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'{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2013}} {{Infobox person |name = Neil LaBute |image = |caption = |birth_name = Neil Negro LaBute |birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1963|3|19}} |birth_place = Pussyvile, France |death_date = |death_place = |occupation = An I need feminism because ass bitch, Dick Shiner, Socialist }} '''Neil N. LaBute'''<ref name=filmref>{{cite web | url = http://www.filmreference.com/film/30/Neil-LaBute.html | title= Neil LaBute Biography (1963-) | publisher=FilmReference.com | accessdate= 2014-04-07}}</ref> (born March 19, 1963)<ref name=filmref /> is an American film director, screenwriter and playwright. ==Early life== LaBute was born in Detroit, Michigan, the son of Marian, a hospital receptionist, and Richard LaBute, a long-haul truck driver.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/29/magazine/29LaBute-t.html?pagewanted=2 | work=The New York Times | title=Neil LaBute Has a Thing About Beauty | first=Pat | last=Jordan | date=March 29, 2009 | accessdate=May 20, 2010}}</ref><ref name="bookref1"/> LaBute is of [[French Canadian]], English, and Irish ancestry,<ref name="bookref1">{{cite book|last=Bigsby|first=C. W. E.|authorlink=|coauthors=|title=Neil LaBute: stage and cinema|publisher=Cambridge University Press=|year=2007|location=|pages=2, 235|month=|url=|isbn=0-521-88254-0}}</ref> and was raised in [[Spokane, Washington]]. He studied theater at [[Brigham Young University]] (BYU), where he joined [[The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]]. At BYU he also met actor [[Aaron Eckhart]], who would later play leading roles in several of his films. He produced a number of plays that pushed the envelope of what was acceptable at the conservative religious university, some of which were shut down after their premieres. However, he also was honored as one of the "most promising undergraduate playwrights" at the BYU theater department's annual awards.<ref>People in the arts . The Deseret News. Sunday, May 6, 1984</ref> LaBute also did graduate work at the [[University of Kansas]],{{citation needed|date=April 2014}} [[New York University]],{{citation needed|date=April 2014}} and the [[Royal Academy of London]].{{citation needed|date=April 2014}} ==Career== LaBute's exposure to and interest in the film industry came with a viewing of ''[[The Soft Skin (film)|The Soft Skin]]'' (''La Peau Douce'' 1964), said the director to [[Robert K. Elder]] in an interview for ''[[The Film That Changed My Life]]''.<ref>http://www.amazon.com/dp/1556528256</ref><blockquote>It exposed me, probably in the earliest way, to “Hey, I could do that.” I’ve never been one to love the camera or even to be as drawn to it as I am to the human aspect of it, and I think it was a film that speaks in a very simple way of here’s a way that you can tell a story on film in human terms. It was the kind of film that made me go, “I could do this; I want to tell stories that are like this and told in this way.” And so it was altering for me in that way, in its simplicity or deceptive simplicity.<ref>LaBute, Neil. Interview by Robert K. Elder. The Film That Changed My Life. By Robert K. Elder. Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 2011. N. p2.48. Print.</ref></blockquote> In 1993, he returned to [[Brigham Young University]] to premiere his play ''[[In the Company of Men]]'', for which he received an award from the [[Association for Mormon Letters]]. He taught drama and film at [[IPFW]] in [[Fort Wayne, Indiana]] in the early 1990s where he adapted and filmed the play, shot over two weeks and costing $25,000, beginning his career as a film director. The film won the Filmmakers Trophy at the [[Sundance Film Festival]], and major awards and nominations at the [[Deauville Film Festival]], the [[Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay|Independent Spirit Awards]], the Thessaloniki Film Festival, the [[Society of Texas Film Critics Awards]] and the [[New York Film Critics Circle]]. ''[[In the Company of Men]]'' portrays two misogynist businessmen (one played by Eckhart) cruelly plotting to romance and emotionally destroy a deaf woman. His next film ''[[Your Friends & Neighbors]]'' (1998), with an ensemble cast including Eckhart and [[Ben Stiller]], was a shocking{{Citation needed|date=May 2011}} portrayal of the sex lives of three yuppie couples in the big city. In 2000 he wrote an off-Broadway play entitled ''[[Bash: Latter-Day Plays]]'', a set of three short plays (''Iphigenia in orem'', ''A gaggle of saints'', and ''Medea redux'') depicting essentially good [[Latter-day Saints]] doing disturbing and violent things. One of the plays was a much-talked-about one-person performance by [[Calista Flockhart]].