Cary Fukunaga

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Cary Fukunaga
Cary Fukunaga at the 28th Tokyo International Film Festival
Cary Fukunaga at the 28th Tokyo International Film Festival
Born Cary Joji Fukunaga
(1977-07-10) July 10, 1977 (age 46)
Oakland, California, U.S.
Residence New York City, New York, U.S.
Education Grenoble Institute of Political Studies
Alma mater University of California, Santa Cruz
Tisch School of the Arts
Occupation Director
Writer
Cinematographer
Years active 2003–present

Cary Joji Fukunaga (born July 10, 1977)[1] is an American film director, writer, and cinematographer. He is known for writing and directing the 2009 film Sin Nombre, the 2011 film Jane Eyre and for directing and executive producing the first season of the HBO series True Detective, for which he won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series. He has received acclaim for the 2015 war drama Beasts of No Nation, in which Fukunaga was writer, director, producer, and cinematographer.[2]

Early life

Fukunaga was born in Oakland, California, the son of a third-generation Japanese-American father, Anthony Shuzo Fukunaga, born in a Japanese internment camp during World War II,[3] who worked for a generator company and later for the University of California, Berkeley; and a Swedish-American mother, Gretchen May Grufman,[4][5][6] who worked as a dental hygienist and later as a history teacher.[7] His parents divorced and remarried, his father to an Argentine woman, and his mother to a Mexican-American.[5]

Fukunaga said that his uncles and aunts are all elementary school teachers or scientists.[7] His family moved around a lot within the San Francisco Bay Area, moving to Berkeley, Albany, Vallejo, Benicia, Sebastopol and back to Oakland.[6]

Fukunaga originally wanted to be a pro snowboarder, but switched to filmmaking in his mid-twenties.[8] He got his start as a camera intern and later applied to film school.[9] He graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz with a Bachelor of Arts in history in 1999,[10][11] and attended Institut d'études politiques (IEP) de Grenoble. He enrolled in New York University's Tisch School of the Arts Graduate Film Program.[12][13]

Career

Short films

Fukunaga wrote and directed the short film Victoria para Chino (2004) while at NYU, which screened at the Sundance Film Festival and received a Student Academy Award in 2005.[14] The film won an Audience Award for Best Narrative Student Short film at the 2004 Austin Film Festival, a "Best Student Film" award at the 2006 Ashland Independent Film Festival, a "BAFTA/LA Award for Excellence – Honorable Mention" award at the 2005 Aspen Shortsfest, Best Student Film at the 2005 BendFilm Festival, Best Short Film and an Audience Award for Best Short Film at the 2005 Gen Art Film Festival, Best Short film at the 2005 Milan International Film Festival, and the Jury Prize for Best Student Short at the 2004 Woodstock Film Festival.

He wrote and directed the short films Kofi (2008) (shot in black and white) and more recently, Sleepwalking in the Rift (2012). Fukunaga wrote and directed a segment in the omnibus film project "Chinatown Film Project" (2009).

Feature films

Sin Nombre

Fukunaga made his feature film debut with Sin Nombre, which he wrote and directed. It received positive reviews.[15][16] The film received a number of awards, including the Directing award at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and a "New Director's Award" for Fukunaga at the 2009 Edinburgh International Film Festival. The film won "Best Foreign Language Film" awards from the Austin Film Critics Association in 2009, the Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Awards in 2009, the Florida Film Critics Circle Awards in 2009, the San Diego Film Critics Society Awards in 2009 (2nd place for Best Foreign Language Film), and the Washington DC Area Film Critics Association Awards in 2009. The film's cinematographer, Adriano Goldman, won the Cinematography award at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, and at the 2009 Stockholm Film Festival, the film won a Best Actor award (for Edgar Flores), as well as a Best Directorial Debut and FIPRESCI Prize for Fukunaga. Fukunaga won a 2010 Premios ACE award for "Cinema – Best First Work." The film was nominated for Best Feature, Best Director and Best Cinematography from the 2010 Independent Spirit Awards, and was nominated by the 2009 British Independent Film Awards (Best Foreign Film), the 2010 Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards (Best Foreign Language Film), the 2009 Chicago Film Critics Association Awards (Most Promising Filmmaker; Best Foreign Language Film), the 2010 Image Awards (Outstanding Foreign Motion Picture), the Bronze Horse at the 2009 Stockholm Film Festival and the 2009 Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize.

