Gus Van Sant

Gus Van Sant is a filmmaker who is capable of crafting both deeply unconventional independent films and mainstream crowd-pleasers. He is perhaps best known for directing GOOD WILL HUNTING with Robin Williams, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. Van Sant was nominated for a Best Director Oscar® in 1998 (Williams won for Best Actor, as did and Damon and Affleck for Best Original Screenplay). His most recent film MILK garnered an Academy Award® nomination for Best Director, and the Oscars® for Best Actor (Sean Penn) and Best Screenplay (Dustin Lance Black.)

Van Sant’s credits include DRUGSTORE COWBOY with Matt Dillon and MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO with Keanu Reeves and River Phoenix, both Independent Spirit Award winners. His exploration of the Columbine killings in ELEPHANT earned Best Director recognition at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival, where it also received the festival’s highest award, the Palme d’Or. Van Sant was also awarded the Palme d’Or for his films PARANOID PARK (2007) and LAST DAYS (2005).

Other Van Sant films include TO DIE FOR with Nicole Kidman (Golden Globe® Award) and FINDING FORRESTER with Sean Connery. Van Sant has also directed music videos for David Bowie, Elton John, Hanson and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Short films include an adaptation of William S. Burroughs’ short story “The Discipline of D.E.” (1982) and Allen Ginsberg reading his poem “Ballad of the Skeletons” to the music of Paul McCartney and Philip Glass, which premiered at the 1997 Sundance Film Festival. Van Sant has directed music videos for David Bowie, Elton John, Hanson and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. In 1992, he received the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon’s Freedom of Expression Award for films that have “let us see inside the lives of individuals we don’t often get a glimpse at.”

Telling Pictures