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Todd Haynes (; born January 2, 1961) is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. His films span four decades with themes examining the personalities of well-known musicians, dysfunctional and dystopian societies, and blurred gender roles.
Haynes first gained public attention with his controversial short film (1987), which chronicles singer Karen Carpenter's life and death using Barbie dolls as actors. Superstar became a cult classic. His feature directorial debut, Poison (1991), a provocative exploration of AIDS-era perceptions and subversions, established him as a figure of a new transgressive cinema. Poison won the Sundance Film Festival's Grand Jury Prize.
Haynes received further acclaim for his second feature film, Safe (1995), a symbolic portrait of a housewife who develops multiple chemical sensitivity. Safe was later voted the best film of the 1990s by The Village Voice Film Poll. His next feature, Velvet Goldmine (1998), is a tribute to the 1970s glam rock era. The film received the Special Jury Prize for Best Artistic Contribution at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival.
Haynes gained acclaim and a measure of mainstream success with Far from Heaven (2002), receiving his first Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay. He continued to direct critically lauded films such as I'm Not There (2007), Carol (2015), Wonderstruck (2017), Dark Waters (2019), and May December (2023), as well as the documentary film The Velvet Underground (2021). Haynes also directed and co-wrote the HBO mini-series Mildred Pierce (2011), for which he received three Primetime Emmy Award nominations.
Haynes developed an interest in film at an early age, and produced a short film, The Suicide (1978), while still in high school. He studied art and semiotics at Brown University, where he directed his first short film Assassins: A Film Concerning Rimbaud (1985), inspired by the French poet Arthur Rimbaud (a personality Haynes would later reference in his film I'm Not There). At Brown, he met Christine Vachon, who would go on to produce all of his feature films. After graduating from Brown, Haynes moved to New York City and became involved in the independent film scene, launching Apparatus Productions, a non-profit organization for the support of independent film.
According to Cinematic/Sexual: An Interview with Todd Haynes, in response to whether his academic background affected his film-making practice, Haynes stated that his high school teacher taught him a valuable lesson: "Reality can't be a criterion for judging the success or failure of a film, or its effect on you. It was a simple, but eye-opening, way of approaching film."
Superstar featured extensive use of Carpenter songs, showcasing Haynes's love of popular music (which would be a recurring feature of later films). Haynes failed to obtain proper licensing to use the music, prompting a lawsuit from Karen's brother Richard for copyright infringement. Carpenter was reportedly also offended by Haynes's unflattering portrayal of him as a narcissistic bully, along with several broadly dropped suggestions that he was gay and Closeted. Carpenter won his lawsuit, and Superstar was removed from public distribution; to date, it may not be viewed publicly. Bootlegged versions of the film are still circulated, and the film is sporadically made available on YouTube.
Haynes's 1991 feature film debut, Poison, garnered him further acclaim and controversy. Drawing on the writings of gay writer Jean Genet, the film is a triptych of queer-themed narratives, each adopting a different cinematic genre: vox-pop documentary ("Hero"), 50s sci-fi horror ("Horror") and gay prisoner romantic drama ("Homo"). The film explores traditional perceptions of homosexuality as an unnatural and deviant force, and presents Genet's vision of sado-masochistic gay relations as a subversion of heterosexual norms, culminating with a marriage ceremony between two gay male convicts. Poison marked Haynes's first collaboration with his longtime producer Christine Vachon.
Poison was partially funded with a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), "at a time when the agency was under attack from conservative groups for using public funds to support sexually explicit works". This, along with the film's sexual themes, was a source of controversy. The film subsequently became the center of a public attack by Reverend Donald Wildmon, head of the American Family Association, who criticized the NEA for funding Poison and other works by gay and lesbian artists and filmmakers. Wildmon, who had not viewed the film before making his comments publicly, condemned the film's "explicit porno scenes of homosexuals involved in anal sex", despite no such scenes appearing in the film. Poison went on to win the 1991 Sundance Film Festival's Grand Jury Prize, establishing Haynes as an emerging talent and the voice of a new transgressive generation. The film writer B. Ruby Rich cited Poison as one of the defining films of the emerging New Queer Cinema movement, with its focus on maverick sexuality as an anti-establishment social force.
Haynes's next short film, Dottie Gets Spanked (1993), explored the experiences of a quiet and gentle six-year-old boy in the early 1960s who has various indirect encounters with spanking, most significantly involving his idol, a TV sitcom star named Dottie. The film was aired on PBS.
The film is notable for its critical (though not entirely unsympathetic) treatment of its main character. Julie Grossman argues in her article "The Trouble With Carol" that Haynes concludes the film as a challenge to traditional Hollywood film narratives of the heroine taking charge of her life, and that Haynes sets Carol up as the victim both of a repressive male-dominated society, and also of an equally debilitating self-help culture that encourages patients to take sole responsibility for their illness and recovery. Carol's illness, although unidentified, has been read as an analogy for the AIDS crisis of the mid-1980s, as a similarly uncomfortable and largely unspoken "threat" in 1980s Reaganist America. Safe was critically acclaimed, giving Moore her first leading role in a feature film, and gave Haynes a measure of mainstream critical recognition. It was voted the best film of the 1990s by the Village Voice's Critic Poll. The film historian David Thomson later described it as "one of the most arresting, original and accomplished films of the 1990s".