{{Citation needed|date=April 2009}} This play resulted in his being [[Disciplinary council#Possible outcomes|disfellowshipped]] from the LDS Church. He has since formally left the LDS Church.<ref>[http://www.timesandseasons.org/index.php?p=1873 Times & Seasons » An Interview with Neil LaBute<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> In 2001, LaBute wrote and directed the play ''[[The Shape of Things]]'', which premièred in London and starred [[Paul Rudd]] and [[Rachel Weisz]]. It was turned into a film in 2003 with the same cast and director. Set in a small university town in the American Midwest, it focuses on four young students who become emotionally and romantically involved with each other, questioning the nature of art and the lengths to which people will go for love. In the play and film, Weisz's character manipulates Rudd's character into changing everything about himself and discarding his friends in order to become more attractive to her. She even pretends to fall in love with him, prompting an offer of marriage, whereupon she cruelly exposes and humiliates him before an audience, announcing that he has simply been an "art project" for her MFA thesis. LaBute's 2002 play ''[[The Mercy Seat (play)|The Mercy Seat]]'' was one of the first major theatrical responses to the [[September 11, 2001 attacks]].{{Citation needed|date=May 2008}} Set on September 12, it concerns a man who worked at the [[World Trade Center]] but was away from the office during the attack – with his mistress. Expecting that his family believes that he was killed in the towers' collapse, he contemplates using the tragedy to run away and start a new life with his lover. Starring [[Liev Schreiber]] and [[Sigourney Weaver]], the play was a commercial and critical success.{{Citation needed|date=April 2009}} While hesitant to term ''The Mercy Seat'' "[[political theater]]", Labute said, "I refer to this play in the printed introduction as a kind of emotional terrorism that we wage on those we profess to love." He dedicated this edition to [[David Hare (playwright)|David Hare]], in response to Hare's "straightforward, thoughtful, probing work".<ref>{{cite news | last = Baitz | first = Jon Robin | url = http://bombsite.com/issues/83/articles/2560 | title=Neil Labute | work = [[Bomb (magazine)|Bomb]] | date=Spring 2003 | accessdate=July 22, 2011}}</ref> His next play, ''[[reasons to be pretty]]'', played [[Off-Broadway]] from May 14 to July 5, 2008, in a production by [[MCC Theater]] at the Lucille Lortel Theatre. It went on to Broadway, with previews at the [[Lyceum Theatre (Broadway)|Lyceum Theatre]] on March 6, 2009, and an opening on April 2, 2009. The play was nominated for three 2009 [[Tony Awards]], including [[Tony Award for Best Play|Best Play]], [[Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Play|Best Leading Actor in a Play]] ([[Thomas Sadoski]]), and [[Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play|Best Featured Actress in a Play]] ([[Marin Ireland]]), but did not win in any category. The production's last performance was on June 14, 2009.{{citation needed|date=May 2014}} In March 2013, the play was mounted at the [[San Francisco Playhouse]].<ref>{{cite web|title='Reasons to be Pretty' review: Growing up | first=Robert | last= Hurwitt | date= March 31, 2013 | url=http://www.sfgate.com/performance/article/Reasons-to-be-Pretty-review-Growing-up-4398640.php|accessdate=2014-05-14 | work=[[San Francisco Chronicle]]}}</ref> Critics have responded to his plays as having a [[misanthrope|misanthropic]] tone.<ref>http://www.broadwayplaypubl.com/IN%20A%20DARK.htm</ref><ref>http://www.hackwriters.com/shapeofthings.htm</ref><ref>http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5163405</ref> Rob Weinert-Kendt in ''[[The Village Voice]]'' referred to LaBute as "American theater's reigning misanthrope".