An American independent filmmaker, Whit Stillman established himself in the 1990s as an auteur of distinctively talky and thoughtful comedy-dramas. A child of privilege and illustrious lineage--his great-great-grandfather helped explore the Rio Grande; his financier great-grandfather helped start Citibank; his father worked in the Truman and Kennedy administrations--Stillman accepted only $2000 from his family to start out after his graduation from Harvard in 1973. Though intrigued by film and TV production, he found himself in a training program at Doubleday where he was rotated between various departments before ending up in editorial. Stillman went on to become executive editor of a daily world news summary, while writing freelance fiction and journalism. He entered the film industry in the early 1980s as a foreign sales representative for Spanish films. Stillman also often appeared in these features in small comic parts as quirky or obnoxious Americans.In 1989, Stillman made his first feature, "Metropolitan", a low-budgeted yet highly polished portrait of Manhattan's east-side debutante set. Deftly observed and gently satirical, the film was a hit on the festival circuit, earned Stillman a Best Original Screenplay Academy Award nomination, and grossed an impressive $3 million. It also attracted the attention of Hollywood in the form of Castle Rock Pictures. The top brass expressed interest in funding "Barcelona" (1994) while giving the neophyte filmmaker creative control and final cut. Castle Rock provided $4 million for "Barcelona", another droll, dialogue-driven character study. Inspired in part by Stillman's surprise over his Spanish friends' hostile reaction to "An Officer and A Gentleman" (1982), the film detailed the personal and political misadventures of a mismatched pair of American cousins in post-Franco Spain.
Profession(s):
director, screenwriter, producer, Actor, sales agent (for Spanish films), publishing assistant, book editor, journalist
Sometimes Credited As:
John Whitney Stillman
Deauville Film Festival Award "Metropolitan" 1990
Independent Spirit Award Best First Feature "Metropolitan" 1990
Locarno Film Festival Award "Metropolitan" 1990
New York Film Critics Circle Award Best New Director "Metropolitan" 1990
1998 Made third film, "The Last Days of Disco"
1998 Signed contract with Farrar, Straus & Giroux to write novel based on "The Last Days of Disco"
1994 Feature producing debut, "Barcelona"; also wrote and directed
1992 Started his own Spanish production company (date approximate)
1991 While in L.A., approached by Castle Rock president Martin Shafer and president of production Liz Glotzer; they expressed interest in funding "Barcelona" while giving Stillman complete creative control
1989 First feature film as director and writer, "Metropolitan" (made on a budget of approximately $250,000); received Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay
1983 Began appearing as "the quirky American" in Spanish films: "Sal Gorda/Fat Salt" and Fernando Colomo's "La linea del Cielo/Skyline"
1980 Returned to Spain to marry
1980 Entered film industry representing Spanish films for foreign sales
1979 Left for Spain to woo his future wife, a Barcelona native
1972 Made film acting debut as an extra in "Hammersmith is Out", a Spanish production filmed in Mexico starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton
1972 Left Harvard during his sophomore year to visit Mexican relatives; learned Spanish; published his first article, about political violence in Mexico, in THE VILLAGE VOICE (date approximate)
Grew up in Manhattan and Cornwall-on-Hudson, NY except during Democratic administrations (when he lived in Washington, DC)
After graduating from Harvard, aspired to work in TV and film production but landed in the training program at Doubleday
Worked as editor and freelance journalist in book and magazine publishing; became acting editor at Doubleday and executive editor of a daily world news summary while writing fiction and journalism for
Took over family business, an agency representing cartoonists and illustrators (including French artists Sempe and Pierre Le-Tan)