YFS brings director Payne to Master's Tea by Hannah Frank / THE YALE HERALD / April 2, 2004 What does Alexander Payne think about 2002's Best Picture, Chicago? "Overcut, but really entertaining." What about the Lord of the Rings series? "I loved them, loved them. They're utterly classical, but completely new." And The Passion of the Christ? "It's a gay snuff film." Payne—director and co-writer of the acerbic triad of Citizen Ruth, Election, and About Schmidt—came to Yale this week for two days of workshops and question-and-answer sessions. At a Morse College Master's Tea on Monday, he did not follow the lecture format of most Teas, instead opening himself up to the whims of the audience. Over the course of an hour and a half, he expounded on the state of American cinema today and how he sees his work in relation to both cinema and the world. "I'm optimistic for film because the world is going to hell right now," Payne said, displaying a characteristic flippancy that was nonetheless underscored by a measured sincerity, a balance that impresses upon all his films. "Cinema has to respond to people's concern somehow." Payne acknowledged that most films post-1980 were by and large worthless, however, he did cite certain directors— "David Russell, Keith Gordon, Spike [Lee], Sophia [Coppola], the Andersons [Wes and Paul]—whom he called "neo-auteurist," that is, who possess distinct and innovative aesthetic visions that would infuse cinema with a certain gravity and so render it relevant again. Payne referred to a Marxist theory that relates how all art is political, and then recalled that even films of the '70s "that weren't overtly political were still political," in the process indicting current cinema for its apathy—and yet registering hope for the future of the artform to which he has devoted his life. Payne began as a film buff in Nebraska. At the age of seven, he started collecting 8mm reels and screening them for his friends. As an undergraduate at Stanford, he majored in history and Spanish literature and did not take any film courses, but continued watching movies obsessively, fostering his love for the works of directors like Akira Kurosawa, Ernest Lubitsch, and Sam Peckinpah.. After considering a career as a foreign correspondent, he ultimately decided to attend UCLA. There he produced The Passion of Martin, which was a success, going on to be shown at the Sundance Film Festival. Five years later, Citizen Ruth, a comedy about abortion, was released. Citizen Ruth contains all the elements Payne's work is known for: an Omaha setting, deadbeat yet completely self-involved characters, and a knowingly tongue-in-cheek assessment of the state of the world. The project he is currently editing, Sideways, transplants his characters to California, but is just as caustic, one character is both a divorced alcoholic and a failed writer, and the other is a libidinous bridesgroom-to-be who wants to fuck anyone who'll look at him. Payne is also preparing a film called, of all things, Nebraska. Nebraska is based on a script he did not write, a first for Payne. It seized his imagination because he realized he could film it in black-and-white, and so capture "the hideous austerity in American landscape these days." Payne's words may be edged with sarcasm, but they contain an element of deep love. This is an America run by a president whom he despises, but he believes in the incendiary or even redemptive power of cinema, its ability to depict a world gone horribly awry. And, if nothing else, the results can be hilarious.