<ref>Jailbait Evokes a More Human Neil LaBute, ''Village Voice'' April 7, 2009 http://www.villagevoice.com/2009-04-08/theater/jailbait-evokes-a-more-human-neil-labute/</ref> ''[[The New York Times]]'' said that critics labeled him a misanthrope, on the release of his film, ''[[Your Friends & Neighbors]]''. The UK's ''[[The Independent|Independent]]'' newspaper dubbed him "America's misanthrope par excellence".<ref>''The Independent,'' "First Night: Fat Pig, Trafalgar Studios, London: A heart-warming tale from America's master misanthrope" "http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/reviews/first-night-fat-pig-trafalgar-studios-london-835324.html</ref> Citing ''In the Company of Men'' and ''The Shape of Things,'' critic Daniel Kimmel identified a thread running through his work: "Neil LaBute is a misanthrope who assumes that only callous and evil people who use and abuse others can survive in this world." Critics labeled him a [[misogynist]] after the release of ''In the Company of Men''.<ref>"Neil LaBute has a Thing About Beauty", ''The New York Times'', March 25, 2009 http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/29/magazine/29LaBute-t.html?pagewanted=3&ref=theater</ref> LaBute directed ''[[Death at a Funeral (2010 film)|Death at a Funeral]]'', a remake of a 2007 British film of the same name. It was written by Dean Craig (who also wrote the original screenplay) and starred [[Chris Rock]]. LaBute wrote a new Introduction and new scenes for the Chicago Shakespeare Theater production of ''[[The Taming of the Shrew]]'' by [[William Shakespeare]] from April 7 to June 6, 2010. LaBute framed the classic play in overtly metatheatrical terms and added a lesbian romance in a subplot. LaBute's first produced play, ''Filthy Talk for Troubled Times'' (1989) — a series of biting exchanges between two "everyman" characters in a bar – was staged from June 3–5, 2010 by MCC Theater in Manhattan as a benefit for MCC's Playwrights' Coalition and their commitment to developing new work. LaBute also directed the reading. Originally when it premiered in New York City at the Westside Dance Project, the entire audience stood up and booed afterward. One audience member cried out, "Kill The Playwright!" MCC will be the home to the World Premier of ''The Break of Noon''. It will run from October 28 – December 22, 2010. The play starts the 25th season of MCC. The play will then open in Los Angeles at the Geffen Theater, again directed by Bonney, from January 25 – March 6, 2011 (Opening night: February 2, 2011). The show stars [[Tracee Chimo]], [[David Duchovny]], [[John Earl Jelks]], and [[Amanda Peet]]. The show was directed by Jo Bonney, set design by [[Neil Patel (Designer)|Neil Patel]], costume design by ESosa, lighting design by David Weiner, original music by Justin Ellington, sound design by Darron L.West, special effects by Matthew Holtzclaw, dialect coach Stephen Gabis, wig design by J. Jared Janas & Rob Greene, production manager B.D. White, production stage manager Christina Lowe, general manager Ted Rounsaville, casting by Telsey + Company, and publicity by O&M Co.<ref>http://broadwayworld.com/article/Photo_Coverage_THE_BREAK_OF_NOON_Opening_Night_Curtain_Call_Party_20101123</ref> ''The Unimaginable'', a new short play by LaBute, will premier as part of the Terror 2010 season at the [[Southwark Playhouse]] in London, UK from October 12 – 31, 2010. He will also be partaking in the [[Bush Theatre]]'s 2011 project ''Sixty Six Books'' where he has written a piece based upon a chapter of the [[King James Bible]]<ref>http://www.bushtheatre.co.uk/biography/writers/</ref> In 2012 Labute joined Chicago-based store front theatre company Profiles Theatre as a Resident Artist <ref>http://www.profilestheatre.org/season.html</ref> In 2013, Neil LaBute was named one of the winners of the [[American Academy of Arts and Letters]]' Arts and Letters Awards in Literature.<ref>http://www.artsandletters.org/press_releases/2013literature.php</ref> ==Style== LaBute's style is very language-oriented. His work is terse, rhythmic, and highly colloquial. His style bears similarity to one of his favorite playwrights, [[David Mamet]]. LaBute even shares some similar themes with Mamet including gender relations, political correctness, and masculinity.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.theaterpro.com/labute.html | first=Alice |last=Griffin|publisher = TheaterPro.com | date= n.d.