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Sam Mendes

Sir Samuel Alexander Mendes CBE (born 1 August 1965[1]) is a British film and stage director, producer, and screenwriter. In 2000, Mendes was appointed a CBE for his services to drama, and he was knighted in the 2020 New Years Honours List. That same year, he was awarded the Shakespeare Prize by the Alfred Toepfer Foundation in Hamburg, Germany. In 2005, he received a lifetime achievement award from the Directors Guild of Great Britain.[2][3] In 2008, The Daily Telegraph ranked him number 15 in their list of the "100 most powerful people in British culture".[4]


Sam Mendes

Mendes in 2022
Born
Samuel Alexander Mendes

(1965-08-01) 1 August 1965 (age 57)
Reading, Berkshire, England
EducationMagdalen College School
Alma materPeterhouse, Cambridge
Occupations
  • Director
  • producer
  • screenwriter
Years active1987–present
Spouses
  • (m. 2003; div. 2011)
  • (m. 2017)
Children2
RelativesValerie Mendes (mother)
Alfred Mendes (grandfather)
AwardsFull list

Born in Berkshire to a Trinidadian Catholic father and an English Jewish mother, Mendes grew up in North London. He read English at Peterhouse at Cambridge University, and began directing plays there before joining Donmar Warehouse, which became a centre of 1990s London theatre culture.[5] In theatre, he is known for his dark re-inventions of the stage musicals Cabaret (1993), Oliver! (1994), Company (1995), and Gypsy (2003).

He directed an original West End stage musical for the first time with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2013). For his work on the London stage, Mendes has received three Laurence Olivier Awards for Company, Twelfth Night and The Ferryman and for his work on Broadway he has earned two Tony Awards for Best Direction of a Play for his work on The Ferryman in 2019, and The Lehman Trilogy in 2022.

In film, he made his directorial debut with the drama American Beauty (1999), which earned him the Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Director. He has since directed the crime film Road to Perdition (2002), Jarhead (2005), the drama Revolutionary Road (2008), and the James Bond films Skyfall (2012) and Spectre (2015). For the war film 1917 (2019), he received the BAFTA Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Director, as well as his second Academy Award nominations for Best Director, Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay.[6]

Early life

Mendes was born on 1 August 1965 in Reading, Berkshire. He is the son of Valerie Mendes (born Barnett), a publisher and author, and Jameson Peter Mendes, a university professor.[1][7] His father is a Roman Catholic of Portuguese descent from Trinidad and Tobago,[8][9][10] and his mother is an English Jew.[11] His grandfather was the Trinidadian writer Alfred Hubert Mendes.[8]

Mendes's parents divorced when he was three years old,[11] after which Mendes and his mother settled in Primrose Hill in North London.[12] He attended Primrose Hill Primary School and was in the same class as future Foreign Secretary David Miliband and author Zoë Heller.[13] In 1976, the family relocated to Woodstock near Oxford, where Mendes's mother found work as a senior editor at Oxford University Press.[12] Mendes was educated at Magdalen College School where he met future theatre designer Tom Piper, who went on to work with Mendes on a National Theatre revival of Harold Pinter's The Birthday Party.[14]

Mendes had an early interest in cinema and applied to the University of Warwick (then the only university in the UK that offered an undergraduate film course), but was turned down.[12][15] He was then accepted by Peterhouse, Cambridge, where he graduated with first-class honours in English.[11][16][17] Having developed a passion for theatre only in his late teens, Mendes became a member of the Marlowe Society at Cambridge and directed several plays. His first play was David Halliwell's Little Malcolm and His Struggle Against the Eunuchs, and one of his later productions was Cyrano de Bergerac with Tom Hollander and Jonathan Cake among the cast members.[12][18] During his time at Cambridge, Mendes also became enthusiastic about cinema in earnest. He cited Paris, Texas, Repo Man and True Stories as three "seminal film moments" that influenced his stage and film career.[19]

Mendes was noted as a "brilliant schoolboy cricketer" by Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, scoring 1,153 runs at 46 and taking 83 wickets at under 16 for Magdalen College School in 1983 and 1984.[20] He also played cricket for Cambridge University Cricket Club,[21] and in 1997 played for Shipton-under-Wychwood in the final of the Village Cricket Cup, the only winner of the Academy Award for Best Director to have played at Lord's.[22]

Stage career

Early work

After graduating from Cambridge in 1987, Mendes was hired as assistant director at the Chichester Festival Theatre. In September 1987, Mendes made his professional directing debut with a double bill of two Anton Chekhov plays, The Bear and The Proposal.[23] In 1989, he was appointed the inaugural director of the Minerva Theatre.[11]

In 1989, following the abrupt departure of director Robin Phillips, Mendes took over a production of Dion Boucicault's London Assurance at Chichester.[24] Later that year, Mendes made his West End debut at the Aldwych with a production of Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard, starring Judi Dench.[25] London Assurance then transferred to the West End following a six-month run at Chichester, opening at the Theatre Royal Haymarket.[24][25] The successes of the plays established Mendes as a theatre director of national renown.[26]

Donmar Warehouse (1990–2002)

In 1990, Mendes was appointed artistic director of the Donmar Warehouse, a Covent Garden studio space previously used by the Royal Shakespeare Company.[12] He spent two years overseeing the redesign of the theatre, which formally opened in 1992 with the British premiere of Stephen Sondheim's Assassins.[27] Mendes's tenure at the Donmar saw its transformation into one of the most successful and fashionable playhouses in London.[5]

In 1993, Mendes staged an acclaimed revival of John Kander and Fred Ebb's Cabaret starring Jane Horrocks as Sally Bowles and Alan Cumming as Emcee.[27] The production was approached with a fresh concept, differing greatly from both the original 1966 production directed by Harold Prince and the famed film version, directed by Bob Fosse. This production opened at the Donmar and received four Olivier Award nominations including Best Musical Revival, before transferring promptly to Broadway where it played for several years at the Kit Kat Club (i.e. the Stephen Sondheim Theater). The Broadway cast included Cumming once again as Emcee, with Natasha Richardson as Sally, Mary Louise Wilson as Fraulein Schneider, John Benjamin Hickey as Cliff, and Ron Rifkin as Herr Schultz. Cumming, Richardson, and Rifkin all won Tony Awards for their performances.

