Producer, The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Nominated for: Best First Feature
After a host of critically acclaimed independent films, Oscar®-nominated producer Lianne Halfon has made her mark in Los Angeles and the larger film community, developing and producing consistently smart, original entertainment with her Mr. Mudd producing partners, Russ Smith and John Malkovich. Known for their unerring eye for new talent and uncommon instincts when shaping material with screenwriters, Mr. Mudd has built strong relationships with directors, actors and writers – while maintaining a hands-on approach to producing.
Halfon is currently producing Labor Day, directed by Jason Reitman, and starring Kate Winslet and Josh Brolin. The film is based on the best-selling novel written by Joyce Maynard and is set to be released in 2013. Halfon is also currently producing Chavez, a biography of the civil-rights activist and labor organizer Cesar Chavez, starring Michael Peña, Rosario Dawson and America Ferrera, and directed by Diego Luna.
In March of 2011, Halfon produced Jeff, Who Lives At Home, written and directed by the Duplass Brothers, starring Ed Helms, Jason Segal, and Susan Sarandon. Later that year, Halfon also produced the acclaimed and very acerbic Young Adult, starring Charlize Theron. For Theron’s portrayal of the character “Mavis Gary,” the film garnered a Golden Globe® nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical. This was the producers’ second collaboration with director Jason Reitman and screenwriter Diablo Cody.
Prior to this, Halfon served as the executive producer of the Academy Award®-nominated and Emmy winning documentary Which Way Home, from Sundance Award winner Rebecca Cammisa. The film, developed with HBO and financed independently, tells the story of children crossing the border from Mexico into the United States. The film was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Documentary and has involved Mr. Mudd in ongoing outreach in Mexico through a Ford Foundation grant.
In 2008, Fox Searchlight released the Mr. Mudd-produced picture Juno. Starring Ellen Page, Juno became the third biggest indie release of all-time. It received Oscar® nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, and won the Academy Award® for Best Screenplay.
Prior to forming Mr. Mudd with her partners, Halfon executive produced Terry Zwigoff’s film Crumb, which won the Grand Jury Award at Sundance and was released theatrically by Sony Classics, landing on more “10 Best” lists than any other film in 1994. This was followed by developing and producing the HBO films A Good Baby, directed by Katherine Dieckmann, and starring Henry Thomas and David Strathairn. Halfon’s background also extends into theatre, as she produced the play Libra, based on the novel by Don DeLillo, with Russ Smith at the Steppenwolf Theater Company in Chicago. The play was directed by John Malkovich and enjoyed a successful commercial and critical run.
The great collaboration on Libra, led Halfon, Malkovich and Smith to form the production company Mr. Mudd in 1999, Mr. Mudd’s first production was Ghost World, a live action feature based on Dan Clowes’ comic, directed by Terry Zwigoff (Crumb), starring Thora Birch and Steve Buscemi. Ghost World was released to critical acclaim and earned an Academy Award® nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. Mr. Mudd’s next effort, The Dancer Upstairs, directed by John Malkovich and starring Academy Award® nominee Javier Bardem, was released in May 2003 by Fox Searchlight.
Along with her partners, Halfon served as Executive Producer on the documentary How to Draw a Bunny; a portrait of artist Ray Johnson. How to Draw a Bunny won the Jury Prize at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival and the Prix de Public at the famed Recontre Film Festival in Paris. The film was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Documentary in 2003. Halfon’s other credits include the 17th Century drama, The Libertine starring Johnny Depp, John Malkovich and Samantha Morton and Art School Confidential, which reunited the Ghost World team of director Zwigoff and writer Clowes, starring ingénues Max Minghella and Sophia Myles, along with veteran actors John Malkovich, Angelica Huston, and Jim Broadbent. The partners also produced John Walter’s documentary Some Assembly Required about the Republican National Convention and in 2010, John Malkovich’s hugely successful theatrical production of The Good Canary, which starred Diego Luna in its Mexico City run.
Upon arriving in Los Angeles, Halfon’s first work was as a reader for Tri-Star and she quickly moved up the ranks to Sr. Vice President of Production for A&M Films. The company, a satellite of the largest independent record company, produced several critically-acclaimed films, including The Breakfast Club and A Midnight Clear.
