Director of Frida

Background:

Julie Taymor was already an established director on stage before launching a movie career in 1999. She won praise for her direction in such productions as “The Haggadah” (1980), “The King Stag” (1984) and “Juan Darien” (1996), from which she received two Tony nominations, before reaching wide prominence with the massive Walt Disney Company production of “The Lion King” (1997) on Broadway. She picked up two Tony Awards for her direction and costume design. One of the most experimental theatrical directors and designers, Taymor won an Emmy Award in 1993 for her 1992 production of Igor Stravinsky's “Oedipus Rex” in Japan.

Taymor, whose work is known for its visual flair and colorful costumes, made a promising switch to movies with “Titus” (1999), a version of Shakespeare's tragedy “Titus Andronicus” starring Anthony Hopkins and Jessica Lange. She earned three nominations for her work in the film, including a Satellite nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. The director acquired further recognition with the highly acclaimed biopic “Frida” (2002), from which she and frequent collaborator Eliot Goldenthal shared an Oscar nomination in the Best Original Song category. The film also brought Taymor a Venice Film Festival award. Following a triumphant return to theater, which included 2005's “The Magic Flute” and 2006's “Grendel,” Taymor directed her third movie, “Across the Universe” (2007), a romance starring Jim Sturgess and Evan Rachel Wood.

Apart from her directing career, Taymor has a collection of puppets, masks and folk art, which she collected from all over the world. An accomplished artist, she also has been involved in making puppets, masks, costumes and stage set designs for her productions. On a more personal note, Taymor has been the partner of composer Elliot Goldenthal since 1980. They reside in Manhattan.

Standout Girl

Childhood and Family:

Julie Taymor was born on December 15, 1952, in Newton, Massachusetts, to Melvin Lester Taymor, a gynecologist, and Elizabeth Bernstein, a teacher of political science. She has an older brother named Michael (born in 1945) and an older sister named Laurie (born in 1947). Julie found an early interest in theater and was fond of international folklore and mythology. At age 7, she gave performances for friends and family, and by age 9, she had joined the Boston Children's Theater. As a teenager, Julie developed a passion for international travel and stayed in Sri Lanka and India as a cultural exchange student when she was 15. She also became involved with Julie Portman's Theatre Workshop of Boston, becoming its youngest member, and later traveled to Paris to study mime with L'Ecole de Mime Jacques Lecoq.

In 1969, Julie graduated from Newton High School in Newton, Massachusetts, and then attended Oberlin College in Ohio, where she joined Herbert Blau's experimental theater company. She graduated in 1974 with a degree in folklore and mythology. During college, Julie also honed in on her craft with Joseph Chaikin's Open Theatre and other companies and studied via correspondence. In 1973, she spent a summer with the American Society for Eastern Arts in Seattle. After college, Julie went to Japan to learn about the art of puppetry and Japanese theatre and then lived in Indonesia for five years, during which time she worked as a director of an international theatre with Asian, European and American actors.

Lion King

Career:

While living in Asia, Julie Taymor produced her first major theater production called “Way of Snow” in 1976, which was performed by an international company of actors, dancers, musicians and puppeteers. She returned to the U.S. in 1979 and made her first U.S. production with “The Odyssey.” It was her designs for Elizabeth Swados' stage production “The Haggadah” in 1980 that won Taymor her first notice. Four years later, she gained further recognition and success with the American Repertory Theatre's staging of “The King Stag” (1984), in which she provided visual concept and designed puppets for. Next, she toured 66 cities all over the world, including Moscow, Venice, Tokyo and Los Angeles.

Through a mutual friend, Taymor met composer Elliot Goldenthal and they soon became companions and coworkers. In 1985, the two created “Liberty's Taken,” a blasphemous look at the American Revolution which was produced in Boston. Taymor next directed Thomas Mann's novella “Transposed Heads,” a collaboration with Goldenthal at the American Musical Theatre Festival, and staged a production of Shakespeare's “The Tempest” (both 1986) before rejoining Goldenthal for “Juan Darien, A Carnival Mass” in 1988. The latter show was produced Off-Broadway with Taymor designing, directing and co-creating.

