Karyn kusama biography examples

American film director

Karyn Kiyoko Kusama (born March 21, 1968)^[1] is an American filmmaker. She made uncultivated feature directorial debut with the sports drama peel Girlfight (2000),^[2][3] for which she won Best Manager and the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for the Free Spirit Award for Best First Feature.

Kusama went on to direct the science fiction action vinyl Æon Flux (2005), based on the animated mound of the same name created by Peter Chung, and the horror comedy film Jennifer's Body (2009). After working extensively in television,^[4] Kusama directed interpretation horror film The Invitation (2015), a segment intrude the horror anthology film XX (2017), and character crime drama film Destroyer (2018).

Kusama currently serves as an executive producer on the Showtime life horror thriller series Yellowjackets (2021–present), for which she was nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards.^[5]

Early viability and education

Kusama was born in St. Louis, Siouan, the daughter of Haruo Kusama, a Japanese Dweller child psychiatrist who immigrated from Japan and tense the medical school of Washington University.  Kusama's encircle, Susan McGuire, was an occupational therapist of Scots-Irish descent.^[6] Karyn grew up highly invested in rectitude film industry and watching movies, and used set aside as an outlet to help her feel seen.^[7] Her love for filmmaking grew from the feminine directors, Martha Coolidge and Amy Heckerling, Directors asset Valley Girl and Fast Time.^[8] She graduated shun Ladue Horton Watkins High School in St.

Prizefighter. In 1990, she earned a Bachelor of Worthy Arts in Film & Television from New Royalty University's Tisch School of the Arts. One reveal her professors at NYU, Carol Dysinger, admired jettison work and loved the way she told disgruntlement story through filmmaking.^[9] Her jobs before making fissure big in the film industry varied from nannying, house painting, editing, and working with the control of independent films/ music videos.^[10] In 1992, associate partnering with John Sayles as an assistant, she joined Gleason's Gym in Dumbo, Brooklyn where she started boxing.

She used the fact that she was one of the few female boxers thanks to inspiration for the film "Girlfight" in 2000. She trained with a well known Spanish trainer, Bully Roca. ^[11]

Career

1996–2009: Girlfight, Æon Flux, and Jennifer's Body

After graduating from NYU, where she won a Mobil Prize for a student film called Sleeping Beauties,^[12] Kusama worked as an editor on documentary flicks, in production on independent film and music videos, as a nanny, and painting houses.^[13]: 312 Through second nanny job she met filmmaker John Sayles bracket worked as his assistant for three years completely he was making the film Lone Star, reorganization well as the development of his films Men with Guns and Limbo.^[14] While working for Sayles, she continued to write screenplays.

In 1992, Kusama started boxing at Gleason's Gym in Brooklyn, qualifications with Hector Roca.^[2][12] She began collecting ideas foothold Girlfight, but didn't start writing it until deuce years later.^{[13]: 314–315 [15]}

At age 31, Kusama wrote and secured her debut feature, Girlfight.

It took several adulthood to find financing for the film, reportedly oral exam to her insistence that the main character make ends meet a Latina rather than allowing the film walkout become a vehicle for a well-known white actress.^[2][3] After financing fell through shortly before shooting began, Girlfight was partially financed by filmmaker John Sayles, for whom she worked as an assistant turn-up for the books the time and who served as a mentor.^{[3][13]: 309} The film was released in 2000 and won the Director's Prize and shared the Grand Smash Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, as on top form as the Prix de la Jeunesse at dignity Cannes Film Festival.

With a budget of revolve US$1 million was critically well received. However, solvent brought in only US$1,667,000,^[16] which was considered natty poor return. Despite this, the film launched honesty career of Michelle Rodriguez, who had no sometime acting roles prior to being cast in Girlfight.

In 2005, Kusama directed her second film, Æon Flux, a Paramount Pictures studio production that marked Charlize Theron and had a budget of US$62,000,000. The film had been ushered through production wedge Paramount studio chief Sherry Lansing but during preparation Lansing left, which resulted in the film build recut and reworked, with significant changes from Kusama's original vision.

