Spike Jonze
| Spike Jonze | |
|---|---|
 Jonze holding a producer credit for The 1 Second Film in October 2004 |
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| Born | Adam Spiegel October 22, 1969 Rockville, Maryland, U.S. |
| Spouse | Sofia Coppola (1999-2003) (divorced) |
| Partner | Michelle Williams (2008-2009) |
Spike Jonze (born Adam Spiegel; October 22, 1969) is an American director and producer, whose work includes music videos, commercials, film and television. He is best known for his collaborations with writer Charlie Kaufman, which include the 1999 film Being John Malkovich and the 2002 film Adaptation., and for his work as director of the 2009 film Where the Wild Things Are. He was also a co-creator and executive producer of MTV's Jackass.[1] He is currently the creative director of VBS.tv.[2] He is also part owner of skateboard company Girl Skateboards with riders Rick Howard and Mike Carroll.[3]
He also co-founded Directors Label with Chris Cunningham and Michel Gondry.[4]
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Early life
Jonze was born in Rockville, Maryland, and raised in Bethesda, Maryland and in Gulph Mills, Pennsylvania. His father, Arthur Spiegel III, was a distant relation of the Spiegel catalog family and founded APM Management Consultants. His mother, Sandy Granzow, is a writer, communications consultant in developing countries, and artist.[5] His brother Sam (aka Squeak E. Clean) is a producer and DJ.[6] Jonze attended The Field School in Washington, D.C., and Walt Whitman High School.
When he was in junior high and high school, Jonze worked at Browns convenient store, where his friend Mike Henderson gave him his nickname "Spike Jonze".[7] He fronted Club Homeboy, an international BMX club, with Mark "Lew" Lewman and Andy Jenkins, both co-editors of Freestylin' Magazine in the mid- to late 1980s, where Jonze worked as a photographer.[8] The three also created the youth culture magazines Homeboy and Dirt (the latter of which was described as "Sassy Magazine for boys," being published by the same company and distributed in cellophane bags with the landmark magazine for young women).[7] Jonze was interviewed in Joe Kid on a Stingray, the 2006 documentary on the history of BMX.[9]
Career
In 2006, he was nominated by the Directors Guild of America for "Outstanding Achievement in Commercials in 2005." He was nominated for a body of work that included Hello Tomorrow for Adidas, Lamp for IKEA, and Pardon Our Dust for The Gap.[10] He was a producer and co-creator of MTV television series Jackass and Jackass: The Movie, also directing some of the segments.[1] Jonze has acted in some videos and films; his most prominent role was in Three Kings as the sweet, dimwitted, casually racist Conrad, in which he was directed by friend David O. Russell.[1]
Jonze was also a co-founder and editor of Dirt magazine along with Mark Lewman and Andy Jenkins, as well as an editor for Grand Royal Magazine and senior photographer for Transworld Skateboarding. In the past, Jonze shot street skateboarding videos, most notably Blind skateboard company's Video Days in 1991, and Lakai Footwear's Fully Flared in 2007.[1] He also co-directed the Girl Skateboards film Yeah Right! and the Chocolate Skateboards video Hot Chocolate.[1] In the closing credits montage of Yeah Right! Spike is shown doing a nollie heelflip in loafers. He is also co-owner of Girl Skateboards.[11]
Jonze has many alter egos, including Richard Koufey (alternately spelled Coufey or Couffe), the leader of the Torrance Community Dance Group, an urban troupe that performs in public spaces. The Koufey persona appeared when Jonze, in character, filmed himself dancing to Fatboy Slim's "Rockafeller Skank" as it played on a boom box in a public area.[7] Spike showed the video to Slim, who loved it.[12] Jonze then assembled a group of dancers to perform to Slim's "Praise You" outside a Westwood, California movie theater and taped the performance. The resulting clip was a huge success, and "Koufey" and his troupe were invited to New York City to perform the song for the 1999 MTV Video Music Awards. The video received awards for Best Direction, Breakthrough, and Best Choreography, which Jonze accepted, still in character. Jonze made a mockumentary about the experience called Torrance Rises.[1]
He also has a speaking part along with Dave Eggers in the Beck song "The Horrible Fanfare/Landslide/Exoskeleton" from his 2006 album, The Information. He appears in the "Exoskeleton" part.[13]
Since 2007, he has been the creative director at VBS.tv, an online television network supplied by Vice and funded by MTV.[2]
Spike Jonze was part of the Detour-Moleskine project in New York in 2007.[13] The project invites authors to compile and illustrate Moleskine notebooks with experienced knowledge, to provide an intimate insight into the artists' creative process.