In the 1990s, Taymor helmed a number of classic operas. Her 1992 staging of Igor Stravinsky's “Oedipus Rex” in Japan, which featured a 70-person orchestra and a cast of 120, including renowned diva Jessye Norman (conducted by Seiji Ozawa), played only for two days, but when it was recreated for PBS the following year, the show successfully won Taymor an Emmy for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Costume Design for a Variety or Music Program, shared with Emi Wada (costume designer). Before the production was televised, Taymor made her TV debut with “Fool's Fire,” a 1992 adaptation of Edgar Allen Poe's story “Hopfrog” produced for PBS' “American Playhouse,” which she directed, produced and wrote. Next, Taymor staged Mozart's “The Magic Flute” in Florence, Italy, in 1993, and directed the acclaimed production of Strauss's “Salome” in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1994, with conductor Valeri Gergiev.

In New York, she directed Shakespeare's “Titus Andronicus” (1994) at New York’s Theatre for a New Audience and the off-Broadway production of “The Green Bird” (1995), which also marked a reunion with Goldenthal. Her 1996 Broadway revival of “Juan Darien” received a Tony nomination for Best Musical, while Taymor herself earned two Tony nominations in the categories of Best Director (Musical) and Best Scenic Designer. Her massive breakthrough, however, arrived the next year when Taymor staged the Broadway version of Disney's “Lion King,” for which she co-designed more than a hundred costumes and masks of animals. A highly acclaimed play, “Lion King” won six Tony Awards out of 11 nominations, including two awards for Taymor for Best Director and Best Costume Designer.

Taymor closed out the decade with her feature directorial debut, “Titus” (1999), an adaptation of Shakespeare's “Titus Andronicus.” The film starred Anthony Hopkins and Jessica Lange and for her fine effort in the movie, she was handed a 2000 Edgar Allan Poe nomination for Best Motion Picture, as well as a 2000 Las Vegas Film Critics Society nomination and a Satellite nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Taymor achieved even more triumph with her next big screen outing, “Frida” (2002), a biopic of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. Starring and produced by Salma Hayek, the film netted six Academy Award nominations and won in the categories of Best Music, Original Score (Eliot Goldenthal) and Best Makeup. Taymor and Goldenthal shared an Oscar nomination and a World Soundtrack nomination for Best Music, Original Song for the song “Burn it Blue,” which she wrote the lyrics. She also took home a Venice Film Festival for Mimmo Rotella Foundation and a Golden Lion nomination, as well as a Bangkok International Film Festival Golden Kinnaree nomination.

Back in the world of theater, Taymor directed a successful production of “The Magic Flute” for the Metropolitan Opera during the 2005/2006 season. Due to its success, the show was revived the following season. In 2006, she helmed the opera “Grendel.”

Recently, Taymor made her big screen return with “Across the Universe,” which was screened at the Toronto Film Festival on September 10, 2007. Starring Jim Sturgess and Evan Rachel Wood, the film is a 1960s love story set to the music of the Beatles.

Awards:

• Venice Film Festival: Mimmo Rotella Foundation, “Frida,” 2002

• Laurence Olivier Theatre: Best Costume Designer, “The Lion King,” 2000

• London Evening Standard Theatre: Theatrical Event of the Year, “The Lion King,” 1999

• London Critics Circle Theatre: Best Designer, “The Lion King,” 1999 (shared with Richard Hudson)

• Tony: Best Director (Musical), “The Lion King,” 1998

• Tony: Best Costume Designer, “The Lion King,” 1998

• Emmy: Outstanding Individual Achievement in Costume Design for a Variety or Music Program, “Oedipus Rex,” 1993 (shared with Emi Wada)