Todd Haynes is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. His films span four decades with themes examining the personalities of well-known musicians, dysfunctional and dystopian societies, and blurred gender roles.
Haynes in 2023
Haynes directed his first short on based on Karen Carpenter called Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story (1987)
Haynes and Julianne Moore first collaborated together with Safe. She would go on to act in his films Far from Heaven (2002) and May December (2023)
Haynes at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2009
Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story
Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story is a 1987 American experimental biographical film that portrays the last 17 years of singer Karen Carpenter's life, as she struggled with anorexia. Directed by Todd Haynes, the film uses Barbie dolls as actors, as well as documentaries and artistic footage. Superstar was co-written and co-produced by Haynes and Cynthia Schneider, with an unauthorized soundtrack consisting mostly of the hit songs of The Carpenters. It was filmed over a ten-day period at Bard College in the summer of 1985. Barry Ellsworth collaborated on the film and was the cinematographer for the Barbie themed interior segments of the film.
Cover of a black-market video release of the film