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Quick Facts
Biography
Spike Jonze (pronounced "Jones" ; born Adam Spiegel on October 22, 1969) is an American director, producer, screenwriter and actor, whose work includes music videos, commercials, film and television. He started his feature film directing career with Being John Malkovich (1999) and Adaptation (2002), both written by Charlie Kaufman, and then began making movies with screenplays of his own like Where the Wild Things Are (2009) and Her (2013).
Jonze is well known for his music video collaborations with Daft Punk, Fatboy Slim, Weezer, the Beastie Boys, Björk, and Kanye West. He was a co-creator and executive producer of MTV's Jackass. He is currently the creative director of Vice Media, Inc.. He is part owner of skateboard company Girl Skateboards with riders Rick Howard and Mike Carroll.
He co-founded Directors Label, with filmmakers Chris Cunningham and Michel Gondry, and the Palm Pictures company.
He has been nominated for four Academy Awards: Best Director for Being John Malkovich, and Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay and Best Original Song ("The Moon Song") for Her. He won the Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay, the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay, and the 2014 Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Her.
Early life and education
Jonze was born on October 22, 1969 in Rockville, Maryland, and grew up in Bethesda, Maryland and in Gulph Mills, Pennsylvania. His father, Arthur H. Spiegel III, was a distant relation of the Spiegel catalog family, and founded APM Management Consultants. His mother, Sandra L. Granzow, is a writer, communications consultant in developing countries, and artist. His brother, Sam "Squeak E. Clean" Spiegel, is a producer and DJ. He also has a sister, Julia. His father was from a German Jewish family, while his mother has German, Scottish, and English ancestry.
Jonze attended the San Francisco Art Institute in San Francisco, California. When he was a junior in high school (Walt Whitman High School), Jonze spent time at a Bethesda community store, where the former owner Mike Henderson gave him his nickname "Spike Jonze" in reference to Spike Jones. He fronted Club Homeboy, an international BMX club, with Mark "Lew" Lewman and Andy Jenkins, both co-editors of Freestylin' Magazine in the mid- to late 1980s, where Jonze worked as a photographer. The three also created the youth culture magazines Homeboy and Dirt (the latter of which was described as "Sassy Magazine for boys," being published by the same company and distributed in cellophane bags with the landmark magazine for young women).
Career
In 2006, he was nominated by the Directors Guild of America for "Outstanding Achievement in Commercials in 2005." He was nominated for a body of work that included Hello Tomorrow for Adidas, Lamp for IKEA, and Pardon Our Dust for The Gap. He was a producer and co-creator of MTV television series Jackass and Jackass: The Movie, also directing some of the segments. Jonze has acted in some videos and films; his most prominent role was in Three Kings as the sweet, dimwitted, casually racist Conrad, in which he was directed by friend David O. Russell.
Jonze was a co-founder and editor of Dirt magazine along with Mark Lewman and Andy Jenkins, as well as an editor for Grand Royal Magazine and senior photographer for Transworld Skateboarding. In the past, Jonze shot street skateboarding videos, most notably Blind's highly influential Video Days in 1991, and Lakai Footwear's Fully Flared in 2007. He co-directed the Girl Skateboards film Yeah Right! and the Chocolate Skateboards video Hot Chocolate. In the closing credits montage of Yeah Right!, Spike is shown doing a nollie heelflip in loafers. He is co-owner of Girl Skateboards.
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Jonze has many alter egos, including Richard Koufey (alternately spelled Coufey or Couffe), the leader of the Torrance Community Dance Group, an urban troupe that performs in public spaces. The Koufey persona appeared when Jonze, in character, filmed himself dancing to Fatboy Slim's "The Rockafeller Skank" as it played on a boom box in a public area. Jonze showed the video to Slim, who appears briefly in the video around the 3:57 mark. Jonze then assembled a group of dancers to perform to Slim's "Praise You" outside a Westwood, California movie theater and taped the performance. The resulting clip was a huge success, and "Koufey" and his troupe were invited to New York City to perform the song for the 1999 MTV Video Music Awards. The video received awards for Best Direction, Breakthrough, and Best Choreography, which Jonze accepted, still in character. Jonze made a mockumentary about the experience called Torrance Rises. At the 2001 Grammy Awards, the music video for Weapon of Choice won Best Short Form Music Video.
He has a speaking part along with Dave Eggers in the Beck song "The Horrible Fanfare/Landslide/Exoskeleton" from his 2006 album, The Information. He appears in the "Exoskeleton" part.
Since 2007, he has been the creative director at VBS.tv, an online television network supplied by Vice and funded by MTV.
Spike Jonze was part of the Detour-Moleskine project in New York in 2007. The project invites authors to compile and illustrate Moleskine notebooks to provide an intimate insight into the artists' creative process.
