Robert Byington (born April 29, 1966) is an American

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, p ...

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

and

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

living in

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

. He is most noted for his films ''RSO (Registered Sex Offender)'' (2008), ''Harmony and Me'' (2009), '' Somebody Up There Likes Me'' (2012), winner of The Special Jury Prize at the 2012

Locarno Film Festival The Locarno Film Festival is an annual film festival, held every August in Locarno, Switzerland. Founded in 1946, the festival screens films in various competitive and non-competitive sections, including feature-length narrative, documentary, s ...

, ''

7 Chinese Brothers ''7 Chinese Brothers'' is a 2015 American comedy film written and directed by Bob Byington and starring Jason Schwartzman, Stephen Root, Olympia Dukakis, Jonathan Togo, and Alex Karpovsky. The film was released on August 28, 2015, in a limited re ...

'' (2015) starring

Jason Schwartzman Jason Francesco Schwartzman (born June 26, 1980) is an American actor and musician. Schwartzman made his film debut in Wes Anderson's 1998 film '' Rushmore'', and has gone on to appear in six other Anderson films: '' The Darjeeling Limited'' (2 ...

Olympia Dukakis Olympia Dukakis (June 20, 1931 – May 1, 2021) was an American actress. She performed in more than 130 stage productions, more than 60 films and in 50 television series. Best known as a screen actress, she started her career in theater. Not lon ...

and

Tunde Adebimpe Babatunde Omoroga Adebimpe (born February 26, 1975) is an American musician, singer-songwriter, actor, director, and visual artist best known as the lead singer of the Brooklyn-based band TV on the Radio. Early life Adebimpe was born into a Nig ...

, and ''

Infinity Baby ''Infinity Baby'' is an American science fiction comedy film directed by Bob Byington from a screenplay by Onur Tukel. The film stars Kieran Culkin, Trieste Kelly Dunn, Nick Offerman, Martin Starr, Kevin Corrigan, Megan Mullally, Noël Wells, ...

'' (2017) starring

Kieran Culkin Kieran Kyle Culkin (born September 30, 1982) is an American actor. The brother of actors Macaulay and Rory, he began his career as a child actor in the films ''Home Alone'' (1990), ''Father of the Bride'' (1991)'', The Mighty'' (1998), and ''Th ...

Nick Offerman Nicholas David Offerman (born June 26, 1970) is an American actor, writer, comedian, producer, and carpenter. He is best known for his role as Ron Swanson in the NBC sitcom ''Parks and Recreation'', for which he received the Television Critics A ...

, and

Martin Starr Martin James Pflieger Schienle (born July 30, 1982), professionally known as Martin Starr, is an American actor and comedian. He is known for the television roles of Bill Haverchuck on the short-lived comedy drama ''Freaks and Geeks'' (1999–20 ...

. His most recent film, ''Frances Ferguson'', premiered at

South by Southwest South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in m ...

in March 2019.

Career

Robert "Bob" Byington grew up in

Lincoln, Nebraska Lincoln is the capital city of the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Lancaster County. The city covers with a population of 292,657 in 2021. It is the second-most populous city in Nebraska and the 73rd-largest in the United Sta ...

. He studied at the

University of California, Santa Cruz The University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz or UCSC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Cruz, California. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of California syste ...

and received a masters in American Studies at the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

. Byington directed his first film ''Shameless'' in 1996, and followed up with ''Olympia'' in 1998, which played on opening night of the

Film Festival. He then entered a decade long "God-imposed" hiatus before directing his next three films ''RSO (Registered Sex Offender)'' (2008), ''Harmony and Me'' (2009) and ''Somebody Up There Likes Me'' (2012).

Style and content

Byington's work has been called literate, bawdy, sardonic and quirky. The

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

described his film ''Harmony and Me'' as a "collision of joyous whimsy and bittersweet melancholy." His work is occasionally lumped in with the larger

mumblecore Mumblecore is a subgenre of independent filmHoberman, J. (August 14, 2007).It's Mumblecore!. ''The Village Voice''. Retrieved on July 27, 2008.Lim, Dennis (August 19, 2007)Mumblecore – The New Talkies: Generation DIY ''The New York Times''. Retr ...

movement in part because of his appearance in

Andrew Bujalski Andrew Bujalski (born April 29, 1977) is an American film director, screenwriter and actor, who has been called the "godfather of mumblecore." Life and career Bujalski, born in Boston in 1977, is the son of artist-turned-businesswoman Sheila ...

's film

Beeswax Beeswax (''cera alba'') is a natural wax produced by honey bees of the genus ''Apis''. The wax is formed into scales by eight wax-producing glands in the abdominal segments of worker bees, which discard it in or at the hive. The hive workers ...

and his use of actors, such as Bujalski,

Justin Rice Justin Rice is an American musician and actor. Music career Since 2001, he has played guitar for indie (music), indie rock band Bishop Allen. He also co-wrote the music for the documentary ''The Bully Project'' with band-mate Christian Rudder., ...

, and

Alex Karpovsky Alexander Karpovsky (born September 23, 1975)Rick PorterAlex Karpovsky - Apple TV ''Apple TV'' is an American director, actor, screenwriter, producer and film editor. He is best known for playing Ray Ploshansky on the HBO comedy-drama series ''Gi ...

