Todd Solondz (born October 15, 1959) is an American independent film screenwriter and director known for his style of dark, thought-provoking, socially conscious satire. Solondz has been critically acclaimed for his examination of the "dark underbelly of middle class American suburbia," a reflection of his own background in New Jersey. His work includes Welcome to the Dollhouse (1995), Happiness (1998), Storytelling (2001), Palindromes (2004), Life During Wartime (2009), and Dark Horse (2012).
Yale University, New York University, Tisch School of the Arts
Nationality
American
Awards
Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize - U.S. Dramatic
Nominations
Golden Lion
Movies
Fear, Anxiety and Depression, Welcome to the Dollhouse, As Good as It Gets, Happiness, Storytelling, Palindromes, Cinema16: American Short Films, Life During Wartime, Dark Horse, Wiener-Dog, Feelings, In Transit
Star Sign
Libra
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Trademark
1
Black comedy involving social satire and exploration of deviance.
2
Realistic, twisted characters
3
All his movies involve Livingston, New Jersey, in some way
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Quote
1
[on Wiener-Dog (2016)] I do love going to the movies. I don't watch them otherwise unless it's homework. I don't like to watch them on TV or the computer. I like to watch them in the movie theater. Many years ago when they invented the DVR you could record all these great movies and you'd have all these great movies recorded, but it would feel like homework to watch them. I like to go out to see movies on a big screen in a dark room. I like having an audience. That's what movies are for me. [2016]
2
[on Wiener-Dog (2016)] I teach Monday mornings. I love it. I have a great time. I love teaching the students, working with them. They're like little puzzles. Trying to help them figure out their own solutions. [2016]
3
[on Wiener-Dog (2016)] On one end of the spectrum is Au Hasard Balthazar (1966) and on the other is Benji (1974). In between the two this movie lies. [2016]
4
One of the lessons that I tell my students is: You want to make a film only YOU could make, but NOT only you can sit through.
5
My movies aren't for everyone, especially people who like them.
6
There aren't any other countries in the world where they kill abortionists and bomb clinics. To be an abortionist in the United States is like to be a fireman or a policeman, to take on a heroic profession, but of course, it puts your life on the line. Regardless of one's political convictions, you have to respect the integrity of someone who is willing to risk his life to perform this kind of procedure. You can make a good living doing other sorts of procedures.
7
I saw Vera Drake and Mike Leigh is a masterful filmmaker. I think it's indisputable. He works with actors like no one else. It's beautifully shot and beautifully played. And yet at the same time, I just want to scream! I say, would it have been a sin for her to take money for a job well done? Does she have to be sanctified? I can't take it, just how all the liberals, we all go in to see the movie and in a sense it turns us all into martyrs for the good fight. But it's clearly not an examination of the ethical nature and so forth, it's just a given that this is the good fight and we are martyrs for this cause. There's another movie, a lovely film, wonderfully directed, Maria Full of Grace. There's a scene in the movie where you have this 17-year-old pregnant girl in Queens and she sees Women's Health Services, and she goes there. What's the purpose of the scene? All it does is tell us that the baby is okay. I just want to scream! She stays in American, 17, pregnant, no money, no friends, doesn't speak the language. I mean, really, the only thing she's equipped to do is be a prostitute. To me, it's just the falseness of that stay-on-in-America, land-of-hope and so forth, the falseness just makes me want to scream. It's faux-liberal, in fact. I guess it's just being patted on the back, being told, 'You're doing the right thing.' There's no questioning. There's no examination. There's no stopping to think.
8
Even talking about the nature of this war, and Iraq and the Middle East, it's very difficult even to have a conversation. Anything that veers away from the official line, there's a hysteria that pops in.
9
I'm just unfortunate that I have this job I hate, I suppose. I keep thinking I've got to find a new career and maybe I will. But for now, this is all I've got. I haven't found a good alternative yet.
10
Some people will of course accuse me of misanthropy and cynicism. I can't celebrate humanity but I'm not out to indict it either. I just want to expose certain truths.
11
To be an abortionist today in the States is, to my mind, very heroic. Who wants to put their lives on the line? You get assassinated, there are bombs in the clinics. There are so many other easier ways to make a living. You put yourself in a very vulnerable place if you do choose that calling.