In 2008 he co-produced a new video for the Chocolate Skateboards "Easy Steady", direct by Ty Evans and Federico Vitetta in Milan, featuring the song "Felicità" by Bugo.
Jonze directed Where the Wild Things Are, which opened in the United States on October 16, 2009. It was arguably his most anticipated film to date, the product of an almost decade long collaboration with author Maurice Sendak. The film received generally favorable reviews, and appeared on many critics' end-of-the-year top ten lists.
In July 2009, Jonze acquired the rights to make a film adaptation of the Shane Jones novel Light Boxes. However, Jonze, in an interview with Times Online, said that Ray Tintori was no longer a director for that project as expected. In an interview with Interview Magazine in June 2010, Jones said the film option had been dropped.
In 2010, he made a 28-minute short titled Scenes from the Suburbs, inspired by the Arcade Fire album The Suburbs. Scenes from his short were used in the music video to the album's title song, "The Suburbs". A dystopian vision of suburbia in the near-future, the short was co-written by Jonze, Win Butler, and Will Butler. Expanding on the themes of nostalgia, alienation, and childhood, the short premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival and saw its online premiere at MUBI on June 27, 2011.
Jonze is good friends with Björk and frequently works with her. He has directed three videos for her and she contributed the theme song for Jonze's film Being John Malkovich.
In 2011, Jonze collaborated with the Beastie Boys for the release of their Santigold collaboration, "Don't Play No Game That I Can't Win." In a similar fashion to Jonze's work with Arcade Fire, he directed both "short and epic-length videos" to partner with the single.
In 2011, Jonze directed the music video for "Otis" the second single from the album Watch The Throne by Jay-Z and Kanye West. On November 3, 2013, Jonze directed the live music video for Arcade Fire's "Afterlife" and documented Lady Gaga's live performance of "Dope" with Chris Milk for the YouTube Music Awards.
Jonze's next theatrical project Her was released in late 2013. Her is a science fiction romance film starring Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Adams, Olivia Wilde, Rooney Mara, and Scarlett Johansson, and is Jonze's first feature-length original screenplay. The film follows a man (Phoenix) who develops a relationship with a seemingly intuitive and humanistic female voice, named "Samantha" (Johansson), produced by an advanced computer operating system. Jonze won the 2014 Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay for Her. Jonze was nominated for three Academy Awards for Her, as producer for Best Picture, writer for Best Original Screenplay, and lyric writer for Best Original Song. On March 2, 2014, Jonze won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, which marks his first win. In 2013, Jonze played a role in The Wolf of Wall Street.
Jonze is Co-President of multinational television channel brand Viceland (stylized as VICELAND) launched on February 29. 2016.
In 2017, Jonze has filmed Frank Ocean's New York Concert. Jonze also produced an elaborate stage with a runway and central platform for the same concert.
Personal life
On June 26, 1999, Jonze married director Sofia Coppola, whom he had first met in 1992. On December 5, 2003, the couple filed for divorce, citing "irreconcilable differences." The character of John, a career-driven photographer (Giovanni Ribisi) in Coppola's Lost in Translation (2003), was rumored to be based on Jonze, though Coppola commented "It’s not Spike, but there are elements of him there, elements of experiences."
Jonze began dating Michelle Williams in July 2008, after the death of Heath Ledger. They met on the set of Synecdoche, New York, which Williams starred in and Jonze produced. Williams called the timing of their relationship "impossible", and ended it in September 2009.
In 2011, it was reported that he was dating Japanese actress Rinko Kikuchi, but they have since broken up.
