| Alexander
Payne Q & A
Alexander
Payne says his films deal "largely in the
world of the absurd." (And, to date, largely
in the world of Payne's hometown of Omaha, Nebraska.)
Citizen Ruth was a comedy about...abortion.
Election was an Oscar-nominated expose
on...student-body politics. About Schmidt,
based on the Louis Begley novel, is Payne's third
feature as writer/director. It is neither your
usual comedy, nor your usual drama. It is the
funny-sad, sad-funny tale of Warren Schmidt (Jack
Nicholson), an Omaha-based, mid-level insurance
executive faced with retirement and his daughter's
(Hope Davis) impending marriage to, in his eyes,
a less-than-suitable suitor (Dermot Mulroney).
Through it all, Warren's confidante is...Ndugu,
a 6-year-old Tanzanian boy he sponsors through
an outreach organization. Absurd? Absurdly real?
Welcome to Alexander Payne's world.
On the Omaha-zation of Warren Schmidt:
The movie About Schmidt, much more than
the book About Schmidt [set in Manhattan]
is about regrets in life—coming to terms
with those regrets, coming to terms with maybe
having
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