Most recently, Jonze directed Where the Wild Things Are,[14] which opened in the United States on October 16, 2009. It is arguably his most anticipated film to date, the product of an almost decade long collaboration with author Maurice Sendak.[15]
In July 2009, Jonze acquired the rights to make a film adaptation of the Shane Jones novel, Light Boxes. It is expected that Jonze will act as producer on this project with Ray Tintori attached to direct.[16]
In July 2010, he directed a stop-motion trailer for an upcoming concert for the Canadian band Arcade Fire.
Personal life
On June 26, 1999, Jonze married director Sofia Coppola, whom he had known for nearly ten years.[17] On December 5, 2003, the couple filed for divorce, citing "irreconcilable differences."[18] The character of John, a career-driven photographer (Giovanni Ribisi) in Coppola's Lost In Translation (2003), was rumored to be based on Jonze, though Coppola has vehemently denied this.[19]
He was known to be dating the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' lead singer, Karen O.[20]
He dated Michelle Williams from July 2008 to September 2009. [21] In 2010, it is reported that he is dating a Japanese actress Rinko Kikuchi.
Recurring collaborators
| Being John Malkovich (1999) |
Adaptation (2002) |
Where the Wild Things Are (2009) |
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|---|---|---|---|
| Casey Storm |  |
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| Lance Acord | |
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| Carter Burwell | |
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| Chris Cooper | |
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| Charlie Kaufman | |
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| Catherine Keener | |
(cameo) |
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| Eric Zumbrunnen | |
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Filmography
Director
Feature films
| Year | Film | Budget | US Gross | Awards |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Being John Malkovich | $13 million | $22,863,596 | 3 Oscar nominations; 4 GG nominations |
| 2002 | Adaptation. | $19 million | $22,498,520 | 1 Oscar win, 3 nominations; 2 GG wins |
| 2009 | Where the Wild Things Are | $100 million | $100,086,793 | 1 GG nomination |
Short films
| Year | Film | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1997 | How They Get There | Writer, Director |
| 1998 | Amarillo by Morning | Director |
| 1999 | Torrance Rises | Director, Choreographer, Actor |
| 2009 | We Were Once a Fairytale | Director |
| 2010 | I'm Here | Writer, Director |
Music videos
| Year | Song | Artist | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | "High in High School" | Chainsaw Kittens | |
| "100%" | Sonic Youth | ||
| 1993 | "Cannonball" | The Breeders | Co-directed by Kim Gordon Produced by Steve Reiss |
| "Country at War" | X | ||
| "Daughters of the Kaos" | Luscious Jackson | ||
| "Hang On" | Teenage Fanclub | ||
| "Time for Livin'" | Beastie Boys | ||
| 1994 | "All About Eve" | Marxman | |
| "Buddy Holly" | Weezer | ||
| "Ditch Digger" | Rocket from the Crypt | ||
| "Divine Hammer" | The Breeders | ||
| "Feel the Pain" | Dinosaur Jr. | ||
| "I Can't Stop Smiling" | Velocity Girl | ||
| "If I Only Had a Brain" | MC 900 Ft. Jesus | ||
| "Old Timer" | that dog. | ||
| "Ricky's Theme" | Beastie Boys | ||
| "Sabotage" | Also writer | ||
| "Sure Shot" | |||
| "Undone - The Sweater Song" | Weezer | ||
| 1995 | "California" | Wax | |
| "Car Song" | Elastica | ||
| "Crush with Eyeliner" | R.E.M. | ||
| "Freedom of '76" | Ween | ||
| "It's Oh So Quiet" | Björk | ||
| "The Diamond Sea" | Sonic Youth | ||
| "Who Is Next?" | Wax | ||
| 1996 | "Drop" | The Pharcyde | |
| 1997 | "Da Funk" | Daft Punk | |
| "Electrolite" | R.E.M. | ||
| "Elektrobank" | The Chemical Brothers | ||
| "It's All About the Benjamins" (Rock Remix) | Puff Daddy | ||
| "Liberty Calls" | Mike Watt | ||
| "Shady Lane" | Pavement | ||
| "Sky's the Limit" | The Notorious B.I.G. | ||
| 1998 | "Home" | Sean Lennon | |
| "Praise You" | Fatboy Slim | A Torrance Public Film Production | |
| "Root Down" version 2 | Beastie Boys | ||
