- Tom DiCillo is an American director, cinematographer, writer and (sometimes) actor born in Camp Le Jeune, North Carolina, and who studied film at New York University. During his early career he began working with director Jim Jarmusch as a cinematographer on films that include Stranger Than Paradise (1984) and Coffee and Cigarettes (1986). He also worked with Howard Brookner on the documentary Burroughs (1983), which featured the William S. Burroughs. His experience as cinematographer proved invaluable and he was soon writing and directing his own films.
Notable directorial projects from Tom include Johnny Suede (1991), Living in Oblivion (1995), The Real Blonde (1997), and When You're Strange (2009).
He is a good friend of Steve Buscemi and is thanked in Trees Lounge (1996), Steve's directorial debut.
- IMDb mini biography by: Matt Lee-Williams
- SpouseJane Gill(? - present)
- Films often contain a dream sequence central to the plot
- Films that often feature a lead character struggling with a career crisis, often with surreal & humorous circumstances
- Published books of both his screenplays, Box of Moonlight and Living in Oblivion. Both books detail personal thoughts, frustrations and reflection on both the writing and filming process of both screenplays.
- After filming Johnny Suede, he quickly got the greenlight for his follow up feature which eventually became Box of Moonlight. After years of obstacles and other issues pre-production wise, he wrote a short story from his frustration which eventually turned into his second film, Living in Oblivion.
- As of August 2007, he has directed 6 feature films, all of which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival.
- Wife is a landscape gardener.
- Earned a masters in filmmaking at New York University, 1976.
- Have you ever noticed that the entertainment business is the only one where there has never been somebody picking up a machine gun and going berserk? A guy in a post office in Cincinnati will bring an AK-47 into his place of business because somebody used his coffee cup. Nothing like that has ever happened in the film business and never will. Never will. You know why? The stakes are too high. It's life and death. No one is ever going to jeopardize their place in the food chain. I'm not suggesting they do, but it's a brutal business.
- Look at the movies people are watching. They're about nothing. You invest nothing. People can't invest real emotion because it's too terrifying.
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