James Merendino
James Anthony Merendino (born January 11, 1969) is an American film director and screenwriter who is best known for directing the 1998 film SLC Punk!.
Life
Merendino was born in Long Branch, New Jersey, and moved to Salt Lake City, Utah when he was six years old. He graduated from Judge Memorial Catholic High School in 1985 and went to college in Rome and Los Angeles, California where he studied Western philosophy and theology. Merendino moved Hollywood, California when he was 19 and found work with Hollywood mogul Dan Melnick.
In 1991, Merendino was hired to direct Witchcraft IV. His fourth film, Toughguy (1995), is a psychological thriller starring Heather Graham and introducing Carrie-Anne Moss and Balthazar Getty. His next film was A River Made to Drown In (1997). Richard Chamberlain came out after the film's release. Merendino's most successful film, SLC Punk!, was released in 1998. SLC Punk! is semi-autobiographical as Merendino was an anarcho-punk with a Mohawk during his adolescence in Salt Lake City.