, who appeared in movies carrying the mumblecore label. Byington considers his films thematically different from mumblecore and has resisted the label.

Variety magazine ''Variety'' is an American media company owned by Penske Media Corporation. The company was founded by Sime Silverman in New York City in 1905 as a weekly newspaper reporting on theater and vaudeville. In 1933 it added ''Daily Variety'', based ...

agreed in its review of ''Harmony and Me'' describing Byington's work as "mumblecore without the mumble." Unlike the extreme naturalistic dialogue of many mumblecore films, Byington's work leans towards exact dialogue and, according to Roger Ebert, "perfect timing" which is "unreasonably funny".

Filmmaker Magazine ''Filmmaker'' is a quarterly publication magazine covering issues relating to independent film. The magazine was founded in 1992 by Karol Martesko-Fenster, Scott Macaulay and Holly Willis. The magazine is now published by the IFP (Independent Film ...

likened his rich humor to the

New Hollywood The New Hollywood, also known as American New Wave or Hollywood Renaissance, was a movement in American film history from the mid-1960s to the early 1980s, when a new generation of young filmmakers came to prominence. They influenced the types o ...

comedies of the 1970s. Byington often reuses performers, including

, Kristen Tucker, Pat Healy, Keith Poulson,

Kevin Corrigan Kevin Corrigan (born ) is an American character actor. He has appeared mostly in independent films and television since the 1990s, including as Uncle Eddie on the sitcom ''Grounded for Life'' (2001–2005). His film appearances include support ...

and

Suzy Nakamura Suzy Nakamura (born December 2, 1968) is an American actress and improv comedian. She is known for her many guest appearances on sitcoms such as ''According to Jim'', ''Half and Half'', ''8 Simple Rules'', ''Curb Your Enthusiasm'' and ''How I Me ...

. Offerman starred in Byington's film, ''Somebody Up There Likes Me'', which premiered at the 2012 SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas.

Awards

* ''Harmony and Me'' **People's Choice Award for Best Narrative,

Denver Film Festival The Denver Film Festival is held in November, primarily at the Denver Film Center/Colfax, in Denver, Colorado, now the Anna and John J. Sie FilmCenter (Sie FilmCenter). Premiere events are held in the Buell Theatre and Ellie Caulkins Opera House ...

*''Somebody Up There Likes Me'' **Special Jury Prize,

Locarno International Film Festival The Locarno Film Festival is an annual film festival, held every August in Locarno, Switzerland. Founded in 1946, the festival screens films in various competitive and non-competitive sections, including feature-length narrative, documentary, sh ...

*''7 Chinese Brothers'' **Founders Prize Special Award,

Traverse City Film Festival The Traverse City Film Festival is an annual film festival held at the end of July in Traverse City, Michigan. The festival was created as an annual event in 2005 to help “save one of America's few indigenous art forms—the cinema". The event ...

*''Infinity Baby'' **Best Narrative Feature,

Woodstock Film Festival The Woodstock Film Festival is an American film festival that was launched in 2000 by filmmakers Meira Blaustein and Laurent Rejto with the goal to bring high quality independent film to the Hudson Valley region. The festival takes place each fa ...

*''Frances Ferguson'' **Best Narrative Feature,

Sidewalk Film Festival The Sidewalk Film Festival is an annual film festival taking place during the last weekend in August in the Theatre District of Birmingham, Alabama, since 1999. The festival typically screens at seven venues located within downtown Birmingham, fea ...

**Jury Award Winner,

Indianapolis International Film Festival Founded in 2004, the Indianapolis International Film Festival seeks to create a shared experience by championing films that entertain, challenge, and expand perspectives in Indianapolis and beyond. Indianapolis International Film Festival is als ...

Michael Moore Michael Francis Moore (born April 23, 1954) is an American filmmaker, author and left-wing activist. His works frequently address the topics of globalization and capitalism. Moore won the 2002 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for ' ...

awarded Byington the Stanley Kubrick Award for "bold and innovative filmmaking" in 2009.

Filmography (as writer and director)

*''Shameless'' (1996) *''Olympia'' (1998) *''RSO egistered Sex Offender' (2008) *''Harmony and Me'' (2009) *''

Slacker 2011 ''Slacker'' is a 1990 American independent comedy-drama film written, produced, and directed by Richard Linklater, who also appears in the film. ''Slacker'' was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize - Dramatic at the Sundance Film Festival in 1991. ...

'' (2011) (segment) *'' Somebody Up There Likes Me'' (2012) *''

'' (2015) *''

'' (2017) *''Frances Ferguson'' (2020)

References

External links

*
LA Times Review for "Somebody Up There Likes Me"

Austin Chronicle Review for "Somebody Up There Likes Me"

Austin Chronicle Review for "7 Chinese Brothers"

Hollywood Reporter Review for "7 Chinese Brothers"

The AFI Interview: Bob Byington

Bedford + Bowery Review for "Infinity Baby"

Now Streaming in Austin: "Frances Ferguson"

SXSW Review for "Frances Ferguson"

Filmmaker Magazine for "Somebody Up There Likes Me"

AFS Presents: 7 CHINESE BROTHERS Q&A with Bob Byington and Jason Schwartzman
{{DEFAULTSORT:Byington, Bob American film directors Living people 1971 births