J. A. Bayona facts for kids

Quick facts for kids J. A. Bayona
Bayona at the 2018 Tokyo premiere of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
Born	Juan Antonio García Bayona (1975-05-09) 9 May 1975 (age 50) Barcelona, Spain
Occupation	Film director
Years active	1999–present

Juan Antonio García Bayona (born on May 9, 1975) is a famous Spanish filmmaker. He is known for directing exciting and emotional movies.

He directed the scary film The Orphanage in 2007. Later, he made the drama The Impossible in 2012, which was based on a true story. In 2016, he directed the fantasy movie A Monster Calls. He also directed Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom in 2018, which is part of the Jurassic Park series. His 2023 film Society of the Snow was nominated for an Academy Award for Best International Feature Film. Besides movies, he has directed TV shows, commercials, and music videos. He even directed the first two episodes of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power TV series.

Early life

Bayona was born in Barcelona, Spain. When he was a kid, the first movie he ever saw was Richard Donner's Superman (1978). This movie really inspired him to become a director.

He studied at a special film school called the Escola Superior de Cinema i Audiovisuals de Catalunya (ESCAC). When he was 19, he met the famous director Guillermo del Toro at a film festival. Bayona looked up to del Toro as a mentor. Del Toro even promised to help Bayona in the future if he could.

Career

Starting out (1990s)

After finishing film school, Bayona started his career by directing commercials and music videos. When he was 20, he got his first big job working for a Spanish band called OBK. He worked with them for three years and even won an award for one of their music videos. He also directed videos for other popular artists like Pastora Soler and Keane.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, he directed two short films: My Holidays (1999) and The Spongeman (2002).

First big movies (2000s)

Bayona with actress Belén Rueda and director Guillermo del Toro at the premiere of The Orphanage in Paris in 2008.

In 2004, Bayona met a writer named Sergio G. Sánchez. Sánchez offered Bayona the script for a movie called The Orphanage. To make the film he imagined, Bayona needed more money and time. Luckily, his mentor Guillermo del Toro helped him by becoming a co-producer.

The Orphanage was shown for the first time at the Cannes International Film Festival in 2007. It was a huge success and received a long standing ovation. When it opened in Spain, it made a lot of money.

Bayona won the Goya Award for Best New Director in 2008. The Goya Awards are like the Oscars in Spain. The Orphanage was nominated for many awards and won seven!

Blockbusters and TV (2010s)

In 2010, Bayona began filming The Impossible. This movie was based on the true story of a Spanish family who survived the terrible 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. It starred famous actors like Ewan McGregor, Naomi Watts, and Tom Holland. The film was released in 2012 and was a big hit, breaking box office records in Spain. It also received nominations for major awards like the Oscar and Golden Globe Award for Naomi Watts' acting. The film won five Goya Awards, including Best Director for Bayona.

Bayona also directed music videos for the British band Keane, including "Disconnected" and "Tear Up This Town". The band even wrote "Tear Up This Town" especially for Bayona's film A Monster Calls.

In 2014, Bayona directed the first two episodes of the TV series Penny Dreadful. This show was filmed in Dublin and featured characters from classic horror stories like Frankenstein and Dracula.

His next film was A Monster Calls, released in 2016. It was based on a popular book and starred Lewis MacDougall, Felicity Jones, and Liam Neeson. The movie tells the story of a young boy who deals with his mother's illness by befriending a monster. Bayona said this film completed his personal group of movies about mother-child relationships.

In 2018, Bayona directed the science fiction movie Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. This film was a huge success around the world, becoming one of the highest-grossing films of that year. Critics praised Bayona's directing.

More recently, in 2021, Bayona directed Society of the Snow for Netflix. This movie is based on the incredible true story of a plane crash in the Andes mountains in 1972. It received very positive reviews, with some critics calling it Bayona's best work.

He also directed the first two episodes of the popular Amazon Prime Video series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, which premiered in 2022.

Future projects

Bayona has more exciting projects planned! He is set to direct a film called Hater, based on a thriller novel about an unusual outbreak of violence. This film will also be produced by Guillermo del Toro. He is also working on adapting a book called A sangre y fuego.

Filmography

Bayona attending the 31st Goya Awards in 2017

Short film

Feature film

Executive producer

• Marrowbone (2017)
• I Hate New York (2018) (Documentary)

Television

Awards and nominations

Academy Awards

BAFTA Awards

Golden Globe Awards

Goya Awards

Other awards

See also

In Spanish: Juan Antonio Bayona para niños