Kenneth Lonergan

Early life and education

Lonergan was born in The Bronx, New York City to a psychiatrist mother and physician father. His mother is Jewish, and his father was of Irish descent. Lonergan began writing in high school at the Walden School, a now defunct, highly progressive private school in Manhattan with a strong drama program.

His first play, The Rennings Children, was chosen for the Stephen Sondheim-founded Young Playwrights, Inc. Young Playwright's Festival in 1982 while he was still an undergraduate. Lonergan matriculated to Wesleyan University, where he trained as a playwright and director. He graduated from the NYU Playwriting Program. He is an alumnus of HB Studio in New York City. Lonergan is a founding member of Naked Angels. After graduating from NYU, Lonergan worked as a speechwriter for the Environmental Protection Agency. He also wrote industrial shows (long-play commercials) for clients such as Weight Watchers.

Career

1982–1999: Early theatre work

Lonergan's first theatrical success came with the play This Is Our Youth (1996) which opened off-Broadway Intar Theatre by The New Group. The play revolved around three young adults navigating friendship, identity, and disillusionment in 1980s New York City. The cast included Mark Ruffalo, Josh Hamilton, and Missy Yager and was directed by Mark Brokaw. Greg Evans of Variety wrote, "What we have is two hours of conversation among the three characters, and as finely written as the dialogue is" adding, "Lonergan’s ear is unfailing".

It was followed by what is considered Lonergan's breakthrough play, The Waverly Gallery (2000), based on his grandmother's Greenwich Village gallery. The play revolves around a family reacting to an elderly woman in early stages of dementia. The original cast included Eileen Heckart, Josh Hamilton, Maureen Anderman, and Mark Blum. It opened Off-Broadway at the Promenade Theater in March 2000 directed by Scott Ellis. Charles Isherwood of Variety declared, "Anyone who has lived through this sad process with a relative will be awed by the verisimilitude of both Heckart's acting and Lonergan's writing." For his work he was named as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Lonergan's film career began with his screenplay for the crime comedy Analyze This (1999) starring Robert De Niro and Billy Crystal as a gangster and his therapist, respectively. Lonergan directed his own screenplay for You Can Count on Me (2000) which was executive produced by Martin Scorsese. The film starred Laura Linney and Mark Ruffalo, and film earned Lonergan a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. He was subsequently offered a job writing the live-action comedy The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle (2000).

2002–2016: Work as a film director

In 2001 he wrote the play Lobby Hero which premiered off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons starring Glenn Fitzgerald, Heather Burns, and Tate Donovan. The following year Lonergan contributed to the screenplay for Martin Scorsese's historical epic Gangs of New York (2002) for which he earned his second nomination for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. In 2005, filming took place for his second film as writer/director, Margaret, starring Anna Paquin, Matt Damon, Matthew Broderick, and J. Smith-Cameron. The film spent over five years in post-production, with Lonergan, the producers and various editors unable to agree on its final cut, resulting in multiple legal disputes. It was finally released in 2011. His play The Starry Messenger premiered Off-Broadway in 2009 and starred his wife J. Smith-Cameron, Matthew Broderick, and Kieran Culkin.

In August 2014, This Is Our Youth was revived on Broadway starring Michael Cera, Kieran Culkin, and Tavi Gevinson at the Cort Theatre. The play would be the first of Lonergan's work to make it to Broadway. He received a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play. Alexis Soloski of The Guardian wrote, "Though still hewing to drama school rules – small cast, single set, neat inciting incident – it has a mature, post-grad voice, sensitive and humane and jammed full of totally splendid crackerjack-with-a-toy-surprise dialogue".

Lonergan wrote and directed the drama film Manchester by the Sea (2016) starring Casey Affleck, Lucas Hedges, and Michelle Williams, which was released to critical acclaim. He also had a small part in the film, as a pedestrian. David Fear of Rolling Stone said the film proves that Lonergan is "practically peerless in portraying loss as a living, breathing thing without resorting to the vocabulary of griefporn." He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director and received the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for the film. He also won the BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay for Manchester by the Sea at the 70th British Academy Film Awards. That same year he wrote the play Hold On to Me Darling (2016) which starred Timothy Olyphant as a country music star and ran at the Atlantic Theatre Company's Linda Gross Theatre.

2017–present

Lonergan adapted the E.M. Forster novel Howards End into a 2017 miniseries of the same name for BBC/Starz starring Hayley Atwell and Matthew Macfadyen. When addressing the challenges of adapting the novel to screen he told The Times of London, “You don’t want to be apologizing for a book that was written in 1910, nor do you want to be writing material whose main purpose is to tell the audience that you don’t agree with these views". In March 2018, a second play of his, Lobby Hero was revived on Broadway, this time starring Chris Evans, Michael Cera, Brian Tyree Henry, and Bel Powley at the Helen Hayes Theatre. Leah Greenblatt of Entertainment Weekly wrote, "Lobby is still a smart, thoughtful piece of work, fairy-dusted by the starry presence of its celebrated cast". The play received a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play. Cera and Tyree Henry were also nominated for their performances.