1994 saw Mendes stage a new production of Lionel Bart's Oliver!, produced by Cameron Mackintosh. Mendes, a longtime fan of the work, worked in close collaboration with Bart and other production team members, William David Brohn, Martin Koch and Anthony Ward, to create a fresh staging of the well-known classic. Bart added new musical material and Mendes updated the book slightly, while the orchestrations were radically rewritten to suit the show's cinematic feel. The cast included Jonathan Pryce (after much persuasion) as Fagin, Sally Dexter as Nancy, and Miles Anderson as Bill Sikes. Mendes, Pryce and Dexter received Olivier Award nominations for their work on Oliver!.[28]

Mendes also directed productions of David Hare's The Blue Room in 1998, starring Nicole Kidman; Richard Greenberg's Three Days of Rain in 1999, with Colin Firth, David Morrissey and Elizabeth McGovern; as well as his farewell duo in 2002, Chekhov's Uncle Vanya and Twelfth Night, both headed by Simon Russell Beale, Helen McCrory, Emily Watson and Mark Strong.[27] He stepped down as artistic director of the Donmar in December 2002 and was succeeded by Michael Grandage.[5][29]

After the Donmar (2002–present)

In 2003, Mendes directed a revival of the musical Gypsy. Originally, he planned to stage this production in London's West End with an eventual Broadway transfer, but when negotiations fell through, he brought it to New York. The cast included Bernadette Peters as Rose, Tammy Blanchard as Louise and John Dossett as Herbie.

Mendes also directed the 2013 Olivier Award-nominated stage adaptation of Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory which ran in London's West End until January 2017. It starred Douglas Hodge as Willy Wonka, followed by Alex Jennings and Jonathan Slinger who later took over the role.[30]

In 2014, Mendes directed Simon Russell Beale in King Lear by William Shakespeare at the National Theatre, London. Mendes directed Jez Butterworth's The Ferryman for the Royal Court Theatre in London in 2017, before transferring to the West End later that year and Broadway in 2018, for which he won an Olivier Award and Tony Award for Best Director.[31]

In 2018, Mendes directed The Lehman Trilogy by Stefano Massini in an English adaptation by Ben Power for the National Theatre, London starring Simon Russell Beale, Adam Godley and Ben Miles. In 2019 the play played a season at the Park Avenue Armory in New York before returning for another London season in the West End. The play made its Broadway transfer in 2020 briefly but was stalled due to the Covid pandemic. The play resumed performances in 2021 and went on to receive eight Tony Award nominations winning five awards including Best Play and Best Director of a Play.[32]

Film career

American Beauty to Away We Go (1999–2009)

In 1999, Mendes made his film directorial debut with American Beauty, starring Kevin Spacey. He had been approached by Steven Spielberg, who was impressed by his productions of Oliver! and Cabaret.[33] The film grossed $356.3 million worldwide.[34] The film won the Golden Globe Award, the BAFTA Award and the Academy Award for Best Picture. Mendes won the Golden Globe Award, Directors Guild of America Award, and the Academy Award for Best Director,[35] becoming the sixth director to earn the Academy Award for his feature film debut.[36]

Mendes's second film, in 2002, was Road to Perdition, which grossed US$181 million. The aggregate review score on Rotten Tomatoes is currently 81%; critics praised Paul Newman for his performance. The film was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Supporting Actor for Newman; it won for Best Cinematography.

In 2003, Mendes established Neal Street Productions, a film, television and theatre production company he would use to finance much of his later work. In 2005, Mendes directed the war film Jarhead, in association with his production company Neal Street Productions. The film received mixed reviews, with a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 61%, and a gross revenue of US$96.9 million worldwide. The film focused on the boredom and other psychological challenges of wartime.

In 2008, Mendes directed Revolutionary Road, starring his then-wife, Kate Winslet, along with Leonardo DiCaprio and Kathy Bates. In a January 2009 interview, Mendes commented, about directing his wife for the first time, "I would open my eyes in the morning and there Kate would be, going, 'Great! You're awake! Now let's talk about the second scene.'"[37] Mendes's comedy-drama Away We Go opened the 2009 Edinburgh International Film Festival. The film follows a couple (John Krasinski, Maya Rudolph) searching North America for the perfect community in which to settle down and start a family. The film was well received by critics but performed poorly at the box office.

 
Mendes (right) collaborated with Javier Bardem for Skyfall, November 2012

In 2010, Mendes co-produced a critically acclaimed documentary film Out of the Ashes that deals with cricket in Afghanistan.[38][39] On 5 January 2010, news broke that Mendes was employed to direct the 23rd Eon Productions instalment of the James Bond franchise.[40] The film, Skyfall, was subsequently released on 26 October 2012, to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Bond films. Mendes had been employed as a consultant on the film when it was in pre-production, and had remained attached to the project during the financial troubles of MGM. The film was a major critical and commercial success, becoming the 14th film to gross over $1 billion worldwide.[41][42]

In 2012, Mendes's Neal Street Productions produced the first series of the BBC One drama series, Call the Midwife, following it with a second season which began transmission in early 2013.[43]

Skyfall to Empire of Light (2013–present)

After the success of Skyfall, Mendes was asked if he was returning to direct the next Bond film. He responded, "I felt I put everything I possibly could into this film and it was the Bond film I wanted to make. And if I felt I could do the same again, then absolutely I would consider doing another one. But it is a big task and I wouldn't do it unless I knew I could."[44] It was reported that one reason Mendes was reluctant to commit was that one proposal involved making two films back-to-back, based on an idea by Skyfall writer John Logan, which would have resulted in Mendes and other creative personnel being tied up with filming for around four years. It was reported in February 2013 that this idea had since been shelved and that the next two films would be stand-alone. Mendes said in an interview with film magazine Empire in March 2013 that "it has been a very difficult decision not to accept Michael and Barbara's very generous offer to direct the next Bond movie." He cited, amongst other reasons, his commitments to the stage version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and King Lear.[45]

