Jim JarmuschBirth Place: Akron, Ohio, USA Date of Birth: January 22, 1953 Heritage: American Contact Jim Jarmusch | 
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Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai Background: “I know. It's all so independent. I'm so sick of that word. I reach for my revolver when I hear the word quirky or edgy. Those words are now becoming labels that are slapped on products to sell them. Anyone who makes a film that is the film they want to make, and it is not defined by marketing analysis or a commercial enterprise, is independent. My movies are kind of made by hand. They're not polished. They're sort of built in the garage. It's more like being an artisan in some way.” Jim Jarmusch Film director and writer Jim Jarmusch first attracted public attention with the comedy “Stranger Than Paradise” (1984), which won him Cannes’ Golden Camera Award and a Special Jury Prize at Sundance. He continued to make a mark on the festival scene with “Down by Law” (1986), “Mystery Train” (1989) and the short “Coffee and Cigarettes: Somewhere in California” (1993), the third part of the series that brought the filmmaker the Golden Palm from the 1993 Cannes Film Festival. With the period drama “Dead Man” (1995), Jarmusch proved he was able to deal with major issues like death and the American heartland. However, it was “Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai” (1999) that brought him mainstream fame. The film earned him a European Film Award and nominations at Cannes and the Independent Spirit Awards. Following “Coffee and Cigarettes” (2003), he gained recognition again at Cannes with “Broken Flowers” (2005), which picked up the Grand Prize of the Jury and a Golden Palm nomination at the festival. His new film, “The Limits of Control,” was released in the U.S. in May 2009. Also an occasional actor, Jarmusch has acted in several films, including “Blue in the Face” (1995) and “Sling Blade” (1996).
Childhood and Family: The middle child of three kids, James R. Jarmusch, who would later be popular as Jim Jarmusch, was born on January 22, 1953, in Akron, Ohio, to a businessman who worked for the B.F. Goodrich Company and a reviewer of film and theatre for the Akron Beacon Journal. When he was young, his mother sometimes left him in a local theater to watch double matinees of B science fiction movies while she ran errands. In addition to becoming a film enthusiast, young Jim also developed a love for literature thanks to the encouragement of his grandmother. Jim graduated from Cayahoga Falls High School at age 17 and headed to Chicago to study journalism at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. He left the school after a year and transferred to Columbia University in New York. He graduated with a BA in English in 1975. During his final year at Columbia, Jim went to Paris for a summer semester on an exchange program, but stayed for a year. While living in Paris, he spent much of his time at Cinémathèque Française, where he saw the work of many directors, including Kenji Mizoguchi, Shohei Imamura, Yasujiro Ozu, Robert Bresson and Carl Theodor Dreyer. While there, he supported himself by working as a delivery driver for an art gallery. Back to the U.S. in 1976, Jim was penniless and began taking jobs as a musician in New York City. Without experience in filmmaking, he applied for and was accepted into the renowned Graduate Film School of New York University's Tisch School of the Arts in 1977 thanks to a collection of still photographs and an essay about film that Jim included in his submission. Although he failed to get a degree, his four year stay at NYU marked him becoming a teaching assistant to film director Nicholas Ray and meeting fellow students and future collaborators Tom DiCill, Sara Driver and Spike Lee.
Career: As Nicholas Ray's teaching assistant, Jim Jarmusch had his first taste of filmmaking as a production assistant on the documentary “Lightning Over Water” (1980). Jarmusch went in to make his own film, “Permanent Vacation” (1980), a 75 minute drama that he directed, wrote, produced, edited and provided music to with John Lurie. Jarmusch also worked on sound recording for Eric Mitchell's “Underground USA” (also 1980) and co-wrote and co-produced the Sara Driver independent film “You Are Not I” (1981), in which he also served as director of photography. He next composed the music for Wenders' award winning drama “Der Stand der Dinge/The State of Things” (1982) and provided the sound recording for the documentary “Burroughs” (1983), which was based on the life of writer William S. Burroughs. It was Wanders that gave Jarmusch the leftover film stock from “Der Stand der Dinge” that would allow the young director to shoot a 30 minute short film called “The New World” (1982). The expanded version of his short, “Stranger Than Paradise,” turned out to be a breakthrough success for Jarmusch. Premiering at the Cannes Film Festival in May 1984, “Stranger Than Paradise” won the prestigious Golden Camera at the festival and went on to amass a string of awards, including a Golden Leopard and Prize of the Ecumenical Jury - Special Mention at the 1984 Locarno International Film Festival, a 1985 National Society of Film Critics for Best Film and a 1987 Kinema Junpo for Best Foreign Language Film. It also won the Special Jury Prize-Dramatic at the 1985 Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the same festival. It grossed $2,436,000 at the box office against a $100,000 budget. “Stranger Than Paradise” starred long time partner John Lurie, Hungarian born actress Eszter Balint and ex-Sonic Youth drummer Richard Edson. Jarmusch stepped in front of the camera as an actor for the Andre Degas independent film “American Autobahn” (1984) and directed Talking Heads' music