Later that year, In September 2018 a third show of his, The Waverly Gallery, was revived on Broadway starring Elaine May, Lucas Hedges, Joan Allen, David Cromer, and Michael Cera at the John Golden Theatre. Greg Evans of Deadline Hollywood praised the production but highlighted May writing, "this production will be remembered for the stunning Elaine May. She’s so good here that there are moments you’ll swear she isn’t acting. Did she really forget that line? It feels a privilege to watch this legend transform Lonergan’s meditation on dignity, regret and ungraspable memory into something indelible and lasting." The production received a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play. Elaine May won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play.

During this time Lonergan took small supporting roles in projects such as Noah Baumbach's absurdist comedy-drama White Noise (2022) and the Netflix thriller miniseries Ripley (2024). In 2024, Lonergan's play Hold On to Me Darling was revived off-Broadway starring Adam Driver at the Lucille Lortel Theatre.

Reception

Justin Chang of Variety noted that Lonergan is "always a superb director of actresses," particularly in Manchester by the Sea where the director "gives the women in his ensemble their due."

Personal life

Lonergan is married to actress J. Smith-Cameron. They have one daughter, Nellie.

In January 2020, Lonergan was appointed Visiting Fellow and Artist in Residence at Kellogg College of the University of Oxford.

Lonergan's stepfather was Freudian psychoanalyst Michael S. Porder.

Credits

Film

Television

Theater

Awards and nominations

Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Kenneth Lonergan

References

References

1. Brody, Richard. (March 15, 2012). "Kenneth Lonergan".
2. Mead, Rebecca. (November 7, 2016). "The Cinematic Traumas of Kenneth Lonergan".
3. Kra-Oz, Tal. (December 3, 2014). "'This Is Our Youth' Portrays the 'Pathetic Remnants of Upper West Side Jewish Liberalism'".
4. (November 30, 2016). "'Manchester By The Sea' Director Probes The Drama And Humor Of Grief".
5. [https://www.nytimes.com/1987/06/23/nyregion/walden-school-at-73-files-for-bankruptcy.html "Walden School at 73 Files for Bankruptcy"] ''The New York Times'', June 23, 1987
6. James Fisher. (June 1, 2011). "Historical Dictionary of Contemporary American Theater, 1930–2010". Scarecrow Press.
7. [https://hbstudio.org/about-hb-studio/alumni/ HB Studio Alumni]
8. "Founding Members | naked angels".
9. [https://web.archive.org/web/20150926004525/http://articles.latimes.com/2000/jul/02/entertainment/ca-47199/2 Stephen Farber, "A Playwright in Pottsylvania,"] ''[[The Los Angeles Times]]'', July 2, 2000.
10. "This is Our Youth Off-Broadway Original Cast".
11. (November 5, 1996). "This is Our Youth".
12. (March 23, 2000). "The Waverly Gallery".
13. "The Waverly Gallery".
14. [https://web.archive.org/web/20091204210702/http://movies.nytimes.com/person/267377/Kenneth-Lonergan/awards "Kenneth Lonergan Awards"] ''The New York Times''
15. (August 23, 2016). "The 21st Century's 100 greatest films". BBC.
16. Hernandez, Ernio. [http://www.playbill.com/news/article/133024-Cameron-Culkin-Hadary-and-More-Will-Join-Cast-of-Starry-Messenger%2BLonergan Cameron, Culkin, Hadary and More Will Join Cast of Starry Messenger' "]{{dead link. (May 2017)
17. (September 12, 2014). "This is Our Youth review".
18. (November 24, 2016). "How Matt Damon's Almost-Directorial Debut 'Manchester by the Sea' Became Another Helmer's Comeback". The Hollywood Reporter.
19. Fear, David. (February 1, 2016). "How 'Manchester by the Sea' Became a Sundance 2016 Hit". Rolling Stone.
20. "Oscar Nominations 2017: View the Complete List of Nominees".
21. (February 15, 2017). "Starz Boards 'Howards End' BBC Limited Series; Hayley Atwell, Matthew Macfadyen & Tracey Ullman To Star".
22. (April 3, 2018). "'Howards End': TV Review".
23. "Chris Evans and Michael Cera take the lead in Broadway's Lobby Hero: EW review".
24. (March 14, 2016). "'Hold On to Me Darling': Theater Review".
25. (October 26, 2018). "'The Waverly Gallery': Kenneth Lonergan, Lucas Hedges, Michael Cera & Elaine May Paint A Tour De Force – Broadway Review".
26. (August 2024). "Adam Driver To Star In Kenneth Lonergan Play 'Hold On To Me Darling' Off Broadway This Fall".
27. Chang, Justin. (January 24, 2016). "Sundance Film Review: 'Manchester by the Sea'".
28. Vellela, Tony. (October 5, 2001). "J. Smith-Cameron's role-changing, name-changing career". Christian Science Monitor.
29. "What's Up, J. Smith-Cameron? The Starry Star on Life, Art and Why She Loves Ben Brantley". Broadway.com.
30. (January 23, 2020). "Award winning writer and director becomes Kellogg's Artist in Residence".