However, on 29 May 2013, it was reported that Mendes was back in negotiations with producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli to direct the next Bond film,[46] going back on his previous comments.[35][47] Wilson and Broccoli were willing to postpone production of the film to ensure Mendes's participation. On 11 July 2013, it was announced that Mendes would direct the 24th James Bond film, Spectre; it was released in October 2015.[48] This made him the first filmmaker since John Glen to direct two Bond films consecutively. In April 2016, Mendes was named as the President of the Jury for the 73rd Venice International Film Festival.[49]

Mendes's next film, war epic 1917, was released by Universal Pictures on 25 December 2019 in the US and on 10 January 2020 in the UK.[50] Based in part on an account told to Mendes by his paternal grandfather, Alfred Mendes, it chronicles the story of two young British soldiers in the spring of 1917 at a critical point during World War I. Mendes went on to win the Golden Globe Award for Best Director for his achievement in directing; in his acceptance speech, he saluted his grandfather, as well as acknowledging the contribution to cinema of fellow nominee Martin Scorsese, who was nominated for The Irishman.[51] On 25 January 2020, he won the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Feature Film, following which he was installed by the press as the favourite to win the Academy Award for Best Director at the then approaching 92nd Academy Awards.[52] However that plaudit went instead to Bong Joon-ho for the South Korean film Parasite.[53] The two directors had shared the honours for directing at the 25th Critics' Choice Awards several weeks prior.[54]

In 2022, his next feature was the romantic drama Empire of Light, starring Olivia Colman and Micheal Ward.[55]

Personal life

Mendes and actress Kate Winslet met in 2001, when Mendes approached her about appearing in a play at the Donmar Warehouse, where he was then artistic director.[37] They married in May 2003, on what they characterised as a whim, while on holiday in Anguilla when Winslet was two months pregnant with their child.[56] Their son was born on 22 December 2003 in New York City.[56] Mendes also had a stepdaughter from Winslet's first marriage to filmmaker Jim Threapleton.[56]

Amid intense media speculation of an affair between Mendes and actress Rebecca Hall, he and Winslet announced their separation in 2010 and divorced in 2011.[56] Mendes and Hall were in a relationship from 2011 to 2013.[57] Mendes married trumpeter Alison Balsom in January 2017. Their daughter was born in September 2017.[58]

Mendes was appointed a Knight Bachelor in the 2020 New Years Honours List for services to drama.[59]

In 2009, Mendes signed a petition in support of film director Roman Polanski, calling for his release after Polanski was arrested in Switzerland in relation to his 1977 charge for drugging and raping a 13-year-old girl.[60]

Mendes is an opponent of Brexit. In 2017, he stated: "I'm afraid that the winds that were blowing before the First World War are blowing again. There was this generation of men fighting then for a free and unified Europe, which we would do well to remember."[61]

Favourite films

In 2012, Mendes participated in the Sight & Sound film polls of that year. Held every ten years to select the greatest films of all time, contemporary directors were asked to select ten films of their choice.[62]

Filmography

Film

Director

Year Film Director Producer Writer
1999 American Beauty Yes No No
2002 Road to Perdition Yes Yes No
2005 Jarhead Yes No No
2008 Revolutionary Road Yes Yes No
2009 Away We Go Yes No No
2012 Skyfall Yes No No
2015 Spectre Yes No No
2019 1917 Yes Yes Yes
2022 Empire of Light Yes Yes Yes

Producer

Executive producer

Television

Executive producer

Awards and honours

Year Title Academy Awards BAFTA Awards Golden Globe Awards
Nominations Wins Nominations Wins Nominations Wins
1999 American Beauty 8 5 14 6 6 3
2002 Road to Perdition 6 1 3 2 1
2008 Revolutionary Road 3 4 4 1
2012 Skyfall 5 2 8 2 1 1
2015 Spectre 1 1 1 1
2019 1917 10 3 9 7 3 2
2022 Empire of Light 1 3 1
Total 34 12 41 17 17 8

