FUN FACTS

John's an identical twin. His brother was born second, and thus John is the sole inheritor of the vast wealth of the legendary Thornton family. As a result, his twin Jim was forced to make something of himself and became a famous National Magazine Award winning author.

John was a good student who majored in math at UNC, Chapel Hill and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa.

He is quite interested in the Roman Stoic philosophers, Marcus Aurelius and Epictetus. He heartily recommends the Enchiridion as a guide to life.

His last semester in college, John was forced to take a P.E. class or would not be permitted to graduate. He signed up for jogging. 34 years later he's still running, and feels this was the most important course he ever took.

John's most prized possession as a young man was his bright pink Scuba tank!

A man whom John adored as a child but grew less fond of as years went by: Charlton Heston

A Believer in Miracles

small Barack John and his very accomplished identical twin Jim grew up in a sort of John Cheever suburban wonderland. Cocktail parties, unfiltered cigarettes, steak and plenty of sour cream on their baked potatos - such are their memories of a childhood in Sewickley, PA.

Had hair once

For many years John was not bald. In fact, in his young adulthood, he also enjoyed the wearing of facial hair. In this rare archival photo from the 1970's, John (on the right) appears with his twin brother Jim and their beloved younger sister Liza.

John,Jim, and Liza

Yes those were the days. For young people like these three back in the 1970's, years could be spent in gentle idleness. Late nights consisted of lying on couches watching episodes of Hawaii 5-0 and snacking on Saltines and Coca Cola. Ahhh, Youth!

Sturm und Drang

earth John learned the painful realities of life after he started going to art school. During these years, his father arranged for him to have various summer employment at Pittsburgh area mills. Not only was he pretty incompetent at these mindless but physically demanding jobs, but he really hated them as well. He also learned how hard making money was.

The net result was a shattering fear of impoverishment that has led to a lifelong penchant towards being miserly. He often says, "It's better to HAVE money than to SPEND it!"

Thought Films

With this notion of tight-fistedness in mind, we can see why so many of John's film projects are never actually produced, but remain in the conceptual category. John refers to as his "Thought Films" or "Cinema Cognito". When the ideas remain in John's head, the production costs are conveniently avoided.

Cubist Cowboy

There are many such projects planned, perhaps the most promising is John's "Cubist Cowboy". Here is a drawing that gives a flavor to this one.

In this planned two and a half hour Cubism inspired epic, the protagonist tries in vain to escape the narrow confines of his shallow pictorial space. He and his horse ride back and forth in the angsty gestalt but can never break through the picture frame. In this way, Thornton is creating a work of art that comments simultaneously about the strangulated destiny of Western man in a post- Brokeback genre field, as well as the failures of the "Cowboy" presidency of George W. Bush and the concurrent diminishment of American prospects in the 21st century.

Is Thornton raising more questions than he answers with "Cubist Cowboy"? Certainly, but isn't this always the case with art?

A History of Breastfeeding

Breast Feeding in 17th c. Another project John has been thinking about is a nine-part 27 hour long documentary series on the History of Breastfeeding. This project is going to require quite a lot of research and as of now remains in the Cinema Cognito arena. But once he does get around to it, it should be a doozy.

Where does John get his ideas? Well in the case of this Breastfeeding project, it comes from the deep sense of inadequacy he has always felt due to the fact that he WAS NEVER BREASTFED!

Apparently, youngsters receive important nutrients from breastfeeding and John is certain that, had he received such nutrients, his film career might be a whole lot better.

But he doesn't dwell on such matters, in fact most of his personal issues are simply sublimated into his work!