Spike Jonze (born Adam Spiegel; October 22, 1969) is an American director and producer, whose work includes music videos, commercials, film and television. He is best known for his collaborations with writer Charlie Kaufman, which include the 1999 film Being John Malkovich and the 2002 film Adaptation., and for his work as director of the 2009 film Where the Wild Things Are. He is also credited as a co-creator of MTV's Jackass.[1] He is currently the creative director of VBS.tv.[2] He is also part owner of skateboard company Girl Skateboards with riders Rick Howard and Mike Carroll.[3]
He also co-founded Directors Label with Chris Cunningham and Michel Gondry.
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, "Penguin" forMiller Beer, 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 also 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 skateboard company's Video Days in 1991, and Lakai Footwear's Fully Flared in 2007. He also 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 also co-owner of Girl Skateboards. 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 "Rockafeller Skank" as it played on a boom box in a public area. Spike showed the video to Slim, who loved it. 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. He also 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 with experienced knowledge, to provide an intimate insight into the artists' creative process. Most recently, Jonze directed Where the Wild Things Are, which opened in the United States on October 16, 2009. It is arguably his most anticipated film to date, the product of an almost decade long collaboration with author Maurice Sendak. In July 2009, Jonze acquired the rights to make a film adaptation of the Shane Jones novel, Light Boxes. It is expected that Jonze will act as producer on this project with Ray Tintori attached to direct.
*All info taken from Wikipedia.org*
Stacey Luscott
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