References

  1. ^ a b "Sam Mendes: Bond movie Skyfall's not the limit". The Independent. 20 October 2012.
  2. ^ "Sam Mendes gets directing honour". BBC. Retrieved 18 June 2012
  3. ^ "Caine heads birthday honours list". BBC. 17 June 2000. Retrieved 30 April 2011.
  4. ^ "The 100 most powerful people in British culture". The Daily Telegraph. 9 November 2016. Archived from the original on 11 January 2022.
  5. ^ a b c Webb, Paul (23 November 2001). "Artistic Director Sam Mendes to Leave Donmar Warehouse". Playbill. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
  6. ^ Horton, Adrian (6 January 2020). "Golden Globes 2020: Fleabag and 1917 lead British invasion with major wins". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 8 January 2020.
  7. ^ "Sam Mendes Biography". FilmReference.com. 2008. Retrieved 22 January 2009.
  8. ^ a b The Autobiography of Alfred H. Mendes 1897-1991, p. 112-114
  9. ^ STEVE LINDE; A. SPIRO; G. HOFFMAN (25 May 2012). "50 most influential Jews: Places 31-40". Retrieved 26 May 2013. Michael Pollan, 57
  10. ^ Bloom, Nate (9 January 2009). "Jewish Stars". Cleveland Jewish News.
  11. ^ a b c d Wood, Gaby (14 December 2008). "How Sam became The Man". The Observer. London. Retrieved 16 March 2010.
  12. ^ a b c d e Lahr, John (17 September 2018). "Sam Mendes's Directorial Discoveries". The New Yorker. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
  13. ^ Beckford, Martin; Moore, Matthew (29 January 2010). "David Miliband's son got place at Church of England school despite not being baptised". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 11 January 2022. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
  14. ^ Wolf 2003, p. 8.
  15. ^ Lowenstein 2003, p. 245.
  16. ^ Harding, Megan (3 February 2018). "Sam Mendes talks fortune, filmmaking and the fate of the industry at Peterhouse College". The Cambridge Student. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
  17. ^ "Eminent Petreans - Peterhouse Cambridge". University of Cambridge.
  18. ^ Lowenstein 2003, p. 244.
  19. ^ Lowenstein 2003, p. 247.
  20. ^ "Never a famous cricketer". ESPNcricinfo. 2001. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
  21. ^ "Profile: Kate Winslet and Sam Mendes". BBC News. 15 March 2010. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
  22. ^ Berkmann, Marcus, Berkmann's Cricketing Miscellany, p. 278
  23. ^ Wolf 2003, p. 10.
  24. ^ a b Wolf 2003, p. 11.
  25. ^ a b Weinraub, Bernard (12 September 1999). "A Wunderkind Discovers the Wonders of Film". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
  26. ^ Greenstreet, Rosanna (18 January 1998). "How We Met: Tim Firth and Sam Mendes". The Independent. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
  27. ^ a b c Crompton, Sarah (11 March 2011). "The Donmar's successes". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 11 January 2022. Retrieved 18 June 2012.
  28. ^ Olivier Award 1995 29 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine. The Society of London Theatre, 2011
  29. ^ Healy, Patrick (30 September 2010). "Donmar Warehouse Director to Step Down in 2011". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
  30. ^ "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to open in West End". BBC. Retrieved 18 June 2012
  31. ^ "Olivier Awards 2018: Winners in full". BBC News. 9 April 2018. Retrieved 10 April 2018.
  32. ^ "'The Lehman Trilogy,' Which Won Five Tony Awards, Set for Fandango and Fremantle TV Series Adaptation". Variety. 13 June 2022. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
  33. ^ Fanshawe, Simon (22 January 2000). "Sam smiles". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
  34. ^ "American Beauty (1999)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 22 November 2009.
  35. ^ a b Kaya Burgess, 'Bond director drops 007 for something sweeter', The Times, 7 March 2013, No. 70826, p. 3
  36. ^ Tim Dirks. "Academy Awards Best Director – Facts & Trivia". AMC Filmsite. Retrieved 11 June 2013.
  37. ^ a b Diane Solway (January 2009). "Scenes from a Marriage". W. Retrieved 19 February 2009.
  38. ^ "They Also Played Cricket". Yahoo!. 14 May 2013. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
  39. ^ "Out of the Ashes reveals the amazing story of Afghanistan cricket". The Guardian. 20 July 2010. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
  40. ^ Allen, Nick (6 January 2010). "British director Sam Mendes in talks over next James Bond film". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 11 January 2022. Retrieved 10 January 2010.
  41. ^ "Skyfall: 'most successful' James Bond film tops $1bn at global box office", The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 24 January 2013
  42. ^ "Box Office Milestone: Daniel Craig's 'Skyfall' Crosses $1 Billion Worldwide". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 24 January 2013
  43. ^ "Call the Midwife: series two, episode one, BBC One, review". The Telegraph. Retrieved 24 January 2013
  44. ^ Hewitt, Chris (6 November 2012). "Sam Mendes Talks Gun Barrel Sequence". Empire. Retrieved 15 June 2013.
  45. ^ de Semlyen, Phil (6 March 2013). "Sam Mendes Won't Direct Bond 24". Empire. Retrieved 15 June 2013.
  46. ^ "Sam Mendes back in talks with Bond producers". BBC News. 29 May 2013. Retrieved 29 May 2013.
  47. ^ O'Neal, Sean (6 March 2013). "Sam Mendes turns down the next James Bond film for a life in the theater". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 6 March 2013.
  48. ^ "Sam Mendes Returns to Direct 'Bond 24'" (Press release). Sony Pictures. 11 July 2013. Retrieved 11 July 2013.
  49. ^ Vivarelli, Nick (24 July 2016). "Laurie Anderson, Joshua Oppenheimer, Zhao Wei Set For Venice Jury". Variety. Retrieved 24 July 2016.
  50. ^ McIndoe, Ross (10 January 2020). "1917: UK release date, cast, review round-up and everything else about Sam Mendes' epic First World War movie". i. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  51. ^ Grobar, Matt (6 February 2020). "Sam Mendes Surprises With Golden Globe Win for Best Director, Saluting Martin Scorsese & Grandfather Who Inspired His World War I Drama '1917'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
  52. ^ Utichi, Joe (25 January 2020). "Sam Mendes and '1917' Stake Claim as Oscar Frontrunner with DGA Victory". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
  53. ^ Lattanzio, Ryan (9 February 2020). "Bong Joon Ho Defeats Sam Mendes to Win Best Director Oscar in Nail-Biting Race". IndieWire. Retrieved 25 March 2023.
  54. ^ Haylock, Zoe (13 January 2020). "Bong Joon Ho and Sam Mendes Tie for Best Director at the 2020 Critics' Choice Awards". Vulture. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  55. ^ Kroll, Justin (6 April 2021). "Searchlight Lands Sam Mendes' Next Film 'Empire of Light' Starring Olivia Colman". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 6 April 2021.
  56. ^ a b c d Brooks, Xan (15 March 2010). "Kate Winslet and Sam Mendes separate after seven years of marriage". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 16 March 2010.
  57. ^ "Rebecca Hall on love, Sam Mendes and being a shy girl". Evening Standard. 3 April 2013. Retrieved 27 March 2019.
  58. ^ "Sam Mendes's Directorial Discoveries". The New Yorker. Retrieved 9 December 2019.
  59. ^ "No. 62866". The London Gazette (Supplement). 28 December 2019. p. N2.
  60. ^ "Signez la pétition pour Roman Polanski !". La Règle du jeu (in French). 10 November 2009. Archived from the original on 29 August 2021. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
  61. ^ "1917: The story behind Sam Mendes's ambitious First World War drama". The Independent. 28 December 2019.
  62. ^ "Sam Mendes". British Film Institute. Retrieved 4 July 2022.

