Peter Sollett

{{Short description|American film director and screenwriter (born 1976)}}

{{Infobox writer

| image = Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist.jpg

| imagesize = 150px

| caption = Sollett at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival

| name = Peter Sollett

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1976|02|09}}

| birth_place = New York City, U.S.

| alma_mater = New York University

| spouse = Eva Vives

| children = 1

| occupation = Filmmaker

| years_active = 2000–present

}}

Peter Sollett (born January 1, 1976) is an American film director and screenwriter known for his feature films Raising Victor Vargas (2002) and Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist (2008).

Early life and education

Sollett was born on January 1, 1976{{cite web|url=http://www.allocine.fr/personne/fichepersonne_gen_cpersonne=42252.html|title=Peter Sollett|website=AlloCiné|access-date=2016-10-30}} in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, New York. He is Jewish. His father is a newspaper photographer, which he says inspired him to pick up a camera.

Career

Sollett's first film was Five Feet High and Rising, a 26-minute short film about the growth and coming-of-age of teenager Victor Vargas.{{cite web| url = http://www.filmfestivals.com/cgi-bin/fest_content/festivals.pl?debug=&channelbar=&fest=sundance2003&year=2003&lang=en&page=read&partner=&text_id=23540| title = Peter Sollett's Raising Victor Vargas| access-date = 2008-04-05| author1 = Shyman, Carol| author2 = Gatto, Robin| name-list-style = amp| date = January 16, 2003| publisher = FilmFestivals.com| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070831101633/http://www.filmfestivals.com/cgi-bin/fest_content/festivals.pl?debug=&channelbar=&fest=sundance2003&page=read&partner=&year=2003&lang=en&text_id=23540| archive-date = August 31, 2007| url-status = dead}} He and Eva Vives wrote Five Feet High and Rising as their thesis film in 1998 at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and he served as the film's director, cinematographer and editor.{{cite news| url = https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/film-and-tv/features/peter-sollett-and-victor-rasuk-mad-about-the-boy-579610.html| title = Peter Sollett and Victor Rasuk: Mad about the boy| access-date = 2008-04-05| author = Gilbey, Ryan| date = September 12, 2003| newspaper = The Independent}}{{dead link|date=August 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} After he had the opportunity to work with professionals in the film industry at the Cannes Residence Programme,{{cite web| url = http://www.filmfestivals.com/cgi-bin/fest_content/festivals.pl?debug=&channelbar=&fest=cannes&page=read&partner=&year=2002&lang=en&text_id=22575| title = Cannes Residence Program| access-date = 2008-04-05| date = May 15, 2002| publisher = FilmFestivals.com| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20051229231938/http://www.filmfestivals.com/cgi-bin/fest_content/festivals.pl?debug=&channelbar=&fest=cannes&page=read&partner=&year=2002&lang=en&text_id=22575| archive-date = December 29, 2005| url-status = dead}} the short film went on to screen on the festival circuit and won a number of awards at the Sundance Film Festival, Cannes Film Festival, Aspen Shortsfest, Valencia International Film Festival, South by Southwest Film Festival and Cinema Jove International Film Festival. Two years after the release of Five Feet High and Rising, Sollett and Vives reunited to collaborate on a follow-up project that became Raising Victor Vargas, originally named Long Way Home.{{cite web| url = http://www.filmfreakcentral.net/tiff/petersollettinterview.htm| title = CIRCUS VARGAS: Film Freak Central Interviews Writer-Director Peter Sollett| author = Chambers, Bill| date = September 10, 2002| publisher = Film Freak Central| access-date = April 5, 2008| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080515200038/http://www.filmfreakcentral.net/tiff/petersollettinterview.htm| archive-date = May 15, 2008| url-status = dead}} While Sollett says that Five Feet High and Rising was purely autobiographical and based on the Italian, Jewish neighborhood he grew up in Brooklyn,{{cite web| url = http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2003/09/03/peter_sollett_raising_victor_vargas_interview.shtml| title = Peter Sollett| access-date = 2008-04-05| author = Dawson, Tom| date = September 15, 2003| publisher = BBC}} he and Vives decided to create another film directly about the experiences of the main characters Victor and Judy, continuing on two years after the film left off. Using the same cast as the original short film, he wrote an action-and-dialogue screenplay which he did not give to any of the actors to encourage them to improvise and create a feeling of spontaneity and authenticity. Raising Victor Vargas earned Sollett three Independent Spirit Award nominations in the categories of Best Film, Best Director and Best First Screenplay,{{cite magazine| url = http://www.ew.com/article/2003/12/03/here-are-independent-spirit-award-nominees| title = 'American' Beauties| access-date = 2008-04-05| author = Susman, Gary| date = December 3, 2003| magazine = Entertainment Weekly}} as well as other awards and nominations at the Viennale, San Sebastián International Film Festival, Online Film Critics Society Awards, Deauville Film Festival, Gotham Awards and the Humanitas Prize.

