older audiences.^[39] Lautner won "Best Fantasy Actor" at the 2010 Scream Awards, and he is nominated for "Favorite Movie Actor" for his role in Eclipse at the 37th People's Choice Awards.^[40] On November 2010 The Hollywood Reporter named Lautner as one of the young male actors who are “pushing – or being pushed” into taking over Hollywood as the new “A-List”.^[41][42]

Lautner was initially supposed to be in two films, Northern Lights and a movie based on Max Steel, but pulled out of both films due to scheduling conflicts and better offers.^[25] Other planned projects were the lead in a movie about Stretch Armstrong and a hostage thriller, Cancun.^[25] Lautner filmed a Bourne Identity-esque spy film with Lily Collins, entitled Abduction, which was released in September 2011. He will appear in the remaining parts of the Twilight series, the The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn films, which are anticipated to be released over a two-year period from 2011–2012.^[25]

As of 2010, Lautner was considered to be the highest-paid teen actor in Hollywood.^[43]

Image[link]

Publications such as GQ, Rolling Stone, and People have referred to Lautner as a sex symbol, with the latter publication calling the actor a future epitome of pop culture.^[4][10][44] He has been called the new young adult star that can "both woo the girls with his intensity and impress the boys with his rugged agility."^[14] According to Mickey Rapkin of GQ, the use of Lautner's physique in films has been compared to Megan Fox in her work.^[4] After his massive physical change following Twilight, Lautner became a tabloid teen idol with his co-stars Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart. Lautner, determined to stay in the series, worked out every day and gained over 30 pounds of muscle in order to bulk up for the role of Jacob Black in the remaining films in the The Twilight Saga. Michelle Lanz of MSN Wonderwall said that Lautner's change may have saved his career.^[45] Several critics credit Lautner's physical characteristics for much of the success of the Twilight series, with critic Sharon Waxman stating, "as a tabloid teen idol, he certainly deserves some credit for New Moon's $700 million worldwide gross."^[25] Lautner's abs in particular have been subject to media attention, with The Wrap stating that companies bidding for the actor in movies in 2011 would "shell out for the young actor's much-on-display though mostly untried abs."^[25] Mickey Rapkin of GQ said, "the film's marketing issues were solved when Lautner's "abdominal muscles became New Moon's main talking point, not to mention his calling card."^[4] He was named number one on Access Hollywood's "Top 5 Hollywood Abs" list.^[46]

Before the actor turned 18, his sexualized image was often critiqued, and subject to controversy. In December 2009, Lautner appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone in a wet t-shirt. Jennifer Cady of E! Online said to wait a few months when Lautner would "be of age, which will make this whole operation you got going on completely legal."^[47] In his interview with the magazine, after declining to talk about whether he was dating Taylor Swift, the magazine pressed Lautner on rumors of him being homosexual, which he brushed off.^[48] Brent Hartinger, a columnist for AfterElton, blasted the magazine, calling the questioning "unimaginably irresponsible," commenting that Lautner was just "a 17-year old kid" and that while the rumors were baseless and speculation from certain blogs and fans, it was disappointing that a "legitimate media outlet" would print gossip.^[48] Hartinger said the magazine reached a "new low" and did not have common decency, noting that there was not a line between "child and adult" although Lautner was in adult-like roles.^[48]

Lautner has stated that he doesn't want to be just known for his looks, as some have attributed his popularity to that and not his actual acting skill. In an interview, the actor revealed that he was originally supposed to have a baring scene in the movie Valentine's Day.^[4] He stated, "The script said we were walking into school and Willy takes off his shirt. I said, 'Whoa, whoa, whoa. Time out. He's gonna take off his shirt in the middle of school? No, no, no. The reason I took off my shirt for New Moon is because it's written in the book that way. And there's reasons behind it."^[4] Lautner later said he would not bare his chest for any role that did not call for it.^[4] In June 2010, Lautner covered GQ magazine.^[4] The actor was lampooned in conservative writer Laura Ingraham's satirical The Obama Diaries, commenting to have Lautner as a mascot for the White House Easter Egg Roll, to fit their health-conscious theme, and have Lautner don a furry bunny head and appear shirtless.^[49] In 2010, Lautner was ranked number two on Glamour's "50 Sexiest Men of 2010 " list.^[50] Men's Health ranked him at third on their list of "Top 10 Summer Bodies."^[51] Additionally in 2010, he was ranked fourth on People's "Most Amazing Bodies" list.^[52]

Personal life[link]