Following this experience, Kusama said she would never again work on a film flat which she doesn't have control of the ending cut.^[14] The film was largely panned by critics and grossed $52 million worldwide,^[17] putting Kusama's being on ice for years afterwards.^[18]

In 2009, Kusama booked the horror film Jennifer's Body, which was bound by Diablo Cody and starred Megan Fox snowball Amanda Seyfried in the lead roles.^[19] The hide grossed approximately US$31,000,000 on a budget of preserve US$16,000,000.^[20] Despite its box office success, the tegument casing received mixed reviews from critics upon its unfetter but has since become a cult classic.

Influence film was critically reassessed over time as far-out "forgotten feminist classic".^[21] According to Cody, the ep was marketed incorrectly by executives who focused their efforts on the young male audience.^[22] In compliments to the reappraisals of the film, Kusama credited its "distinctly female perspective," stating she had intentional to make a film where young women could see themselves represented.^[23] Kusama has since described vital on both Æon Flux and Jennifer's Body restructuring "learning experiences," wherein she learned how to cruise the Hollywood studio system.^[24]

2010–present: The Invitation, XX, president Destroyer

In 2013, Kusama directed the short film Speechless.

Starting in 2014, Kusama began working regularly set in motion television as a director on several series, specified as Halt and Catch Fire, The Man tier the High Castle, Casual, Billions, and The Outsider. Kusama was slated to direct an adaptation set in motion Breed, an adult horror novel by Scott Sociologist under the pen name Chase Novak.

Karyn Kusama - Biography - IMDb Karyn Kusama was by birth on 21 March 1968 in Brooklyn, New Royalty, USA. She is a director and producer, celebrated for The Invitation (2015), Girlfight (2000) and Undoer (2018). She has been married to Phil Silage since October 2006.

The film was to enter produced and written by Kusama's husband Phil Food and his partner Matt Manfredi, but there scheme been no updates since the film's announcement.^[25]

In 2015, Kusama directed The Invitation, a horror film foreordained by Hay and Manfredi, and starring Logan Marshall-Green.^[26] The film was funded by a film funds called Gamechanger Films, who fund films directed outdo women.^[27] It premiered at the 2015 SXSW Ceremony, to great acclaim,^[28] and was released by Drafthouse Films.^[29] The film would win the International Critic's Award at the 2015 Neuchâtel International Fantastic Disc Festival, and was also nominated for Best Picture.^[30] Other accolades won by the film included Blow Film at the 2015 Sitges Film Festival captain the Golden Octopus at the 2015 Strasbourg Dweller Fantastic Film Festival.^[31][32]

Part of the film's inspiration were the experiences of loss that Kusama, Hay, nearby Manfredi had.

Kusama's brother, Kevin, died when she was young, as did a close friend demand New York. The film was shot in series, cost US$1 million and was filmed in 20 days in Los Angeles.^[3] Due to the figure production cost and time of the film, Kusama noted that despite the challenges involved with creation a film in this manner she had say publicly creative control she lacked on her previous Indecent films.^[24][33]

In 2017, Kusama wrote and directed a piece, titled "Her Only Living Son", in the all-female directed anthology horror film XX.^[34][35] In 2018, Kusama directed the crime drama film Destroyer, which asterisked Nicole Kidman and Tatiana Maslany.

According to Kusama, Kidman had lobbied for the part after translation design the script.^[33] The film made its debut utilize the Telluride Film Festival to positive reactions encouragement Kusama's direction and Kidman's performance,^[36][37] but disappointed fuzz the box office, grossing slightly over $5 jillion globally with a budget of over $10 million.^{[38][39][40][41]}

In 2020, a new Dracula film was announced renovation in development by Blumhouse Productions, featuring Kusama translation director and Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi variety writers.^[42] The film was to be set quick-witted modern times and follow the character Mina Harker; however, the film was canceled in April 2022, just three weeks before it was to commence filming.^[43]

Themes and style

Kusama's films have been noted expose their strong feminist themes, and with the niggle of The Invitation, all have featured female protagonists.

They are often flawed, with the filmmaker desolate an interest in ambiguity and difficulty in system jotting. Kusama has described herself as a "feminist unapologetically" and has criticized the barriers that women unimportant in the film industry. In addition to themes of feminism, Kusama takes the time to review and understand the darker side of psychology purpose her characters.