12
I don't have children but if I did and my child wanted to act, I'd be fine with him acting in my movie where I feel a certain dignity is accorded. But I would never let my child act in a commercial for the Gap or Banana Republic or for some other consumer goods corporation. That would be the obscenity.
13
There's good laughter and bad laughter. As long as they're not laughing at the expense of any of these characters, it's OK. My films are comedies, but they're sad comedies and this is the saddest of all.
14
(On his movie "Happiness"): "It's not for everyone and it's not designed for everyone and I don't think I'll ever write anything that's designed to appeal to everyone. If you want sympathetic characters it's easy enough to do, you just give someone cancer and of course we'll all feel horribly sad and sorry. You make anyone a victim and people feel that way. But that's not of interest to me as a filmmaker or as a writer. I may be accused of a certain kind of misanthropy but I think I could argue the opposite. I think that it's only by acknowledging the flaws, the foibles, the failings and so forth of who we are that we can in fact fully embrace the all of who we are. People say I'm cruel or that the film's cruel, but I think rather it exposes the cruelty and I think that certainly the capacity for cruelty is the most difficult, the most painful thing for any of us to acknowledge. That we are at all capable. And yet I think that it exists as much as the capacity for kindness and it's only the best of us that are able to suppress, sublimate, re-channel and so forth these baser instincts, but I see them to some degree at play as a regular part of life in very subtle ways and not so subtle ways. I don't think that after the seventh grade that these impulses evaporate. So from my perspective I'm trying to be honest with what I see and what I've experienced and what I believe is true to our nature."
15
In American films, this period of life is not treated seriously. You have either the cute and cuddly Disney kid or the evil devil monster. For me it's fertile territory - middle class kids growing up in the suburbs.
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Fact
1
He initially gave up on his film career after negative experiences making Fear, Anxiety & Depression (1989) but a friend convinced him to give it another try.
He spent his entire life savings on making Palindromes (2004) because no studio would back it.
4
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.
5
He worked as a messenger for the Writers Guild.
6
Is a vegetarian.
7
Solondz went to Yale University, graduating in 1981.
Director
Title
Year
Status
Character
Wiener-Dog
2016
Venice 70: Future Reloaded
2013
Short segment ": "3013"
Dark Horse
2011
Life During Wartime
2009
Palindromes
2004
Storytelling
2001
Happiness
1998
Welcome to the Dollhouse
1995
Fear, Anxiety & Depression
1989
Schatt's Last Shot
1985
Short
Babysitter
1984
Short
Feelings
1984
Short
Writer
Title
Year
Status
Character
Wiener-Dog
2016
written by
Dark Horse
2011
written by
Life During Wartime
2009
written by
Palindromes
2004
written by
Storytelling
2001
written by
Happiness
1998
written by
Welcome to the Dollhouse
1995
written by
Fear, Anxiety & Depression
1989
writer
Schatt's Last Shot
1985
Short
Babysitter
1984
Short
Feelings
1984
Short
Actor
Title
Year
Status
Character
As Good as It Gets
1997
Man on Bus
Fear, Anxiety & Depression
1989
Ira Ellis
Married to the Mob
1988
The Zany Reporter
In Transit
1986
Short
Musician
Schatt's Last Shot
1985
Short
Ezra Schatt
Feelings
1984
Short
Sensitive young man (uncredited)
Soundtrack
Title
Year
Status
Character
Life During Wartime
2009
lyrics: "Life During Wartime"
Fear, Anxiety & Depression
1989
lyrics: "Helen Of Troy", "Ira, I Love You", "A Neat Kind Of Guy"
Producer
Title
Year
Status
Character
Welcome to the Dollhouse
1995
producer
Production Manager
Title
Year
Status
Character
In Transit
1986
Short production manager
Thanks
Title
Year
Status
Character
Carmelo
2015
Short thanks
Blood and Water
2015/I
Short thanks
Stop
2015/III
Short very special thanks
La última noche
2014
Short special thanks
Full-Windsor
2014
Short special thanks
My Father's Truck
2013
Short very special thanks
Prevertere
2012
special thanks
The Ducks' Migration
2012
Short special thanks
Keep the Lights On
2012
thanks
Explicit Ills
2008
special thanks
This Film Is Not Yet Rated
2006
Documentary the producers wish to thank
Me and the Moilsies
2001
Short special thanks
Self
Title
Year
Status
Character
10 Questions for Todd Solondz
2013
Video short
Himself
Días de cine
2009
TV Series
Himself
Silenci?
