Who is Gus Van Sant?
Gus Van Sant is an American filmmaker, painter, screenwriter, photographer and musician known for directing films such as Good Will Hunting, the 1998 remake of Psycho, Gerry, Elephant, My Own Private Idaho, To Die For, Milk, Last Days, Finding Forrester, Promised Land, Drugstore Cowboy and Mala Noche.
Overview
- Nicknames
- Gus Van Sant Jr., Gus van Sant
Trivia
- Favorite director is Stanley Kubrick.
- 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. Excepting the "tongue illustration", Van Sant is credited for paintings, art direction and photography for RHCP's 1991 album "Blood Sugar Sex Magik".
- 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.)
- 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."