A bright child, John Sayles began reading novels before age 9. A Williams grad in 1972, he shunned a corporate career to work various blue-collar jobs, moving to east Boston to take a factory job. He wrote stories and submitted them to various magazines, and the Atlantic Monthly gave him the idea of publishing them in a novel--thus "Pride of the Bimbos" , whom he met during college, have lived together since the 1970s, splitting their time between a Hoboken, NJ, house and a farm in upstate New York. They have no plans to marry.
Drafted in 1968, but rejected by the United States Army because of missing vertebra.
His films are often more based on character than plot.
Was classmates at Williams College with actor David Strathairn , whom Sayles regularly casts in his films.
Did uncredited rewrites for Apollo 13 and Mimic .
While staying in Greenville, Alabama, during the Honeydripper shoot, Maggie Renzi and Sayles called in a contribution during the fund drive for the National Public Radio affiliate WUAL-FM in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
In his hometown of Schenectady, New York, there is the Sayles School of Fine Arts Black Box Theatre at the high school.
In the 2008 Empire Magazine movie poll, Sayles listed his ten favorite films as: Yojimbo , The Treasure of the Sierra Madre , Two Women , The Organizer , The Spirit of the Beehive , Seven Samurai , Sawdust and Tinsel , Raging Bull , The Wages of Fear , Port of Shadows.
Has English and Irish ancestry.
Speaks Spanish fluently.
(June 2010) In the Philippines filming Amigo.
(September 2006) In Greenville, Alabama, with partner Maggie Renzi, filming Honeydripper (starring Danny Glover)
Directed one Oscar nominated performance: Mary McDonnell in Passion Fish .
Sayles is a great admirer of Akira Kurosawa and borrowed the basic plot of "Battle beyond the Stars" from "The Seven Samurai.".
In an AFI poll, he chose Akira Kurosawas "Redbeard" as his favorite film.
I always feel that there are no final victories and no final defeats.
Being a screenwriter is a good job. I can make a good amount of money to,put back into my own films.