Filmography
Film
Year | Title | Director | Writer | Producer | Actor | Executive producer | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1991 | Video Days | Yes | Yes | Skateboarding video | ||||
1993 | Goldfish | Yes | Skateboarding video | |||||
1994 | Mi Vida Loca | Yes | Teenage Drug Customer | |||||
1994 | Ciao, L.A. | Yes | Short film | |||||
1996 | Bed, Bath and Beyond | Cinematographer; short film | ||||||
1996 | Pig! | Yes | Unknown | Short film | ||||
1996 | Mouse | Yes | Yes | Skateboarding video | ||||
1997 | How They Get There | Yes | Yes | Short film | ||||
1997 | The Game | Yes | Airbag EMT Beltran | |||||
1997 | Free Tibet | Cinematographer; documentary | ||||||
1998 | Amarillo by Morning | Yes | Himself | Documentary short | ||||
1999 | Torrance Rises | Yes | Yes | Richard Coufey | Short film; co-directed with Lance Bangs | |||
1999 | The Chocolate Tour | Yes | Skateboarding video | |||||
1999 | Three Kings | Yes | Private First Class Conrad Vig | |||||
1999 | Being John Malkovich | Yes | Yes | Derek Mantini's Assistant | ||||
1999 | An Intimate Look Inside the Acting Process with Ice Cube | Yes | Short film | |||||
2001 | Human Nature | Yes | ||||||
2001 | Keep Your Eyes Open | Yes | Officer Jonze | |||||
2002 | Jackass: The Movie | Yes | Yes | Yes | Himself | |||
2002 | Adaptation | Yes | Yes | Himself | ||||
2003 | Yeah Right! | Yes | Yes | Skateboarding video | ||||
2003 | What's Up, Fatlip? | Yes | Yes | Himself | Documentary short | |||
2004 | The Chocolate Tour | Yes | Yes | Skateboarding video | ||||
2004 | The Mystery of Dalarö | Yes | Short commercial film | |||||
2006 | Tell Me What Rockers to Swallow | Concert video; cinematographer | ||||||
2006 | The Krooked Chronicles | Yes | Skateboarding video | |||||
2006 | Jackass Number Two | Yes | Yes | Yes | Himself | |||
2007 | Fully Flared | Yes | Yes | Skateboarding video | ||||
2007 | Heavy Metal in Baghdad | Yes | Documentary | |||||
2008 | The Final Flare! | Yes | Skateboarding video | |||||
2008 | Synecdoche, New York | Yes | ||||||
2009 | We Were Once a Fairytale | Yes | Yes | Short film | ||||
2009 | Where the Wild Things Are | Yes | Yes | Yes | Bob / Terry (voices) | |||
2009 | Tell Them Anything You Want: A Portrait of Maurice Sendak | Yes | Himself | Documentary | ||||
2010 | I'm Here | Yes | Yes | Short film | ||||
2010 | Higglety Pigglety Pop! or There Must Be More to Life | Yes | Yes | Plant (voice) | ||||
2010 | The Vampire Attack | Yes | Yes | The Vampire | Short film | |||
2010 | Jackass 3D | Yes | Yes | Yes | Himself | |||
2011 | Moneyball | Yes | Alán | Uncredited | ||||
2011 | Scenes From the Suburbs | Yes | Short film | |||||
2011 | Mourir Auprès De Toi | Yes | Yes | Yes | Macbeth | Short film | ||
2012 | Pretty Sweet | Yes | Documentary | |||||
2013 | Her | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Alien Child (voice) | ||
2013 | Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa | Yes | Yes | Yes | Gloria | |||
2013 | Choose You | Yes | Short film | |||||
2013 | The Wolf of Wall Street | Yes | Dwayne | Uncredited | ||||
2014 | Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa .5 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Gloria | |||
2016 | Kenzo World | Yes | Yes | Short commercial film |
Television
Year | Title | Director | Writer | Producer | Actor | Executive producer | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1995 | Double Rush | Yes | Opening titles only | |||||
2000–2002 | Jackass | Yes | Yes | Himself | Also creator | |||
2010–2012 | The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret | Yes | Doug Whitney | 8 episodes | ||||
2015 | Girls | Yes | Marcos | Episode: "Home Birth" | ||||
2016 | The Late Show with Stephen Colbert | Yes | Guest director of intro | |||||
2016–present | Viceland programs | Yes |
Music videos
Year | Song | Artist | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1992 | "Hush" | Wax | |
"High in High School" | Chainsaw Kittens | ||
"100%" | Sonic Youth | Co-directed by Tamra Davis | |
1993 | "Cannonball" | The Breeders | Co-directed by Kim Gordon Produced by Steve Reiss |
"Country at War" | X | ||
"Daughters of the Kaos" | Luscious Jackson | ||
"Hang On" | Teenage Fanclub | ||
"Time for Livin'" | Beastie Boys | ||
1994 | "All About Eve" | Marxman | |
"Buddy Holly" | Weezer | ||
"Ditch Digger" | Rocket from the Crypt | ||
"Divine Hammer" | The Breeders | Co-directed by Kim Gordon, Richard Kern | |
"Feel the Pain" | Dinosaur Jr. | ||
"I Can't Stop Smiling" | Velocity Girl | ||
"If I Only Had a Brain" | MC 900 Ft. Jesus | ||
"Old Timer" | that dog. | ||
"Ricky's Theme" | Beastie Boys | ||
"Sabotage" | Also writer | ||
"Sure Shot" | |||
"Undone - The Sweater Song" | Weezer | ||
1995 | "California" | Wax | |
"Car Song" | Elastica | ||
"Crush with Eyeliner" | R.E.M. | ||
"Freedom of '76" | Ween | ||
"It's Oh So Quiet" | Björk | ||
"The Diamond Sea" | Sonic Youth | ||
"Who Is Next?" | Wax | ||
1996 | "Drop" | The Pharcyde | |
1997 | "Da Funk" | Daft Punk | |
"Electrolite" | R.E.M. | ||
"Elektrobank" | The Chemical Brothers | ||
"It's All About the Benjamins" (Rock Remix) | Puff Daddy | ||
"Liberty Calls" | Mike Watt | ||
"Shady Lane" | Pavement | ||
"Sky's the Limit" | The Notorious B.I.G. | ||
1998 | "Home" | Sean Lennon | |
"Praise You" | Fatboy Slim | A Torrance Public Film Production | |
"Root Down" version 2 | Beastie Boys | ||
2000 | "Weapon of Choice" | Fatboy Slim | Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video |
"What's Up, Fatlip?" | Fatlip | ||
"Wonderboy" | Tenacious D | As Marcus Von Bueler | |
