James Merendino

James Merendino is an American movie director and scriptwriter. He was born in New Jersey, and moved with his family to Salt Lake City, Utah when he was six years old. After pursuing post-secondary education in Rome and Los Angeles, California, studying Western philosophy and theology, Merendino settled in Hollywood, California when he was 19 years old, and began a tenure with Hollywood mogul Dan Melnick. In 1991 Merendino was hired to direct his first motion picture, "Witchcraft IV: The Virgin Heart" (1992). It was followed by "River Made to Drown In" (1997), a pivotal film to the gay community in the United States, with Richard Chamberlain coming out publicly after its release. Merendino's most successful film, "SLC Punk!", was released in 1998. It is a semi-autobiographical movie, centered on two punk rockers living in Salt Lake City and follows their daily nihilistic lives. In 2000 Merendino made the European co-production "Magicians", with an international cast, including German actor Til Schweiger, British actress Claire Forlani, actor Fabrizio Bentivoglio from Italy and American comedian Alan Arkin. It was followed by "Amerikana", produced as part of the Dogme 95, the avant-garde filmmaking movement founded by Danish directors Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg. In 2016, Merendino released "Punk's Dead: SLC Punk 2", a sequel to his1998 cult film. James Merendino has also served as the writer on the majority of his movies. He was nominated for Best Original Screenplay at the Independent Spirit Awards for "SLC Punk!", which also won the International Film Critics Award for Best Film at the Mar del Plata Film Festival.