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IMDbPro

Jean-Pierre Jeunet

  • Director
  • Writer
  • Producer
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank
Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Jean-Pierre Jeunet is a self-taught director who was very quickly interested by cinema, with a predilection for a fantastic cinema where form is as important as the subject. Thus he started directing TV commercials and video clips (such as Julien Clerc in 1984). At the same time he met designer/drawer Marc Caro with whom he made two short animation movies: L'évasion (1978) and Le manège (1981), the latter winning a César for the best short movie. After these two successful movies Jeunet and Caro spent more than one year together by making every detail (scenario, costumes, production design) of their third short movie: The Bunker of the Last Gunshots (1993). This movie combined sci-fi and heroic-fantasy in a visually delirious story of the rising paranoia among soldiers trapped underground. With that movie they garnered several festival prizes in France. (This movie also marked their first collaboration with Gilles Adrien who later wrote the story of their two feature movies with them). After that Jeunet directed two other short movies without the help of Caro: Pas de repos pour Billy Brakko (1984), then Foutaises (1989) with Dominique Pinon who became another regular collaborator of Jeunet. All Jeunet's short movies won a lot of awards in France but also overseas and he won a second César with Foutaises (1989).

In 1991, Jeunet and Caro took their first steps in a feature movie: Delicatessen (1991). It was such a success that it won 4 Césars including the awards for the best new director(s) and the best scenario. For this movie Jeunet and Caro divided responsibilities with the former guiding the actors and the latter coordinating the artistic elements. And Jeunet showed again his liking to have Dominique Pinon, of course, but also Rufus, Jean-Claude Dreyfus and Ticky Holgado who appeared again in Jeunet's next movies, or Maurice Lamy who already had a little role in Foutaises (1989). The success of Delicatessen (1991) even surprised Jeunet and Caro themselves but they took advantage of that in order to finally make their almost 10 year-old project! This project took more than 4 more years to be carried out but the movie turned out enormous: The City of Lost Children (1995) was a black tale and was so innovative at this period that they needed to create new software for the special effects (mostly made by Pitof). Jeunet and Caro kept the same responsibilities as in Delicatessen (1991) and the movie also combined different international skills: US actor Ron Perlman, Chilean-born actor Daniel Emilfork, Iranian cinematographer Darius Khondji (who was already in the crew of Delicatessen (1991)), Americo-Italian composer Angelo Badalamenti and French fashion-designer Jean-Paul Gaultier for the costumes. While the film was supposed to be suitable for children, some considered it "dark", to which Jeunet and Caro replied that it was no more "dark" than Pinocchio (1940) or Bambi (1942).

But these critics didn't stop the movie from being successful and when the movie gained them further attention, it was only a matter of time before Hollywood called them. Thus in 1997, Jeunet left France to make a temporary career in the USA for the fourth installment of the 'Alien' series: Alien: Resurrection (1997). Marc Caro followed him just as a design supervisor but Jeunet brought with him a little army' of his usual collaborators (mostly French): actors Dominique Pinon and Ron Perlman, but also Pitof, Darius Khondji or editor Hervé Schneid, and for the first time Alain Carsoux who was responsible of the special effects of Jeunet's next film. In 2000, after two collaborations with Caro and one in the US, Jeunet came back to France in order to make a more personal movie, even if Guillaume Laurant wrote the story with him. Thus he used a lot of different details he wrote everywhere during his life (and also recycled things he'd already done, e.g. in Foutaises (1989)) and shot his story mostly in the Parisian suburb of Montmartre where he lives. Then the result was Amélie (2001) starring Audrey Tautou and Mathieu Kassovitz. With this movie Jeunet made the biggest worldwide success of French cinema history. A real magical potion, which won innumerable awards in the whole world including 4 Césars (therefore Jeunet won his fifth and sixth Césars!).

Jeunet eventually decided to adapt Sébastien Japrisot's book A Very Long Engagement (2004) for which he called Audrey Tautou and Dominique Pinon again, but also many other famous French actors and Jodie Foster. It had one of the most important budgets in French film history and eventually had a good international success and many nominations and awards.
BornSeptember 3, 1953
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BornSeptember 3, 1953
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank
  • Unlock contact info on IMDbPro
  • Nominated for 1 Oscar
    • 45 wins & 31 nominations total

Photos16

Jean-Pierre Jeunet in Micmacs (2009)
Dan Hedaya, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, and Rod Damer in Alien: Resurrection (1997)
Audrey Tautou as Mathilde (back), Dominique Pinon as Sylvain (right)
Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Audrey Tautou in A Very Long Engagement (2004)
Jean-Pierre Jeunet in Alien: Resurrection (1997)
Winona Ryder and Jean-Pierre Jeunet in Alien: Resurrection (1997)
Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Audrey Tautou in Amélie (2001)
Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro at an event for Delicatessen (1991)
Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro at an event for Delicatessen (1991)
Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Jean-Pierre Jeunet at an event for The Matrix Reloaded (2003)
Jean-Pierre Jeunet

Known for

Audrey Tautou and Gaspard Ulliel in A Very Long Engagement (2004)
A Very Long Engagement
7.6
  • Director
  • 2004
Audrey Tautou in Amélie (2001)
Amélie
8.3
  • Director
  • 2001
Delicatessen (1991)
Delicatessen
7.6
  • Director
  • 1991
Micmacs (2009)
Micmacs
7.1
  • Director(as Jean Pierre Jeunet)
  • 2009

