Todd Haynes
He's the daring director who got Dennis Quaid
to kiss another man in "Far From Heaven" and he
inspired an Oscar-nominated performance from Julianne Moore.
Now the secret is out about 42-year-old experimental filmmaker
Todd Haynes, whose stylistic look at homosexuality in the
50's nabbed four Oscar nominations.
Haynes says, "I don't even fantasize about things like Oscars."
But, he told "Extra" that as a kid growing up in Los
Angeles, he was obsessed with them. He says, "When Vanessa
Redgrave lost for ‘Mary Queen of Scots’ when I was nine years
old, I cried."
In his 20's, Haynes made one of the most talked about, but least seen, films of the 80's, "Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story." Told with only handheld Barbie dolls, the film was quickly yanked from distribution. Haynes says, "I was a young guerilla filmmaker who didn't get music rights and Richard Carpenter said no."
He would go on to win at Sundance with his edgy film, "Poison," and go mainstream with his sex, drugs, and rock and roll tale, "Velvet Goldmine."
But now Todd's not too far from heaven himself with his Oscar-nominated latest movie. Haynes reveals it wasn't the taboo topic that turned off potential male leads. Haynes says, "There were some people, who we learned, they would not want to play second to a woman interestingly and it's sort of eye opening."
And Oscar night could well be an eye-opening experience for this renegade director.
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