Mark Romanek

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Mark Romanek (2010)

Mark Romanek (born September 18, 1959 in Chicago , Illinois ) is an American director of music videos , commercials and feature films .

Life

After attending the New Trier East High School for four years , where he took a film course, Romanek transferred to Ithaca College in Ithaca (New York) and graduated in photography . In 1979 he worked as assistant director for Brian De Palma for the film Home Movies - Like you me, so I you . In 1985 he made his first film as a director: Static with Amanda Plummer was a success in the UK ; there Mark Romanek came into contact with The The , for whom he shot his first music video.

He works for the most famous artists in the music business. Many critics have called his short music films the best of their genre. He shot the video for Michael Jackson and his sister Janet Jackson for the song Scream , which, with a production cost of 7 million US dollars, is considered to be the most expensive music video ever made. For this piece he also got his first Grammy . He received his second Grammy for a video for Janet Jackson, Got Till It's Gone .

The video for Johnny Cash's cover version of the Nine Inch Nails song Hurt is considered a masterpiece. It was filmed in Cash's house and in a Johnny Cash museum. It also contains film clips from earlier years of his life and appears as a summary and balance sheet of a long and varied life.

Romanek also created two works for Nine Inch Nails . The video of Closer with its aesthetic of decay and its S / M symbolism could only be shown on MTV in a defused version at a late hour. The clip for the song The Perfect Drug is a journey into the era of absinthe bars and shows a series of dream images that could come from an absinthe intoxication.

The video for Criminal by Fiona Apple , which shows a party at which the actors can only be heard lethargically in the background and the singer herself performs a striptease , was also controversial . Two videos by Romanek, Closer by Nine Inch Nails and Bedtime Story by Madonna , are on permanent display at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City . Romanek also shot commercials, including a. for Apple , Nike , Calvin Klein , American Express , ESPN , Honda and Cirque du Soleil .

In 2002 he made his first Hollywood film, One Hour Photo, starring Robin Williams : an employee of a fast photo service who is slowly building an obsession with a family who has their photos developed there. The film wasn't a huge financial success, but it did establish Romanek as a film director . His third feature film, Everything We Had to Give ( Never Let Me Go , 2010) followed eight years later. In the film adaptation of the novel of the same by Kazuo Ishiguro took Carey Mulligan , Andrew Garfield and Keira Knightley the leading roles.

Selected music videos

DVD

  • 2005: The Work Of Director - Mark Romanek , Palm Pictures, Directors Label

Filmography (selection)

Web links

Commons : Mark Romanek  - collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Romanek, Mark
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American director
DATE OF BIRTH September 18, 1959
PLACE OF BIRTH Chicago , Illinois , United States