Sollett directed the 2008 film Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist, starring Michael Cera and Kat Dennings, also set in New York City.{{cite magazine| url = https://www.variety.com/article/VR1117973675.html?categoryid=13&cs=1| title = Cera and Dennings to star in 'Playlist'| access-date = 2008-08-17|author1=McNary, Dave |author2=Siegel, Tatiana | date = October 8, 2007| magazine = Variety}} Though he did not write the film, only directed Lorene Scafaria's script, based on a novel of the same name by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan, he drew from his own experiences when making the film. The film takes place over one night in Manhattan, where a number of New Jersey teenagers have commuted in for the night—something Sollett was familiar with and often did himself, having lived in Brooklyn as a child and Staten Island as an adult.{{cite news| url = http://www.salon.com/ent/movies/feature/2008/09/30/conversations_sollett/| title = Isn't it romantic?| access-date = 2008-10-04| author = Zacharek, Stephanie| date = September 30, 2008| work = Salon.com}} Many of his personal favorite Manhattan locations also featured in the film, including Katz's Deli and the Lower East Side's Mercury Lounge.

Sollett was a member of faculty at Columbia University School of the Arts.{{cite web| url = http://wwwapp.cc.columbia.edu/art/app/arts/film/faculty-bio.jsp?faculty=163| title = Faculty Biography: Peter Sollett| publisher = Columbia University School of the Arts}}{{Dead link|date=May 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} He now teaches at USC School Of Cinematic Arts.

In January 2019, it was reported that Sollett would be directing the film adaptation of Minecraft.{{Cite web |last=Kroll |first=Justin |date=2019-01-11 |title=Peter Sollett to Direct Warner Bros.' 'Minecraft' Movie (EXCLUSIVE) |url=https://variety.com/2019/film/news/peter-sollett-warner-bros-minecraft-1203105640/ |access-date=2022-04-19 |website=Variety |language=en-US}} However, as of April 2022, he was replaced by Jared Hess.{{Cite web |last=Couch |first=Aaron |date=2022-04-18 |title=Jason Momoa to Star in 'Minecraft' Movie for Warner Bros. |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/minecraft-movie-jason-momoa-1235131605/ |access-date=2022-04-19 |website=The Hollywood Reporter |language=en-US}}

Personal life

Sollett says that the character of Victor Vargas is his fantasy of his teenage self and that Victor is the boy he would like to have been, much more confident than his actual self, describing himself as "the kid in [his] neighbourhood who watched all that stuff going on between boys and girls but could never access whatever juice those guys had to do it." In contrast, he felt that Nick O'Leary of Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist is "not dissimilar" to his teenage self.{{cite web| url = http://blog.spout.com/2008/09/18/peter-sollett-interview-nick-norahs-infinite-playlist-toronto-2008/| title = Peter Sollett Interview, Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist, Toronto 2008| access-date = 2008-10-04| author = Kelly, Kevin| date = September 2008| publisher = Spout.com| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20091128181904/http://blog.spout.com/2008/09/18/peter-sollett-interview-nick-norahs-infinite-playlist-toronto-2008/| archive-date = 2009-11-28}}

=Influences=

Sollett was influenced by François Truffaut, John Cassavetes, Federico Fellini, Martin Scorsese and Ingmar Bergman.

Filmography

Film

Raising Victor Vargas (2002) (Also writer and producer)
Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist (2008)
Freeheld (2015)
Metal Lords (2022)

Short film

Cinema 16: American Short Films (2006)

TV series

class="wikitable"
Year ! Title ! Episode(s)
2012 \| Ben and Kate \| "Emergency Kit"
2016 \| Vinyl \| "He in Racist Fire"
rowspan=3\|2018 \|rowspan=2\|The Path \| "The Gardens at Giverny"
"The Door"
Rise \| "This Will God Willing Get Better"
rowspan=3\|2019 \|rowspan=2\|The Village \| "Good Thing"
"In Your Bones"
Almost Family \| "Fertile AF"
rowspan=2\|2019–2020 \|rowspan=2\|Evil \| "Rose390"
"Room390"
2021 \| Ordinary Joe \| "Happy Birthday Jenny"
rowspan=2\|2025 \| Peacemaker \|(season 2) episode 4
Elsbeth \| "Tearjerker"

class="wikitable"

Year

! Title

! Episode(s)

2012

| Ben and Kate

| "Emergency Kit"

2016

| Vinyl

| "He in Racist Fire"

rowspan=3|2018

|rowspan=2|The Path