Alexander Payne Quiz Questions and Answers
1. What is Alexander Payne’s full name?
A) Alexander Constantine Payne
B) Constantine Alexander Payne
C) Alexander George Payne
D) Constantine George Payne
Answer: B) Constantine Alexander Payne
2. In which city was Alexander Payne born?
A) Los Angeles, California
B) Omaha, Nebraska
C) New York, New York
D) Chicago, Illinois
Answer: B) Omaha, Nebraska
3. What is the ancestral origin of Alexander Payne’s family?
A) Italian
B) Greek
C) Irish
D) French
Answer: B) Greek
4. What was the original family surname before it was changed to Payne?
A) Papadopoulos
B) Constantinou
C) Georgiou
D) Nikolaidis
Answer: A) Papadopoulos
5. Which university did Alexander Payne attend for his undergraduate degree?
A) Harvard University
B) Stanford University
C) Yale University
D) University of Nebraska
Answer: B) Stanford University
6. What were Alexander Payne’s majors at Stanford University?
A) Film and Theater
B) English and Philosophy
C) Spanish and History
D) Political Science and Economics
Answer: C) Spanish and History
7. Where did Alexander Payne earn his Master of Fine Arts (MFA)?
A) NYU Tisch School of the Arts
B) UCLA Film School
C) USC School of Cinematic Arts
D) Columbia University
Answer: B) UCLA Film School
8. What was the title of Alexander Payne’s thesis film at UCLA?
A) The Passion of Martin
B) Citizen Ruth
C) About Schmidt
D) Election
Answer: A) The Passion of Martin
9. Which film festival screened Payne’s thesis film, The Passion of Martin?
A) Cannes Film Festival
B) Sundance Film Festival
C) Toronto International Film Festival
D) Berlin International Film Festival
Answer: B) Sundance Film Festival
10. What was Alexander Payne’s feature film directorial debut?
A) Election
B) Citizen Ruth
C) Sideways
D) About Schmidt
Answer: B) Citizen Ruth
11. In which year was Citizen Ruth released?
A) 1996
B) 1999
C) 2002
D) 2004
Answer: A) 1996
12. Which actor starred as the lead in Citizen Ruth?
A) Reese Witherspoon
B) Laura Dern
C) Jack Nicholson
D) George Clooney
Answer: B) Laura Dern
13. What is a key theme in Citizen Ruth?
A) Political satire
B) High school elections
C) Abortion debate
D) Retirement struggles
Answer: C) Abortion debate
14. Which film earned Alexander Payne his first Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay?
A) Citizen Ruth
B) Election
C) Sideways
D) The Descendants
Answer: B) Election
15. Who co-starred with Matthew Broderick in Election (1999)?
A) Sandra Oh
B) Kathy Bates
C) Reese Witherspoon
D) Virginia Madsen
Answer: C) Reese Witherspoon
16. Which Alexander Payne film features Jack Nicholson as a retired widower?
A) The Descendants
B) About Schmidt
C) Nebraska
D) Sideways
Answer: B) About Schmidt
17. For which film did Alexander Payne win his first Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay?
A) Election
B) The Descendants
C) Sideways
D) Nebraska
Answer: C) Sideways
18. In which year did Alexander Payne win his first Academy Award for Sideways?
A) 2002
B) 2005
C) 2012
D) 2014
Answer: B) 2005
19. Who co-wrote the screenplay for Sideways with Alexander Payne?
A) Nat Faxon
B) Jim Taylor
C) Jim Rash
D) Tom Perrotta
Answer: B) Jim Taylor
20. Which film features George Clooney as a lawyer in Hawaii?
A) The Descendants
B) Sideways
C) Nebraska
D) Downsizing
Answer: A) The Descendants
21. How many Academy Award nominations did The Descendants receive?
A) Three
B) Four
C) Five
D) Six
Answer: C) Five
22. Which Alexander Payne film was nominated for the Palme d’Or at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival?
A) The Descendants
B) Downsizing
C) Nebraska
D) The Holdovers
Answer: C) Nebraska
23. Which actor received an Oscar nomination for their role in Nebraska?
A) Paul Giamatti
B) Bruce Dern
C) Thomas Haden Church
D) Matthew Broderick
Answer: B) Bruce Dern
24. Which film marked Alexander Payne’s return to directing after a seven-year gap?
A) Sideways
B) Nebraska
C) The Descendants
D) Downsizing
Answer: C) The Descendants
25. What is a frequent setting for Alexander Payne’s films?
A) New York City
B) Omaha, Nebraska
C) Los Angeles, California
D) Chicago, Illinois
Answer: B) Omaha, Nebraska