Few directors have had as spectacular a debut as British stage director Sam Mendes onto the film scene. Mendes’ frank 1999 film, “American Beauty,” turned heads upon its release and wowed Oscar voters, winning five Academy Awards from eight nominations, including a trophy for Mendes on his very first film.
Since that time, Mendes has split his time between films and the stage. His iconic Broadway production of “Cabaret” featuring Alan Cumming and a rotating number of actresses playing Sally Bowles, including the late Natasha Richardson, Emma Stone and Michelle Williams, brought Mendes his first Tony nomination. For his direction of 2018’s “The Ferryman,” he finally won the coveted Tony. At the same time, Mendes, who directed Daniel Craig in 2004’s film “Road to Perdition,” was asked to direct Craig again in the James Bond films “Spectre” (2015) and “Skyfall” (2012), for which Mendes won his first BAFTA Award.
Most recently, Mendes had the personal war film “1917” as a Golden Globe winner and nominated for Oscars as Best Picture and Best Director. Take a tour of his career in our photo gallery, which ranks all nine of his feature films released so far.
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9. EMPIRE OF LIGHT (2022)
Image Credit: Searchlight Pictures Writer/Director: Sam Mendes. Starring Olivia Colman, Micheal Ward, Colin Firth, Toby Jones, Tom Brooke, Tanya Moodie.
“Empire of Light” was a labor of love for Sam Mendes. The film, set in a cinema along the English coast in the early 1980s, is a tip of the hat to how important movies and theaters were to young Sam as he was growing up. But in the character of Hilary (Olivia Colman), who is trying to hold down a job while suffering bouts of schizophrenia, Mendes is also paying tribute to his own mother who suffered her own mental decline while still heroically raising Sam. Though the film itself received somewhat mixed reviews, the storylines focusing on the cinema and on Hilary’s mental fragility have a sense of detail and depth of feeling that can only truly come from a filmmaker’s personal experience.
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8. SPECTRE (2015)
Image Credit: Moviestore/Shutterstock Director: Sam Mendes. Writers: John Logan, Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, Jez Butterworth. Starring Daniel Craig, Christoph Waltz, Lea Seydoux, Ben Whishaw, Andrew Scott.
I know that there are some fans who feel that “Spectre” is one of the best Bonds ever, but I consider it one of the middling films in the series, despite the presence of two-time Oscar-winner Christoph Waltz as Blofeld and a budget nearing $300 million. The plot is the usual “mastermind with a foolproof plan to take over the world” stuff, though there are several elements of the film that really click — Waltz is an absolute hoot as Blofeld, several of the stunt sequences are breathtaking, and Mendes has assembled a strong supporting cast, including Naomie Harris, Andrew Scott, Dave Bautista, Ralph Fiennes and Monica Belluci. Though I believe that Mendes is much more effective directing intimate stories, a Bond film requires a a spectacular vision, and Mendes certainly provides it here.
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7. JARHEAD (2005)
Image Credit: Universal/REX/Shutterstock Director: Sam Mendes. Writer: William Broyles, Jr. Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Peter Sarsgaard, Chris Cooper, Lucas Black, Jamie Foxx.
Mendes’ first swing at directing a war film was based on U.S. Marine Anthony Swofford’s memoir detailing his experience in the Gulf War in 1989. In Mendes’ film, Swofford (Jake Gyllenhaal) endures enormous challenges in his training to become a Marine sniper, but once he makes it, there are periods of enormous downtime when Swofford and his cohorts need to blow off some steam. Then it’s off to Operation Desert Storm, and Swofford, who is stationed along the Saudi Arabia/Kuwait border, is given one specific assignment to prove that he has the needed sniper skills. Mendes gives “Jarhead” a very loose pace, in stark contrast to what he will deliver in “1917” fourteen years later.
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6. REVOLUTIONARY ROAD (2008)
Image Credit: BBC/Evamere/Neal Street Prods./Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Director: Sam Mendes. Writer: Justin Haythe. Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Michael Shannon, Kathy Bates, Kathryn Hahn, David Harbour.
After his success with “American Beauty,” Mendes took another take on a marriage with 2008’s “Revolutionary Road,” focusing on Frank (Leonardo DiCaprio) and April Wheeler (Golden Globe winner Kate Winslet). When Frank feels that he is in a dead-end job and April’s dreams of becoming an actress come to nothing, they decide to make a new start in Paris. But Frank suddenly gets a promotion and April becomes pregnant, so the promise of a new life is out, and the couple realizes that they must continue their mundane life. For his direction of “Revolutionary Road,” Mendes earned his second Golden Globe nomination.
