Jonathan Glazer

For the actor and comedian, see Jon Glaser.
"Strasbourg 1518" redirects here. For the historical event, see Dancing Plague of 1518.

Jonathan Glazer
Glazer in 2023
Born (1965-03-26) 26 March 1965 (age 59)
London, England
EducationNottingham Trent University (BA)
Occupations
  • Film director
  • screenwriter
Years active1993–present
Notable work
SpouseRachael Penfold
Children3

Jonathan Glazer (born 26 March 1965) is an English film director and screenwriter. He began his career in theatre before transitioning into film, directing the features Sexy Beast (2000), Birth (2004), Under the Skin (2013), and The Zone of Interest (2023). Glazer accepted the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film on behalf of the United Kingdom for The Zone of Interest.

Glazer's work is defined by depictions of flawed and desperate characters; themes such as alienation, loneliness and individualism; and a bold visual style uses an omniscient perspective and dramatic music. He has been nominated for six BAFTA Awards and two Academy Awards. For the historical drama The Zone of Interest, he won the Grand Prix and the FIPRESCI Prize at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay.

Glazer has directed music videos for acts including Radiohead, Massive Attack, Richard Ashcroft and Jamiroquai. He received nominations for the MTV Video Music Award for Best Direction for his videos for Jamiroquai's "Virtual Insanity" (1996) and Radiohead's "Karma Police" (1997). He has also directed commercials for brands including Kodak, Sony, Nike, Barclays and Alexander McQueen.

Early life and education

"There were all these fantastic characters, who were in and out of my house when I was a little boy. Many of them were East End Jews who had moved to the suburbs for a better quality of life, not super-intellectual people, but incredible entertainers – vaudeville musicians, writers and the like. As a child, I loved and absorbed the richness of that culture."

– Glazer about the artistic Jewish community in which he was raised[1]

Jonathan Glazer was born on 26 March 1965 in London, England,[2] and is of Ashkenazi Jewish descent.[1][3] His ancestors were Ukrainian Jews and Bessarabian Jews who fled the Kishinev pogrom and arrived in the United Kingdom in the 1900s.[3][4] He said: "My great-grandparents were born in Vilnius and Odesa. One was a tailor. His wife, a seamstress."[3] His family lived in Hadley Wood, near Barnet, and was Reform Jewish: "Synagogue three times a year, and Friday-night dinners every week."[4] His father was a cinephile, with whom he frequently watched David Lean, Sidney Lumet, Sydney Pollack, and Billy Wilder movies.[4][5]

Glazer attended the Jewish Free School, then located in the borough of Camden.[6] During his childhood, he participated in the Givat Washington programme, spending five months in a religious boarding school in Israel. After finishing high school, he went to art school, saying drawing was the only thing he was good at.[6]

After graduating with an emphasis in theatre design from Nottingham Trent University, Glazer began his career directing theatre and making film and television trailers.[5][7]

Career

1993–1999: Early work and short films

In 1993, Glazer wrote and directed three short films ("Mad", "Pool" and "Commission"), and joined Academy Commercials, a production company based in Central London.[citation needed] He directed campaigns for Guinness (Dreamer, Swimblack and Surfer)[8][9] and Stella Artois (Devil's Island).[10]

Glazer directed two music videos for the rock band Radiohead, "Street Spirit" (1996) and "Karma Police" (1997). He named "Street Spirit" as a turning point in his work: "I knew when I finished that, because [Radiohead] found their own voices as an artist, at that point, I felt like I got close to whatever mine was, and I felt confident that I could do things that emoted, that had some kind of poetic as well as prosaic value."[11]

Glazer won the MTV Video Music Award for Best Direction in 1997 for his work on "Karma Police" and Jamiroquai's "Virtual Insanity" (1996).[12] He was unsatisfied with his "Karma Police" video, saying he had "missed emotionally and dramatically".[11] He described his video for the 1998 single "Rabbit in Your Headlights", by Unkle and the Radiohead singer Thom Yorke, as a more successful "partner" to the "Karma Police" video.[11] Glazer's 1999 television advert "Surfer", for Guinness, was voted the best of all time in a poll conducted by Channel 4 and The Sunday Times the following year.[8]

