| Michel Hazanavicius | |
|---|---|
Hazanavicius in 2011 at a premiere of The Artist in Paris |
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| Born | 29 March 1967 |
| Years active | 1988–present |
| Spouse | Bérénice Bejo |
Michel Hazanavicius (born 29 March 1967) is a French film director, producer and screenwriter best known for his spy movie parodies OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies and OSS 117: Lost in Rio, both of which star Jean Dujardin. His most recent film The Artist competed for the Palme d'Or at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival[1]. Though the film lost to The Tree of Life, Dujardin went on to win the Best Actor prize as the lead in The Artist.[2]
Before directing films, Hazanavicius worked in television, beginning with the Canal+ channel, where he started as a director in 1988.[3] He then moved into directing commercials for such companies as Reebok and Bouygues Telecom and made his first feature-length film, La Classe américaine, for television in 1993. The film, co-directed with Dominique Mézerette, consisted entirely of footage taken from various films produced by the Warner Bros. studio, re-edited and dubbed into French. Hazanavicius directed his first short film, Echec au capital, in 1997,[3] and followed it up with his first theatrically released feature, Mes amis, which starred his brother, actor Serge Hazanavicius.
Seven years later, Hazanavicius wrote and directed his second feature, OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies, a send-up of 1960s spy movies and, specifically OSS 117, a popular character created by Jean Bruce in 1949. The film was a modest box office success, making $23 million worldwide.[4] A sequel, OSS 117: Lost in Rio, followed in 2009. Both films were later distributed in the United States by Music Box Films. His latest movie, The Artist, a black and white film without dialogue which takes place in Hollywood on the eve of the "talkies", screened In Competition at the 2011 Cannes International Film Festival.
Hazanavicius is married to Bérénice Bejo who acted in his films OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies and The Artist.[5]
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