Overview (2)

Mini Bio (1)

Trade Mark (13)

Frequently uses a technique known as the hip-hop montage, which is a sequence of images or actions shown in fast-motion with accompanying sound effects, usually shown to simulate a certain action, such as taking drugs.



Fade to white for emphasis, a break in the story, or an end of an Act/Section in the story.



Use of sounds to objects that are not always seen on screen (i.e., a train horn, or slurping liquid).



Uses a string instrument and techno beat combination for the soundtrack to his films.



Use of the Snorricam (a camera device that is rigged to the body of the actor).





Features scores by Clint Mansell

Characters with strong obsessions that drive them towards self-destruction



Lengthy over-the-shoulder shots





Frequently works with Mark Margolis

He sometimes shoots his films on 16 mm film.



Unflinching portrayal of violence and damage to the body



His films often revolve around obsession and it's damaging effects on people's lives



Flawed but sympathetic leading characters



Trivia (36)

Attended Harvard University.



Attended the American Film Institute.





Was engaged to British actress Rachel Weisz

Named among Fade In magazine's 100 People in Hollywood You Need to Know in 2005.





During 2001/2002, he was attached to direct and co-write a screen adaption of Frank Miller 's "Batman: Year One". Darren's co-writer was, of course, Frank Miller , who had also written "Batman: The Dark Knight Returns" and the "Sin City" graphic novels.



2004: Lived in New York with actress Rachel Weisz



He and his fiancée, Rachel Weisz , became parents of a boy on May 31st, 2006. They named him Henry Chance.

His first computer was a TRS-80.



Member of the 'Dramatic' jury at the Sundance Film Festival in 2001.





His parents and the parents of Vicki Roberts are neighbors; they live one house away from each other in a private community in Florida.



In March 2011, Aronofsky announced he was leaving production of Wolverine: Weg des Kriegers (2013) because it would require him to be filming outside of the United States for too long. He released a statement specifying, "I was not comfortable being away from my family for that length of time. I am sad that I won't be able to see the project through".

President of the 'Official Competition' jury at the 68th Venice International Film Festival in 2011.





Contributed a message to the book Satoshi Anime Zen-Shigoto (Satoshi Kon's Animation Works), a book dedicated to the works of Japanese animation director Satoshi Kon who died in 2011. Kon had personally met Aronofsky in 2001 shortly after the release of Aronfosky's Pi - System im Chaos (1998), and before the release of Kon's Millennium Actress (2001).

He routinely does not shave or cut his hair while shooting a film.





Completed The Fountain (2006), working on "Flicker" and "Lone Wolf and Cub" scripts. [July 2006]



Was considered to direct Man of Steel (2013).



Studied filmmaking at Harvard University under Miklós Jancsó

1983 graduate of the Mark Twain I.S. 239 for the Gifted & Talented in Brooklyn, NY. He was inducted into the school's "Alumni Hall of Fame" on March 26 2015.



Was considered to direct Gambit (????).





Cites Time Bandits (1981) as his 'desert island' DVD choice.

Head of the 'Official Competition' jury at the 65th Berlin International Film Festival in 2015.



He has expressed a desire to direct an adaptation of the DC Comics character Superman.



He attempted to make a Batman: Year One adaptation but it never got off the ground. His choice for the title role was Joaquin Phoenix.



His influences include Akira Kurosawa, Roman Polanski, Terry Gilliam, Shinya Tsukamoto, Hubert Selby, Jr, Spike Lee, Satoshi Kon and Jim Jarmusch.



His favorite films include Angel Heart (1987), Jacob's Ladder (1990), Brazil (1985), Time Bandits (1981), Once Upon A Time in The West (1968), Saturday Night Fever (1977), Do The Right Thing (1989) and West Side Story (1961).



Grew up in Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn.



Personal Quotes (18)

I try to live my life where I end up at a point where I have no regrets. So I try to choose the road that I have the most passion on because then you can never really blame yourself for making the wrong choices. You can always say you're following your passion.





There's always been a lot of pressure and tension on the line. If Pi - System im Chaos (1998) didn't work out, I have no idea what my career would be. I don't think I would have gotten another shot at it. If Requiem for a Dream (2000) didn't work out, they would have called me a 'one-hit wonder with a sophomore slump'.

To me, watching a movie is like going to an amusement park. My worst fear is making a film that people don't think is a good ride.





[on Mickey Rourke ] When you meet him, he has all this armour on him, but that's because inside he's soft as jelly and he has such a big heart. Technically, he's an incredible actor and completely in control of his craft.



I walked out of Matrix (1999) and I was thinking, 'What kind of science fiction movie can people make now?' The Wachowski Brothers [now sisters Lana Wachowski and Lilly Wachowski ] took all the great sci-fi ideas of the 20th century and rolled them into a delicious pop culture sandwich that everyone on the planet devoured.

Filmmaking is barely an art. 99% of my job is bureaucracy.



You have to be memorable if you want people to be thinking about it thirty seconds after it happens. I don't think it matters, the reaction, as long as they're reacting.



It's a very hard line, as a filmmaker, to know when is too much. And I'm usually on the wrong side of it.



I think it's important to keep trying new things.





[on creating Black Swan (2010)] It was a very hard film to make and I ended up making everyone's commitment to stay on it longer and longer. Every time we had a push because the money fell apart, or whatever, the hardest conversation I would have was with Natalie [ Natalie Portman ] because I knew it meant carrot sticks and almonds for another 3 months for her and she was not going to be happy.

[on how he chooses visual style that suits each story] It's probably because I'm Godless. And so I've had to make my God, and my God is narrative filmmaking, which is - ultimately what my God becomes, which is what my mantra becomes, is the theme.



All my work comes from somewhere inside. It's passionate. Filming is so tough, people are constantly saying 'no,' you have to wake up every morning. I don't know how to do that unless you believe in the material. [2017]





The dreamscape in movies is one of the great elements of cinema. It was popular all the way up to the 70s, when our heroes Scorsese [ Martin Scorsese ] and Friedkin [ William Friedkin ] started making realism, and we've left dreamscape. Bunuel [ Luis Buñuel ] and Polanski [ Roman Polanski ] drifted away, and movies became real, leading to '80s fantasy and the '90s superhero era. Now we have very simple heroics. [2017]

If we want something new at the movies, you give them something new and they say, 'What the hell is that?' The more these films can succeed, the more chances we can get weird ones made. [2017]



I told my father "Dad, all I want in my life is for people to either cheer or boo. I just don't want anything in the middle."



I can't spoon-feed. I just don't do that. My job, first and foremost, is to entertain and scare the audience.



I have a real problem with violence and sexuality being used for no reason. Those are very easy tools to rely on and very dangerous to abuse. I try to be truthful to what violence is. There's nothing glamorous about it.



Salary (1)