This page uses content from the Todd Solondz biography page on the English version of Wikipedia and is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. This list of authors can be seen in the page history. Rotten Tomatoes disclaims any and all warranties as to the accuracy or reliability of the content.

Todd Solondz (born October 15 1959) is an American writer/director known for his controversial films. He was born in Newark, New Jersey.

He is mostly known for exploring the emotional state of various characters in his films (e.g. Happiness, Palindromes and Welcome to the Dollhouse).

Biography

Early life

Solondz was born in Newark, New Jersey on October 15, 1959. Originally, he wanted to be rabbi but, eventually, set his sights on writing screenplays. He even wrote several while he had a job as a delivery boy for the Writers' Guild of America. Solondz showed signs of early rabbinical aspirations, so he was sent to a series of public and private schools by his parents.

Personal life

Solondz received his undergraduate degree in English from Yale and attended New York University's (NYU) Graduate MFA Program in film and television, but did not complete a degree.

Career

Early films

One of Solondz's short films was Schatt's Last Shot, made in 1985, playing a high schooler who wants to get into Stanford, but his gym teacher hates him and fails him because he can't make a shot in basketball. He also has no luck with the girl of his dreams, but he wishes he was more like the coach, whom he challenges to a game of one-on-one. It has been unseen by many outside film schools.

After this he wrote and directed, Fear, Anxiety & Depression, a piece about an unpromising playwright writing a play and sending it to Samuel Beckett, hoping that they could collaborate together. The film is deeply embarrassing to Solondz.

Welcome to the Dollhouse

Solondz rose to fame and critical success in the 1995 film Welcome to the Dollhouse, which won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. The dark comedy about Dawn, an awkward, mal-adjusted, loner, geeky 7th grader who is frequently picked on at school as well neglected by her parents who choose to lavish their attentions on her cute little sister, was a major success among critics, and a moderate success at the box office. The film mainly paints a portrait of a young girl and her struggles to fit in with modern society.

Happiness

Solondz's next piece was Happiness, a highly controversial film due to the themes explored in it, which range from rape and pedophilia to a bizarre sexual phone caller. This caused it to be dropped by the original distributor, only to be scooped up by another company. One of the most controversial aspects of the film was the portrayal of a psychologist as a repressed pedophile who molests his son's friend at a sleep-over. The movie was lauded with numerous awards and yielded strong critical praise for Solondz.

Storytelling and Palindromes

In 2001, Solondz released Storytelling. It is a film separated into two parts, entitled "Fiction" and "Nonfiction." The two stories share two thematic elements, but deal with each in an autonomous manner. This format was utilized because the filmmaker wanted to "find a fresh structure, a fresh form and a different way of tackling what may be identical geographical material."[1] When Solondz initially presented the film to the MPAA, he was told that, if he wished to receive a rating other than NC-17, he would have to remove a scene of explicit sensuality involving a white female and a black male. However, due to a clause in Solondz's contract, the censors were forced to admit the scene with a bright red box covering the actors' mid-sections. "For me it's a great victory to have a big red box, the first red box in any studio feature."[2] Solondz did, however, remove a portion of the film (which has variously been reported as either a subplot of the second story, or a third story entirely) which contained a scene of sensuality involving two male actors (one of whom was James Van Der Beek). [3]

Solondz's next film was Palindromes (2004), which became highly controversial among the few moviegoers that actually viewed its theatrical release. Themes of child molestation, statutory rape and abortion raised the eyebrows of many conservative, as well as liberal, pundits and reviewers. The film was financed largely by the filmmaker. Like all of Solondz's previous films, Palindromes is set in suburban New Jersey. It was released Unrated in the US.

Trivia

• Is an atheist. In The A.V. Club's article "Is There A God?", he answered the question "Well, me, I'm an atheist, so I don't really believe there is. But I suppose I could be proven wrong."
• He accepted a job as a teacher of English as a second language to newly arrived Russian immigrants, an experience he has described as deeply rewarding (although the character named "Joy" in his film Happiness finds a similar experience to be traumatic).

See also

• Pedophilia and child sexual abuse in films

External links

• Gothamist interview - with Todd Solondz, April 2005
• "Oedipus Hipsterus" - A review of Solondz's body of work in general and Palindromes in particular. By Christian Lorentzen, in [[n+1]] magazine.
• Drinks with Tony - Todd Solondz interviewed by Tony DuShane

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