Jane Eyre

In 2010, Fukunaga directed a new film adaptation of Jane Eyre starring Mia Wasikowska, Michael Fassbender, Jamie Bell and Judi Dench. The film was released in 2011 and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Achievement in Costume Design for Costume Designer Michael O'Connor and a 2012 Goya Award for Best European Film. The film was nominated for a 2012 BAFTA Award (Best Costume Design), a 2012 Broadcast Film Critics Association Award (Best Costume Design), the 2012 Costume Designers Guild Awards (Excellence in Period Film), the 2012 Evening Standard British Film Awards (Best Technical Achievement), the 2011 Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards (Best Costume Design), the 2011 Satellite Awards (Best Costume Design). The 2012 Australian Film Institute awards as well as the 2011 British Independent Film Awards nominated Mia Wasikowska for a "Best Actress" award. The film's screenplay and screenwriter Moira Buffini (as well as author Charlotte Bronte) were nominated for a 2012 USC Scripter Award.

For his role in the film and other films that year (including Shame, A Dangerous Method, and X-Men: First Class, lead actor Michael Fassbender won "Best Actor" awards from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards, the 2011 National Board of Review Awards, the Central Ohio Film Critics Association Awards, the 2012 Evening Standard British Film Awards (also for Shame), and a 2012 Sant Jordi "Best Foreign Actor" award (also for A Dangerous Method and X-Men: First Class).

Beasts of No Nation

Fukunaga directed, wrote and filmed Beasts of No Nation, based on the novel of the same name by Uzodinma Iweala, in which Idris Elba stars as Commandant, a lead character.[17] The movie was picked up by Netflix for a reported $12 million as part of an effort to expand into original films.[18] On November 25, 2015, Fukunaga was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Director and Best Cinematography for his work on Beasts of No Nation, and the film received a nomination for Best Feature.[19]

Television

True Detective

Fukunaga directed all eight episodes of the first season of the 2014 HBO TV series True Detective, which was written and created by novelist, fiction writer and screenwriter Nic Pizzolatto.[20] The series stars Matthew McConaughey, Woody Harrelson and Michelle Monaghan. Fukunaga served as an Executive Producer on the show. The series received critical praise and was nominated for five Primetime Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Drama Series and Outstanding Directing for Fukunaga, who won. For the second season of True Detective, Fukunaga did not return as director, but continued to serve as executive producer.[8][21][22][23][24][25]

Writing and producing

Fukunaga has written most of the films he has directed. The short films that he has written the screenplays for include Kofi (2003) and Victoria para chino (2004). He wrote the screenplay to his feature film, Sin Nombre (2009), as well as his segment for the omnibus film, Chinatown Film Project (2009).

Fukunaga has produced or served as executive producer on most of the projects he has directed. He was the executive producer for his short films Kofi (2003) and Victoria para chino (2004). He was an executive producer on Andrew Okpeaha MacLean's feature film thriller, On the Ice, which won "Best Debut Film" and the "Crystal Bear" (Best Feature Film for the Generation 14+) at the 2011 Berlin Film Festival, among other awards.

Fukunaga served as an executive producer for the HBO series he directed, True Detective.

Cinematography and other work

Fukunaga served as a cinematographer on a number of short film projects, including Handmade (2013) (a documentary short directed by Rob Meyer), Sikumi (2008) (also known as Sikumi (On the Ice) about an Inuit hunter on the frozen Arctic Ocean, directed by Andrew Okpeaha MacLean), Team Queen (2007) (a short film directed by Leah Meyerhoff), the feature documentary Death of Two Sons (2006) (directed by Micah Schaffer), the short films Clear Water (2005) (directed by Natalie Mooallem), White (2005) (directed by Sebastian Mantilla), Kinnaq Nigaqtuqtuaq (2005) (directed by Andrew Okpeaha MacLean), Two Men (2005) (directed by Ian Olds) and Mating Call (2004) (directed by Patricio Serna).

