Michel Gondry facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Michel Gondry
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Gondry in 2013
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| Born | 8 May 1963 Versailles, France
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| Years active | 1986–present |
Michel Gondry (born May 8, 1963) is a French filmmaker and producer. He is known for his creative visual style. He often uses unique ways to arrange scenes in his films.
Michel Gondry won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay with Charlie Kaufman. This was for the 2004 film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, which he also directed. His other movies include Dave Chappelle's Block Party (2005) and The Science of Sleep (2006). He also directed Be Kind Rewind (2008), The Green Hornet (2011), and Mood Indigo (2013).
Gondry has directed many music videos. He worked with Björk on "Human Behaviour" in 1993 and "Bachelorette" in 1997. Both videos were nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Music Video. He also directed several videos for The White Stripes. Besides directing, he is also a record producer. He produced songs for rapper MC Paul Barman's album Thought Balloon Mushroom Cloud (2009).
Contents
Early Life and Inspiration
Michel Gondry was born in Versailles, France. His grandfather, Constant Martin, was an inventor.
Gondry's creative journey began with a focus on feelings. He said that the film Le voyage en ballon greatly inspired him. He explained that watching it made him dream of flying. This dream then influenced his stories where characters can fly.
Filmmaking Career
Gondry started his career by making music videos. He was also the drummer for the French rock band Oui Oui. His unique video style for Oui Oui caught the eye of music artist Björk. She asked him to direct the video for her song "Human Behaviour". They worked together many times, with Gondry directing eight music videos for Björk.
Other artists who worked with Gondry multiple times include Daft Punk, the White Stripes, and the Chemical Brothers. His video for Lucas Secon's "Lucas with the Lid Off" was nominated for a Grammy Award. Another one of his videos, Sinéad O'Connor's "Fire on Babylon", was also nominated that year.
Gondry also created many TV commercials. He helped develop the "bullet time" technique. This technique was later used in the movie The Matrix. He used it in a 1996 commercial for Smirnoff vodka. He also directed creative holiday ads for the clothing store Gap.
Michel Gondry, along with directors Spike Jonze and David Fincher, helped bring music video directors into feature films. Gondry's first feature film was Human Nature in 2001. His second film, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), was a big success. It received excellent reviews and became one of the most praised films of that year.
Eternal Sunshine used many of the special effects Gondry had tried in his music videos. Gondry won an Academy Award for the screenplay of Eternal Sunshine. He shared the award with Charlie Kaufman and Pierre Bismuth. Gondry's music video style often uses camera tricks that play with how things look.
Gondry also directed the music documentary Dave Chappelle's Block Party (2006). This film followed comedian Dave Chappelle as he organized a large, free concert in Brooklyn. His next film, The Science of Sleep, was released in September 2006. This movie starred Gael García Bernal and returned to the dreamlike style seen in Eternal Sunshine.
According to the Guinness World Records 2004, Gondry's commercial for Levi's 501 Jeans called "Drugstore" won the most awards for a TV commercial.
In September 2006, Gondry had his first installation art show in New York City. The show, called "The Science of Sleep: An Exhibition of Sculpture and Pathological Creepy Little Gifts," featured items from his film The Science of Sleep. It also included film clips and gifts he had given to women he was interested in.
Gondry was an Artist in Residence at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2005 and 2006. He later directed the music video for the Paul McCartney song "Dance Tonight". Gondry himself made a brief appearance in this video.
In 2009, The Thorn in the Heart, a documentary about Michel's aunt Suzette and her son Jean-Yves, was released. In 2011, Gondry directed The Green Hornet, a superhero film. It starred Seth Rogen, Jay Chou, and Christoph Waltz. Rogen also helped write the script. In 2011, Gondry led the jury for the short film competition at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.
His film The We and the I was shown at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival.
In February 2013, Gondry released an animated documentary about linguist Noam Chomsky, called Is the Man Who is Tall Happy?. In April 2013, he directed Mood Indigo, based on a 1947 novel.
In 2014, he was a jury member for the 64th Berlin International Film Festival. Also in 2014, Gondry produced the video for Metronomy's song "Love Letters".
In 2015, his film Microbe & Gasoline was released. In 2024, his first animated film, Maya, Give Me a Title, was released. His daughter, Maya Gondry, voiced herself in the film.
Personal Life
Michel Gondry's brother, Olivier "Twist" Gondry, is also a director. He makes TV commercials and music videos for bands like The Stills and Hot Hot Heat.
Michel Gondry has a son named Paul and a daughter named Maya.
Filmography
Feature Films
Michel Gondry has directed many full-length movies, both fiction and documentaries.
- Human Nature (2001)
- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
- The Science of Sleep (2006)
- Be Kind Rewind (2008)
- The Green Hornet (2011)
- The We and the I (2012)
- Mood Indigo (2013)
- Microbe & Gasoline (2015)
- The Book of Solutions (2023)
- Maya, Give Me a Title (2024)
Documentary Films
- Dave Chappelle's Block Party (2005)
- The Thorn in the Heart (2009)
- Is the Man Who Is Tall Happy? (2013)
Short Films
Gondry has also made many short films, which are shorter than feature films.
- L'expedition fatale (1986)
- Jazzmosphère (1987)
- My Brother's 24th Birthday (1988)
- Vingt p'tites tours (1989)
- La lettre (1998)
- One Day... (2001)
- Pecan Pie (2003)
- I've Been Twelve Forever (2004)
- Tiny (2004)
- Three Dead People (2004)
- Drumb and Drumber (2004)
- Michel Gondry Solves a Rubik's Cube with His Nose (2007)
- Interior Design (2008) (part of the film Tokyo!)
- Haircut Mouse (2013)
- Détour (2017)
- A Dozen Eggs (2021)
Television Work
- Flight of the Conchords (2009) - Directed one episode
- Jimmy Kimmel Live! (2011) - Guest director
- Kidding (2018–2020) - Directed 8 episodes and was an executive producer
Music Videos
Michel Gondry has directed over 100 music videos for many famous artists. Here are some of them:
- "Human Behaviour" – Björk (1993)
- "Believe" – Lenny Kravitz (1993)
- "Fire on Babylon" – Sinéad O'Connor (1994)
- "Like a Rolling Stone" – The Rolling Stones (1995)
- "Army of Me" – Björk (1995)
- "Bachelorette" – Björk (1997)
- "Everlong" – Foo Fighters (1997)
- "Around the World" – Daft Punk (1997)
- "Let Forever Be" – The Chemical Brothers (1999)
- "Knives Out" – Radiohead (2001)
- "Come into My World" – Kylie Minogue (2002)
- "No One Knows" – Queens of the Stone Age (2002)
- "Fell in Love with a Girl" – The White Stripes (2002)
- "Star Guitar" – The Chemical Brothers (2002)
- "The Hardest Button to Button" – The White Stripes (2003)
- "Walkie Talkie Man" – Steriogram (2004)
- "The Denial Twist" – The White Stripes (2005)
- "Cellphone's Dead" – Beck (2006)
- "Dance Tonight" – Paul McCartney (2007)
- "Declare Independence" – Björk (2007)
- "Too Many Songs on the Dancefloor" – Flight of the Conchords (2009) (unofficial)
- "Crystalline" – Björk (2011)
- "Love Letters" – Metronomy (2014)
- "Go" – The Chemical Brothers (2015)
- "City Lights" – The White Stripes (2016)
- "Got to Keep On" – The Chemical Brothers (2019)
- "Model Village" – Idles (2020)
Advertisements
Michel Gondry has also directed many commercials for well-known brands.
See also
In Spanish: Michel Gondry para niños