2002 | "Island in the Sun" (version 2) | Weezer | |
"Guess I'm Doing Fine" | Beck | ||
"It's in Our Hands" | Björk | ||
2003 | "Big Brat" | Phantom Planet | |
2004 | "Get Back" | Ludacris | |
"Y Control" | Yeah Yeah Yeahs | ||
2005 | "Triumph of a Heart" | Björk | |
2008 | "Flashing Lights" | Kanye West | Co-directed with West |
2009 | "Heaven" | UNKLE | Co-directed with Ty Evans |
"25" | AsDSSka | Co-directed with Crystal Moselle | |
2010 | "Drunk Girls" | LCD Soundsystem | Co-directed with James Murphy |
"The Suburbs" | Arcade Fire | Edited from the short film Scenes from the Suburbs | |
2011 | "Don't Play No Game That I Can't Win" | Beastie Boys feat. Santigold | |
"Otis" | Jay-Z & Kanye West | ||
2013 | "Afterlife" (live, YouTube version) | Arcade Fire | Directed live for the YouTube Awards |
"Dope" | Lady Gaga | Directed live for the YouTube Awards | |
2015 | "Only One" | Kanye West feat. Paul McCartney |
Selected commercials
Year | Title | Subject | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2002 | "Crazy Legs" | Levi's | |
2002 | "Lamp" | IKEA | |
2005 | "Hello Tomorrow" | Adidas | |
2007 | "Pardon Our Dust" | GAP | |
2007 | "Doctor’s" | Levi's | |
2008 | "Frontier" | Nissan |
Theater
Year | Title | Function | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2017 | Changers: A Dance Story | Writer, director |
Awards and nominations
Year | Film | Awards and nominations |
---|---|---|
1999 | Being John Malkovich | Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Breakthrough Artist (also for Three Kings) Deauville Film Festival – Critics Award Deauville Film Festival – Grand Special Prize Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Newcomer of the Year Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature (shared with Michael Stipe, Sandy Stern, Steve Golin, Vincent Landay) Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Newcomer London Critics Circle Film Award for Director of the Year MTV Movie Award for Best New Filmmaker New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best First Film Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Debut Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Director (2nd place) Venice Film Festival – FIPRESCI Prize Nominated – Academy Award for Best Director Nominated – Bodil Award for Best American Film Nominated – Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Director Nominated – César Award for Best Foreign Film Nominated – Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures Nominated – Empire Award for Best Debut Nominated – Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation (shared with Charlie Kaufman) Nominated – Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists Award for Best Foreign Director Nominated – Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Director Nominated – Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Director Nominated – Robert Award for Best American Film |
2002 | Adaptation | Berlin International Film Festival – Jury Grand Prix San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Director (2nd place) Washington DC Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Director Nominated – Berlin International Film Festival – Golden Berlin Bear Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Director Nominated – Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Director |
2009 | Where the Wild Things Are | Nominated – Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Adapted Screenplay Nominated – Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Director Nominated – Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Adapted Screenplay Nominated – Saturn Award for Best Writing| |
2013 | Her | Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay Austin Film Critics Association Award for Best Original Screenplay Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Original Screenplay Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay International Online Film Critics' Poll Award for Best Original Screenplay Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Original Screenplay National Board of Review Award for Best Director Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Original Screenplay San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Original Screenplay Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best Screenplay Washington DC Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Original Screenplay Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay Saturn Award for Best Writing Saturn Award for Best Fantasy Film Nominated – Academy Award for Best Picture (shared with Megan Ellison and Vincent Landay) Nominated – Academy Award for Best Original Song Nominated – Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Director Nominated – Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Director Nominated – Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Screenplay (2nd place) Nominated – New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Director Nominated – New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Screenplay Nominated – New York Film Festival – Grand Marnier Fellowship Award Nominated – Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Director Nominated – Producers Guild of America Award for Best Theatrical Motion Picture (shared with Megan Ellison and Vincent Landay) Nominated – Rome Film Fest – Golden Marc'Aurelio Award Nominated – San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Director Nominated – Satellite Award for Best Original Screenplay |