Michel Gondry facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Michel Gondry
Gondry in 2013
Born	(1963-05-08) 8 May 1963 (age 62) Versailles, France
Occupation	Director screenwriter producer record producer
Years active	1986–present

Michel Gondry (born 8 May 1963) is a French filmmaker and producer. He is known for his very creative visual style and unique ways of setting up scenes in his movies. He won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay with Charlie Kaufman for the 2004 film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, which he also directed.

Some of his other famous films include the music documentary Dave Chappelle's Block Party (2005), the funny and dream-like movie The Science of Sleep (2006), the comedy Be Kind Rewind (2008), and the superhero film The Green Hornet (2011).

Gondry has directed many music videos for popular artists. These include "Human Behaviour" (1993) and "Bachelorette" (1997) for Björk. Both videos were nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Music Video. He also directed several videos for the band The White Stripes. Besides directing, he has also produced music, working with rapper MC Paul Barman on his album Thought Balloon Mushroom Cloud (2009).

Early Life and Inspiration

Michel Gondry was born in Versailles, France. His grandfather, Constant Martin, was an inventor.

Gondry's journey into filmmaking started with a focus on feelings and emotions. He shared that a lot of his ideas came from the movie Le voyage en ballon. He said, "When I watch this movie, I dream I'm flying and then I do stories where people are flying. I think it's directly influencing."

Starting a Career in Film

Gondry began his career by making music videos for the French rock band Oui Oui. He was also the drummer for this band. His unique style in these videos caught the eye of music artist Björk. She then asked him to direct the video for her song "Human Behaviour". This was the start of a long partnership, with Gondry directing eight music videos for Björk.

He has also worked with many other artists on multiple occasions. These include Daft Punk, The White Stripes, The Chemical Brothers, The Vines, Steriogram, Radiohead, and Beck. His video for Lucas Secon's "Lucas with the Lid Off" was nominated for a Grammy Award.

Creative Commercials and Movies

Gondry has also directed many television commercials. He helped create the "bullet time" effect, which was later used in the movie The Matrix. He first used this technique in a 1996 commercial for Smirnoff vodka. He also directed several creative holiday ads for the clothing store Gap.

Michel Gondry is one of several music video directors who later became successful feature film directors. His first full-length movie was Human Nature in 2001.

His second film, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), was a big success. It received excellent reviews and is considered one of the best films of that year. Eternal Sunshine used many of the special visual effects and camera tricks that Gondry had tried out in his music videos. Gondry, along with Charlie Kaufman and Pierre Bismuth, won an Oscar for the screenplay of Eternal Sunshine.

Gondry also directed Dave Chappelle's Block Party (2006). This was a documentary about comedian Dave Chappelle putting on a large, free concert in Brooklyn. His next film, The Science of Sleep, came out in 2006. This movie starred Mexican actor Gael García Bernal and brought back the imaginative and dream-like styles seen in Eternal Sunshine.

According to the Guinness World Records book from 2004, Gondry's commercial for Levi's 501 Jeans called "Drugstore" holds the record for "Most awards won by a TV commercial".

In 2005 and 2006, Gondry was an Artist in Residence at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He later directed the music video for the Paul McCartney song "Dance Tonight", where he also made a brief appearance.

In 2009, Gondry released The Thorn in the Heart, a documentary about his aunt Suzette and her son Jean-Yves. In 2011, he directed The Green Hornet, a superhero film starring Seth Rogen. His film The We and the I was shown at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival.

In 2013, Gondry released an animated short film called Haircut Mouse. In February 2013, he released a hand-drawn animated documentary about the famous linguist Noam Chomsky, titled Is the Man Who is Tall Happy?. His film Mood Indigo, based on a French novel, was released in April 2013.

In 2015, his film Microbe & Gasoline was released. His first animated film, Maya, Give Me a Title, was released in 2024. His daughter, Maya Gondry, voiced herself in the film.

Personal Life

Michel Gondry's brother, Olivier "Twist" Gondry, is also a director of television commercials and music videos. He has directed videos for bands like The Stills and Daft Punk.

Michel Gondry has a son named Paul and a daughter named Maya.

Filmography

Feature Films

Fiction

Documentary

Short Films

Television

Other Releases

• The Work of Director Michel Gondry (2003)
• Michel Gondry 2: More Videos (Before and After DVD 1) (2009)

Images for kids

• 

  Gondry in 2008

See also

In Spanish: Michel Gondry para niños