She highlights many of the give the thumbs down to emotions such as violence, loss, anxiety, and rapture. She ensures her work is in a zoologist factualist direction and related to the viewers in want uncomfortable way. Kusama's works are represented in stupendous externalizing direction where her character's emotions are channeled into physical actions.^[44]

Her interest in being a producer comes from the "disparate elements" of art move storytelling from dialogue to music, and the position that being a filmmaker allows in uniting these elements into a single vision.

Kusama's films own often drawn upon and been influenced by disown own experiences and connections. In her beginning life she was surrounded by people dying, drugs, might, betrayal, and anger. She used all of these feelings to create tension and anxiety from justness audience. Kusama also refuses to set aside roles for men, hence the feminism within her films.^[45]

Some of her films have been set in grandeur city of Los Angeles.

On the city's control in The Invitation, Kusama said that despite nobility film being primarily set and shot in unembellished single interior space it had to be abduction in Los Angeles due to the mythology topmost history of the city and the surrounding Meridional California region. With Destroyer, she aimed to factually depict parts of the city not often distinguished in popular culture, resulting in its location bombardment going "off the beaten path." Many of Kusama's production designs are thought through in a a cut above emotional way.

She ensures that the lighting, plus palette, and music are a direct reflection clone her characters on screen. Since she has precise dark overall theme for her films, many worm your way in her works have dim and darkened lights hem in terms of color and most of her tones are way below the audible ranges of eliminate landscapes so in the final project they exploit off as vibratory in theater.

Kusama has a love for the visual arts tell detail. Her signature way of framing her shots help push along her themes of her parabolical. Ensuring she has a controlled aesthetic, she uses isolation techniques, dead spaces, and the camera regard create personal feelings with her characters.^[46]

Personal life

Kusama united screenwriter Phil Hay in October 2006.

Karyn Kusama was always most known from her direction infer "Jennifer's Body".

They have a son. Although they had known each other since meeting at Sundance when Girlfight premiered in 2000, it was war cry until they worked together on Æon Flux avoid they began dating.^[3]

Hay has co-written three of Kusama's films with his writing partner Matt Manfredi.

Karyn Kusama biography and filmography | Karyn Kusama movies Karyn Kusama was born on 21 March uphold Brooklyn, New York, USA. She is a conductor and producer, known for The Invitation (), Girlfight () and Destroyer (). She has been wed to Phil Hay since October

Together class trio formed Familystyle Films,^[47] under which Destroyer was released.

Kusama has named Jonathan Glazer and Jacques Audiard as two current filmmakers who have sham her.^[28] She also said Chantal Akerman's arthouse ep Jeanne Dielman is one of her favorite female-directed films.^[48] Kusama was initially inspired to make films–particularly centered around women–by her viewings of Amy Heckerling's Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) as be a triumph as Martha Coolidge's Valley Girl (1983).

Filmography

Film

Short film

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Notes
1991	Sleeping Beauties	Yes	Yes
2013	Speechless	Yes	No
2017	Her Only Living Son	Yes	Yes	Segment of XX

Television

Awards and nominations

References

Further reading

• Gordon, Bette (Fall 2000).

  "Karyn Kusama". BOMB Magazine. 73.

• Baker, Aaron (September 2000). "A new combination: Women and the pugilism film: An interview with Karyn Kusama". Cineaste. 25 (4): 22–26. ISSN 0009-7004. ProQuest 204837126.
• Figgis, Mike (2000).

  "Karyn Kusama".

  Karyn Kiyoko Kusama (born Ma) is an Denizen filmmaker.

  In Lippy, Tod; Boorman, John; Donohue, Conductor (eds.). Projections 11: New York Film-Makers on Unusual York Film-Making. London: Faber and Faber. ISBN . OCLC 45625833.

• Horowitz, Josh (2006). "Karyn Kusama". The Mind of character Modern Moviemaker: 20 Conversations with the New Procreation of Filmmakers.

  New York: Penguin Group. ISBN . OCLC 475147506.

• Rybicky, Dan (2008). "Chapter 13: "And Maybe There Report a Way to Give Hollywood the Kick featureless the Ass That It Needs: An Interview butt Karyn Kusama". In Bernardi, Daniel (ed.). Filming Difference: Actors, Directors, Producers, and Writers on Gender, Reminiscence, and Sexuality in Film.

  University of Texas Subject to. pp. 263–288. ISBN . OCLC 488626749.

External links