Alumnus of the year CREIGHTON PREP ALUMNI NEWS / Fall 2004 The class of 1979 had the best senior prank ever. Using a student- filled library as an imaginary saloon in a town called Janeville (Jane O'Brien was the Prep librarian), nine seniors posing as roughneck bandits and Texas rangers, staged an old- West shootout complete with card playing, cigars (unlit), bartenders and toy six-shooters. Though this could never be repeated today, in a more innocent time, this was a truly clever spectacle. Though I am sure no one would look at this as the dramatic work that launched the Oscarnominated film career of Alexander Payne, it serves to illustrate the creative character of this year's Alumnus of the Year. Payne grew up the youngest of three boys with a span of more than seven years between himself and his closest sibling. He was a bright, observant and reflective child. He was reading at the age of three and his mother, Peggy, remembers many instances where Alexander demonstrated a level of intelligence that was beyond his years. One such incident was during a family trip to Europe in 1966. Peggy recalls her 5-year-old pointing and saying rather matter- of-factly, "There's the Parthenon." Though he was involved in a number of activities while at Prep, one of his more meaningful high school experiences was a three-week trip to Japan as part of Junior Achievement. He traveled from host family to host family learning a great deal about Japanese customs and culture. After graduating from Prep in 1979, Payne studied History and Spanish Literature at Stanford University before earning a master’s degree in Fine Arts in Filmmaking from UCLA. His thesis film, The Passion of Martin, screened at the 1991 Sundance Film Festival and at many other festivals around the world. Payne made his feature debut with the comedy Citizen Ruth (1996), an awardwinner at the Montreal, Munich and Thessaloniki film festivals. Election followed in 1999, a film that earned Best Screenplay awards from the Writers' Guild of America, the New York Film Critics Circle and the Independent Spirit Awards, as well as an Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. About Schmidt (2002) with Jack Nicholson and Kathy Bates premiered in competition at the Cannes Film Festival and opened the New York Film Festival. It went on to win two Golden Globe awards and was voted best film of 2002 by both the Los Angeles and London Film Critics Circles. In all his works, Payne exposes humanity in ways few others dare. Classmate Bryce Thull expressed it well when he wrote of Payne, "It is an understatement to call him bright and creative. I don't know much about directing movies, but Alex's talent is capturing slices of humanity in a story, a script and a film." "He can certainly make us laugh. He has been an entertainer for as long as I can remember," adds Bryce. "But more important to me and I think for him, is he wants us to think and reflect upon our lives and our humanity, both the ugly as well as the beautiful. I don't know if it's a conscious goal, but his films invite you to assess or re-assess your own personal landscapes. I know that the challenge of self-assessment was enforced and nurtured in many ways at Prep. If it was not the specifics of Fr. Hindelang, S.J. drilling us in Latin class, it was the broader questions of Fr. Kalamaja, S.J. asking us, 'What does it mean to be a man?' Alex would take such questions seriously, and he never stopped asking them even when class was ended." From senior prank cowboy to editor-inchief of the Jay Journal to prom king candidate, Alexander Payne left a mark on Prep and his classmates. "His '79 yearbook was one of the finest ever produced at Prep," explains Jeannie Brayman. "It was based on magazine layouts and incorporated mock advertising and in-depth interviews. Weirdly, it has a cinematic quality about it." He still makes it back to Prep for an occasional talk on filmmaking, and when he does, Payne ignites a flame in our students. He is both unpretentious and engaging in a way that draws our young men to him. And when he is with them, he listens, he critiques and he shares. The most recent of these talks was in 2002 when he spent the better part of the afternoon at Prep critiquing students work the day that About Schmidt was making its debut in Omaha. "Alex doesn't forget his hometown roots," adds Jeannie. "He has chosen to make three movies in Nebraska, to employ Nebraska actors and tech crews and to show stark Nebraska landscapes as well as urban blight. He has trusted Nebraska to be every bit as large, perhaps even larger than life, as Los Angeles or New York."