Line #28 Creator/SamMendes


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sammendes.jpg]]
2	->''"I want to try and work in different genres with different types of actors, on small movies and big movies."''
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4	Sir Samuel Alexander "Sam" Mendes [[UsefulNotes/KnightFever CBE]] (born 1 August 1965 in Reading, England) is an English stage and film director.
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6	His stage career dates back to the mid-1980s, with directorial credits racked up on the West End and with the Royal National Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company, and Donmar Warehouse (which he was artistic director of from 1992-2002). He's done plenty of productions of [[Creator/WilliamShakespeare Shakespeare]], [[Creator/AntonChekhov Chekhov]], and the like, but is particularly well-regarded for his fresh stagings of musicals such as ''Theatre/{{Oliver}}'' and ''Theatre/{{Gypsy}}''. His much-acclaimed 1993 revival of ''Theatre/{{Cabaret}}'' managed a Broadway transfer in 1998 and was his first production to be seen in the U.S.
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8	Shortly after his breakthrough as a stage director, Mendes made his film directorial debut with ''Film/AmericanBeauty'', which netted him a Best Director UsefulNotes/AcademyAward -- one of five Oscars, including Best Picture. His film output is definitely weighted towards OscarBait, but he also directed one of the most acclaimed Film/JamesBond films to his credit, ''Film/{{Skyfall}}'', in 2012, and went on to direct its sequel, ''Film/{{Spectre}}'', in 2015. Speaking of range, he went from the ''Skyfall'' hit ''directly'' to a [[Theatre/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory stage musical adaptation]] of ''Literature/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory''.
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10	Mendes' films are known for their visually stunning cinematography, meticulous direction, eclectic genre palette, slow pacing, complex characters, deconstruction of existing ideas (such as his ''James Bond'' films), and reoccuring themes of family and identity in various manners.
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12	He was married to Creator/KateWinslet between 2003 and 2010.
13	----
14	!!Filmography:
15	[[index]]
16	* ''Film/AmericanBeauty'' (1999)
17	* ''Film/RoadToPerdition'' (2002)
18	* ''Film/{{Jarhead}}'' (2005)
19	* ''Literature/RevolutionaryRoad'' (2008)
20	* ''Film/AwayWeGo'' (2009)
21	* ''James Bond'':
22	** ''Film/{{Skyfall}}'' (2012)
23	** ''Film/{{Spectre}}'' (2015)
24	* ''Film/NineteenSeventeen'' (2019) [[note]] also co-writer with Krysty Wilson-Cairns [[/note]]
25	* ''Film/{{Empire of Light}}'' (2022) [[note]] also solo screenwriting debut [[/note]]
26	* ''The Franchise (2024)'' [[note]] co-creator and director [[/note]]
27	* ''Untitled Beatles Biopic Tetralogy'' (2027)
28	** ''Music/PaulMcCartney'' (2027)
29	** ''Music/JohnLennon'' (2027)
30	** ''Music/GeorgeHarrison'' (2027)
31	** ''Music/RingoStarr'' (2027)
32	[[/index]]
33	!!Common tropes in his works
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35	* AnyoneCanDie: A recurring theme in his work with the exception of ''Film/AwayWeGo''. In that film, nobody dies and the tone is unambiguously happy.
36	* AssociatedComposer: Music/ThomasNewman is a regular collaborator for all of his films (except for ''Film/AwayWeGo'', where Alexi Murdoch's songs play over the film and ''Empire Of Light'' which is scored by [[Music/NineInchNails Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross]]).
37	* DysfunctionalFamily: A major theme in Mendes’ filmography. This happened all the way from the Burnhams in ''Film/AmericanBeauty'' to the brothers Bond and Blofeld in ''Film/{{Spectre}}''.
38	** Despite not having written any of his films prior to ''Film/NineteenSeventeen'', this counts as AuthorAppeal largely due to [[https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/09/24/sam-mendes-directorial-discoveries Mendes himself having bared this trope in real life]]
39	* CreatorCameo: He briefly appeared as one of John Rooney's henchman in ''Film/RoadToPerdition'' when [[spoiler: Michael Sullivan (Creator/TomHanks) engages in a silent shootout and kills Rooney at the end]].
40	* EpicTrackingShot: Though his later films became known for this, he incorporated this technique from the beginning.
41	** ''Film/RoadToPerdition'' had two scenes: the scene in the club and the climatic scene where [[spoiler: Michael shoots Connor in his hotel room]].
42	** Done immensely in ''Film/{{Skyfall}}''.
43	** ''Film/{{Spectre}}'' had this in the first four minutes. It becomes this when the camera starts off from ground-level to being operated by a crane.
44	** Crossed over with TheOner, ''Film/NineteenSeventeen'' is ''the entire 110-minute film'' as this.
45	* GenreRoulette: Mendes likes to tackle a lot of different genres. Even when he does another film in the same genre, he likes to do it differently.
46	** ''Film/AmericanBeauty'' and ''Film/RevolutionaryRoad'' are both suburban dramas, though [[SlidingScaleofIdealismVersusCynicism both lean on opposite ends on tone]]. ''American Beauty'' is optimistic in its tone, while Revolutionary Road is pessimistic.
47	** ''Film/RoadToPerdition'' is a gangster crime drama based on a comic book.
48	** ''Film/{{Jarhead}}'' and ''Film/NineteenSeventeen'' are both war films. However, ''Jarhead'' is a plotless slow-burn drama while ''1917'' is a fast-paced thriller.
49	** ''Empire of Light'' is a period romantic drama.
50	** ''Film/AwayWeGo'' is a modern-day road trip comedy.
51	** ''Film/{{Skyfall}}'' and ''Film/{{Spectre}}'' are both ''Film/JamesBond'' films. While both are spectacle-driven action thrillers, ''Spectre'' is slower-paced compared to Skyfall.
52	* SceneryPorn: His collaborations with renowned cinematographers such as Conrad L. Hall, Roger Deakins, Ellen Kuras and Hoyte Van Hoytema really shows, particularly in ''Road to Perdition'', ''Skyfall'', ''Spectre'', and ''1917''.
53	* SignatureShot: Try watching a Mendes film that doesn't contain a shot where a character stares out into a deep-focus background. Even ''Film/{{James Bond}}'' did it in BOTH ''Film/{{Skyfall}}'' and ''Film/{{Spectre}}''..
54	* SignatureStyle: Mendes uses a composed theatrical directing style in his films. He loves to create scenes using [[SceneryPorn detailed atmosphere]] and [[LeaveTheCameraRunning extended shots]] to extreme precision.

Context Creator / SamMendes