
Gus Van Sant
Gus Green Van Sant, Jr. (born July 24, 1952) is an American director, screenwriter, painter, photographer, musician, and author. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Achievement in Directing for his 1997 film Good Will Hunting and his 2008 film Milk, and won the Palme d'Or at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival for his film Elephant. He lives in Portland, Oregon.
His early career was devoted to directing television commercials in the Pacific Northwest. In his films, he has dealt with themes concerning homosexuality and other marginalized subcultures.
His filmography as writer and director includes an adaptation of Tom Robbins' novel Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, which features a diverse cast (Keanu Reeves, Roseanne Barr, Uma Thurman, and k.d. lang, with cameos by William S. Burroughs and Heather Graham, among others); and My Own Private Idaho, also starring Reeves as well as River Phoenix.
He wrote the screenplays for most of his early movies, and wrote one novel, Pink. A book of his photography has also been published, called 108 Portraits.
Known For | Directing |
---|---|
Most Rating | 4.885 |
Birthday | 1952-07-24 |
Place of Birth | Louisville, Kentucky, USA |
Also Known As | Gus Van Sant Jr., 구스 반 산트, 거스 밴 샌트, |

1988

Junior
0/0
In Gus Van Sant's loving portrait of his cat, a reflected light leads the subject to explore a domestic composition in a manner that can only be descr...
Watch Now
Junior

2004

The Making of Last Days
0/0
Behind-the-scenes documentary of Gus Van Sant's "Last Days."
Watch Now
The Making of Last Days

2008

Making Paranoid Park
0/0
Behind the scenes documentary of Gus Van Sant's "Paranoid Park." Felix Andrew: director, cinematographer, editor. Dane La Chiusa: titles and original...
Watch Now
Making Paranoid Park

1998

Strange Parallel
5.9/5
Strange Parallel is a documentary/short film revolving around the American singer/songwriter Elliott Smith. The film features interviews with Elliott...
Watch Now
Strange Parallel

2015

I Don't Belong Anywhere: The Cinema of Chantal Akerman
6.5/13
I Don’t Belong Anywhere - Le Cinéma de Chantal Akerman, explores some of the Belgian filmmaker’s 40 plus films. From Brussels to Tel-Aviv, from Paris...
Watch Now
I Don't Belong Anywhere: The Cinema of Chantal Akerman

2005

The Making of ‘My Own Private Idaho’
4.2/4
Making-of documentary of Gus Van Sant's 'My Own Private Idaho'.
Watch Now
The Making of ‘My Own Private Idaho’


Thank You for Supporting the Arts
0/0
Directors W. Alexander Jones and Carolann Stoney turn their cameras on Liv Osthus, one of the best-known artists working in Portland’s adult entertain...
Watch Now
Thank You for Supporting the Arts

1987

Five Ways to Kill Yourself
0/0
Gus Van Sant, dissatisfied professionally, counts five ways to end his life.
Watch Now
Five Ways to Kill Yourself

1999

The Making of Drugstore Cowboy
0/0
Portland, 1988. Filmmaker Gus Van Sant shoots Drugstore Cowboy, the project that will bring he and his collaborators a formidable burst of mainstream...
Watch Now
The Making of Drugstore Cowboy

2013

The Canyons
4.437/231
The discovery of an illicit love affair leads two young Angelenos on a violent, sexually charged tour through the dark side of human nature.
Watch Now
The Canyons

2019

At the Video Store
10/1
Equal parts personal essay, intense rumination, and playful satire, this movie laments the death of the American Video Store while it searches for the...
Watch Now
At the Video Store


Ain't It Funny
0/0
Music video for the song, "Ain't It Funny" by Danny Brown. Directed by Jonah Hill.
Watch Now
Ain't It Funny

2010

William S. Burroughs: A Man Within
6.795/22
A riveting and emotional journey into the world of writer William S. Burroughs, a man considered as cold as an iceberg on a winter night.
Watch Now
William S. Burroughs: A Man Within

2003

Saltlake Van Sant
0/0
Behind-the-scenes documentary of one morning on the set of "Gerry" directed by Gus Van Sant.
Watch Now
Saltlake Van Sant

1991

Red Hot Chili Peppers: Funky Monks
7.25/14
An intimate look at Los Angeles-based funk rock foursome Red Hot Chili Peppers' creative process as they join producer Rick Rubin at a Hollywood Hills...
Watch Now
Red Hot Chili Peppers: Funky Monks

1986

Mala Noche
6.217/99
Walt is a lonely convenience store clerk who has fallen in love with a Mexican migrant worker named Johnny. Though Walt has little in common with the...
Watch Now
Mala Noche

