Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download show

Mendes made his directorial debut in 1999 with American Beauty, a tense suburban black comedy, starring Kevin Spacey and Annette Bening. The film won the Golden Globe, the BAFTA Award and the Academy Award for Best Picture, as well as netting Mendes a number of seperate prizes for his direction. Mendes’ second film, in 2002, was Road to Perdition. Critics praised Paul Newman for his performance and the film was nominated for 6 Academy Awards, including Best Supporting Actor, and won one for Best Cinematography. In 2008, Mendes returned, following the lukewarm reception to his war film Jarhead, to the original area of his expertise – suburban strife – with an adaptation of Richard Yates’ novel Revolutionary Road, which reunited its stars Kate Winslet (Mendes’ wife) and Leonardo DiCaprio for the first time since they starred in Titanic, the highest-grossing film in history. Episode 87 sees us tackling all three films.