Michael Gondry

Michel Gondry
Gondry at the Deauville American Film Festival in 2012
Born	(1963-05-08) 8 May 1963 (age 53) Versailles, France
Occupation	Film director, screenwriter, film producer, music video director
Years active	1986–present

Michel Gondry (born 8 May 1963) is a French independent film director, screenwriter, and producer. He is noted for his inventive visual style and distinctive manipulation of mise en scène. He won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay as one of the writers of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), which is often ranked one of the greatest films of the 2000s.

His other films include the surrealistic science fantasy comedy The Science of Sleep (2006), the comedy-drama Be Kind Rewind (2008), the superhero action comedy The Green Hornet (2011), the drama The We and the I (2012), and the romantic drama Mood Indigo (2013).

He is well known for his music video collaborations with Björk, Beck, The Chemical Brothers and The White Stripes.

Gondry was born in Versailles. He is the grandson of inventor Constant Martin.

Gondry's vision and career began with his emphasis on emotion. Much of his inspiration, he says, came from the film Le voyage en ballon. He stated: "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."

His career as a filmmaker began with creating music videos for the French rock band Oui Oui, in which he also served as a drummer. The style of his videos for Oui Oui caught the attention of music artist Björk, who asked him to direct the video for her song "Human Behaviour". The collaboration proved long-lasting, with Gondry directing a total of eight music videos for Björk. Other artists who have collaborated with Gondry on more than one occasion include Daft Punk, The White Stripes, The Chemical Brothers, The Vines, Steriogram, Radiohead, and Beck. Gondry’s video for Lucas Secon's Lucas With The Lid Off was nominated in the Best Music Video (short form) category at the 37th Grammy Awards, (one of two Gondry music videos nominated that year along with Sinéad O'Connor's Fire On Babylon) Gondry has also created numerous television commercials. He pioneered the "bullet time" technique later adapted in The Matrix (he met Joel Silver, the producer of the film, and said he had no choice but to accept the deal for a small amount) in a 1998 commercial for Smirnoff vodka, as well as directing a trio of inventive holiday-themed advertisements for clothing retailer Gap.