---
name: "Alexander Payne"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/alexander-payne"
fi1m_id: "alexander-payne"
imdb_id: "nm0668247"
tmdb_id: 13235
wikidata_id: "Q313566"
roles: ["Director","Writer","Producer"]
born: "10 February 1961"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 8
average_fi1m_score: 79
average_as: "director"
average_over: 7
updated: "2026-09-19T16:22:59.490807+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Alexander Payne

## Identity

Alexander Payne

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/alexander-payne
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** alexander-payne
- **IMDb ID:** nm0668247
- **TMDB ID:** 13235
- **Wikidata ID:** Q313566
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Payne, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q313566, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0668247/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/13235

Director and writer. Born 10 February 1961 in Omaha, Nebraska, USA.

## Details

- **Work:** Director, Writer, Producer
- **Born:** 10 February 1961, Omaha, Nebraska, USA
- **Active:** 1999–present
- **Also known as:** Constantine Alexander Payne, אלכסנדר פיין, Александер Пейн
- **Titles on Fi1m:** 8: 7 directing, 1 writing
- **Frequently works with:** [Jim Taylor](https://film.one/person/jim-taylor.md), [Albert Berger](https://film.one/person/albert-berger.md), [Jim Burke](https://film.one/person/jim-burke.md), [June Squibb](https://film.one/person/june-squibb.md), [Paul Giamatti](https://film.one/person/paul-giamatti.md), [Ron Yerxa](https://film.one/person/ron-yerxa.md)
- **Academy Awards:** 2 Oscars (2 won · 5 nominated)
- **Average Fi1m score:** 79, as director, over 7 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1990s 86 (1), 2000s 74 (3), 2010s 74 (3), 2020s 81 (1)
- **Fi1m against the critics:** 79 to 77 across 7 titles
- **Score spread:** 5 at 80+, 2 at 60–79, 0 under 60
- **Genres:** Drama 7, Comedy 6, Adventure 1, Romance 1, Science Fiction 1
- **Screen time:** 14 hours of reviewed films
- **Box office:** $533m across 7 films with figures
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Payne, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q313566, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0668247/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/13235

## Streaming the US now

- **Hulu:** [*Election*](https://film.one/film/election.md) (86)
- **Peacock:** [*The Holdovers*](https://film.one/film/the-holdovers.md) (81)
- **Amazon Prime Video:** [*About Schmidt*](https://film.one/film/about-schmidt.md) (77)
- **Apple TV:** [*Downsizing*](https://film.one/film/downsizing.md) (60)
- **AMC+:** [*Jurassic Park III*](https://film.one/film/jurassic-park-iii.md) (58)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Alexander Payne

> Alexander Payne makes funny, uncomfortable films about people with convincing excuses for themselves. We rate his sharp ear for self-deception and his kindness towards difficult men, though he sometimes insists on a point his actors have already made.

In *Election* (1999), Matthew Broderick’s Jim McAllister can make his dislike of an ambitious pupil sound like a reasonable adult concern. Alexander Payne lets him talk, then gives us enough of Reese Witherspoon’s Tracy Flick to see what he is excusing. Witherspoon does not make Tracy sweet for our convenience, and Payne is right to leave her that difficulty. We laughed at Jim, then felt uncomfortable because Broderick made his excuses sound like something we might use ourselves. Payne is a sharp director of people who think they are behaving better than they are.

That sour comedy was already part of *Citizen Ruth* (1996), his first feature, co-written with Jim Taylor. In their screenplay for *Election*, the competing voice-overs let characters make a defence while revealing why we should doubt them. Kevin Tent’s brisk editing keeps those accounts moving, and the freeze-frames sharpen the jokes. Payne sometimes adds more emphasis than the actors need, with music and visual punctuation insisting that someone is ridiculous. We would rather he left those moments to Witherspoon and Broderick.

*Sideways* (2004) supplies the clearest link to the warmer *The Holdovers* (2023): Paul Giamatti, playing another man who has wasted himself. The intervening films include the family drama *The Descendants* (2011), set in Hawaii, and the black-and-white road film *Nebraska* (2013), but this return to Giamatti feels especially fitting. Payne understands the appeal of a sour man gradually managing a small decency. In *The Holdovers*, the school and the winter of 1970 give that familiar story a different setting, with the shooting, cutting and music all recalling the period. We rate it his strongest film since *Sideways*, chiefly because the actors make its warmth convincing.

Giamatti and Randolph carry *The Holdovers* through David Hemingson’s neat lessons about what these people have to teach each other. Randolph makes Mary a person where the script too often treats her as a lesson for the others. When a look has already told us enough, a speech too often follows, and the film runs roughly a quarter of an hour longer than it needs to. Payne’s sympathy works better when he trusts the face in front of him. Start with *Election* for the sharper comedy; choose *The Holdovers* for the warmth, provided a little dawdling will not spoil the evening.

## Biography

Alexander Payne is an American film director and screenwriter. Born on 10 February 1961 in Omaha, Nebraska, he studied history and Spanish literature at Stanford University and earned an MFA in film at UCLA.

Payne is known for directing *Election* (1999), *About Schmidt* (2002), *Sideways* (2004), *The Descendants* (2011), *Nebraska* (2013), *Downsizing* (2017) and *The Holdovers* (2023). He has won two Academy Awards for Best Adapted Screenplay, for *Sideways* and *The Descendants*.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, britannica.com.*

## On Fi1m (8)

### Directed (7) — the average rests on these

- *The Holdovers* (2023), Fi1m 81, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/the-holdovers.md)
- *Downsizing* (2017), Fi1m 60, Director, Producer, Screenplay — [page](https://film.one/film/downsizing.md)
- *Nebraska* (2013), Fi1m 82, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/nebraska.md)
- *The Descendants* (2011), Fi1m 80, Screenplay, Producer, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/the-descendants.md)
- *Sideways* (2004), Fi1m 86, Director, Screenplay — [page](https://film.one/film/sideways.md)
- *About Schmidt* (2002), Fi1m 77, Director, Screenplay — [page](https://film.one/film/about-schmidt.md)
- *Election* (1999), Fi1m 86, Screenplay, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/election.md)

### Wrote (1)

- *Jurassic Park III* (2001), Fi1m 58, Writer — [page](https://film.one/film/jurassic-park-iii.md)

## Complete filmography (35)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Dernsie: The Amazing Life of Bruce Dern* (2026), Actor
- *The Holdovers* (2023), Director — Fi1m 81, [page](https://film.one/film/the-holdovers.md)
- *A Good Person* (2023), Thanks
- *The Last Shift* (2020), Executive Producer
- *Small Town Wisconsin* (2020), Executive Producer
- *Downsizing* (2017), Director, Screenplay, Producer — Fi1m 60, [page](https://film.one/film/downsizing.md)
- *Crash Pad* (2017), Executive Producer
- *Program Notes: An Introduction To The Last Detail By Alexander Payne* (2017), Writer
- *About a Trip: Alexander Payne on Hal Ashby's 'The Last Detail'* (2017), Actor
- *Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter* (2014), Executive Producer
- *Nebraska* (2013), Director — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/film/nebraska.md)
- *The Descendants* (2011), Director, Screenplay, Producer — Fi1m 80, [page](https://film.one/film/the-descendants.md)
- *Cedar Rapids* (2011), Producer
- *Sideways* (2009), Story, Executive Producer, Original Film Writer
- *Hung* (2009), series, Director, Executive Producer
- *The Replacement Child* (2008), Thanks
- *The Savages* (2007), Executive Producer
- *I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry* (2007), Screenplay
- *Gray Matters* (2007), Executive Producer
- *King of California* (2007), Producer
- *Paris Je T'aime* (2006), as Oscar Wilde (segment " Pere-Lachaise") · Director, Writer
- *Cinema16: American Short Films* (2006), Director
- *14e Arrondissement* (2006), Director
- *Sideways* (2004), Director, Screenplay — Fi1m 86, [page](https://film.one/film/sideways.md)
- *The Assassination of Richard Nixon* (2004), Executive Producer
- *About Schmidt* (2002), Director, Screenplay — Fi1m 77, [page](https://film.one/film/about-schmidt.md)
- *Jurassic Park III* (2001), Writer — Fi1m 58, [page](https://film.one/film/jurassic-park-iii.md)
- *Election* (1999), Director, Screenplay — Fi1m 86, [page](https://film.one/film/election.md)
- *Citizen Ruth* (1996), Director, Screenplay
- *Inside Out 3* (1992), Director
- *The Passion of Martin* (1991), Director, Screenplay, Editor, Producer
- *Inside Out* (1991), Writer, Director
- *Carmen* (1985), Director, Music
- *Untitled Alexander Payne Western*, Director
- *Somewhere Out There*, Director

## Gallery

- ![Alexander Payne](https://film.one/media/person/526/gallery-4796b4a32fff.jpg) Alexander Payne — che, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f2/Alexander_payne.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Alexander Payne](https://film.one/media/person/526/gallery-967d8a62ecfc.jpg) Alexander Payne — Image via TMDB
- ![Alexander Payne](https://film.one/media/person/526/gallery-0d205435d10c.jpg) Alexander Payne — Image via TMDB
- ![Alexander Payne](https://film.one/media/person/526/gallery-4f8c55498e68.jpg) Alexander Payne — Image via TMDB
- ![Alexander Payne](https://film.one/media/person/526/gallery-925b7caa3fba.jpg) Alexander Payne — Image via TMDB
- ![Alexander Payne](https://film.one/media/person/526/gallery-1ab7ae8e6a69.jpg) Alexander Payne — Image via TMDB

## Awards

### Academy Awards — 2 won, 5 nominated

- 2014: Best Director (nominated), for *Nebraska*
- 2012: Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay (won), for *The Descendants*
- 2012: Best Picture (nominated), for *The Descendants*
- 2012: Best Director (nominated), for *The Descendants*
- 2005: Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay (won), for *Sideways*
- 2005: Best Director (nominated), for *Sideways*
- 2000: Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay (nominated), for *Election*

### BAFTA Film Awards — 1 won, 5 nominated

- 2013: Best Adapted Screenplay (nominated), for *The Descendants*
- 2013: Best Film (nominated), for *The Descendants*
- 2012: Best Adapted Screenplay (nominated), for *The Descendants*
- 2012: Best Film (nominated), for *The Descendants*
- 2006: Best Adapted Screenplay (nominated), for *Sideways*
- 2005: Best Adapted Screenplay (won), for *Sideways*

### Golden Globes — 1 won

- 2005: Best Screenplay (won), for *Sideways*

### Other awards — 1 won

- Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Director 2011: Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Director (won), for *The Descendants*

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/alexander-payne