| 2000 | "Weapon of Choice" | Fatboy Slim | |
| "What's Up, Fatlip?" | Fatlip | ||
| "Wonderboy" | Tenacious D | As Marcus Von Bueler | |
| 2002 | "Island in the Sun" (version 2) | Weezer | |
| "Guess I'm Doing Fine" | Beck | ||
| "It's in Our Hands" | Björk | ||
| 2003 | "Big Brat" | Phantom Planet | |
| 2004 | "Get Back" | Ludacris | |
| "Y Control" | Yeah Yeah Yeahs | ||
| "Ride" | The Vines | ||
| 2005 | "Triumph of a Heart" | Björk | |
| 2008 | "Flashing Lights" | Kanye West | Co-directed with West |
| 2009 | "Heaven" | UNKLE | Co-directed with Ty Evans |
| "25" | AsDSSka | Co-directed with Crysal Moselle | |
| 2010 | "Drunk Girls" | LCD Soundsystem |
Video
- Ciao L.A. (director) (1994)
- An Intimate Look Inside the Acting Process with Ice Cube (director) (1999)
- What's Up, Fatlip? (director) (2003)
- The Work of Director Spike Jonze (director) (2003)
- The Mystery of Dalarö (director) (2004)
- Corporate Ghost (actor, director) (2004)
- Tell Me What Rockers to Swallow (cinematographer) (2004)
Skateboard videos
- "Rubbish Heap" for SMA World Industries (1989)
- "Video Days" for Blind (1991)
- Mouse (1996)
- The Chocolate Tour (1999)
- Yeah Right! (2003)
- Hot Chocolate! (2004)
- The Krooked Chronicles (2006)
- "Fully Flared" for Lakai (2007)
Other filmography
| Year | Film | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1993 | Mi Vida Loca | Actor |
| 1996 | Pig! | |
| 1997 | The Game | |
| Free Tibet | Cinematographer | |
| Three Kings | Actor | |
| 2001 | Human Nature | Producer |
| Jackass: The Movie | Producer, Featured | |
| Keep Your Eyes Open | Actor | |
| 2005 | "Blessed Evening" - Foetus | Cinematographer |
| 2006 | Jackass: Number Two | Producer, Featured |
| 2008 | Synecdoche, New York | Producer |
| Heavy Metal in Baghdad | ||
| 2009 | The 1 Second Film | Producer, Appearing |
| 2010 | Jackass 3D | Producer |
Television
| Year | Title | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Jackass | Creator, Executive Producer |
| 2004 | Sonic Youth Video Dose | Actor |
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 [1]
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Vice Music chooses the orchard"
- ↑ [2]
- ↑ "Director Label series"
- ↑ Spike Jonze Biography (1969-)
- ↑ O'Donnell, Kevin. "Hot Star Magnet: Sam Spiegel". Rolling Stone. http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/24604682/page/34. Retrieved 2009-03-12.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Smith, Ethan (1999-10-18). "Spike Jonze Unmasked". New York Magazine (New York Media). http://nymag.com/nymetro/movies/features/1267/. Retrieved 2008-08-19.
- ↑ [3]
- ↑ "Joe Kid on a Sting-ray Official Website"
- ↑ "Imdb - Spike Jonze - Awards"
- ↑ "Sneak peek: The monsters of where the wild things are"
- ↑ Landay, Vincent (Producer) Brown, Richard (Producer). (2003) (in English). The Work of Director Spike Jonze. [DVD]. New York, USA: Palm Pictures. Event occurs at Side A, Commentry Track of Praise You spoken by Normal Cook (Fatboy Slim). http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0386124/.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 "Spike Jonze-Moleskine"
- ↑ "Spike Jonze On Where The Wild Things Are", Empire Online Fovember 19, 2008
- ↑ Bringing ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ to the Screen
- ↑ Empire Onlines, Spike Jonze Picks Up Light Boxes, July 28, 2009
- ↑ "Jonze and Coppola Announce Divorce Plans"
- ↑ "Sofia Coppola, Spike Jonze to divorce"
- ↑ "Sofia's Choice ", Entertainment Weekly, October 3, 2003.
- ↑ "Yeah Yeah Yeahs", Under the Radar Mag, April 1, 2006.
- ↑ [4]
External links
- Spike Jonze at the Internet Movie Database
- Spike Jonze Producer Profile on The 1 Second Film website
- Allmovie entry for Spike Jonze
- Commercials at MJZ
- Spike Jonze unmasked
- DirectorsLabel.com, co-founded with Chris Cunningham and Michel Gondry
- KCRW's The Treatment: Spike Jonze
- "Spike Jonze Unmasked" article from New York Magazine [5]
- Henry Keazor, Thorsten Wübbena: Video Thrills The Radio Star. Musikvideos: Geschichte, Themen, Analysen. Bielefeld 2007, p. 175ff., p. 182ff., p. 232ff., p. 277ff.
- The New York Times Magazine profile
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