Enigmatic, retiring, and openly gay, Gus Van Sant is one of the best-known independent filmmakers. An active and honored director for two decades, noted for his rapport with actors, Van Sant nevertheless remains aloof from Hollywood, preferring to live and write in Portland, OR. Extensively researched, Gus Van Sant examines his career from the inauspicious debut Mala Noche to the haunting Drugstore Cowboy; from the angst-ridden My Own Private Idaho and the mainstream black comedy To Die For to the Oscar-nominated Good Will Hunting and the high-profile Finding Forrester. Van Sant remains committed to exploring themes of the outsider and presenting an idiosyncratic vision in an unobtrusive but compelling style. Equally important, under Van Sant¹s guidance many actors (Matt Dillon, River Phoenix, Keanu Reeves, Nicole Kidman, Matt Damon, and acclaimed newcomer Robert Brown, whom Van Sant discovered) have done their best work. This is the first full-length biography of the Oscar nominated director.