Haynes took a radical shift in direction for his next feature, Velvet Goldmine (1998), starring Christian Bale, Ewan McGregor, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers and Toni Collette. The film's title takes its name from David Bowie's song "Velvet Goldmine". Filmed and set mostly in England, the film was an intentionally chaotic tribute to the 1970s glam rock era, drawing heavily on the rock histories and mythologies of glam rockers David Bowie, Iggy Pop and Lou Reed. Starting with Oscar Wilde as the spiritual godfather of glam rock, the film revels in the gender and identity experimentation and fashionable bisexuality of the era, and acknowledges the transformative power of glam rock as an escape and a form of self-expression for gay teenagers.
The film follows the character of Arthur (Bale) an English journalist once enraptured by glam rock as a 1970s teenager, who returns a decade later to hunt down his former heroes: Brian Slade (Rhys Meyers), a feather boa-wearing androgyne with an alter ego, "Maxwell Demon", who resembles Bowie in his Ziggy Stardust incarnation, and Curt Wild (McGregor), an Iggy Pop-style rocker. The narrative playfully rewrites glam rock myths which in some cases sail close to the truth. Slade flirts with bisexuality and decadence before staging his own death in a live performance and disappearing from the scene, echoing Bowie's own disavowal of glam rock in the late 1970s and his subsequent re-creation as an avowedly heterosexual pop star. The film features a love affair between Slade and Wild's characters, recalling rumors about Bowie and Reed's supposed sexual relationship. Curt Wild's character has a flashback to enforced electric shock treatment as a teenager to attempt to cure his homosexuality, echoing Reed's teenage experiences as a victim of the homophobic medical profession.
Haynes was keen to use original music from the glam rock period, and (learning his lesson from Superstar) approached David Bowie before making the film for permission to use his music in the soundtrack. Bowie declined, leaving Haynes to use a combination of original songs from other artists, such as Brian Eno and Roxy Music, and glam-rock inspired music written by contemporary rock bands for the film, including Shudder to Think. Velvet Goldmine premiered in main competition at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival, winning a special jury award for Best Artistic Contribution. Despite the initial critical praise, the film received mixed reviews from critics. Costume designer Sandy Powell received an Academy Award nomination for her costume design and won the Oscar in the same year for her work on Shakespeare In Love.
Far from Heaven debuted at the Venice Film Festival to widespread critical acclaim and garnered a slew of film awards, including the Volpi Cup for Moore, and four Academy Award nominations: lead actress for Moore, Haynes's original screenplay, Elmer Bernstein's score, and Edward Lachman's cinematography. Far from Heaven lost in all four categories, but the film's success was hailed as a breakthrough for independent film achieving mainstream recognition and brought Haynes to the attention of a wider mainstream audience.
In another radical shift in direction, Haynes's next film I'm Not There (2007) returned to the mythology of popular music, portraying the life and legend of Bob Dylan through seven fictional characters played by six actors: Richard Gere, Cate Blanchett, Marcus Carl Franklin, Heath Ledger, Ben Whishaw and Christian Bale. Haynes obtained Dylan's approval to proceed with the film, and the rights to use his music in the soundtrack, after presenting a one-page summary of the film's concept to Jeff Rosen, Dylan's long-time manager. I'm Not There premiered at the Venice Film Festival to critical acclaim, where Haynes won the Grand Jury Prize and Blanchett won the Volpi Cup, eventually receiving an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress.
Haynes's next project was Mildred Pierce, a five-hour miniseries for HBO based on the novel by James M. Cain and the 1945 film starring Joan Crawford. The series starred Kate Winslet in the title role and featured Guy Pearce, Evan Rachel Wood, Melissa Leo, James LeGros and Hope Davis. Filming was completed in mid-2010 and the series began airing on HBO on 27 March 2011. It received 21 Primetime Emmy Award nominations, winning five, and Winslet won a Golden Globe Award for her performance.
On October 20, 2017, Haynes's Wonderstruck was released, having premiered at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival on May 18, 2017. The film is an adaptation of Brian Selznick's children's book of the same name. Wonderstruck stars Julianne Moore and is produced by Haynes's collaborator Christine Vachon and Amazon Studios, which is also distributing the film. The movie describes two deaf children, one in 1927 and the other in 1977, who embark on separate quests to find themselves. When asked why he'd made a children's movie, in his October 15, 2017, NPR interview, Haynes explained, "I felt like it spoke to something indomitable about the nature of kids and the ability for kids to be confronted with challenges and the unknown and to keep muscling through those challenges." The film received mixed reviews but earned praise for Edward Lachman's black-and-white cinematography.
Haynes directed a film titled Dark Waters for Participant Media. The film is based on Nathaniel Rich's New York Times Magazine article “The Lawyer Who Became DuPont's Worst Nightmare,” which is about corporate defense attorney Robert Bilott and his environmental lawsuit against the American conglomerate DuPont. Mark Ruffalo and Anne Hathaway star, and principal photography began in January 2019, in Cincinnati. The film was released on November 22, 2019.
