Age: 65
male
Todd Haynes (/heɪnz/; born January 2, 1961; Los Angeles) is an American filmmaker. His films span four decades with themes examining the personalities of well-known musicians, dysfunctional and dystopian societies, and blurred gender roles. Haynes first gained public attention with his controversial short film Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story (1987), which chronicles singer Karen Carpenter's life and death, using Barbie dolls as actors. Superstar became a cult classic. Haynes's feature directorial debut, Poison (1991), a provocative exploration of AIDS-era queer perceptions and subversions, established him as a figure of a new transgressive cinema. Poison won the Sundance Film Festival's Grand Jury Prize and is regarded as a seminal work of New Queer Cinema. Haynes received further acclaim for his second feature film, Safe (1995), a symbolic portrait of a housewife who develops multiple chemical sensitivity. Safe was later voted the best film of the 1990s by The Village Voice Film Poll. His next feature, Velvet Goldmine (1998), is a tribute to the 1970s glam rock era. The film received the Special Jury Prize for Best Artistic Contribution at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival. Haynes gained acclaim and a measure of mainstream success with Far from Heaven (2002) earning his first Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay. He continued to direct critically lauded films such as I'm Not There (2007), Carol (2015), Wonderstruck (2017) and Dark Waters (2019). He directed his first feature-length documentary, The Velvet Underground (2021). Haynes directed and co-wrote the HBO mini-series Mildred Pierce (2011) for which he was nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards.
Todd Haynes
Director
for Director in Lizard Queen: The Pamela Courson Story
Suggested by kamsismith
Lizard Queen is an evocative and haunting biopic that tells the life story of Pamela Susan Courson, the enigmatic woman who was the muse, lover, and tragic companion to rock icon Jim Morrison of The Doors. Set against the backdrop of the counterculture revolution of the 1960s and 1970s, this film explores the highs and lows of Courson’s tumultuous life—her rise from a free-spirited California girl to a central figure in one of rock and roll’s most iconic love stories. From the moment Pamela met Jim, the sparks of their relationship set off a firestorm of passion, creativity, and self-destruction. Lizard Queen will portray their electric but tortured bond, delving into the complexities of their addiction, the strain of fame, and the haunting presence of death. When Jim Morrison was found lifeless in a Paris apartment in 1971, it was Pamela who discovered his body, a moment that would change the course of her life forever. Three years later, at just 27, she too would succumb to the pressures of the rock-and-roll lifestyle. Through Pamela’s eyes, the film unpacks the myth of Jim Morrison, revealing him as both a genius and a man consumed by his inner demons, and Pamela as someone much more than the “Lizard Queen” or tragic muse often reduced to a footnote in his story. It is a powerful, emotional journey through the price of fame, love, and loss, showing the toll it took on a young woman who spent her life in the shadows of both the man she loved and the world that adored him.
