Film
Mendes made his movie directorial debut with American Beauty, starring Kevin Spacey. The film grossed $356.3 million worldwide and had a 2373% ROI. The film won the Golden Globe Award, the BAFTA Award and the Academy Award for Best Picture. Mendes won a Directors Guild of America Award, a Golden Globe Award, and the Academy Award for directing.
Mendes's second film, in 2002, was Road to Perdition, which grossed US$181 million. The aggregate review score on Rotten Tomatoes was 82%; critics praised Paul Newman for his performance. The film was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Supporting Actor, and won one 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, receiving a Rotten Tomatoes aggregate of 61%, and a gross revenue of US$96.9 million worldwide. The film focused on the boredom and other psychological challenges of wartime, instead of being a traditional combat-action film.
In 2008, Mendes directed Revolutionary Road, starring his then-wife, Academy Award–winner Kate Winslet, along with Leonardo DiCaprio and Kathy Bates. In a January 2009 interview, Mendes opened up about directing his wife for the first time, commenting, "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.'" Mendes' 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. On 5 January 2010, news broke that Mendes was employed to direct the 23rd Eon Productions installment of the James Bond franchise, Skyfall, which was released on 26 October 2012.
In 2012 Neal Street Productions produced the first series of the BBC One drama series of the decade, Call the Midwife. Neal Street Productions will also produce the second season of the series set to begin in early 2013.
Read more about this topic: Sam Mendes, Career
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