Todd Field (born William Todd Field) February 24, 1964, in Pomona, California; is an American actor and Academy Award-nominated writer/director. He received his M.F.A from the American Film Institute (AFI).
Married to Serena Rathbun, July 25, 1986; they have three children.
Field began making motion pictures in 1985 when he was cast by Woody Allen in Radio Days. He went on to work with some of America's greatest film makers including Stanley Kubrick, Victor Nuñez, and Carl Franklin. It was Franklin and Nunez (both AFI alumnists) who encouraged Field to enroll as a Directing Fellow at the AFI, which he did in the fall of 1992.
Since that time he has received the Franklin J. Schaffner Fellow Award from the AFI, the Satyajit Ray Award from the British Film Institute, a Jury Prize from the Sundance Film Festival, and his short films have been exhibited at various venues overseas and domestically at the Museum of Modern Art.
Field became one of Hollywood's hottest new writer/directors with the release of In the Bedroom, a film based on a short story by author Andre Dubus. (Both Kubrick and Dubus were among Field's mentors; tragically, both died right before the production of In the Bedroom.)
In the Bedroom was nominated for five Academy Awards including Best Picture, Actor (Tom Wilkinson, his first nomination), Actress (Sissy Spacek, her sixth nomination), Supporting Actress (Marisa Tomei, her second nomination), and Adapted Screenplay.
Field followed this with Little Children nominated for three Academy Awards including two for his actors: Kate Winslet (Her fifth nomination, and with it a record for the youngest actor to be nominated for five Academy Awards) and Jackie Earle Haley (His first nomination, and first leading role in over fifteen years).
After having written, directed and produced just two feature films, Field had garnered five Academy Award nominations for his actors, and three for himself, personally.
The film was made in a small town in New England in which Field resides – the house where he, his wife (Serena Rathbun), and their three children live was even used as the setting for one sequence. Rathbun and Sissy Spacek did a portion of the set designing and Field handled the camera himself on many of the shots. The result, most critics said, was stunning. Stephen Holden of The New York Times declared, "In the Bedroom belongs to a handful of films that stand the best chance of one day being regarded as classics." Reviewer Bob Ivry wrote in The Record "I don't mind telling you that In the Bedroom didn't make me cry. It made me weep, mature filmgoers with a hunger for an emotionally satisfying cinematic meal . . . will no doubt find In the Bedroom a work of virtuosity." Neil Norman of the Evening Standard wrote "It is apparent that Field has not only studied the masters of cinematic understatement, such as Ozu and Bergman, but that he fully understands their processes. Consequently, this is a film that lives beyond its two hours. Field's achievement is such a perfectly consummated marriage of intent and execution that he need never make another movie. I would not be alone, I think, in hoping he will make many more." Joe Morgenstern of The Wall Street Journal stated, "This is the work of a calmly confident master," and Anthony Quinn of The Independent noted, "Field has pulled off something here I thought no American filmmaker would ever manage again: he makes violence feel genuinely shocking." In his review of the film David Ansen of Newsweek declared "Field possesses a mastery of his craft that many filmakers never achieve in a lifetime."
For his work on In the Bedroom, Field was named Director of the Year by the National Board of Review, and his script was awarded Best Original Screenplay. The film went on to win Best Picture of the Year by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, and the New York Film Critics Circle awarded Best First Film to Field. In the Bedroom received six AFI nominations including Best Picture, Director, and Screenplay, three Golden Globe nominations, and five Academy Award nominations including Best Picture, Actor, Actress, Supporting Actress, and two individually for Field both as Screenwriter and Producer.
Field went on to be recognized by the American Film Institute who honored him with the Franklin J. Schaffner Alumni Medal. With the exception of the AFI Lifetime Achievement Award, the Schaffner Award is the highest honor an individual can achieve.
Todd Field's, Little Children, based on the novel by Tom Perrotta premiered at the 2006 New York Film Festival to similar accolades:
David Denby of The New Yorker called it, “Extraordinary. One the Best Films of the Year.� And said, “Field works with such fluid grace and perception that the movie goes right to the top.�
A. O. Scott of The New York Times wrote, “Superb! One the Best Films of the Year. Mr. Field proves to be among the most literary of American filmmakers. The result is a movie that is challenging, accessible and hard to stop thinking about.�
And Peter Travers of Rolling Stone said, “Field shows his mastery. He performs a high-wire act that balances hard truth and hard-won tenderness. The film rides its dramatic challenges in perfect pitch. Most movies fade from memory. This one sticks. The film pulls you in like a magnetic force.�
Little Children was named Best Picture of the Year, by the San Francisco Film Critics Circle, received three Golden Globe nominations including Best Picture of the Year, went on to be nominated for two Screen Actors Guild awards, the Writer's Guild Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, and three Academy Awards, including one for Field that he shared with Tom Perrotta for Best Adapted Screenplay.