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5. AWAY WE GO (2009)
Image Credit: Big Beach Films/Kobal/Shutterstock Director: Sam Mendes. Writers: Dave Eggers, Vendela Vida. Starring John Krasinski. Maya Rudolph, Jeff Daniels, Carmen Ejogo, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Allison Janney.
“Away We Go” is an anomaly in the Mendes filmography. A modest comedy/drama, it is far away from the action spectacles for which Mendes is known to many. But it does share Mendes’ focus on character as Verona De Tessant (Maya Rudolph) and Burt Farlander (John Krasinski) are in their early thirties and about-to-be parents, but they want to find a new home in a town that would be conducive for them to raise their coming child. They visit a number of friends around the country, and for one reason or another, the couple chooses not to stay, only to realize that they need to forge their own path. It’s a surprisingly low-key film from Mendes and a welcome one.
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4. ROAD TO PERDITION (2002)
Image Credit: Moviestore Collection/REX/Shutterstock Director: Sam Mendes. Writer: David Self. Starring Tom Hanks, Paul Newman, Jude Law, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Daniel Craig, Stanley Tucci.
Tom Hanks as a gangster? Really? But under Mendes’ assured direction, Hanks convincingly played a hitman with a conscience. Based on the famed graphic novel, Mendes’ film has relatively little dialogue, so it was up to Mendes and cinematographer Conrad Hall to provide the images that still resonate with me. Mendes is particularly good in working with actors, and Hanks’ understated work here is one of his best and vastly underrated. The supporting cast is solid, particularly Paul Newman as an Irish mob boss, Jude Law as a nosy crime scene photographer and Daniel Craig as Newman’s resentful son. Mendes and Craig work particularly well together here, so it’s little wonder that Craig may have had a hand in bringing Mendes on board to direct his Bond thrillers “Skyfall” and “Spectre.”
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3. SKYFALL (2012)
Image Credit: Danjaq / EON Productions/REX/Shutterstock Director: Sam Mendes. Writers: Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, John Logan. Starring Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem, Judi Dench, Ralph Fiennes, Naomi Harris, Ben Whishaw, Albert Finney.
Arguably the best Bond film after “Casino Royale” in the Daniel Craig era, “Skyfall” focuses on Bond’s quest to avenge an attack on MI6 by renegade agent Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem). Silva’s motive is revenge against M (Judi Dench), as Silva is a former MI6 agent who is haunted by his feeling that M abandoned him in his time of need. “Skyfall” is another lengthy Bond film, but Mendes jam-packs the running time with action galore, as well as a touching sequence in which Bond says goodbye to his beloved M, which gives this action film an unexpected grace. With this film, Mendes proves that he can handle both tentpole action films that are crucial for a studio’s bottom line, as well as artistic films where he got his start. “Skyfall” brought Mendes his first BAFTA Award.
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2. AMERICAN BEAUTY (1999)
Image Credit: Dreamworks/REX/Shutterstock Director: Sam Mendes. Writer: Alan Ball. Starring Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Mena Suvari, Chris Cooper, Thora Birch, Allison Janney, Wes Bentley, Peter Gallagher.
“American Beauty” was a sensation in its day as a scathing look of the emptiness of middle-class life in the 1990s, but time has not been kind to Mendes’ film. What constituted “middle class” then has changed, with many Americans falling from the “haves” to the “have-nots.” In addition, the film features a front-and-center Oscar-winning performance from Kevin Spacey, and that’s a little difficult to take now, as opposed to 21 years ago. “American Beauty” was Mendes’ film debut, and there have been few film debuts that have been quite as spectacular as “American Beauty.” For his direction, Mendes won his first Oscar and his first Golden Globe Award, as well as being nominated for his first BAFTA Award.
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1. 1917 (2019)
Image Credit: Courtesy of Universal Director: Sam Mendes. Writers: Sam Mendes, Krysty Wilson-Cairns. Starring George MacKay. Dean-Charles Chapman, Benedict Cumberbatch, Colin Firth, Mark Strong, Andrew Scott.
Although there were some critics that argued that the technology got in the way of the film’s characterization, Mendes’ World War I film “1917” is a spectacular achievement. Though supposedly shot in a single two-hour take (the cuts are there if you look hard enough), the technique allows the viewer to feel the grueling journey that these two British soldiers must take through the trenches in order to save another squadron from walking into a deadly trap. For his direction of “1917,” Mendes won his second Golden Globe Award as well as being nominated for his second Academy Award and his third BAFTA Award.
