Overview (3)

Mini Bio (1)

Spike Jonze made up one-third (along with Andy Jenkins and Mark Lewman) of the triumvirate of genius minds behind Dirt Magazine, the brother publication of the much lamented ground-breaking Sassy Magazine. These three uncommon characters were all editors for Grand Royal Magazine as well, under the direction of Mike D and Adam Horovitz and Adam Yauch before the sad demise of Grand Royal Records. Jonze was also responsible for directing the famous Beastie Boys: Sabotage (1994) short film as well as numerous other music videos for various artists.

- IMDb Mini Biography By: Robb Hand

Spouse (1)

Trade Mark (9)

[Off-beat] His films/music videos are off-beat in their visual storytelling, particularly their mix of live-action, animation, and puppetry.



Subtle handheld camera operation





Frequently uses music from Karen O and the Arcade Fire

Many of his music videos are short films set to music



Often shoots exterior scenes around sunset



Green and blue tinged scenes lit by fluorescents



Trivia (27)



In 2001, at the age of 32, he directed the video for Fatboy Slim 's "Weapon of Choice." This video contains 32 cuts.

Was a member of Propaganda Films.



Continues to shoot some of the finest films in the skateboarding scene, among these is Blind's 1991 magnum opus "VideoDays" and Girl's 2003 "Yeah Right!".



He is co-owner of the Girl skateboard company.





Was offered the opportunity to direct the movie The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005), but declined. He suggested small British production company "Hammer and Tongs", instead.

Contrary to popular belief is not an heir to the Spiegel catalog fortune, although he is a distant relative of those that are.





(early 1990s) Featured in a "Spike-Needs-A-Girlfriend" contest in Christina Kelly 's 'What Now' column in Sassy Magazine. His requirements for a girlfriend were: "short hair, clear skin, and good teeth".

One of the most renowned directors for music videos, he has received numerous awards and recognition from MTV for his outstanding work in the medium.



Started as a magazine editor and contributor before moving into film.





Is not to be confused with famous novelty musician and band leader Spike Jones

Jonze was an avid BMX freestyle rider in his youth.





Told Nicolas Cage to ignore all of his acting instincts, for his role in Adaptation. (2002). Cage later received a Oscar Nomination for his acting in that movie.

His father was from a German Jewish and Russian Jewish family, while his mother's ancestry includes German, Scottish, and English.



Grew up with friend and Jackass co-creator Jeff Tremaine.



Personal Quotes (5)



As a feature film director you got to be a guarding dog of the whole production. You got to be able to hold 100 script pages in the head at the same time. If you miss a detail it's wasted. I don't know how the music video generation can affect the movie business, but I'm curious what feature films the English Chris Cunningham and the Swedish guy Jonas Åkerlund are going to make.



[on the origins of Her (2013) from his long-ago encounter with an artificial-intelligence computer program] For the first 30 seconds, I had that buzz, like, It's responding to me! Then it quickly fell apart and you realize, Here are the tricks, here's how this works. But what if I could sustain that forever? What would that be like? I wanted to take that idea as far as I could possibly imagine and feel.



[on Joaquin Phoenix 's first reading for/ acting in Her (2013)] I loved him...[He was] all instinct [and] when something felt weird, when Joaquin was uncomfortable with something, I knew it meant there was some place I had cheated or hadn't thought through or hadn't gone deep enough. His flinch is always worth listening to...I'm always amazed when any actor can decipher my direction. I think, 'God, I can't believe Joaquin just understood what I meant when I barely said anything'.

There was definitely a point in my thirties when I thought, 'Oh, wow, I'm not the youngest person on the set anymore. But I like it. Working with younger artists is totally exciting...[And Arcade Fire:] Most of them are ten years younger than me and they just feel like peers. Their process is very democratic. Anyone in the group can come up with an idea and play over someone else.



[on Amy Adams] The thing I realized with Amy is, she can make any dialogue you write sound unwritten. She just has a way of internalizing it. She's such a thinker, and you can see her thinking her way through all of that until it's all coming from within her.

