Biografie

Often begins his films with a voice-over narration from the main character; at the end of the movie the character finishes his narration in very much the same way it began.

Music scores from Thomas Newman

Very slow pull in, especially on table scenes

Films typically deal with a family unit, be it real or surrogate.

In his films rain frequently marks the event of a death

Sam married English actress Kate Winslet in the West Indies in May 2003.

Was born in the same small Reading hospital where his wife, Kate Winslet, was born 10 years later.

His paternal grandparents were of Trinidad's ethnic Portuguese community. His grandfather is famed West Indian writer Alfred H. Mendes.

His father is Trinidadian.

He was offered the chance to direct The Avengers (2012) but turned it down.

Sex. What Fun. to the students of Atlantic Theater School

If you shout in the theater, people think you've gone a bit mad. But if you raise your voice on a film set, people just work a bit harder.

My process is slow and I enjoy it too much to rush. And I like to return to the theater between films. But after not doing any movies for a few years, perhaps I might do two in two years.

[on directing Jarhead - Willkommen im Dreck (2005) without having a military background] This is new territory to me, but I hadn't spent two days in American suburbia when I directed American Beauty (1999). I only knew the script had an unusual and original voice and it was a challenge I wanted to take on. "Jarhead" is equal parts black humor, honesty, rage, lyricism, profanity and the mixture of machismo jarhead culture. With the exception of Three Kings - Es ist schön König zu sein (1999) this is a war that has been overlooked but which has a burning relevance to what is happening right now in the Middle East.

[receiving his Lifetime Achievement award from the Directors Guild of Great Britain] I feel very undeserving. I feel the award is a bank loan, which I'll take out and pay back by the end of 20 years, and by then I'll feel more deserving.