Sir Samuel Alexander Mendes CBE (born 1 August 1965) is an English film and stage director, producer and screenwriter. In theatre, he is known for his dark re-inventions of the stage musicals Cabaret (1994), Oliver! (1994), Company (1995), and Gypsy (2003). He directed an original West End stage musical for the first time with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2013).
For directing the play The Ferryman, Mendes was awarded the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play in 2019.
From ‘Nope’ to ‘The Fabelmans,’ Oscar Season Soon Takes Off With Dozens of Potential Contenders
variety.comTim Gray Senior Vice PresidentAs of June 30, we’re at the halfway point for 2022 — and for the Oscar eligibility year. There are dozens of possibilities coming up and many familiar elements — plenty of biopics, a reliance on fall film festivals, a heavy dose of streamers — but this could be an unusual year.In the first six months of the year, A24’s “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and Paramount’s “Top Gun: Maverick” seem likely.
They would have been Oscar longshots a decade ago (too daring and a summer sequel, respectively), but both should do well since voters’ tastes are changing.Also notable this year: The roster of directors is far more inclusive, in terms of gender and race, than in the past.
While the upcoming crop includes past winners like James Cameron, Damien Chazelle, Alejandro Inarritu, Sam Mendes and Steven Spielberg, there are new hopefuls, including Chinonye Chukwu, Andrew Dominik, Sebastian Lelio, Sarah Polley and Gina Prince-Bythewood, to name a few.At the March 27 Oscars, The Slap stole all the attention, so many overlooked the fact that the best picture winner was radical: “CODA” is about a deaf family, by a woman writer-director, from Apple TV+, a streaming service.
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