Haynes's latest film, May December, reunites him with frequent collaborator Julianne Moore and co-stars Natalie Portman and Charles Melton. The film, loosely based around Mary Kay Letourneau, revolves around a married couple whose relationship is put through a test after an actress arrives to do research for a film about their past. The script was written by Samy Burch, with a story by Burch and Alex Mechanik. The film was shot in Savannah, Georgia, and wrapped filming in December 2022. The film received positive reviews with Peter Debruge of Variety writing, "Todd Haynes unpacks America’s obsession with scandal and the impossibility of ever truly knowing what motivates others in this layered look at the actor’s process." The film went on to receive nominations for four Golden Globe Awards including Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy. Haynes himself was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Director.
In 2023, Todd Haynes was given a Moving Image Award by the Museum of the Moving Image (MOMI) in New York City. MOMI also curated a retrospective of his work, and published a book, Todd Haynes: Rapturous Process.
Haynes said in September 2023 that he has been working on a sexually explicit film about a "love story between two men set in the 1930's", starring Joaquin Phoenix. The project was cancelled shortly before production began when Phoenix abruptly quit. In August 2025, it was reported that the project is being revived with Pedro Pascal in the lead role instead. The film, now titled De Noche, is scheduled to begin shooting in Guadalajara, Mexico in 2026.
Haynes is set to direct a Peggy Lee biopic, titled Fever, based on a screenplay originally drafted by Nora Ephron before her death in 2012, starring Michelle Williams in the title role after Reese Witherspoon backed out of the role to produce instead. Billie Eilish is in early talks to executive produce. The primary screenwriter is now Doug Wright.
Haynes is reportedly set to direct the HBO series Trust, based on Hernan Diaz's novel of the same name, with Kate Winslet as the lead after working together on Mildred Pierce.
Haynes's work is preoccupied with postmodernist ideas of identity and sexuality as socially constructed concepts and personal identity as a fluid and changeable state. His protagonists are invariably social outsiders whose "subversive" identity and sexuality put them at odds with the received norms of their society. In the Haynes universe, sexuality (especially "deviant" or unconventional sexuality) is a subversive and dangerous force that disrupts social norms and is often repressed brutally by dominant power structures. Haynes presents artists as the ultimate subversive force since they must necessarily stand outside of societal norms, with an artist's creative output representing the greatest opportunity for personal and social freedom. Many of his films are unconventional portraits of popular artists and musicians (Karen Carpenter in Superstar, David Bowie in Velvet Goldmine and Bob Dylan in I'm Not There).
Haynes's films often feature formal cinematic or narrative devices that challenge received notions of identity and sexuality and remind the audience of the artificiality of film as a medium. Examples include using Barbie instead of actors in Superstar or having multiple actors portray the protagonist in I'm Not There. Stylistically, Haynes favors formalism over naturalism, often appropriating and reinventing cinematic styles, including the documentary form in Poison, Velvet Goldmine and I'm Not There, the reinvention of the Douglas Sirk melodrama in Far from Heaven and extensive referencing of 1960s art cinema in I'm Not There.
An edited book of personal interviews was published in 2014, titled Todd Haynes: Interviews.
| 1978 | The Suicide | |||||
| 1985 | Assassins: A Film Concerning Rimbaud | Himself | ||||
| 1987 | Todd Donovan, Disc Jockey | |||||
| 1989 | La Divina | |||||
| He Was Once | Randy | |||||
| 1991 | Poison | |||
| 1995 | Safe | |||
| 1998 | Velvet Goldmine | |||
| 2002 | Far from Heaven | |||
| 2007 | I'm Not There | |||
| 2015 | Carol | |||
| 2017 | Wonderstruck | |||
| 2019 | Dark Waters | |||
| 2021 | The Velvet Underground | |||
| 2023 | May December |
Executive producer
| 1993 | Dottie Gets Spanked | TV short | |||
| 2011 | Mildred Pierce | Miniseries | |||
| 2013 | Enlightened | Episode: "All I Ever Wanted" | |||
| Six by Sondheim | Segment: "I'm Still Here" | ||||
| 2008 | "Share the Good" | Heineken Premium Light |
| +Accolades for Haynes' feature films | |||||||
| 1998 !scope="row" | Velvet Goldmine | 1 | 2 | 1 | |||
| 2002 !scope="row" | Far from Heaven | 4 | 4 | ||||
| 2007 !scope="row" | I'm Not There | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 2015 !scope="row" | Carol | 6 | 9 | 5 | |||
| 2023 !scope="row" | May December | 1 | 4 | ||||
Directed Academy Award performances
| Academy Award for Best Actress | |||||||
| 2003 | Julianne Moore | Far from Heaven | |||||
| 2016 | Cate Blanchett | Carol | |||||
| Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress | |||||||
| 2008 | Cate Blanchett | I'm Not There | |||||
| 2016 | Rooney Mara | Carol | |||||
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