Alejandro González Iñárritu

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Alejandro González Iñárritu

Born August 15, 1963 (1963-08-15) (age 44)
Flag of Mexico Mexico City, Mexico
Years active 1995 - present
Spouse(s) María Eladia Hagerman

Alejandro González Iñárritu (IPA[i'ɲaritu]), born August 15, 1963, to Hector González Gama and Luz María Iñárritu in Mexico City, is an Academy Award, Palme d'Or, Golden Lion, European Film Award, DGA Award, PGA Award, three-time César Award, Silver Ribbon, Golden Globe -nominated and Prix de la mise en scene du Cannes, BAFTA, three-time Ariel Award, David di Donatello, Fotogramas de Plata, and ALFS Award winning Mexican film director.

Alejandro González Iñarritu is the first Mexican director to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Director.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early career

He started his career as a DJ in 1984 at the top-rated Mexican radio station WFM. In 1988 he began composing music for six Mexican feature films, including Garra de tigre (1989). He studied filmmaking in Maine and Los Angeles, under Polish film director Ludwik Margules and studied directing under Judith Weston in Los Angeles.

In the nineties he was in charge of the production of Televisa, a Mexican TV company. By the time he was 27 he had become one of their youngest directors. In 1991, after Televisa, he set up Zeta Films, a society for producing, advertising, and short films, as well as television programs. It was then he started writing and shooting TV commercials.

[edit] Path to fame

His first half-length feature, Detrás del dinero, was produced in 1995 for Televisa and starred Spanish actor/singer Miguel Bosé.

Screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga after 3 years and 36 drafts, ended up with three stories into the feature length film, Amores perros (2000) starring Gael García Bernal. This gritty look at the underbelly of Mexican life garnered an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film as well as a BAFTA Film Award for "Best Film not in the English Language," the Critics Week Grand Prize and Young Critics Award at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival as well as many other awards from festivals and societies around the world.

González Iñárritu made the fifth short ("Powder Keg") in the BMW The Hire series and directed the Mexico segment of the independent feature 11'09'01 - September 11 (2002), a collective movie about the influence of 9-11 on the world, along with Claude Lelouch, Shohei Imamura, Ken Loach, Mira Nair, Amos Gitai and Sean Penn.

[edit] Move to Hollywood

The success of Amores perros led to González Iñárritu directing a second film, this time in the U.S., titled 21 Grams. Again written by Guillermo Arriaga, it starred Benicio del Toro, Naomi Watts and Sean Penn. Del Toro and Watts received Academy Award nominations for their performances.

His most recent project, Babel, consisted of four stories set in Morocco, Mexico, the United States, and Japan, in four different time frames. It was released in November 2006 and stars Brad Pitt, Adriana Barraza, Rinko Kikuchi, Cate Blanchett, Gael García Bernal, and Koji Yakusho. He earned the Best Director Prize (Prix de la mise en scène) at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival. Babel would also go on to win the Best Motion Picture in the drama category at the Golden Globe Awards on January 15, 2007.

However, González Iñárritu was severely criticized for banning writer Guillermo Arriaga from attending the 2006 Cannes Film Festival after a serious falling out between the two. The dispute is thought to relate to the authorship of González Iñárritu's previous film 21 Grams; insiders have stated that Arriaga wanted the screenplay to be credited as a collaborative effort, while González Iñárritu claimed sole credit as the author of the film. Sources in the industry believe that it is unlikely that the pair will ever work together again. [1]

Babel received 7 nominations for the 79th Annual Academy Awards, including for Best Picture and Achievement in Directing, He has recently made another short film, ANNA, which will be screening at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival inside Chacun son cinéma.

He will act as producer for Rudo y Cursi where Alfonso Cuarón's brother Carlos Cuarón will direct, starring Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna in this comedy-drama about a love/hate relationship between two brothers who are both professional soccer-players. [2]

He now lives in Los Angeles with his wife María Eladia Hagerman de González and their two children María Eladia and Eliseo.

[edit] Awards & Nominations

[edit] Filmography

[edit] Feature Films

[edit] Short Films

[edit] References

  1. ^ Terrence Rafferty, 2006-10-22. Auteur vs. Auteur. New York Times.
  2. ^ Bernal and Luna filming Rudo y Cursi

[edit] External links