Sam Mendes is a renowned British director and producer who won an Oscar for his debut film, American Beauty. He later worked on a variety of theatrical productions and motion pictures, including The Blue Room, The Marines, 007: Skyfall Coordinates, and others.
Biography
Samuel Alexander Mendes, also known as Sam Mendes, was born on August 1, 1965 in Reading, England. His father, Jameson Peter Mendes, was originally from Trinidad and was a Portuguese Catholic. He taught literature at the University of Reading. Sam's mother Valerie Helen Barnett, an English Jewess, was a publisher and author of children's stories. And his paternal grandfather, Alfred Hubert Mendes, is a famous novelist.
In 1970, when the boy was about five years old, Sam's parents divorced. However, the relationship between them remained friendly. Despite the fact that he and his mother moved to London, his father often visited them. He took Sam to the movies and plays.
Mendes developed an interest in literature and art from an early age. After moving to London, he attended Primrose Hill Elementary School. When the boy was 12 years old, he and his mother moved to Oxford, where he was enrolled in Magdalene College.
Oxford University Colleges Photo: SirMetal / Wikimedia Commons
Sam Mendes excelled academically. He spent a lot of time reading books and watching films. In addition, Sam was a talented cricketer. In 1983 and 1984 he played for his school team in this sport.
After graduating from high school, Mendes entered Peterhouse, the oldest college at the University of Cambridge. Here he successfully continued his education, played cricket for his college and became increasingly interested in theatrical performances. Mendes became a member of the Marlow Society, a theater club for Cambridge students. In 1987 he graduated with honors from the University of Cambridge and decided to devote his life to theater.
Career
He soon got a job at the Minerva Theater, which is part of the nearby Chichester Festival Theater. In 1988, Sam worked as an assistant director on a number of productions, including the three-act play Major Barbara by Bernard Shaw. And soon Mendoza was offered a directorial job.
In 1989, 24-year-old Sam moved to London. In the West End, under his leadership, Chekhov's play "The Cherry Orchard" was staged. The aspiring director invited the famous British actress Judy Dench to play the main role. Her performance was highly acclaimed and earned Mendoza the Critics Circle theatrical award.
In 1990, Sam Mendes was appointed Artistic Director of the Donmar Warehouse, a 251-seat non-profit theater in Covent Garden. He spent the first two years of his tenure as head of the theater renovating and redesigning the theater. The refurbished Donmar Warehouse opened on October 29, 1992.
Donmar Warehouse Nonprofit Theater Photo: DonmarWarehouse / Wikimedia Commons
From that time until 2002, when Mendes retired as artistic director, the theater performed the musicals "Assassins," "Cabaret," "Oliver!", "The Glass Menagerie" by Tennessee Williams, "The Blue Room" by David Hare and others.
Sam Mendes became famous in America for his directorial work. His superior visual aesthetics and deep historical insight impressed the Hollywood film industry. In early 1998, the famous American film company DreamWorks Pictures approached him with a proposal to make a film based on the script of Alan Ball, "American Beauty". For this work, Mendoza was awarded the prestigious Academy Award for Best Director by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts.
After American Beauty, Mendes decided to make a film in a different genre - with minimal dialogue and the transmission of emotions through images. In the end, he found what he was looking for in the script of the crime drama Path of Cursed. The picture was presented on July 12, 2002, grossing over $ 180 million at the box office.
In 2003, Sam Mendoza co-founded the British production company Neal Street Productions with Pippa Harris and Caro Newling. A year later, he began work on the movie The Marines, which was released on November 4, 2005. The plot of the picture is based on the memoirs of the same name by the American Marine Anthony Swofford. The war drama tells about the psychological problems faced by the participants in the Gulf War.
In the period from 2006 to 2009, the director presented several more films. Among them are "Get into the Top Ten" (2006), "The Road of Change" (2008), "On the Road" (2009) and others.
In November 2011, Mendoza began filming the 23rd film about British intelligence agent James Bond, 007: Skyfall Coordinates. In the UK, the picture was released on October 26, 2012. The work of the director was called one of the best in the history of "Bondiana", which has collected more than $ 1 billion.
Advertisement for 007: Skyfall Coordinates Photo: mattbuck / Wikimedia Commons
Unsurprisingly, in 2013, he was offered to direct another Bond film, 007: Specter. Initially, Mendoz did not want to accept the offer, but in May 2013 he began negotiations with the producers. Filming began in December 2014 in Austria. They later took place in the UK, Italy and Morocco and ended in Mexico in July 2015. "007: Spectrum" was released in October 2015.
It is known that in 2020 Sam Mendoza is planning the premiere of the military film "1917", the plot of which will revolve around the events of the First World War.
Personal life
In 2001, the director began a romantic relationship with the famous British actress Kate Winslet. The couple got married in May 2003. The wedding ceremony took place on the island of Anguilla. In December of the same year, they had a son, Joe Alfie Winslet. However, in 2011, Mendoza and Winslet divorced.
British actress Kate Winslet Photo: Somewhere In Toronto / Wikimedia Commons
In 2017 he married Alison Balls, who is the chief trumpet player of the London Chamber Orchestra. A quiet wedding ceremony was held in the circle of close friends of the couple in Oxfordshire.