2005-2006
TV Series
Himself
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
1998-2002
TV Series
Himself
Late Show with David Letterman
1998
TV Series
Himself
Charlie Rose
1996
TV Series
Himself - Guest
Archive Footage
Title
Year
Status
Character
Ceremonia de inauguración - 56º Festival internacional de cine de San Sebastián
2008
TV Movie
Himself (uncredited)
Won Awards
Year
Award
Ceremony
Nomination
Movie
2016
Jury Prize
Deauville Film Festival
Wiener-Dog (2016)
2016
Revelations Prize
Deauville Film Festival
Wiener-Dog (2016)
2010
The Jewish Experience Award
Jerusalem Film Festival
Lia Award
Life During Wartime (2009)
2009
Golden Osella
Venice Film Festival
Best Screenplay
Life During Wartime (2009)
2007
Filmmaker on the Edge Award
Provincetown International Film Festival
2004
Visionary Award
Stockholm Film Festival
1999
Chlotrudis Award
Chlotrudis Awards
Best Screenplay
Happiness (1998)
1999
Directors' Week Award
Fantasporto
Happiness (1998)
1998
FIPRESCI Prize
Cannes Film Festival
Parallel Sections
Happiness (1998)
1998
Critic's Choice Award
Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival
Best Film
Happiness (1998)
1998
International Jury Award
São Paulo International Film Festival
Happiness (1998)
1998
Metro Media Award
Toronto International Film Festival
Happiness (1998)
1996
C.I.C.A.E. Award
Berlin International Film Festival
Forum of New Cinema
Welcome to the Dollhouse (1995)
1996
Grand Jury Prize
Sundance Film Festival
Dramatic
Welcome to the Dollhouse (1995)
Nominated Awards
Year
Award
Ceremony
Nomination
Movie
2016
Grand Special Prize
Deauville Film Festival
Wiener-Dog (2016)
2011
Black Pearl Award
Abu Dhabi Film Festival
Best Narrative Feature
Dark Horse (2011)
2011
Independent Spirit Award
Independent Spirit Awards
Best Screenplay
Life During Wartime (2009)
2011
Golden Lion
Venice Film Festival
Dark Horse (2011)
2010
Sydney Film Prize
Sydney Film Festival
Best Film
Life During Wartime (2009)
2010
VVFP Award
Village Voice Film Poll
Best Screenplay
Life During Wartime (2009)
2009
Best Film
Mar del Plata Film Festival
International Competition
Life During Wartime (2009)
2009
Golden Lion
Venice Film Festival
Life During Wartime (2009)
2004
Golden Lion
Venice Film Festival
Palindromes (2004)
2001
Un Certain Regard Award
Cannes Film Festival
Storytelling (2001)
2000
Bodil
Bodil Awards
Best American Film (Bedste amerikanske film)
Happiness (1998)
1999
Golden Globe
Golden Globes, USA
Best Screenplay - Motion Picture
Happiness (1998)
1999
CFCA Award
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards
Best Screenplay
Happiness (1998)
1999
Chlotrudis Award
Chlotrudis Awards
Best Director
Happiness (1998)
1999
Independent Spirit Award
Independent Spirit Awards
Best Director
Happiness (1998)
1999
OFTA Film Award
Online Film & Television Association
Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen
Happiness (1998)
1999
OFCS Award
Online Film Critics Society Awards
Best Original Screenplay
Happiness (1998)
1998
Best Film
Mar del Plata Film Festival
International Competition
Happiness (1998)
1998
Bronze Horse
Stockholm Film Festival
Happiness (1998)
1998
TFCA Award
Toronto Film Critics Association Awards
Best Director
Happiness (1998)
1997
Independent Spirit Award
Independent Spirit Awards
Best Feature
Welcome to the Dollhouse (1995)
1997
Independent Spirit Award
Independent Spirit Awards
Best Director
Welcome to the Dollhouse (1995)
1997
OFTA Film Award
Online Film & Television Association
Best Comedy/Musical Picture
Welcome to the Dollhouse (1995)
1997
OFTA Film Award
Online Film & Television Association
Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen
$700,000