Bibliography

External links

  Media related to Sam Mendes at Wikimedia Commons

mendes, samuel, alexander, mendes, born, august, 1965, british, film, stage, director, producer, screenwriter, 2000, mendes, appointed, services, drama, knighted, 2020, years, honours, list, that, same, year, awarded, shakespeare, prize, alfred, toepfer, found. Sir Samuel Alexander Mendes CBE born 1 August 1965 1 is a British film and stage director producer and screenwriter In 2000 Mendes was appointed a CBE for his services to drama and he was knighted in the 2020 New Years Honours List That same year he was awarded the Shakespeare Prize by the Alfred Toepfer Foundation in Hamburg Germany In 2005 he received a lifetime achievement award from the Directors Guild of Great Britain 2 3 In 2008 The Daily Telegraph ranked him number 15 in their list of the 100 most powerful people in British culture 4 SirSam MendesCBEMendes in 2022BornSamuel Alexander Mendes 1965 08 01 1 August 1965 age 57 Reading Berkshire EnglandEducationMagdalen College SchoolAlma materPeterhouse CambridgeOccupationsDirectorproducerscreenwriterYears active1987 presentSpousesKate Winslet m 2003 div 2011 wbr Alison Balsom m 2017 wbr Children2RelativesValerie Mendes mother Alfred Mendes grandfather AwardsFull listBorn in Berkshire to a Trinidadian Catholic father and an English Jewish mother Mendes grew up in North London He read English at Peterhouse at Cambridge University and began directing plays there before joining Donmar Warehouse which became a centre of 1990s London theatre culture 5 In theatre he is known for his dark re inventions of the stage musicals Cabaret 1993 Oliver 1994 Company 1995 and Gypsy 2003 He directed an original West End stage musical for the first time with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory 2013 For his work on the London stage Mendes has received three Laurence Olivier Awards for Company Twelfth Night and The Ferryman and for his work on Broadway he has earned two Tony Awards for Best Direction of a Play for his work on The Ferryman in 2019 and The Lehman Trilogy in 2022 In film he made his directorial debut with the drama American Beauty 1999 which earned him the Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Director He has since directed the crime film Road to Perdition 2002 Jarhead 2005 the drama Revolutionary Road 2008 and the James Bond films Skyfall 2012 and Spectre 2015 For the war film 1917 2019 he received the BAFTA Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Director as well as his second Academy Award nominations for Best Director Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay 6 Contents 1 Early life 2 Stage career 2 1 Early work 2 2 Donmar Warehouse 1990 2002 2 3 After the Donmar 2002 present 3 Film career 3 1 American Beauty to Away We Go 1999 2009 3 2 Skyfall to Empire of Light 2013 present 4 Personal life 5 Favourite films 6 Filmography 6 1 Film 6 2 Television 7 Awards and honours 8 References 9 Bibliography 10 External linksEarly life EditMendes was born on 1 August 1965 in Reading Berkshire He is the son of Valerie Mendes born Barnett a publisher and author and Jameson Peter Mendes a university professor 1 7 His father is a Roman Catholic of Portuguese descent from Trinidad and Tobago 8 9 10 and his mother is an English Jew 11 His grandfather was the Trinidadian writer Alfred Hubert Mendes 8 Mendes s parents divorced when he was three years old 11 after which Mendes and his mother settled in Primrose Hill in North London 12 He attended Primrose Hill Primary School and was in the same class as future Foreign Secretary David Miliband and author Zoe Heller 13 In 1976 the family relocated to Woodstock near Oxford where Mendes s mother found work as a senior editor at Oxford University Press 12 Mendes was educated at Magdalen College School where he met future theatre designer Tom Piper who went on to work with Mendes on a National Theatre revival of Harold Pinter s The Birthday Party 14 Mendes had an early interest in cinema and applied to the University of Warwick then the only university in the UK that offered an undergraduate film course but was turned down 12 15 He was then accepted by Peterhouse Cambridge where he graduated with first class honours in English 11 16 17 Having developed a passion for theatre only in his late teens Mendes became a member of the Marlowe Society at Cambridge and directed several plays His first play was David Halliwell s Little Malcolm and His Struggle Against the Eunuchs and one of his later productions was Cyrano de Bergerac with Tom Hollander and Jonathan Cake among the cast members 12 18 During his time at Cambridge Mendes also became enthusiastic about cinema in earnest He cited Paris Texas Repo Man and True Stories as three seminal film moments that influenced his stage and film career 19 Mendes was noted as a brilliant schoolboy cricketer by Wisden Cricketers Almanack scoring 1 153 runs at 46 and taking 83 wickets at under 16 for Magdalen College School in 1983 and 1984 20 He also played cricket for Cambridge University Cricket Club 21 and in 1997 played for Shipton under Wychwood in the final of the Village Cricket Cup the only winner of the Academy Award for Best Director to have played at Lord s 22 Stage career EditEarly work Edit After graduating from Cambridge in 1987 Mendes was hired as assistant director at the Chichester Festival Theatre In September 1987 Mendes made his professional directing debut with a double bill of two Anton Chekhov plays The Bear and The Proposal 23 In 1989 he was appointed the inaugural director of the Minerva Theatre 11 In 1989 following the abrupt departure of director Robin Phillips Mendes took over a production of Dion Boucicault s London Assurance at Chichester 24 Later that year Mendes made his West End debut at the Aldwych with a production of Chekhov s The Cherry Orchard starring Judi Dench 25 London Assurance then transferred to the West End following a six month run at Chichester opening at the Theatre Royal Haymarket 24 25 The successes of the plays established Mendes as a theatre director of national renown 26 Donmar Warehouse 1990 2002 Edit In 1990 Mendes was appointed artistic director of the Donmar Warehouse a Covent Garden studio space previously used by the Royal Shakespeare Company 12 He spent two years overseeing the redesign of the theatre which formally opened in 1992 with the British premiere of Stephen Sondheim s Assassins 27 Mendes s tenure at the Donmar saw its transformation into one of the