Happy 51st Birthday, Spike Jonze! Born today in 1969 as Adam H. Spiegel, this American photographer, actor and film director' is known for his visually arresting and innovative music videos and films. These include music videos, commercials, film and television.
He is known professionally as Spike Jonze (pronounced as the common Welsh name "Jones").
Born in Rockville, Maryland, Jonze is the grandson of Chicago mail-order businessman and early American film studio executive Arthur H. Spiegel.
He was the head of World Film Corp., which he formed in connection with early film pioneer and American producer Lewis J. Selznick. Selznick was the father of American film producer, screenwriter and film studio executive David O. Selznick.
Spiegel's parents divorced when he was a young child, but his father remarried. He was then raised by his mother in Bethesda, Maryland.
Spiegel spent much of his time at a Bethesda community store, where owner Mike Henderson gave him the nickname "Spike Jonze".
This was in reference to the American musician, bandleader and satirical singer Lindley Armstrong Jones (known as Spike Jones), of whom specialized in satirical arrangements of popular songs and classical music.
Spiegel changed his birth name because it rhymes with Lord of the Rings' villain "Smeagol."
However, unlike actors who change their names to grab the attention of casting directors, Jonze changed his way before he became a successful director.
A keen BMX rider, Jonze began working at the Rockville BMX store in Rockville, Maryland, at the age of sixteen. A common destination for touring professional BMX teams, Jonze began photographing BMX demos at Rockville.
Jonze also photographed for American international skateboarding magazine Transworld Skateboarding (TWS). He eventually formed a friendship with American editors of Freestylin' magazine Mark Lewman and Andy Jenkins.
Impressed with Jonze's photography work, the pair offered Jonze a job as a photographer for the magazine, and he subsequently moved to California to pursue career opportunities in photography.
Moving later into filmmaking, Jonze began shooting street skateboarding films. Most notably, this included editing, producing and directing the influential twenty-four-minute 1991 American skateboarding short film 'Video Days'.
Released by American skateboard company Blind Skateboards, 'Video Days' is considered one of the most influential skate videos, as Jonze's format is frequently cited as its definitive filming template.
Jonze's filmmaking style later made him an in-demand director of music videos for much of the 1990s.
This later resulted in collaborations with Sonic Youth, Beastie Boys, Fatboy Slim, Daft Punk, Weezer, Björk, Kanye West, and Arcade Fire.
In late June 1999, Jonze married Sofia Coppola ('Lost in Translation'), of whom he had first met in 1992 on the set of the music video for Sonic Youth's "100%".
Some months later, Jonze began his feature film career in directing the first film of which he is best known. This was the 1999 American comedy/fantasy film 'Being John Malkovich'.
In this quirky cult-favorite comedy, unemployed New York City street puppeteer Craig Schwartz (John Cusack) reluctantly takes a temp job as a filing clerk for the eccentric Dr. Lester (Orson Bean).
While at work, Craig discovers a portal on the 7½ floor that leads into the mind of renowned actor John Malkovich.
When he lets his attractive co-worker Maxine Lund (Catherine Keener) in on the secret, they both begin an unusual business scheme and an odd relationship that involves Craig's restless, pet-obsessed wife, Lotte (Cameron Diaz, in an almost unrecognizable role).
Schwartz and Lund devise to charge customers $200 apiece to go into Malkovich's mind, of which abruptly ends after fifteen minutes as the voyeur is sucked out and dumped onto the New Jersey Turnpike.
In his review, Roger Ebert awarded the film a full four stars; he would later name it the best film of 1999.
His comments of praise included: "Rare is the movie where the last half hour surprises you just as much as the first, and in ways you're not expecting.
The movie has ideas enough for half a dozen films, but Jonze and his cast handle them so surely that we never feel hard-pressed; we're enchanted by one development after the next".
He also said, "Either Being John Malkovich gets nominated for best picture, or the members of the Academy need portals into their brains."
The following year, 'Being John Malkovich received three Oscar nominations for Best Director, Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Catherine Keener), and Best Screenplay. (Charlie Kauffman). However, the film won none of these. This occurred at the 72nd Academy Awards in late March 2000.
Ebert gave the film four out of four stars, writing that it "leaves you breathless with curiosity, as it teases itself with the directions it might take. To watch the film is to be actively involved in the challenge of its creation."
He later added the film to his "Great Movies" collection.
Peter Travers of Rolling Stone also gave the film a four-star rating, writing, "Screenwriting this smart, inventive, passionate and rip-roaringly funny is a rare species.
So all praise to Charlie Kaufman, working with director Spike Jonze to create the most original and outrageous film comedy since the two first teamed on Being John Malkovich, in 1999."
Later that same year, Jonze co-created and executive produced MTV's American reality comedy television series Jackass (2000–2002).
He had co-created the show along with American actor, film producer, screenwriter, comedian and stunt performer Philip John Clapp (known professionally by his stage name Johnny Knoxville).
