Alexandre Aja facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Alexandre Aja
Aja in 2015
Born	Alexandre Jouan-Arcady (1978-08-07) 7 August 1978 (age 47) Paris, France
Occupation	Film director film producer screenwriter
Years active	1997–present
Notable work	Haute Tension, The Hills Have Eyes, Mirrors, Piranha 3D, Oxygen
Parent(s)	Alexandre Arcady (father)
Relatives	Diane Kurys (stepmother) Sacha Sperling (half-brother)

Alexandre Aja, whose full name is Alexandre Jouan-Arcady, was born on August 7, 1978. He is a French filmmaker well-known for directing and producing scary movies, also called horror films. He became famous around the world for his 2003 horror movie Haute Tension. He has also directed other popular films like The Hills Have Eyes (2006), Mirrors (2008), Piranha 3D (2010), and Crawl (2019).

About Alexandre Aja

Alexandre Aja's professional name, Aja, comes from the first letter of each part of his real name: Alexandre Jouan-Arcady. He was born in Paris, France. His father, Alexandre Arcady, is a French director, and his mother, Marie-Jo Jouan, is a film critic.

Aja's Filmmaking Journey

Alexandre Aja started acting when he was very young. He had small parts in his father's movies.

Early Directing Work

Aja directed his first short film, Over the Rainbow, when he was just eighteen. This film was even nominated for an award at the famous Cannes Film Festival. In 1999, he directed his first full-length movie, Furia. This film was based on a short story called Graffiti.

Aja often works with Grégory Levasseur on his films. Levasseur helps write the scripts and also works as a production designer. They have worked together on movies like The Hills Have Eyes, Mirrors, and Piranha 3D.

Aja in January 2011

Breakthrough with High Tension

Aja directed Haute Tension, which came out in France in 2003. This movie helped him become a well-known name in the horror movie world. The film was a French slasher movie that used a lot of special effects with makeup instead of computer graphics. This made it popular with horror fans. The movie was nominated for a big award at the Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival. Aja also won awards for Best Direction and Best Fantasy Film at the Sitges Film Festival.

Directing Remakes

After seeing High Tension, the famous American director Wes Craven asked Aja to work on a remake of his 1977 film The Hills Have Eyes. Aja ended up directing this movie, which was released in 2006.

His next movie was a horror film called Mirrors (2008). This film is about a mysterious mirror that makes people see the worst parts of themselves. It was a remake of a Korean horror film. Aja also directed Piranha 3D (2010), a horror movie about ancient piranhas. This was a remake of a 1978 film.

Later Projects

In 2004, Variety magazine named Aja as one of the "Ten Directors to Watch." He is part of a group of directors called the "Splat Pack." This name was given to new directors who make very intense horror films. Other directors in this group include Eli Roth and James Wan.

Aja also produced a remake of the 1980 horror film Maniac in 2012. In 2013, he directed Horns, a dark fantasy thriller starring Daniel Radcliffe. He also produced The Pyramid (2014) and directed The 9th Life of Louis Drax (2016).

In 2019, Alexandre Aja directed Crawl. This movie became his highest-earning film and received many good reviews. He is also planning to direct a live-action movie based on the manga series Space Adventure Cobra.

Filmography

Other credits

See also

In Spanish: Alexandre Aja para niños

• Alexandre Aja’s unrealized projects