Lautner has an intricate workout plan, which was covered by Men's Health, and has a specific diet after developing his body for The Twilight Saga: New Moon.^[4] In addition, he still practices and trains in martial arts regularly.^[4][10] He has stated that he is drug and alcohol free.^[10]

Lautner resides with his parents and younger sister in Valencia, California, which he says he prefers due to the dearth of paparazzi. Lautner has said that he has never thought of moving out on his own, stating, "The thing I love is that my home life hasn't changed. I still help out with the garbage. I still help out with the lawn." He owns a BMW 5 series, which have tinted windows for obscurity.^[4]

The boost given to his career by the success of the Twilight films made him too busy to attend school, so he took the California High School Proficiency Exam to graduate from high school in 2008. He has stated on the David Letterman show that if he does not have work, he would like to go back to school. He now takes online classes at his local community college.^[13]

In 2009, Lautner was linked romantically to American country pop singer Taylor Swift and American actress and pop singer Selena Gomez.^[53][54]

Filmography[link]

Films[link]

Television[link]

Awards and nominations[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Taylor Lautner

• Taylor Lautner at the Internet Movie Database

Jena Malone
at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival
Born	Jena Malone (1984-11-21) November 21, 1984 (age 27) Sparks, Nevada, U.S.[1]
Years active	1991–present

Jena Malone (/mʌˈloʊn/; born November 21, 1984) is an American actress and musician who has appeared on television, in films, and on Broadway. She made her movie debut with the film Bastard Out of Carolina (1996), and has appeared in films including Contact (1997), Stepmom (1998), Donnie Darko (2001), Saved! (2004), Into the Wild (2007), The Ruins (2008) and Sucker Punch (2011).

Malone is also an experimental musician who has released music both under her own name and as "The Shoe".

Early life[link]

Malone had lived in 27 locations by the age of nine, including Lake Tahoe, California.^[2] She was raised by her mother, Deborah, and her mother's girlfriend, whom she calls "Godmom,"^[3] and began taking an interest in acting after watching her mother, who was involved in community theatre.^[4] She briefly moved to Las Vegas, hated it, and persuaded her mother to move on to Los Angeles.^[5] Malone was home-schooled from sixth to eighth grade. She attended the Professional Children's School, for the ninth grade, in New York,^[5] and quit it after a year, when she became legally emancipated, in January 2000.^[6][7] At some point she later obtained her General Educational Development (GED).^[8]

Career[link]

Malone progressed to professional acting with the 1996 film Bastard Out of Carolina.^[9] She was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Debut Performance^[10] and a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance in a TV Movie or Miniseries for her role in the film, Ruth Anne 'Bone' Boatwright. From there, her roles have grown to include several Hollywood features. In 1997, she was nominated for a Golden Globe, Best Actress in a Mini-Series or TV Movie, for her role in Hope.

After working on various TV projects, and as a supporting actress in films such as Contact and Stepmom, Malone had her first cinematic leading role in the 2001 cult hit Donnie Darko as Gretchen Ross, the new girl in town who becomes the girlfriend of Jake Gyllenhaal's title character.

Malone co-produced the 2002 film American Girl, a drama in which she also acted. In the 2004 film Saved!, she got top billing in her first role as the primary star. In 2005, she played the spoiled fifth Bennet daughter Lydia in the film Pride and Prejudice. In 2006, she made her professional stage debut in the Broadway production of the Tony Award-winning play Doubt.

In 2007, it was announced that Malone was releasing her first single on The Social Registry, a New York City experimental music label. A number of tracks were posted to her MySpace page.^[11] Pitchfork Media has described Malone's music as "pretty out-there – bedroom electronics, spaced-out keyboards, and Malone's spare vocals."^[12] Malone's more recent musical work is performed as/with The Shoe.^[13]

Malone appeared in the horror film The Ruins, which was released on April 4, 2008 and co-starred Shawn Ashmore, Laura Ramsey, and Jonathan Tucker. She played Lavinia in an off-Broadway revival of Eugene O'Neill's play Mourning Becomes Electra in 2009.

Malone is to portray Carson McCullers in the film Lonely Hunter, directed by Deborah Kampmeir.^[14]

Filmography[link]

Jena Malone, performing with "The Shoe", downstairs at Union Hall, January 13, 2008

Awards[link]

See also[link]

• The Doomed Planet

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Jena Malone

• Jena Malone at the Internet Movie Database
• Jena Malone on Myspace
• There Was An Old Woman Records
• Jena Malone at AllRovi
• Jena Malone at Yahoo! Movies