Spike Jonze
Spike Jonze
Spike Jonzeis an American director, producer, screenwriter and actor, whose work includes music videos, commercials, film and television. He started his feature film directing career with Being John Malkovichand Adaptation, both written by Charlie Kaufman, and then started movies with screenplays of his own with Where the Wild Things Areand Her...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionDirector
Date of Birth22 October 1969
CityRockville, MD
CountryUnited States of America
I love people that willfully defy what you're supposed to be and create their own definition of their selves.
I don't know what life was like 1,000 years ago, but I imagine there was the same struggle: people trying to connect with each other.
There are a lot of kids in the world. People seem to keep having them.
I respect people that are die-hard film people, but I started on video. I started on Hi8 video and mini-DV, and I made skate videos. So, I love film, and I love the way it looks, but I also love the way crappy video looks, or VHS. I've always been a fan of whatever the look is that's appropriate for what the feeling is.
I remember when MySpace came out. It did do something pretty incredible - which was unite people around the world with common interests and common tastes.
I like people that define their own values. I am much more interested in somebody who has their own definition of what they value, their own definition of what success is, their own definition of what love is.
I definitely enjoy getting to know people I find inspiring.
You make a movie that is about what you want it to be about and let people have their reaction to it.
The things that are really out of control, and scary, are emotions - of people around you, that are unpredictable, or those in yourself which are unpredictable.
I like hiring people based on a feeling - this person gets it - rather than what they've done in the past.
The strengths and failings of a relationship depend entirely on your ability to talk about your feelings.
I started directing videos at the same time that Michel Gondry was starting to direct videos, and I watched what he'd do. They all seemed to be pushing some new visual effects idea, but never just for spectacle. They all captured a feeling.
I skated and rode bikes on ramps, and my mom was always super supportive. She was one of the only divorced moms in the neighborhood, so all the other parents looked down upon her for letting her kids do that kind of thing.
I've done a couple of interviews, and I realized how uncomfortable I felt as soon as I started talking.