Person
Todd Haynes
Los Angeles, California, USA
Todd Haynes (/heɪnz/; born January 2, 1961; Los Angeles) is an American filmmaker. His films span four decades with themes examining the personalities of well-known musicians, dys…
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Todd Haynes (/heɪnz/; born January 2, 1961; Los Angeles) is an American filmmaker. His films span four decades with themes examining the personalities of well-known musicians, dysfunctional and dystopian societies, and blurred gender roles. Haynes first gained public attention with his controversial short film Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story (1987), which chronicles singer Karen Carpenter's life and death, using Barbie dolls as actors. Superstar became a cult classic. Haynes's feature directorial debut, Poison (1991), a provocative exploration of AIDS-era queer perceptions and subversions, established him as a figure of a new transgressive cinema. Poison won the Sundance Film Festival's Grand Jury Prize and is regarded as a seminal work of New Queer Cinema. Haynes received further acclaim for his second feature film, Safe (1995), a symbolic portrait of a housewife who develops multiple chemical sensitivity. Safe was later voted the best film of the 1990s by The Village Voice Film Poll. His next feature, Velvet Goldmine (1998), is a tribute to the 1970s glam rock era. The film received the Special Jury Prize for Best Artistic Contribution at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival. Haynes gained acclaim and a measure of mainstream success with Far from Heaven (2002) earning his first Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay. He continued to direct critically lauded films such as I'm Not There (2007), Carol (2015), Wonderstruck (2017) and Dark Waters (2019). He directed his first feature-length documentary, The Velvet Underground (2021). Haynes directed and co-wrote the HBO mini-series Mildred Pierce (2011) for which he was nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards.
Filmography
Movies and shows, newest first
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2026
Barbara Forever
Movie Self (archive footage)
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2026
All We Do Is Watch Movies
Movie Self
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2025
Earthlings
Movie Executive Producer
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2023
Off Script with The Hollywood Reporter
TV show Self
-
2023
May December
Movie Director
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2023
Art-House America: Austin Film Society
Movie Self
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2023
Image Book
Movie Director
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2022
Douglas Sirk – Hope as in Despair
Movie Self
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2021
Cal State Long Beach, CA, January 2020
Movie Thanks
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2021
The Velvet Underground
Movie Writer
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2019
Dark Waters: The Cost of Being a Hero
Movie Self
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2019
Dark Waters
Movie Director
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2019
Earthquake Bird
Movie Thanks
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2019
At the Video Store
Movie Self
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2017
Marcians
TV show Self - Interviewee
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2017
Wonderstruck
Movie Director
More credits
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2016
Certain Women
Movie Executive Producer
-
2016
Xavier Dolan: Bound to Impossible
Movie Self
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2015
Carol
Movie Director
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2014
Still Alice
Movie Thanks
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2014
Night Moves
Movie Executive Producer
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2013
Six by Sondheim
Movie Director
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2013
Buoy
Movie Executive Producer
-
2011
Enlightened
TV show Director
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2011
Meek's Cutoff
Movie Executive Producer
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2011
Mildred Pierce
TV show Director
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2009
Great Directors
Movie Self
-
2008
Wendy and Lucy
Movie Executive Producer
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2007
I'm Not There
Movie Director
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2007
Notes on the Death of Kodachrome
Movie Self
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2006
Maternal Overdrive
Movie Self
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2006
Infinite Pleasure: Todd Haynes on Max Ophuls' Le Plaisir
Movie Interviewee
-
2006
Quinceañera
Movie Executive Producer
-
2006
Old Joy
Movie Executive Producer
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2006
Fabulous! The Story of Queer Cinema
Movie Self
- 2006
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2002
Far from Heaven
Movie Director
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2002
Madame Satã
Movie Thanks
-
1998
SexTV
TV show
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1998
Velvet Goldmine
Movie Director
