Sexy Beast

Background:

British director of films, commercials and music videos Jonathan Glazer has amassed a number of international awards for his work on commercials and pop promos. He was named Director of the Year at the 1997 MTV Video Awards. His notable promo for Jamiroquai's “Virtual Insanity” (1996) was nominated for ten MTV Video Awards, while UNKLE's “Rabbit In Your Headlight” (1998) netted a Silver at the D & AD and an MVPA Award. Glazer also won two Gold awards at the 2000 D & AD Awards for his work on a commercial for Guinness Surfer, which was voted the Best Advertisement ever by members of the public at Channel 4's “The 100 Greatest TV Ads.” On the movie front, Glazer made an auspicious debut with 2000's “Sexy Beast,” from which he was handed a British Independent Film Award, a Toronto Film Critics Association Award as well as several other nominations. His second outing, “Birth” (2004), starring Nicole Kidman, brought him a Sitges - Catalonian International Film Festival Award.

Londoner

Childhood and Family:

Jonathan Glazer was born in London, England, in March 1965. He received a B.A Honors degree in Theater Design and direction from Nottingham Trent University. Shortly afterwards, he launched her directorial career.

Birth

Career:

After college, Jonathan Glazer got his career start directing theater, editing film and television thrillers and making award-winning work for the BBC. He joined producer Nick Morris at Academy Commercials in 1993 and made three short films there, namely “Mad,” “Pool” and Commissions.” He then moved on to helm music videos and commercials.

1995 saw Glazer direct music videos for artists like Massive Attack and Blur, but it was in the following year that the director started to gain attention. Thanks to his multi-award winning work for Radiohead's “Street Spirit (Fade Out)” and Jamiroquai's “Virtual Insanity” (both 1996), he was handed a MTV Video for Director of the year in 1997. The latter video even collected ten nominations at the MTV Video Awards. Glazer further cemented his reputation as an outstanding director with his acclaimed promo for UNKLE's “Rabbit In Your Headlight” (1998), which nabbed a Silver for Outstanding Direction at D & AD and an MVPA for Best Foreign Video. He also helmed the videos of Jamiroquai's “Cosmic Girl,” Nick Cave's “Into My Arms” and Radiohead's “Karma Police” (all 1997), as well as Richard Ashcroft's “A Song for the Lovers” in 2000 and Massive Attack's “Live with Me” in 2006.

On the world of commercial, Glazer has been responsible for directing some of the most applauded and innovative commercials of the 1990s and his work has won several international awards. One of his most remarkable commercials is Guinness Surfer, which in the Channel 4 TV program “The 100 Greatest TV Ads, sponsored by the Sunday Times, was named the Best Advertisement ever by members of the public. It also won two Gold awards at the 2000 D & AD Awards in the categories of the Most Outstanding Direction and the Most Outstanding TV Commercial over 60 seconds, becoming the first commercial to be awarded two golds in the history of D & AD. Glazer also has helmed campaigns for Guinness Swimblack and Dreamer, Nike Parklife, Stella Artois (Final Orders and Devil's Island), Last Orders and Levi's Jeans (Odyssey and Kung Fu), among others.

Already popular as video and commercials director, Glazer branched out to film directing in 2000 with “Sexy Beast,” a critically acclaimed crime/drama about the world of English gangster. Under Glazer's direction, actor Ben Kingsley received a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination and several other awards and nominations for his fine turn as a cruel mobster named Don Logan, and Glazer himself picked up a British Independent Film for Best Director and a Toronto Film Critics Association for Best First Feature, in addition to collecting such nominations as a BAFTA nomination for Best British Film, a Chicago Film Critics Association nomination for Most Promising Director, an Independent Spirit nomination for Best Foreign Film and a Golden Satellite nomination for Best Director.

Glazer returned to the big screen four years later with “Birth,” which he co-wrote the script with Jean-Claude Carrière and Milo Addica, in addition to sitting on the director's chair. The drama/mystery features the outstanding performances by Nicole Kidman and young star Cameron Bright, most notably in a scene in which Kidman and Bright share a bathtub together. For his bright efforts, Glazer took home a Sitges - Catalonian International Film Festival's Citizen Kane Award for Best Directorial Revelation - Special Mention and a nomination for Best Film, as well as a Venice Film Festival nomination for Golden Lion.

In 2006, Glazer helmed the second Sony BRAVIA TV advertisement, for which he employed 250 people and needed 10 days to film. It was set at an estate in Glasgow, and featured paint exploding all over the tower blocks. The same year, he was also ordered to make a TV promo for the new Motorola Red phone. Featuring two bare black bodies appearing from a piece of flesh as they rotate on a potter's wheel, the ad was scheduled to broadcast in September 2006, but has since being shelved by the company.

Awards:

• Sitges - Catalonian International Film Festival: Citizen Kane Award, Best Directorial Revelation - Special Mention, “Birth,” 2004

• British Independent Film: British Independent Film, Best Director, “Sexy Beast,” 2001

• Toronto Film Critics Association: Best First Feature, “Sexy Beast,” 2001