Payne's star rising, especially at home by Rick Ruggles / OMAHA WORLD-HERALD / December 19, 2004 Filmmaker Alexander Payne returned as a celebrity Saturday to the University of Nebraska at Omaha's Eppley Auditorium, where he watched movies as a boy. Filmmaker Alexander Payne discusses his work at a symposium at the Univesity of Nebraska at Omaha, Saturday, Dec. 18, 2004. At least 300 people packed the small auditorium, some standing along the sides. Payne spent more than three hours giving a public presentation, answering questions, showing clips of movies he likes and signing autographs. He received an honorary doctorate at UNO the day before. Payne, who writes and directs movies about quirky, flawed, regular people, showed Omahans that a kid from the neighborhood can win acclaim in the film industry. Marc Costanzo and Greg Simon, college freshmen and aspiring filmmakers from Ralston, left the event encouraged. "We want to be giving a symposium 10 years from now," Costanzo said. Payne's latest film, "Sideways," is currently in theaters. The movie has received Golden Globe nominations and won various awards. "Sideways" is set in California wine country. His three other movies - "About Schmidt," "Election" and "Citizen Ruth" - were filmed in Omaha and Nebraska. Payne told the audience he had minimal movie-making experience before going to film school as a graduate student at the University of California, Los Angeles. As a boy, Payne enjoyed using a film projector given to his father, a downtown cafe proprietor. Payne loved movies and watched them wherever he could, including at UNO and at Joslyn Art Museum. As Payne gave an interview before his presentation, 80-year-old Mel Linsman walked up. Payne, who was standing on the stage at the time, kneeled, patted Linsman on the arm and talked quietly with him for a couple of minutes. Linsman ran a Joslyn Art Museum Sunday film series that Payne attended regularly as a boy. They became friends and remain so. "At that age, he sat there and found little symbolisms in those films," Linsman said. "It was unbelievable. He caught stuff I never saw." Payne's parents, Peggy and George, still live in the Dundee area, where the director grew up. They attended the presentation Saturday. "I have really no statement to make except that my wife and I are very pleased because this is the first time we've seen him give a performance like this," George Payne said in the hallway outside the auditorium. Alexander Payne talked about his desire to make movies with funny, everyday moments in them and with characters that are believable and not Hollywood cookie-cutter cliches. "I thought it was really interesting," Chris Dando, a UNO geography faculty member, said as she left. Dando said she appreciates the way Payne weaves into his movies poignant moments that people recognize from their own lives. "Real people," she said of his characters. "And that's the essence of Omaha." The 43-year-old Payne said before the presentation that he isn't at ease with celebrity. "I'm not so crazy about that necessarily," he said. "I'm behind the camera for a reason. I pity famous actors." During the question-answer session, he was asked if he'd ever direct himself in a movie, as Mel Gibson, Clint Eastwood and other actors have done. "The answer is no, it's too terrifying," he said. He appeared at ease before the audience. Wearing a sweater, white dress shirt and gray corduroy pants, he looked like a popular professor. A man came from backstage in the middle of the presentation and gave Payne a white box. Payne opened it. "A cake. Right on," Payne said. "Yes, it is for everybody."