He served as a camera operator on the short Glory at Sea (2008) (directed by Beasts of the Southern Wild director Benh Zeitlin), as a gaffer on the short film Just Make Believe (2008) (directed by Jadrien Steele), as an additional cinematographer on the TV documentary Small Steps: Creating the High School for Contemporary Arts (2007), assistant camera on the short film Dock (2004) (directed by Nina Martinek), additional photography for the documentary Lockdown, USA (about the "War on Drugs" campaign and directed by Rebecca Chaiklin and Michael Skolnik), additional camera for Autumn's Eyes (2006) (directed by Paola Mendoza and Gabriel Noble), a grip on the feature film Mango Kiss (2004) (directed by Sascha Rice), and as an additional film loader on the feature film Black Cadillac (2003) (directed by John Murlowski and starring Randy Quaid).

Future projects

Warner Bros. chose Fukunaga to develop, direct, and write a new adaptation of Stephen King's It, which would be split into two films and was due to start shooting in summer 2015.[26] Fukunaga was set to direct the first film and was expected to co-write the second.[26][27] Three weeks before production was slated to begin, Fukunaga left the project. New Line subsequently pushed production indefinitely.[28] A petition has been started on the website Change.org asking New Line Cinema and WB Entertainment to bring Cary back and meet his needs in order to finally put the films into production. The petition has over two thousand and five hundred signatures as of July 10, 2015.

His next feature was rumored to be a twist-filled science-fiction love story, Spaceless, from a well-known and long admired unproduced original script by I, Robot screenwriter Jeff Vintar, a favorite project of director Gore Verbinski, who would produce for Universal. Fukunaga's rewrite of Vintar's spec was too far removed from the original, and Fukunaga has since been removed as director. Verbinski is now set as the director of the original Vintar Spaceless draft.

During the summer of 2015, Fukunaga is producing, via his Parliament of Owls production company, the film Black Lung, a supernatural thriller that is set to star Amanda Seyfried and Theo James.[29]

In April 2015, Deadline.com[30] reported that Fukunaga was pairing again with Anonymous Content Productions to direct the TV series The Alienist, based upon the best selling novel by author Caleb Carr. The series is to be aired on TNT.[31]

Personal life

Fukunaga lives in New York City. Fukunaga has lived in France, Japan, and Mexico City.[5] He is fluent in French and Spanish.[5] He counts screenwriter Naomi Foner as a mentor.[32]

He has received several grants, including a USA Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship, the John H. Johnson Film Award / Princess Grace Foundation Fellowship, and a Katrin Cartlidge Foundation bursary.[citation needed]

Filmography

Year Title Director Screenwriter Cinematographer Producer Notes
2003 Kofi Yes Yes Yes Short film
2003 Black Cadillac Additional film loader
2004 Victoria para chino Yes Yes Yes Short film
2004 The Adventures of Supernigger: Episode I – The Final Chapter Yes Short film
2004 Mating Call Short film
Assistant camera
2004 Mango Kiss Grip
2005 Two Men Yes Short film
2005 Kinnaq Nigaqtuqtuaq Yes Short film
2005 White Yes Short film
2005 Clear Water Yes Short film
2006 Death of Two Sons Yes Documentary
2006 Autumn's Eyes Documentary
Additional camera
2006 Lockdown, USA Documentary
Additional photography
2007 Team Queen Yes Short film
2007 Small Steps: Creating the High School for Contemporary Arts Yes Television documentary
2008 Sikumi (On the Ice) Yes Short film
2008 Just Make Believe Short film
Gaffer
2008 Glory at Sea Short film
Camera operator
2009 Sin Nombre Yes Yes Sundance Film Festival Dramatic Directing Award[33]
Edinburgh International Film Festival Skillset New Directors Award
Nominated—Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic
Nominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Most Promising Filmmaker
Nominated—Independent Spirit Award for Best Director
Nominated—Golden Eye Award for Best International Feature Film
2009 Chinatown Film Project Yes Yes Yes Kiwi Lotion[34][35]
2011 On the Ice Yes
2011 Jane Eyre Yes Nominated—Goya Award for Best European Film
2012 Sleepwalking in the Rift Yes Short film
2013 Handmade Yes Documentary short
2014 True Detective Yes Yes Television series
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series
2014 Sikumi Yes Short film
2015 Beasts of No Nation Yes Yes Yes Yes Nominated—Independent Spirit Award for Best Feature
Nominated—Independent Spirit Award for Best Director
Nominated—Independent Spirit Award for Best Cinematography[19]

References

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External links

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