Some months after the last episode, Jonze directed the second and final film of which he is best known. This was the 2002 American drama/comedy metafilm 'Adaptation'.
The film was written by Kauffman, (along with his fictional brother Donald), and was co-produced by Jonathan Demme ('The Silence of the Lambs', 'Philadelphia').
Nicolas Cage is Charlie Kaufman, a confused L.A. screenwriter overwhelmed by feelings of inadequacy, sexual frustration, self-loathing, and by the screenwriting ambitions of his freeloading twin brother Donald (Nicolas Cage).
While struggling to adapt "The Orchid Thief," by Susan Orlean (Meryl Streep), Kaufman's life spins from pathetic to bizarre.
The lives of Kaufman, Orlean's book, become strangely intertwined as each one's search for passion collides with the others.
The film was based off of American journalist and bestselling author Susan Orlean's 1998 non-fiction book The Orchid Thief: A True Story of Beauty and Obsession. Orlean also has a cameo in the film, credited as Woman in Supermarket.
Having been submitted the screenplay for approval based on her book, Orlean was strongly opposed to the making of the film; she ended up reluctantly approving its production, and was ultimately very impressed with the final result.
Orlean called Streep's portrayal of her "one of my favorite performances by her" and appreciated that her version of the character was based not on the real Orlean but on how Streep imagined Orlean based on "The Orchid Thief".
Despite the film's fictional parts, Orlean praised its fidelity to the book's spirit: "What I admire the most is that it's very true to the book's themes of life and obsession, and there are also insights into things which are much more subtle in the book about longing, and about disappointment."
'Adaptation' also adds a number of fictitious elements, including Kaufman's twin brother (also credited as a writer for the film) and a romance between Orlean and John Laroche (Chris Cooper).
This culminates in completely invented events, including fictional versions of Orlean and Laroche three years after the events related in The Orchid Thief.
One year later, 'Adaptation' won an Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role ('Chris Cooper). This occurred at the 75th Academy Awards in late March 2003.
Some months later in December 2003, Jonze and Coppola filed for divorce, citing "irreconcilable differences".
In Coppola's 2003 American romantic comedy-drama/independent film 'Lost in Translation' it was rumored that the character of John, a celebrity photographer (Giovanni Ribisi) to be based on Jonze.
However, Coppola commented "It's not Spike, but there are elements of him there, elements of experiences."
Four years later, Jonze began dating Drew Barrymore. The two were together from March to June 2007. This was according to People magazine.
The following year, 'Being John Malkovich' ranked 441st on Empire magazine's 2008 list of the 500 Greatest Films of All Time.
One year later, Jonze began dating Michelle Williams in July 2008. This was after meeting on the set of the 2008 American postmodern drama/comedy-drama film 'Synecdoche, New York'.
The film also starred Williams as Jonze had produced. However, Williams called the timing of their relationship "impossible" and ended it in September 2009. Jonze soon after began directing films based on his own screenplays.
One month later, Jonze directed the 2009 German/Australian/American drama/fantasy film 'Where the Wild Things Are'.
The film was adapted American illustrator and writer Maurice Sendak's eponymous 1963 children's fantasy fiction picture book of the same name. Sendak had also co-produced.
At the end of 2009, Ebert named 'Adaptation' one of the best films of the decade.
In 2012, Orlean said, "[reading the screenplay for 'Adaptation'] was a complete shock. My first reaction was 'Absolutely not!' They had to get my permission and I just said: 'No! Are you kidding? This is going to ruin my career!
Very wisely, they didn't really pressure me. They told me that everybody else had agreed and I somehow got emboldened.
It was certainly scary to see the movie for the first time. It took a while for me to get over the idea that I had been insane to agree to it, but I love the movie now."
One year later, Jonze wrote and directed the 2013 American science-fiction romantic drama film 'Her', of which marked Jonze's solo screenwriting debut.
Jonze also has a minor role as the voice of the hologram Alien Child. The score was co-composed by Arcade Fire.
The following year, 'Her' received five Oscar nominations but one win for Best Writing (Original Screenplay). This occurred at the 86th Academy Awards in early March 2014.
Jonze had worked as an actor sporadically throughout his career as well. He had co-starred in David O. Russell's ('American Hustle') 1999 American action/adventure war film 'Three Kings' as Private First-Class Conrad Vig.
Jonze later appeared in supporting roles in American film director Bennett Miller's 2011 American sports/drama film 'Moneyball'.
Two years later, he had an uncredited role as a penny stock trader named Dwayne. This was in Martin Scorsese's 2013 American biographical black comedy drama/crime film 'The Wolf of Wall Street'.
Throughout his varied career, Jonze quickly established himself as a director whose remarkable vision and prolific output led to creating some of the most memorable films and music videos of his day.
A notoriously shy prankster with a penchant for skateboarding and tall tales, Jonze might not have been the most obvious candidate for "most promising director" or "best first feature" status.
Jonze has been active from 1985–present.
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