2007

In the Mood for Doyle
4/2
Christopher Doyle is one of the best known and most acclaimed directors of photography in world cinema. Born in Australia, he sees himself as an Asian...
Watch Now
In the Mood for Doyle

1995

Guns on the Clackamas
3/1
Nigel Nado, the notable documentary filmmaker, is trying to make a movie about some people trying to make a movie. But everything is going wrong. The...
Watch Now
Guns on the Clackamas

2007

Here’s Looking at You, Boy
5.8/4
Documentary on the history of gay and lesbian film.
Watch Now
Here’s Looking at You, Boy

2015

About Cinema
8.6/4
An abandoned tumbledown theater in the outback of Paraíba state is the initial setting of a film about cinema, which explores the testimonials of the...
Watch Now
About Cinema

2005

Last Days
5.554/336
The life and struggles of a notorious rock musician seeping into a pit of loneliness whose everyday life involves friends and family seeking financial...
Watch Now
Last Days

2019

Zeroville
5.007/76
A young actor arrives in Hollywood in 1969 during a transitional time in the Industry.
Watch Now
Zeroville

2000

Psycho Path
7/2
Documentary on the making of Gus Van Sant's "Psycho."
Watch Now
Psycho Path

2006

Fabulous! The Story of Queer Cinema
5.65/20
A chronological look at films by, for, or about gays and lesbians in the United States, from 1947 to 2005, Kenneth Anger's "Fireworks" to "Brokeback M...
Watch Now
Fabulous! The Story of Queer Cinema

1998

Psycho
5.114/902
A young female embezzler arrives at the Bates Motel, which has terrible secrets of its own. Although this version is in color, features a different c...
Watch Now
Psycho

2023

The Trainer
0/0
It unfolds over eight days of sleep-deprived chaos and follows Jack, a down-on-his-luck fitness expert living with his mother in Los Angeles, who take...
Watch Now
The Trainer

2018

Illegal Civilization 3
8/1
Features Kevin White, Aramis Hudson, Zach Saraceno, Nico Hiraga, and Olan Prenatt skating, having fun, and getting into all of the hijinks that we’ve...
Watch Now
Illegal Civilization 3

2016

Xavier Dolan: Bound to Impossible
0/0
Actors Anne Dorval, Suzanne Clément, Monia Chokri, Gaspard Ulliel, Vincent Cassel, Niels Schneider and Melvil Poupaud discuss working with the young C...
Watch Now
Xavier Dolan: Bound to Impossible

2012

A Special Day
6/2
At the 60th anniversary of Cannes Film Festival, 34 famous directors are followed by camera.
Watch Now
A Special Day

2011

The Advocate for Fagdom
5.3/3
The Advocate for Fagdom unites the puzzle pieces one by one. Testimonies are combined with rare archive images. Art galeries present movie extracts th...
Watch Now
The Advocate for Fagdom

1993

Made in the USA
0/0
A Paul Joyce documentary on the American independent film scene.
Watch Now
Made in the USA

2001

Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
6.423/1405
When Jay and Silent Bob learn that their comic-book alter egos, Bluntman and Chronic, have been sold to Hollywood as part of a big-screen movie that l...
Watch Now
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back

1989

Drugstore Cowboy
7.102/469
Portland, Oregon, 1971. Bob Hughes is the charismatic leader of a peculiar quartet, formed by his wife, Dianne, and another couple, Rick and Nadine, w...
Watch Now
Drugstore Cowboy

2008

Crítico
7.9/17
Seventy critics and filmmakers discuss cinema around the conflict between the artist and the observer, the creator and the critic. Between 1998 and 20...
Watch Now
Crítico

2001

Rescued from the Closet
0/0
A collection of interviews recorded for the making of the 1995 documentary "The Celluloid Closet," on the subject of LGBT representation in film histo...
Watch Now
Rescued from the Closet

2000

Finding Forrester
7.084/979
Gus Van Sant tells the story of a young African American man named Jamal who confronts his talents while living on the streets of the Bronx. He accide...
Watch Now
Finding Forrester

1991

My Own Private Idaho
7.047/1018
In this loose adaptation of Shakespeare's "Henry IV," Mike Waters is a hustler afflicted with narcolepsy. Scott Favor is the rebellious son of a mayor...
Watch Now
My Own Private Idaho

2007

Paranoid Park
6.511/486
A teenage skateboarder becomes suspected of being connected with a security guard who suffered a brutal death in a skate park called "Paranoid Park".
Watch Now
Paranoid Park

2018

Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot
6.732/607
On the rocky path to sobriety after a life-changing accident, John Callahan discovers the healing power of art, willing his injured hands into drawing...
Watch Now