2000–2011: Sexy Beast and Birth

Glazer was set to direct the film Gangster No. 1, written by Louis Mellis and David Scinto, but was replaced after disagreements with the producers regarding casting. Glazer left the production along with Mellis and Scinto.[13][14] In 2000, Glazer worked with Mellis and Scinto again, directing his first feature, the gangster film Sexy Beast.[15] Ben Kingsley was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.[16] In 2004, Glazer directed his second feature film, Birth, starring Nicole Kidman.[17]

In 2001, Glazer directed the "Odyssey" spot for Levi Strauss jeans.[18][19] In 2006, he directed the second Sony BRAVIA TV advertisement, which took ten days and 250 people to film. It was filmed at an estate in Glasgow, and featured paint exploding all over the tower blocks.[20] Later the same year, he was commissioned to make a television advert for the new Motorola Red phone. The advertisement, showing two naked black bodies emerging from a lump of flesh rotating on a potter's wheel, was due to air in September 2006 but was shelved by Motorola. The advertisement was to benefit several charities in Africa.[citation needed]

2013: Under the Skin

In 2013, Glazer directed Under the Skin, a loose adaptation of the 2000 novel by Michel Faber, starring Scarlett Johansson. It premiered at the 2013 Telluride Film Festival and received a theatrical release in 2014.[21] The film was named the best film of 2014 by numerous critics and publications,[22] was included in many best-of-the-decade lists, and ranked 61st on the BBC's 100 Greatest Films of the 21st Century list, an international poll of 177 top critics.[23]

2019–present: The Zone of Interest

Glazer's fourth feature film, The Zone of Interest, based loosely on the 2014 novel by Martin Amis, premiered at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival to acclaim.[24] It competed for the Palme d'Or,[25] and won the Grand Prix and FIPRESCI Prize.[26] At the 96th Academy Awards, The Zone of Interest won the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film.[27]

In his acceptance speech, Glazer addressed the ongoing Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip:[27][28][29][30]

All our choices are made to reflect and confront us in the present. Not to say, 'Look what they did then,' rather 'Look what we do now.' Our film shows where dehumanisation leads at its worst. It shaped all of our past and present. Right now, we stand here as men who refute their Jewishness and the Holocaust being hijacked by an occupation which has led to conflict for so many innocent people. Whether the victims of October 7th in Israel or the ongoing attack on Gaza, all the victims of this dehumanization — how do we resist?

Personal life

Known to be discreet about his private life,[31] Glazer is married to the visual effects supervisor Rachael Penfold.[32] They live in Camden, North London with their three children.[1] He is Jewish.[5][33] Glazer named Stanley Kubrick as his favourite director and said he was close to Italian and Russian cinema.[1] His influences include Ingmar Bergman, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Federico Fellini, and Pier Paolo Pasolini.[31]

Filmography

Feature films

Year Title Director Writer
2000 Sexy Beast Yes No
2004 Birth Yes Yes
2013 Under the Skin Yes Yes
2023 The Zone of Interest Yes Yes

Short films

Year Title Director Writer Notes
1994 Mad Yes Yes Also producer and editor
1997 Commission Yes Yes
2019 The Fall Yes Yes
2020 Strasbourg 1518 Yes Yes TV short
First Light: Alexander McQueen Yes No

Music videos

Year Title Artist Notes
1995 "Karmacoma" Massive Attack
"The Universal" Blur
1996 "Street Spirit (Fade Out)" Radiohead
"Virtual Insanity" Jamiroquai
1997 "Into My Arms" Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
"Karma Police" Radiohead
1998 "Rabbit in Your Headlights" UNKLE ft. Thom Yorke
2000 "A Song for the Lovers" Richard Ashcroft
2006 "Live with Me" Massive Attack
2009 "Treat Me Like Your Mother" The Dead Weather