Credits

Edit
IMDbPro

Director

  • La véritable histoire d'Amélie Poulain (2023)
    La véritable histoire d'Amélie Poulain
    • Director
    • Short
    • 2023
  • Isabelle Nanty, Claude Perron, Elsa Zylberstein, Stéphane De Groodt, Youssef Hajdi, and Alban Lenoir in Big Bug (2022)
    Big Bug
    • Director
    • 2022
  • Anaïs et Philibert - Fondation Gaillanne (2019)
    Anaïs et Philibert - Fondation Gaillanne
    • Director
    • Short
    • 2019
  • Gauvain Sers: Pourvu (2017)
    Gauvain Sers: Pourvu
    • Director
    • Music Video
    • 2017
  • Deux escargots s'en vont (2016)
    Deux escargots s'en vont
    • Director
    • Short
    • 2016
  • Diego Luna in Casanova (2015)
    Casanova
    • Director
    • TV Movie
    • 2015
  • Kyle Catlett in The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet (2013)
    The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet
    • Director
    • 2013
  • Audrey Tautou and Travis Davenport in Chanel No. 5: Train de Nuit (2009)
    Chanel No. 5: Train de Nuit
    • Director
    • Short
    • 2009
  • Micmacs (2009)
    Micmacs
    • Director (as Jean Pierre Jeunet)
    • 2009
  • Audrey Tautou and Gaspard Ulliel in A Very Long Engagement (2004)
    A Very Long Engagement
    • Director
    • 2004
  • Audrey Tautou in Amélie (2001)
    Amélie
    • Director
    • 2001
  • Winona Ryder and Sigourney Weaver in Alien: Resurrection (1997)
    Alien: Resurrection
    • Director
    • 1997
  • The City of Lost Children (1995)
    The City of Lost Children
    • Director
    • 1995
  • The King of Ads, Part 2 (1993)
    The King of Ads, Part 2
    • segment director
    • 1993
  • L'Oeil du cyclone (1991)
    L'Oeil du cyclone
    • Director
    • TV Series
    • 1993

Writer

  • La véritable histoire d'Amélie Poulain (2023)
    La véritable histoire d'Amélie Poulain
    • Writer
    • Short
    • 2023
  • Isabelle Nanty, Claude Perron, Elsa Zylberstein, Stéphane De Groodt, Youssef Hajdi, and Alban Lenoir in Big Bug (2022)
    Big Bug
    • screenplay
    • 2022
  • Anaïs et Philibert - Fondation Gaillanne (2019)
    Anaïs et Philibert - Fondation Gaillanne
    • screenplay by
    • Short
    • 2019
  • Deux escargots s'en vont (2016)
    Deux escargots s'en vont
    • screenplay by
    • Short
    • 2016
  • Kyle Catlett in The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet (2013)
    The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet
    • screenplay
    • 2013
  • Micmacs (2009)
    Micmacs
    • scenario (as Jean Pierre Jeunet)
    • 2009
  • Audrey Tautou and Gaspard Ulliel in A Very Long Engagement (2004)
    A Very Long Engagement
    • story and adaptation
    • 2004
  • Audrey Tautou in Amélie (2001)
    Amélie
    • scenario
    • 2001
  • The City of Lost Children (1995)
    The City of Lost Children
    • additional dialogue
    • 1995
  • Delicatessen (1991)
    Delicatessen
    • screenplay
    • shooting script
    • 1991
  • Foutaises (1989)
    Foutaises
    • Writer (as Jean Pierre Jeunet)
    • Short
    • 1989
  • Pas de repos pour Billy Brakko (1984)
    Pas de repos pour Billy Brakko
    • screenplay
    • Short
    • 1984
  • The Bunker of the Last Gunshots (1993)
    The Bunker of the Last Gunshots
    • scenario
    • Short
    • 1993
  • Le manège (1981)
    Le manège
    • screenplay
    • Short
    • 1981
  • L'évasion
    • screenplay
    • Short
    • 1978

Producer

  • Isabelle Nanty, Claude Perron, Elsa Zylberstein, Stéphane De Groodt, Youssef Hajdi, and Alban Lenoir in Big Bug (2022)
    Big Bug
    • producer
    • 2022
  • Anaïs et Philibert - Fondation Gaillanne (2019)
    Anaïs et Philibert - Fondation Gaillanne
    • producer
    • Short
    • 2019
  • Looop (2018)
    Looop
    • producer
    • Short
    • 2018
  • Diego Luna in Casanova (2015)
    Casanova
    • executive producer
    • TV Movie
    • 2015
  • Kyle Catlett in The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet (2013)
    The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet
    • executive producer
    • 2013
  • Au four et au moulin: les coulisses de Micmacs à Tire-Larigot (2010)
    Au four et au moulin: les coulisses de Micmacs à Tire-Larigot
    • producer
    • Video
    • 2010
  • Micmacs (2009)
    Micmacs
    • producer
    • 2009
  • A forradalom arca - Egy pesti lány nyomában
    • co-producer
    • 2006
  • Audrey Tautou and Gaspard Ulliel in A Very Long Engagement (2004)
    A Very Long Engagement
    • producer
    • 2004

Personal details

Edit
  • Official site
    • Official Site
  • Alternative names
    • Jean Pierre Jeunet
  • Born
    • September 3, 1953
    • Roanne, Loire, Rhône-Alpes, France
  • Spouse
    • Liza Sullivan1997 - present
  • Other works
    Directed the music video for Julien Clerc's "La Fille aux Bas Nylons" (1984).
  • Publicity listings
    • 7 Interviews
    • 5 Articles
    • 1 Pictorial

Did you know

Edit
  • Trivia
    Declined the offer to direct Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007), citing that most of the creative decisions for the project had already been taken, and he would have had very little to add.
  • Quotes
    When you are in love with a story, you have to take your time to follow it and to fall in love again one time. You need some time. And I need to be in love with a story because I am going to spend four years of my life inside without pleasure, without seeing anybody, you work 16 hours per day and at the weekend and I need to be in love with each detail.
  • Trademarks
      Always casts Dominique Pinon

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