Biography for
Gus Van Sant More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

24 July 1952, Louisville, Kentucky, USA

Birth Name

Gus Greene Van Sant Junior

Height

5' 9" (1.75 m)

Trade Mark

Frequently casts Matt Dillon, Keanu Reeves, Grace Zabriskie, Matt Damon and James Remar

Often uses shot of cloud formation (e.g. Elephant, Drugstore Cowboy, Gerry, Paranoid Park, and Psycho)

Utilizes very low depth of field in his films' cinematography

Usually uses music by Danny Elfman

Trivia

Graduate of Rhode Island School of Design.

Favorite director is Stanley Kubrick.

Is a member of a band, Destroy All Blondes.

Once worked as an assistant to Roger Corman.

Director of Hanson's music video "Weird" and asked Hanson to produce a song for his next movie.

In 1992 received the American Civil Liberties Union(ACLU) of Oregon's Freedom of Expression Award, which recognizes courage or creative vision in upholding free expression, particularly in the arts, for his films that have, " let us see inside the lives of individuals we don't often get a glimpse at."

In addition to being a successful film director, Van Sant is also a published author (his first novel, "Pink", was published in 1997), a musician (two solo albums "Gus Van Sant" and "18 Songs About Golf" were released on the PopTones label in late 1997, plus his musical/spoken word collaboration with William S. Burroughs, "The Elvis Of Letters" was released in 1985 as the first album put out on the Tim Kerr record label), and a photographer (a large book of his photographs titled "108 Portraits" was published in 1992 and is now something of a collectors item.)

He dedicated both his 1993 film Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (1993) and his 1997 novel "Pink" to the late actor River Phoenix.

Van Sant had planned to make a film about artist Andy Warhol with River Phoenix starring as the young Warhol, but plans were scrapped after Phoenix's death.

Often casts Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea in small or cameo roles in his films.

His 1997 film Good Will Hunting (1997) is parodied in the 2001 Kevin Smith film Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001).

Has directed 3 of the 5 Phoenix siblings in his movies. River Phoenix in My Own Private Idaho (1991), Rain Phoenix in Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (1993) and Joaquin Phoenix in To Die For (1995).

Interviewed in "Directors Close Up: Interviews with Directors Nominated for Best Film by the Directors Guild of America", ed. by Jeremy Kagan, Scarecrow Press, 2006.

Elephant (2003), the very first film he directed that was accepted into Cannes, won the festival's two most prestigious awards: the Palme d'or and best director.

Was member of the dramatic jury at the Sundance Film Festival in 1991.

He has taught two classes at the Northwest Film Center in Portland, OR.

Directed 5 actors in Oscar nominated performances: Matt Damon, Robin Williams, Minnie Driver, Sean Penn, and Josh Brolin. Williams and Penn won Oscars for performances in one of his movies.

Personal Quotes

When asked "Why in the hell would you want to do a shot-by-shot remake of Psycho in color?" He serenely replied "So no one else would have to."

You can't copy a film. If I hold a camera, it's different than if Irving Penn holds it. Even if it's in the same place, it will magically take on his character. Which was part of the experiment. Our 'Psycho' showed that you can't really appropriate. Or you can appropriate, but it's not going to be the same thing.

I have this new theory about films. It's almost like astrology, where if we started on a Tuesday the film will be different than if we started on a Wednesday. Not because of the planets. It's that sometimes you start with the wrong balance and the whole thing gets messed up.

Part of me believes in anonymous art. I got that from a writer named Jamake Highwater, who wrote about painting before the Renaissance. The way people related to art in, say, ancient Greece. How it was about the community for the community and not the self-expression of the artist. I thought of 'Good Will Hunting' and 'Finding Forrester' as doing it for the people, and wanted to speak without the hindrance of my own style. I'm not sure if that's possible, but it was my rationale.

Because we're used to making films and observing films with a sort of shorthand. You see the car going down the road. O.K. Got it. Then it's the next shot. Usually what happens then is people start talking about something that will relate to the story instead of something random and more lifelike, like dental work. We learn in English class not to have it be about dental work. But maybe watching the car going down the road is important. To really watch it - as if you were in the car.

Kubrick was a good model. He had an autonomy I've never had but that one desire. He organized things a certain way. And he had a good relationship with Warner Brothers. He was their class act.

Different filmmakers do it different ways. My way was to make something for cheap. It's a good deal for people to give me $3 million for a movie. So they don't have a lot of requirements. If I was looking for $30 million, then they need more requirements. They need movie stars, and they need backup for their money. The drawback is, when they spend small amounts of money, the studios don't tend to release the movie very wide since they don’t have that much at stake. Which is O.K. because the films can fend for themselves and be seen by word of mouth.

I'm really going in a weird I-don't-know-where direction. I prefer it to anything like what standardised filmmaking has become.

[on 'Restless'] Younger cancer patients form these relationships with complete strangers because the depth of the tragedy is so great it wipes out the standard support systems of friends and families. Parents can't cope, so they make new friends - and they can be staff at the hospital, or someone they just picked out.