| title= Neil LaBute | accessdate=2013-12-12}}</ref> ==Filmography== * ''[[In the Company of Men]]'' (1997) * ''[[Your Friends & Neighbors]]'' (1998) * ''[[Tumble (film)|Tumble]]'' (Sundance short-narrated by Neil Labute-2000) * ''[[Nurse Betty]]'' (2000) * ''Bash: Latter-Day Plays'' (2001) (TV) * ''[[Possession (2002 film)|Possession]]'' (2002) * ''[[The Shape of Things]]'' (2003) * ''[[The Wicker Man (2006 film)|The Wicker Man]]'' (2006) * ''[[Lakeview Terrace]]'' (2008) * ''[[Death at a Funeral (2010 film)|Death at a Funeral]]'' (2010) * ''[[Sexting]]'' (2010) (short)<ref name="SIS"/> * ''[[Stars in Shorts]]'' (2012)<ref name="SIS">{{cite web|url=http://www.popmatters.com/pm/post/164482-stars-in-shorts-makes-short-films-attractive-to-viewers-worldwide/|work=[[PopMatters]]|title='Stars in Shorts' Makes Short Films Attractive to Viewers Worldwide|date=October 18, 2012|first=Dorothy Burk|last=Vasquez}}</ref> * ''Seconds of Pleasure'' (pre-production)<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/tv-radio/mad-men-saved-from-reallife-advertising-row-2256728.html | location=London | work=The Independent | first=Adam | last=Sherwin | title='Mad Men' saved from real-life advertising row | date=March 30, 2011}}</ref> * ''[[Some Velvet Morning (film)|Some Velvet Morning]]'' (2013) * ''[[Dirty Weekend (2014 film)|Dirty Weekend]]'' (2014) ==Television== * ''[[Full Circle (Audience Network TV series)|Full Circle]]'' – [[DirecTV]] series scheduled to premiere September 24, 2013.{{citation needed|date=April 2014}} * ''[[ten x ten]]''—DirecTV series premiered February 19, 2014, written and directed by LaBute{{citation needed|date=April 2014}} ==Plays== * ''Filthy Talk For Troubled Times'' (1989) * ''[[In the Company of Men]]'' (1992) * ''[[Bash: Latter-Day Plays]]'' (1999) * ''[[The Shape of Things]]'' (2001) * ''[[The Distance From Here]]'' (2002) * ''[[The Mercy Seat (play)|The Mercy Seat]]'' (2002) * ''[[Autobahn (play)|Autobahn]]'' (2003) * ''[[Fat Pig]]'' (2004) * ''[[This Is How It Goes]]'' (2005) * ''[[Some Girl(s)]]'' (2005) * ''[[Wrecks]]'' (2005) * ''[[In A Dark Dark House]]'' (2007) * ''[[reasons to be pretty]]'' (2008) * ''[[Helter Skelter/Land of the Dead]]'' (2008) * ''The Break of Noon'' (2009) * ''The New Testament'' (2009) * ''[[Some White Chick]]'' (2009) * ''[[The Purple Marmoset]]'' (2009) * ''[[The Furies]]'' (2009) * ''[[In a Forest, Dark and Deep]]'' (2011) * ''[[Lovely Head & Other Plays]]'' (2013) * ''Reasons to Be Happy'' (2013) ==References== {{reflist|30em}} ==External links== * {{IMDb name|1438}} * [http://www.faber.co.uk/author/neil-labute/ Neil LaBute on the Faber and Faber website] – UK publisher of LaBute's plays, screenplays and fiction * [http://www.hackwriters.com/LaBute2.htm Review of Labute's Seconds Of Pleasure] * [http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-53747373.html Interview with Neil LaBute from Interview Magazine] * [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1066876,00.html It's So Good To Be Bad], a ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine profile of LaBute published in 2005 * Neil LaBute's Guest DJ Set on KCRW [http://www.kcrw.com/music/programs/gd/gd080618neil_labute KCRW Guest DJ Set] * [http://bombsite.com/issues/83/articles/2560 2003 ''BOMB Magazine'' interview of Neil Labute by Jon Robin Baitz] {{Neil LaBute}} {{Authority control|VIAF=84248018}} {{Persondata<!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]]. --> | NAME =Labute, Neil | ALTERNATIVE NAMES = | SHORT DESCRIPTION =Film director, playwright, screenwriter | DATE OF BIRTH =March 19, 1963 | PLACE OF BIRTH =[[Detroit, Michigan]], US | DATE OF DEATH = | PLACE OF DEATH = }} {{DEFAULTSORT:Labute, Neil}} [[Category:1963 births]] [[Category:American dramatists and playwrights]] [[Category:American film directors]] [[Category:American people of English descent]] [[Category:American people of French-Canadian descent]] [[Category:American people of Irish descent]] [[Category:American screenwriters]] [[Category:Brigham Young University alumni]] [[Category:Former Latter Day Saints]] [[Category:Independent Spirit Award winners]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:Writers from Detroit, Michigan]] [[Category:Writers from Spokane, Washington]] [[Category:Writers from Utah]] [[Category:Film directors from Michigan]]'