most successful and fashionable playhouses in London 5 In 1993 Mendes staged an acclaimed revival of John Kander and Fred Ebb s Cabaret starring Jane Horrocks as Sally Bowles and Alan Cumming as Emcee 27 The production was approached with a fresh concept differing greatly from both the original 1966 production directed by Harold Prince and the famed film version directed by Bob Fosse This production opened at the Donmar and received four Olivier Award nominations including Best Musical Revival before transferring promptly to Broadway where it played for several years at the Kit Kat Club i e the Stephen Sondheim Theater The Broadway cast included Cumming once again as Emcee with Natasha Richardson as Sally Mary Louise Wilson as Fraulein Schneider John Benjamin Hickey as Cliff and Ron Rifkin as Herr Schultz Cumming Richardson and Rifkin all won Tony Awards for their performances 1994 saw Mendes stage a new production of Lionel Bart s Oliver produced by Cameron Mackintosh Mendes a longtime fan of the work worked in close collaboration with Bart and other production team members William David Brohn Martin Koch and Anthony Ward to create a fresh staging of the well known classic Bart added new musical material and Mendes updated the book slightly while the orchestrations were radically rewritten to suit the show s cinematic feel The cast included Jonathan Pryce after much persuasion as Fagin Sally Dexter as Nancy and Miles Anderson as Bill Sikes Mendes Pryce and Dexter received Olivier Award nominations for their work on Oliver 28 Mendes also directed productions of David Hare s The Blue Room in 1998 starring Nicole Kidman Richard Greenberg s Three Days of Rain in 1999 with Colin Firth David Morrissey and Elizabeth McGovern as well as his farewell duo in 2002 Chekhov s Uncle Vanya and Twelfth Night both headed by Simon Russell Beale Helen McCrory Emily Watson and Mark Strong 27 He stepped down as artistic director of the Donmar in December 2002 and was succeeded by Michael Grandage 5 29 After the Donmar 2002 present Edit In 2003 Mendes directed a revival of the musical Gypsy Originally he planned to stage this production in London s West End with an eventual Broadway transfer but when negotiations fell through he brought it to New York The cast included Bernadette Peters as Rose Tammy Blanchard as Louise and John Dossett as Herbie Mendes also directed the 2013 Olivier Award nominated stage adaptation of Roald Dahl s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory which ran in London s West End until January 2017 It starred Douglas Hodge as Willy Wonka followed by Alex Jennings and Jonathan Slinger who later took over the role 30 In 2014 Mendes directed Simon Russell Beale in King Lear by William Shakespeare at the National Theatre London Mendes directed Jez Butterworth s The Ferryman for the Royal Court Theatre in London in 2017 before transferring to the West End later that year and Broadway in 2018 for which he won an Olivier Award and Tony Award for Best Director 31 In 2018 Mendes directed The Lehman Trilogy by Stefano Massini in an English adaptation by Ben Power for the National Theatre London starring Simon Russell Beale Adam Godley and Ben Miles In 2019 the play played a season at the Park Avenue Armory in New York before returning for another London season in the West End The play made its Broadway transfer in 2020 briefly but was stalled due to the Covid pandemic The play resumed performances in 2021 and went on to receive eight Tony Award nominations winning five awards including Best Play and Best Director of a Play 32 Film career EditAmerican Beauty to Away We Go 1999 2009 Edit In 1999 Mendes made his film directorial debut with American Beauty starring Kevin Spacey He had been approached by Steven Spielberg who was impressed by his productions of Oliver and Cabaret 33 The film grossed 356 3 million worldwide 34 The film won the Golden Globe Award the BAFTA Award and the Academy Award for Best Picture Mendes won the Golden Globe Award Directors Guild of America Award and the Academy Award for Best Director 35 becoming the sixth director to earn the Academy Award for his feature film debut 36 Mendes s second film in 2002 was Road to Perdition which grossed US 181 million The aggregate review score on Rotten Tomatoes is currently 81 critics praised Paul Newman for his performance The film was nominated for six Academy Awards including Best Supporting Actor for Newman it won for Best Cinematography In 2003 Mendes established Neal Street Productions a film television and theatre production company he would use to finance much of his later work In 2005 Mendes directed the war film Jarhead in association with his production company Neal Street Productions The film received mixed reviews with a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 61 and a gross revenue of US 96 9 million worldwide The film focused on the boredom and other psychological challenges of wartime In 2008 Mendes directed Revolutionary Road starring his then wife Kate Winslet along with Leonardo DiCaprio and Kathy Bates In a January 2009 interview Mendes commented about directing his wife for the first time I would open my eyes in the morning and there Kate would be going Great You re awake Now let s talk about the second scene 37 Mendes s comedy drama Away We Go opened the 2009 Edinburgh International Film Festival The film follows a couple John Krasinski Maya Rudolph searching North America for the perfect community in which to settle down and start a family The film was well received by critics but performed poorly at the box office Mendes right collaborated with Javier Bardem for Skyfall November 2012 In 2010 Mendes co produced a critically acclaimed documentary film Out of the Ashes that deals with cricket in Afghanistan 38 39 On 5 January 2010 news broke that Mendes was employed to direct the 23rd Eon Productions instalment of the James Bond franchise 40 The film Skyfall was subsequently released on 26 October 2012 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Bond films Mendes had been employed as a consultant on the film when it was in pre production and had remained attached to the project during the financial troubles of MGM The film was a major critical and commercial success becoming the 14th film to gross over 1 billion worldwide 41 42 In 2012 Mendes s Neal Street Productions produced the first series of the BBC One drama series Call the Midwife following it with a second season which began transmission in early 