Williams, Tod Harrison (Tod Harrison)

PERSONAL:

Male.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Alden, MI; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

CAREER:

Writer and director. Has appeared as an actor in the films The Door in the Floor, 2004, and The Big Bend.

WRITINGS:

BOOKS

Knifeboy (novel), Simon & Schuster Paperbacks (New York, NY), 2007.

SCREENPLAYS

(And director) The Big Bend, 2003.

(And director) Trainwreck: My Life as an Idiot (based on the memoir of the same title by Jeff Nichols), This Is That Productions, 2007.

SIDELIGHTS:

Tod Harrison Williams has acted in several films, including in The Door in the Floor in 2004, playing the role of Thomas Cole. He also acted in The Big Bend as John ‘Snowy’ Snow in 2003. For the film The Big Bend, Williams also served as writer and director.

In 2007 Williams wrote and directed the screenplay Trainwreck: My Life as an Idiot. The screenplay of a messed-up life is based on a memoir written by the comic Jeff Nichols. Starring Sean William Scott in the lead role, the character lives in New York and craves attention. He is also dyslexic, has a mild form of Tourette's syndrome, and is an alcoholic. He realizes that his life is full of problems and flashes back to uncover the root of these problems: mostly involving his mother. Through his girlfriend, Lynn, he learns some basics about life and normalcy, such as not to soil the bed sheets, even though she is far from ideal as a role model or safe girlfriend. Ken Eisner, reviewing the movie in the Daily Variety, commented that the movie is "startlingly funny." Eisner pointed out that "Tod Harrison Williams' most brilliant touch is to have Jeff join an endless round of AA-type groups—some completely unrelated to his issues—the better to explain his problems at annoyingly hilarious length."

Williams published his first novel, Knifeboy, in 2007. Jay has just graduated from high school and spends the summer before starting university by selling Bladeworks knives. His unsupportive girlfriend doubts Jay is capable in selling knives because he lacks charm. To prove her wrong, he takes his job seriously, aspiring to be the best knife seller in the company. Eventually he becomes the top seller in his region and earns the respect of the company, who invite him to speak at their regional meeting to motivate other knife sellers.

Booklist contributor Joanne Wilkinson remarked that the author's sense of humor spans from being "gross" to "grossly funny." Wilkinson conceded, however, that Williams gets "props for his original and flamboyant portrait of the obscure world of knife-selling." A contributor to Publishers Weekly noted that the novel is "somewhat enriched by its exploration of knife selling." The same contributor concluded that "the story moves briskly, though not much happens below the surface." A critic writing in Kirkus Reviews observed that "this mildly comic novel seems to have been written almost solely with an eye to film adaptation, probably an Adam Sandler vehicle."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, September 1, 2007, Joanne Wilkinson, review of Knifeboy, p. 54.

Daily Variety, July 3, 2007, Ken Eisner, review of Trainwreck: My Life as an Idiot, p. 2.

Kirkus Reviews, August 15, 2007, review of Knifeboy. Publishers Weekly, July 23, 2007, review of Knifeboy, p. 44.

Variety, June 25, 2007, Ken Eisner, review of Trainwreck, p. 48.

ONLINE

Internet Movie Database,http://www.imdb.com/ (July 3, 2008), author profile.

Tod Harrison Williams Home Page,http://www.todharrisonwilliams.com (July 3, 2008), author biography.