One of the reasons I loved working with Tom is people feel they know who he is... I think working with an actor who the audience already has a relationship with actually helps you in a film like this.

In 2008 Mendes directed Revolutionary Road starring his then-wife Kate Winslet along with Leonardo DiCaprio and Kathy Bates. He spent his first two years overseeing the redesign of the theatre and his opening production was Stephen Sondheim's Assassins in 1992. Soon he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company where his productions many of them featuring Simon Russell Beale included Troilus and Cressida Richard III and The Tempest.

Samuel Alexander "Sam" Mendes CBE (born 1 August 1965) is an English stage and film director. In 2000 Mendes was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II for "services to drama" and in 2005 received a lifetime achievement award from the Directors Guild of Great Britain.