2013 43 Skyfall to Empire of Light 2013 present Edit After the success of Skyfall Mendes was asked if he was returning to direct the next Bond film He responded I felt I put everything I possibly could into this film and it was the Bond film I wanted to make And if I felt I could do the same again then absolutely I would consider doing another one But it is a big task and I wouldn t do it unless I knew I could 44 It was reported that one reason Mendes was reluctant to commit was that one proposal involved making two films back to back based on an idea by Skyfall writer John Logan which would have resulted in Mendes and other creative personnel being tied up with filming for around four years It was reported in February 2013 that this idea had since been shelved and that the next two films would be stand alone Mendes said in an interview with film magazine Empire in March 2013 that it has been a very difficult decision not to accept Michael and Barbara s very generous offer to direct the next Bond movie He cited amongst other reasons his commitments to the stage version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and King Lear 45 However on 29 May 2013 it was reported that Mendes was back in negotiations with producers Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli to direct the next Bond film 46 going back on his previous comments 35 47 Wilson and Broccoli were willing to postpone production of the film to ensure Mendes s participation On 11 July 2013 it was announced that Mendes would direct the 24th James Bond film Spectre it was released in October 2015 48 This made him the first filmmaker since John Glen to direct two Bond films consecutively In April 2016 Mendes was named as the President of the Jury for the 73rd Venice International Film Festival 49 Mendes s next film war epic 1917 was released by Universal Pictures on 25 December 2019 in the US and on 10 January 2020 in the UK 50 Based in part on an account told to Mendes by his paternal grandfather Alfred Mendes it chronicles the story of two young British soldiers in the spring of 1917 at a critical point during World War I Mendes went on to win the Golden Globe Award for Best Director for his achievement in directing in his acceptance speech he saluted his grandfather as well as acknowledging the contribution to cinema of fellow nominee Martin Scorsese who was nominated for The Irishman 51 On 25 January 2020 he won the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing Feature Film following which he was installed by the press as the favourite to win the Academy Award for Best Director at the then approaching 92nd Academy Awards 52 However that plaudit went instead to Bong Joon ho for the South Korean film Parasite 53 The two directors had shared the honours for directing at the 25th Critics Choice Awards several weeks prior 54 In 2022 his next feature was the romantic drama Empire of Light starring Olivia Colman and Micheal Ward 55 Personal life EditMendes and actress Kate Winslet met in 2001 when Mendes approached her about appearing in a play at the Donmar Warehouse where he was then artistic director 37 They married in May 2003 on what they characterised as a whim while on holiday in Anguilla when Winslet was two months pregnant with their child 56 Their son was born on 22 December 2003 in New York City 56 Mendes also had a stepdaughter from Winslet s first marriage to filmmaker Jim Threapleton 56 Amid intense media speculation of an affair between Mendes and actress Rebecca Hall he and Winslet announced their separation in 2010 and divorced in 2011 56 Mendes and Hall were in a relationship from 2011 to 2013 57 Mendes married trumpeter Alison Balsom in January 2017 Their daughter was born in September 2017 58 Mendes was appointed a Knight Bachelor in the 2020 New Years Honours List for services to drama 59 In 2009 Mendes signed a petition in support of film director Roman Polanski calling for his release after Polanski was arrested in Switzerland in relation to his 1977 charge for drugging and raping a 13 year old girl 60 Mendes is an opponent of Brexit In 2017 he stated I m afraid that the winds that were blowing before the First World War are blowing again There was this generation of men fighting then for a free and unified Europe which we would do well to remember 61 Favourite films EditIn 2012 Mendes participated in the Sight amp Sound film polls of that year Held every ten years to select the greatest films of all time contemporary directors were asked to select ten films of their choice 62 The 400 Blows France 1959 Blue Velvet USA 1986 Citizen Kane USA 1941 Fanny and Alexander Sweden 1984 The Godfather Part II USA 1974 Kes UK 1969 Rosemary s Baby USA 1968 Taxi Driver USA 1976 There Will Be Blood USA 2007 Vertigo USA 1958 Filmography EditFilm Edit Director Year Film Director Producer Writer1999 American Beauty Yes No No2002 Road to Perdition Yes Yes No2005 Jarhead Yes No No2008 Revolutionary Road Yes Yes No2009 Away We Go Yes No No2012 Skyfall Yes No No2015 Spectre Yes No No2019 1917 Yes Yes Yes2022 Empire of Light Yes Yes YesProducer Things We Lost in the FireExecutive producer Starter for 10 2006 The Kite Runner 2007 Out of the Ashes 2010 Documentary Blood 2012 Television Edit Executive producer Year Title Notes2007 Stuart A Life Backwards Television film2012 Call the MidwifeRichard II Television filmHenry IV Part IHenry IV Part IIHenry V2014 16 Penny Dreadful2016 The Hollow Crown Richard III Television filmThe Hollow Crown Henry VI Part IThe Hollow Crown Henry VI Part II2017 Britannia2018 Informer2020 Penny Dreadful City of AngelsAwards and honours EditMain article List of awards and nominations received by Sam Mendes Year Title Academy Awards BAFTA Awards Golden Globe AwardsNominations Wins Nominations Wins Nominations Wins1999 American Beauty 8 5 14 6 6 32002 Road to Perdition 6 1 3 2 12008 Revolutionary Road 3 4 4 12012 Skyfall 5 2 8 2 1 12015 Spectre 1 1 1 12019 1917 10 3 9 7 3 22022 Empire of Light 1 3 1Total 34 12 41 17 17 8References Edit a b Sam Mendes Bond movie Skyfall s not the limit The Independent 20 October 2012 Sam Mendes gets directing honour BBC Retrieved 18 June 2012 Caine heads birthday honours list BBC 17 June 2000 Retrieved 30 April 2011 The 100 most powerful people in British culture The Daily Telegraph 9 November 2016 Archived from the original on 11 January 2022 a b c Webb Paul 23 November 2001 Artistic Director Sam Mendes to Leave Donmar Warehouse Playbill Retrieved 9 February 2020 Horton Adrian 6 January 