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

Life and careerEdit

Template:Refimprove Template:Original research 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 his 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.

They next made The City of Lost Children (1995), a dark, multi-layered fantasy film about a mad scientist who kidnaps children in order to steal their dreams thus preventing him from aging prematurely.

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

Jeunet returned to France. The clout of having a Hollywood film under his belt gave him free rein on his next project,Template:Or Amélie, starring Audrey Tautou. Amélie diverts in tone from his earlier films, as it has romantic and comedic elements and lacks his previous films' dark mise-en-scene. This change is sometimes attributedTemplate:By whom? to Caro's minimal participation.Template:Fact This story, about a woman who takes pleasure in doing good deeds but cannot find love herself, was a huge critical and commercial success worldwide and was nominated for several Academy Awards. For this film, Jeunet also gained a European Film Award for Best Director.

In 2004, Jeunet released A Very Long Engagement, an adaptation of the novel by Sébastien Japrisot. The film, starring Audrey Tautou, chronicled a woman's search for her missing lover after World War I.

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

Jeunet has also directed numerous commercials including a 2'25" film for Chanel N° 5 featuring his frequently used actress Audrey Tautou.

CollaboratorsEdit

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 six 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 Alien Resurrection 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.

FilmographyEdit

DirectorEdit

• Delicatessen (1991)
• The City of Lost Children (1995)
• Alien Resurrection (1997)
• Amélie (2001)
• A Very Long Engagement (2004)
• Micmacs à tire-larigot (2009)

WriterEdit

• Delicatessen (1991)
• The City of Lost Children (1995)
• Amélie (2001)
• A Very Long Engagement (2004)
• Micmacs à tire-larigot (2009)

External linksEdit

Template:Commonscat

• Jean-Pierre Jeunet at the Internet Movie Database
• Jean-Pierre Jeunet Official Site
• GreenCine's interview with Jeunet
• Jean-Pierre Jeunet - A Life in Pictures, filmed BAFTA event

Template:Jeunet Template:BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay 2000-2019 Template:César Award for Best Director Template:Alien