Commercials

Year Title Company
"Husband to Be" Kodak
"Linda 2" Pretty Polly
"Shock of the New" Mazda
"Chief Executive's Wife" AT&T
"City" Club Med
"Sales Director" AT&T
1996 "Frozen Moment" Nike
"New York" Caffrey's
1997 "Parklife" Nike
1998 "Swimblack" Guinness
"Lamppost" BT Easyreach
1999 "Surfer" Guinness
2000 "Kung Fu" Levi Strauss
"Last Orders" Stella Artois
"Devil's Island"
"Protection" Volkswagen Polo
"Whatever You Ride" Wrangler
2001 "Dreamer" Guinness
2002 "Odyssey" Levi Strauss
2003 "Evil" Barclays
"Bull"
"Chicken"
2004 "Bar"[34] Band Aid 20
"Double Don"
"Rant"
"Razor"
2006 "Ice Skating Priests" Stella Artois
"Paint" Sony BRAVIA
"Clay"[35] Motorola Red
2010 "Temptation" Cadbury's Flake
"Kaka"[36] Sony 3D
"Last Tango in Compton"[37][38] Volkswagen Polo
2013 "The Ring"[39][40] Audi
2019 "Flight" Apple
2024 "The Galleria"[41] Prada

Idents

Awards and nominations

Award Year Category Work Result Ref.
Academy Awards 2024 Best Adapted Screenplay The Zone of Interest Nominated [43]
Best Director Nominated
BAFTA Awards 2001 Outstanding British Film Sexy Beast Nominated [44]
2015 Under the Skin Nominated [45]
2024 The Zone of Interest Won [46]
Best Film Not in the English Language Won
Best Direction Nominated
Best Adapted Screenplay Nominated
Boston Society of Film Critics 2023 Best Adapted Screenplay Won
Best Director Won
British Independent Film Awards 2001 Best Director Sexy Beast Won [47]
2013 Under the Skin Nominated [48]
Camerimage 2023 Golden Frog The Zone of Interest Nominated
Cannes Film Festival 2023 Palme d'Or Nominated [49]
Grand Prix Won [50]
FIPRESCI Prize Won [51]
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards 2002 Most Promising Filmmaker — Nominated
2014 Best Adapted Screenplay Under the Skin Nominated
2023 The Zone of Interest Nominated
European Film Awards 2023 European Film Nominated [52]
European Director Nominated
European Screenwriter Nominated
Florida Film Critics Circle Awards 2023 Best Director Nominated
Gotham Awards 2014 Audience Award Under the Skin Nominated
Best Feature Nominated
2023 Best International Feature The Zone of Interest Nominated [53]
Best Screenplay Nominated
Goya Awards 2025 Best European Film Pending [54]
Independent Spirit Awards 2002 Best International Film Sexy Beast Nominated [55]
2015 Under the Skin Nominated [56]
2024 The Zone of Interest Nominated [57]
MTV Video Music Awards 1997 Best Direction "Virtual Insanity" Nominated
Best Editing Nominated
Best Special Effects Won
1998 Best Direction "Karma Police" Nominated
Satellite Awards 2002 Best Director Sexy Beast Nominated
2024 The Zone of Interest Nominated
Best Adapted Screenplay Nominated
Venice Film Festival 2004 Golden Lion Birth Nominated
2013 Under the Skin Nominated

References

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  2. ^ "BFI Screenonline: Glazer, Jonathan (1965-) Biography". Screenonline. Archived from the original on 4 April 2023. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
  3. ^ a b c Forestier, François (28 January 2024). "Jonathan Glazer : " Le mal était là, à Auschwitz, et il fallait lui faire face "". L'Obs (in French). Archived from the original on 7 February 2024. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
  4. ^ a b c Collin, Robbie (24 January 2024). "'These people absolutely could be us': Jonathan Glazer on his film about the mastermind of Auschwitz". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 7 February 2024. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
  5. ^ a b c Leigh, Danny (6 March 2014). "Under the Skin: why did this chilling masterpiece take a decade?". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 30 April 2014. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
  6. ^ a b Glazer, Jonathan. "He's turned the screen Scarlett after a long and alien journey". The Jewish Chronicle (Interview). Archived from the original on 7 February 2024. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
  7. ^ Cozens, Claire (13 March 2003). "Child abuse ad scoops top gong". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 30 December 2023. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
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  36. ^ New Sony 3D TV advert featuring Kaka on YouTube
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  39. ^ The Audi RS 6 Avant TV commercial on YouTube
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