2020 Golden Globes 2020 Fleabag and 1917 lead British invasion with major wins The Guardian ISSN 0261 3077 Retrieved 8 January 2020 Sam Mendes Biography FilmReference com 2008 Retrieved 22 January 2009 a b The Autobiography of Alfred H Mendes 1897 1991 p 112 114 STEVE LINDE A SPIRO G HOFFMAN 25 May 2012 50 most influential Jews Places 31 40 Retrieved 26 May 2013 Michael Pollan 57 Bloom Nate 9 January 2009 Jewish Stars Cleveland Jewish News a b c d Wood Gaby 14 December 2008 How Sam became The Man The Observer London Retrieved 16 March 2010 a b c d e Lahr John 17 September 2018 Sam Mendes s Directorial Discoveries The New Yorker Retrieved 9 February 2020 Beckford Martin Moore Matthew 29 January 2010 David Miliband s son got place at Church of England school despite not being baptised The Daily Telegraph Archived from the original on 11 January 2022 Retrieved 9 February 2020 Wolf 2003 p 8 Lowenstein 2003 p 245 Harding Megan 3 February 2018 Sam Mendes talks fortune filmmaking and the fate of the industry at Peterhouse College The Cambridge Student Retrieved 9 February 2020 Eminent Petreans Peterhouse Cambridge University of Cambridge Lowenstein 2003 p 244 Lowenstein 2003 p 247 Never a famous cricketer ESPNcricinfo 2001 Retrieved 14 May 2013 Profile Kate Winslet and Sam Mendes BBC News 15 March 2010 Retrieved 14 May 2013 Berkmann Marcus Berkmann s Cricketing Miscellany p 278 Wolf 2003 p 10 a b Wolf 2003 p 11 a b Weinraub Bernard 12 September 1999 A Wunderkind Discovers the Wonders of Film The New York Times Retrieved 9 February 2020 Greenstreet Rosanna 18 January 1998 How We Met Tim Firth and Sam Mendes The Independent Retrieved 9 February 2020 a b c Crompton Sarah 11 March 2011 The Donmar s successes The Daily Telegraph Archived from the original on 11 January 2022 Retrieved 18 June 2012 Olivier Award 1995 Archived 29 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine The Society of London Theatre 2011 Healy Patrick 30 September 2010 Donmar Warehouse Director to Step Down in 2011 The New York Times Retrieved 9 February 2020 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to open in West End BBC Retrieved 18 June 2012 Olivier Awards 2018 Winners in full BBC News 9 April 2018 Retrieved 10 April 2018 The Lehman Trilogy Which Won Five Tony Awards Set for Fandango and Fremantle TV Series Adaptation Variety 13 June 2022 Retrieved 4 July 2022 Fanshawe Simon 22 January 2000 Sam smiles The Guardian Retrieved 9 February 2020 American Beauty 1999 Box Office Mojo Retrieved 22 November 2009 a b Kaya Burgess Bond director drops 007 for something sweeter The Times 7 March 2013 No 70826 p 3 Tim Dirks Academy Awards Best Director Facts amp Trivia AMC Filmsite Retrieved 11 June 2013 a b Diane Solway January 2009 Scenes from a Marriage W Retrieved 19 February 2009 They Also Played Cricket Yahoo 14 May 2013 Retrieved 14 May 2013 Out of the Ashes reveals the amazing story of Afghanistan cricket The Guardian 20 July 2010 Retrieved 14 May 2013 Allen Nick 6 January 2010 British director Sam Mendes in talks over next James Bond film The Daily Telegraph London Archived from the original on 11 January 2022 Retrieved 10 January 2010 Skyfall most successful James Bond film tops 1bn at global box office The Daily Telegraph Retrieved 24 January 2013 Box Office Milestone Daniel Craig s Skyfall Crosses 1 Billion Worldwide The Hollywood Reporter Retrieved 24 January 2013 Call the Midwife series two episode one BBC One review The Telegraph Retrieved 24 January 2013 Hewitt Chris 6 November 2012 Sam Mendes Talks Gun Barrel Sequence Empire Retrieved 15 June 2013 de Semlyen Phil 6 March 2013 Sam Mendes Won t Direct Bond 24 Empire Retrieved 15 June 2013 Sam Mendes back in talks with Bond producers BBC News 29 May 2013 Retrieved 29 May 2013 O Neal Sean 6 March 2013 Sam Mendes turns down the next James Bond film for a life in the theater The A V Club Retrieved 6 March 2013 Sam Mendes Returns to Direct Bond 24 Press release Sony Pictures 11 July 2013 Retrieved 11 July 2013 Vivarelli Nick 24 July 2016 Laurie Anderson Joshua Oppenheimer Zhao Wei Set For Venice Jury Variety Retrieved 24 July 2016 McIndoe Ross 10 January 2020 1917 UK release date cast review round up and everything else about Sam Mendes epic First World War movie i Retrieved 10 February 2020 Grobar Matt 6 February 2020 Sam Mendes Surprises With Golden Globe Win for Best Director Saluting Martin Scorsese amp Grandfather Who Inspired His World War I Drama 1917 Deadline Hollywood Retrieved 9 February 2020 Utichi Joe 25 January 2020 Sam Mendes and 1917 Stake Claim as Oscar Frontrunner with DGA Victory Deadline Hollywood Retrieved 1 February 2020 Lattanzio Ryan 9 February 2020 Bong Joon Ho Defeats Sam Mendes to Win Best Director Oscar in Nail Biting Race IndieWire Retrieved 25 March 2023 Haylock Zoe 13 January 2020 Bong Joon Ho and Sam Mendes Tie for Best Director at the 2020 Critics Choice Awards Vulture Retrieved 13 January 2020 Kroll Justin 6 April 2021 Searchlight Lands Sam Mendes Next Film Empire of Light Starring Olivia Colman Deadline Hollywood Retrieved 6 April 2021 a b c d Brooks Xan 15 March 2010 Kate Winslet and Sam Mendes separate after seven years of marriage The Guardian London Retrieved 16 March 2010 Rebecca Hall on love Sam Mendes and being a shy girl Evening Standard 3 April 2013 Retrieved 27 March 2019 Sam Mendes s Directorial Discoveries The New Yorker Retrieved 9 December 2019 No 62866 The London Gazette Supplement 28 December 2019 p N2 Signez la petition pour Roman Polanski La Regle du jeu in French 10 November 2009 Archived from the original on 29 August 2021 Retrieved 29 August 2021 1917 The story behind Sam Mendes s ambitious First World War drama The Independent 28 December 2019 Sam Mendes British Film Institute Retrieved 4 July 2022 Bibliography EditWolf Matt 2003 Sam Mendes at the Donmar Stepping Into Freedom Lanham Hal Leonard LLC ISBN 9780879109820 Lowenstein Stephen 2003 My First Movie Take Two Ten Celebrated Directors Talk About Their First Film Lanham Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group ISBN 978 0 8108 8576 9 External links Edit Media related to Sam Mendes at Wikimedia Commons Sam Mendes at IMDb Charlie Rose interview 5 June 2009 Brandon Kosters interview 2 June 2009 The Observer Interview 14 December 2008 Sam Mendes at the Internet Broadway Database Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Sam Mendes amp oldid 1151020668, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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