Todd Solondz is known for his controversial
subject matter & honest storing telling. He has written & directed two
of the best films of the 90's. Chances are, you'll either love or hate his
films.
"I
was born in Newark, New Jersey, and grew up in the suburbs. At New York
University Film School, I made several short films, one of which, "Schatt's
Last Shot," was particularly popular. A screening was set up in Los
Angeles, and the next day I was seated in the office of the (then) president of
20th Century/Fox, Scott Rudin. A three-picture writing deal with Fox was quickly
followed by an additional three-picture deal with Columbia.
Unfortunately, the only thing I really liked about these deals was telling
everyone I had them. I had a script I then took to Propaganda Pictures, who then
got Polygram to finance it as my first feature. This was a not a happy
experience. Released by The Samuel Goldwyn Company, the movie, "Fear,
Anxiety and Depression," (which I would rather have had titled "The
Young and the Hopeless"), was "a disappointment." Afterwards I
left "the business" (or it left me) and, lacking any marketable skill,
became an ESL (English as Second Language) teacher to newly arrived Russian
immigrants. Pretending I had never gotten involved in film in the first place, I
lived happily for several years. But then one day, when a lawyer/friend of mine
said she was able to raise financing for a low-budget independent feature, I
felt it was time to have second thoughts. I had written the screenplay for
"Welcome to the Dollhouse" years before, when I was still
"active," in part to redeem myself from the horror of my first feature
experience, and it was a script I had always been fond of. Evidently, I decided
to reactivate." By Todd Solondz, taken from the Official Welcome to the
Dollhouse Web site: http://www.spe.sony.com/classics/welcome/
"I
was born in Newark, New Jersey, and grew up in the suburbs. At New York
University Film School, I made several short films, one of which, "Schatt's
Last Shot," was particularly popular. A screening was set up in Los
Angeles, and the next day I was seated in the office of the (then) president of
20th Century/Fox, Scott Rudin. A three-picture writing deal with Fox was quickly
followed by an additional three-picture deal with Columbia.
Unfortunately, the only thing I really liked about these deals was telling
everyone I had them. I had a script I then took to Propaganda Pictures, who then
got Polygram to finance it as my first feature. This was a not a happy
experience. Released by The Samuel Goldwyn Company, the movie, "Fear,
Anxiety and Depression," (which I would rather have had titled "The
Young and the Hopeless"), was "a disappointment." Afterwards I
left "the business" (or it left me) and, lacking any marketable skill,
became an ESL (English as Second Language) teacher to newly arrived Russian
immigrants. Pretending I had never gotten involved in film in the first place, I
lived happily for several years. But then one day, when a lawyer/friend of mine
said she was able to raise financing for a low-budget independent feature, I
felt it was time to have second thoughts. I had written the screenplay for
"Welcome to the Dollhouse" years before, when I was still
"active," in part to redeem myself from the horror of my first feature
experience, and it was a script I had always been fond of. Evidently, I decided
to reactivate." By Todd Solondz, taken from the Official Welcome to the
Dollhouse Web site: