Todd Haynes

Todd Haynes (; born January 2, 1961) is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. His films span four decades with themes examining the personalities of well-known musicians, dysfunctional and dystopian societies, and blurred gender roles.

Haynes first gained public attention with his controversial short film ''Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story'' (1987), which chronicles singer Karen Carpenter's life and death using Barbie dolls as actors. ''Superstar'' became a cult classic. His feature directorial debut, ''Poison'' (1991), a provocative exploration of AIDS-era perceptions and subversions, established him as a figure of a new transgressive cinema. ''Poison'' won the Sundance Film Festival's Grand Jury Prize.

Haynes received further acclaim for his second feature film, ''Safe'' (1995), a symbolic portrait of a housewife who develops multiple chemical sensitivity. ''Safe'' was later voted the best film of the 1990s by ''The Village Voice'' Film Poll. His next feature, ''Velvet Goldmine'' (1998), is a tribute to the 1970s glam rock era. The film received the Special Jury Prize for Best Artistic Contribution at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival.

Haynes gained acclaim and a measure of mainstream success with ''Far from Heaven'' (2002), receiving his first Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay. He continued to direct critically lauded films such as ''I'm Not There'' (2007), ''Carol'' (2015), ''Wonderstruck'' (2017), ''Dark Waters'' (2019), and ''May December'' (2023), as well as the documentary film ''The Velvet Underground'' (2021). Haynes also directed and co-wrote the HBO mini-series ''Mildred Pierce'' (2011), for which he received three Primetime Emmy Award nominations. Provided by Wikipedia