Jean-Pierre Jeunet

Infobox actor


caption =
name = Jean-Pierre Jeunet
birthdate = birth date and age|1953|9|3
birthplace = Roanne, Loire, France
deathdate =
deathplace =
occupation = Filmmaker
spouse = Liza Sullivan
baftaawards = Best Original Screenplay
2001 "Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain"
cesarawards = Best Short Film - Animation
1981 "Le Manège"
Best Short Film - Fiction
1991 "Foutaises"
Best Writing
1992 "Delicatessen"
Best Debut
1992 "Delicatessen"
Best Director
2002 "Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain"
Best Film
2002 "Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain"
goyaawards = Best European Film
2002 "Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain"

Jean-Pierre Jeunet (born 3 September 1953) is a French film director.

Life and career

Jean-Pierre Jeunet was born in Roanne, Loire, France. He bought his first camera at the age of 17 and made short films while studying animation at Cinémation Studios. He befriended Marc Caro, a designer and comic book artist who became Jeunet's longtime collaborator and co-director.

Together, Jeunet and Caro directed award-winning animations. Their first live action film was "The Bunker of the Last Gunshots" (1981), a short film about soldiers in a bleak futuristic world. Jeunet also directed numerous advertisements and music videos, such as Jean Michel Jarre's Zoolook (together with Caro).

Jeunet and Caro's first feature film was "Delicatessen" (1991), a black comedy set in a famine-plagued post-apocalyptic world, in which a block of flats above a delicatessen is ruled by a butcher who kills people in order to feed his tenants.

Next came "The City of Lost Children" (1995), a dark, multi-layered fantasy film with a twisting plot about a doctor who kidnaps children in order to steal their dreams.

The success of "The City of Lost Children" led to an invitation to direct the fourth movie in the Alien series - "" (1997). Like his subsequent films, this one is credited only to Jeunet, although Caro did some work on the art design. Though not well received by critics, "Alien: Resurrection" turned a profit at the box office.

Jeunet returned to France. The clout of having a Hollywood film under his belt gave him free rein on his next project, "Amélie", starring Audrey Tautou. "Amélie" is lighter and more romantic than his previous films, a fact sometimes attributed to Caro's minimal participation. This story, about a girl who takes pleasure in doing good deeds but cannot find love herself, was a huge commercial and box office success worldwide, and was nominated for several Academy Awards. For this film he also got an European Film Award for Best Director.

In 2004, Jeunet released "A Very Long Engagement", an adaptation of the novel by Sébastien Japrisot set after World War I, during which a woman (played by Audrey Tautou) searches for her missing lover.

In 2007, Jeunet pulled out of directing Yann Martel's novel "Life of Pi" due to budget reasons. Jeunet has now gone on to direct his own film "Micmacs à tire-larigot"

Collaborators

Jeunet likes to work with the same team of filmmakers and repeatedly casts similar actors. His usual 'team' includes the following:

*Dominique Pinon has appeared in all five of Jeunet's feature-length films
*Rufus and Ticky Holgado appear in all of his feature-length films except "Alien: Resurrection"
*Jean-Claude Dreyfus has appeared in all of his feature-length films except "" and "Amélie"
*Ron Perlman appears in both "City of Lost Children" and "Alien: Resurrection"
*Audrey Tautou appears in both "Amélie" and "A Very Long Engagement".

*Darius Khondji was the cinematographer on "Delicatessen", "City" and "Alien".
*Bruno Delbonnel was the cinematographer on "Amélie" and "A Very Long Engagement".
*Hervé Schneid was the editor for all Jeunet's feature-length films
*Aline Bonetto was the set designer for "Amélie", "Delicatessen" and "A Very Long Engagement".

Filmography

External links

*
* [http://jpjeunetlesite.online.fr/ Jean-Pierre Jeunet Official Site]
* [http://www.myspace.com/jpjeunet Jean-Pierre Jeunet at MySpace]
* [http://www.greencine.com/article?action=view&articleID=351 GreenCine's interview with Jeunet]