video “The Lady Don't Mind,” the following year. He returned to the director's chair for the feature film “Down by Law” (1986), which he also wrote. Starring Tom Waits, Roberto Benigni, and Lurie, the movie brought Jarmusch an Amanda for Best Foreign Feature Film, a Bodil for Best Non-European Film, and a Robert for Best Foreign Film, not to mention a Golden Palm nomination from the 1986 Cannes festival and an Independent Spirit nomination for Best Director. The film marked Jarmusch's first partnership with famed Dutch cinematographer Robby Müller. In 1989, Jarmusch resurfaced with the anthology film “Mystery Train,” which he wrote and directed. The film was shown in competition at the Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Best Artistic Contribution and a Golden Palm nomination and collected seven nominations at the 1990 Independent Spirit Awards, including Best Feature, Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Cinematography (Muller). Praised for its structure, humor and characters, “Mystery Train” also enjoyed critical acclaim in festivals such as the Toronto Film Festival, the New York Film Festival, the Mar del Plata Film Festival and the Hohaiyan Music Film Festival. Between “Down by Law” and “Mystery Train,” Jarmusch worked on several other projects. In 1986, he served as a camera operator on “Sleepwalk,” a film helmed by colleague Driver, and directed the first in a series of short films titled “Coffee and Cigarettes,” which he co-wrote with Benigni. Three years later, he wrote and directed “Coffee and Cigarettes: Memphis Version” (1989), which was shown at the Berlin International Film Festival in 1990. In addition, Jarmusch landed acting jobs in such movies as Alex Cox's “Straight to Hell” (1987), Mika Kaurismäki's “Helsinki Napoli All Night Long” (1987), Robert Frank/Rudy Wurlitzer's “Candy Mountain” (1988) and Aki Kaurismäki's “Leningrad Cowboys Go America” (1989). Opening the 1990s, Jarmusch directed the music video for the song “It's All Right With Me,” by Tom Waits, from the album “Red Hot + Blue.” He would direct Waits' subsequent music video for the single “I Don't Wanna Grow Up” (1992). Jarmusch also had a bit part in “The Golden Boat” (1990), before writing, producing and directing 1991’s “Night on Earth.” A collection of five vignettes, the film starred Winona Ryder, Béatrice Dalle, Roberto Benigni, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Matti Pellonpaa and Gena Rowlands. The following years found Jarmusch in the supporting role of Monty in Alexandre Rockwell's “In the Soup” (1992), opposite Steve Buscemi, Seymour Cassel and Jennifer Beals, serving as executive producer for the Sara Driver-directed comedy “When Pigs Fly” (1993) and directing and editing the short “Coffee and Cigarettes: Somewhere in California” (1993), from which he picked up the Golden Palm for Best Short Film at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival and the Audience Award at the 1993 Warsaw International Film Festival. Jarmusch was next cast in Gilles Charmant's action film “Iron Horsemen” (1994) and had the significant supporting role of Bob in Paul Auster and Wayne Wang's comedy “Blue in the Face” (1995), alongside Michael J. Fox, Roseanne, Lily Tomlin, and Jared Harris, before making a cameo appearance in the 1996 drama “Sling Blade,” the feature film directorial debut of Billy Bob Thornton. He returned to filmmaking in 1995 when he helmed and wrote the drama “Dead Man,” which featured Johnny Depp, Gary Farmer, Billy Bob Thornton, John Hurt, Gabriel Byrne and Robert Mitchum. Costing approximately $9 million to produce, the film was considered a massive failure at the box office but received mixed reviews from critics. For his efforts, Jarmusch was nominated for a Golden Palm at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival and an Independent Spirit for Best Screenplay. After directing the Neil Young concert film “Year of the Horse” (1997), which earned lukewarm reviews from critics, Jarmusch gained mainstream popularity as the director, writer and producer of “Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai” (1999), an action film starring Forest Whitaker. The film primarily received favorable reviews from critics and Jarmusch was nominated for Cannes' Golden Palm, a César for Best Foreign Film and an Independent Spirit for Best Feature for his work on the film. In 2002, Jarmusch directed the segment “Int. Trailer. Night” for the film “Ten Minutes Older: The Trumpet.” He followed it up by directing and writing the feature film “Coffee and Cigarettes” (2003), a comic series of 11 unconnected short sketches that included the earlier three “Coffee and Cigarette” films. The film was shown at various festivals throughout 2003 to 2004. Back to a more normal narrative, Jarmusch directed Bill Murray, Jeffrey Wright, Sharon Stone, Frances Conroy, Jessica Lange, Tilda Swinton, Julie Delpy, Mark Webber, Chloë Sevigny and Christopher McDonald in “Broken Flowers” (2005), which he also wrote. The film received a limited theatrical release in the U.S. For his efforts, he was handed the Grand Prize of the Jury at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival, the Audience Award for Best Film from the 2005 Cambridge Film Festival and a 2006 Czech Lion for Best Foreign Language Film. Following a gig as an executive producer on “Explicit Ills” (2008), a drama written and directed by actor Mark Webber, Jarmusch wrote and directed “The Limits of Control” (2009), a thriller starring Isaach De Bankolé, Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton and Gael García Bernal. “I prefer to be sub-cultural rather than mass-cultural. I'm not interested in hitting the vein of the mainstream.” Jim Jarmusch
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