Oscar-Winning Filmmaker Alexander Payne Is Subject of New Book

A new book about acclaimed filmmaker Alexander Payne (Sideways) is available just as interest in the Oscar-winner is at an all-time high. The critical and commercial success of Payne's 2011 hit The Descendants further confirmed the writer-director's place among the world's leading cinema artists. That's only made anticipation all the greater for his new film Nebraska, which just wrapped principal photography at the end of November.

Omaha-based writer Leo Adam Biga's recently published book, Alexander Payne: His Journey in Film – A Reporter's Perspective 1998-2012, is a compilation of the author-journalist-blogger's decade-and-a-half reporting on Payne and his work. "Long before he arrived as a world-renowned filmmaker I spotted Payne's talent. By the time he completed Citizen Ruth and prepped Election I made him a special focus of my journalism." It's the first comprehensive look at one of cinema's most important figures. Biga takes readers behind-the-scenes to glimpse aspects of Payne's creative process. "Throughout many years of being interviewed, I find Mr. Biga's articles about me to be the most complete and perceptive of any journalist's anywhere," says Payne.

Biga's book is generating strong media buzz, including a recent Indiewire feature, to go along with high praise from industry insiders. Actress Laura Dern, film critic Leonard Maltin, and novelist and public radio host Kurt Andersen have all endorsed the book. Here's what they're saying:

"Alexander is a master. Many say the art of filmmaking comes from experience and grows with age and wisdom but, in truth, he was a master on day one of his first feature. Leo Biga has beautifully captured Alexander's incredible journey in film for us all to savor." – Laura Dern, actress, star of Citizen Ruth