James Merendino

James Merendino is an American movie director and scriptwriter He was born in New Jersey and moved with his family to Salt Lake City Utah when he was six years old After pursuing postsecondary education in Rome and Los Angeles California studying Western philosophy and theology Merendino settled in Hollywood California when he was 19 years old and began a tenure with Hollywood mogul Dan Melnick In 1991 Merendino was hired for his first motion picture Witchcraft IV His second film A River Made to Drown In 1997 is a movie that was pivotal to the gay community in the United States with Richard Chamberlain coming out publicly after the films release Merendinos most successful film SLC Punk was released in 1998 The film is centered on two punk rockers living in Salt Lake City and follows their daily nihilistic lives SLC Punk is semiautobiographical The 2000 film Magicians was a European coproduction with Alan Arkin and Claire Forlani Amerikana was produced as part of the Dogma 95 by Lars Von Trier In 2016 the sequel long awaited sequel to SLC Punk Punks Dead was released James Merendino has directed 18 movies also served as the writer on the majority of them He was nominated for best original screenplay at the Independent Spirit Awards