Gus Van Sant

Gus Van Sant, famous American director, was born 1952 in Louisville, Kentucky from where he moved around a lot during his early years. As a child, he was interested in art and started making movies using home movie camera. He spent his senior year of high school in Portland, Oregon. With his friend Eric Edwards he made his first serious 20 minutes-black-and-white-drama film entitled The Happy Organ.
Later, Van Sant studied painting at the Rhode Island School of Design but he soon switched for filmmaking. Graduated from college in 1975, he moved in Los Angeles where he worked as an assistant director for Ken Shapiro. At the same time, he found time to make his own films, including one based on a story by William S. Burroughs.
He owes his fame to several of his films, like Good Will Hunting (1997) , or Harvey Milk (2008) which earned him many rewards. He also received the Award of the Best American Film for Elephant (2003) in 2005 and countless other winnings and nominations thanks to his works.
In addition to the film, Gus Van Sant is also dedicated to music. Indeed, he works as an art director with the American rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers, directed the video for the song Under the Bridge and photographed albums Blood Sugar Sex Magik (1991) and Stadium Arcadium (2006).
He published the photography book 108 Portraits and two music albums: Gus Van Sant and 18 Songs About Golf.
Iconoclast recently welcomed Mr Van Sant in the director family. He directed a trio of new BMW spots. The spots are a dizzying blend of beautifully filmed, sun-bleached running shots and poetic monologues from actors Michael Pitt (Boardwalk Empire), Sam Hazeldine (The Monuments Men) and Mickey Sumner (Frances Ha).