find us on:
Requiem for a Dream
Background:
“I try to live my life where I end up at a point where I have no regrets. So I try to choose the road that I have the most passion on because then you can never really blame yourself for making the wrong choices. You can always say you’re following your passion.” Darren Aronofsky
Indie filmmaker Darren Aronofsky became a cinematic sensation after creating a drama about the life of drug addicts titled Requiem for a Dream (2000), which brought in a Valladolid International Film Festival Award and an Online Film Critics Society Award, as well as several nominations. Two years earlier, Aronofsky’s mathematical thriller Pi was released and also earned a number of awards, including an Independent Spirit Award and a Sundance Film Festival Award. Recently, the moviemaker worked with actors Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz in the acclaimed The Fountain (2006).
Outside making films, Aronofsky wrote the introduction to the comic book trade paperback “Transmetropolitan: Spider’s Thrash.” In 2005, he became one of Fade In magazine’s “100 People in Hollywood You Need to Know.” Aronofsky, whose name is pronounced “Air-on-off-skee,” is the fiancé of actress Rachel Weisz. They have a son named Henry Chance.
Coney Island
Childhood and Family:
The son of school teacher parents, Darren Aronofsky was born on February 12, 1969, in Coney Island, a section of Brooklyn, New York. Darren moved to Israel after graduating high school, but his job in a plastics factory made him leave after only two days.
Darren, who loved classic movies and graffiti art, continued his studies at Harvard University, where he took film classes. He also attended the American Film Institute in L.A.
Darren is now engaged to British actress Rachel Weisz. Recently, the couple welcomed their first son (Henry Chance, born on May 31, 2006).
Pi
Career:
While studying at Harvard, Darren Aronofsky became a National Student Academy Award finalist thanks to his senior thesis film, the short action comedy drama Supermarket Sweep (starring his friend Sean Gullette). Two years later, he made the short drama Protozoa (1993, starring Lucy Liu). Later, Aronofsky developed his trademark visual style, such as the frequent use of the hip-hop montage technique, the camera device Snorricam, and the fade-to-white technique.
In 1998, Aronofsky made his feature-length debut with the acclaimed mathematical thriller Pi, which centered on the hazardous obsession of a genius mathematician (played by Sean Gullette) in finding numeric patterns. Soon, the movie collected an Independent Spirit award for Best First Screenplay, a Sundance Film Festival Director’s award, a Málaga International Week of Fantastic Cinema’s Special Mention award, a Gotham’s Open Palm award, a Florida Film Critics Circle award for Newcomer of the Year and a Thessaloniki Film Festival’s FIPRESCI Prize. Also, Pi earned nominations from the Deauville Film Festival, the Gijón International Film Festival, the Fant-Asia Film Festival, the Thessaloniki Film Festival, the Chlotrudis Award ceremony and the Independent Spirit Awards.
Again gaining success, Aronofsky shot Requiem for a Dream (2000), an adaptation of the novel by Hubert Selby Jr., which chronicles the life of four desperate drug addicts (portrayed by Jared Leto, Ellen Burstyn, Jennifer Connelly and Marlon Wayans). Screened at Cannes, the drama soon brought in a Golden Spike from the Valladolid International Film Festival and an Online Film Critics Society award for Best Director. Requiem was also nominated for an Independent Spirit award, a Bram Stoker award, a Chicago Film Critics Association award, a Chlotrudis award and a Stockholm Film Festival award.
The recipient of the 2001 Young Hollywood award for Hottest Young Filmmaker then penned and produced the horror movie Below (2002), which was initially to be named Proteus. After postponing his next project for several years, Aronofsky recently hit the movie scene with The Fountain (2006). Originally starring Brad Pitt and Kate Blanchett, the movie was released with Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz as the lead actors. Before long, The Fountain earned nominations from the 2006 Venice Film Festival and the 2006 Flanders International Film Festival.
Aronofsky is set to direct the fantasy drama based on Theodore Roszak’s novel titled Flicker, which is scheduled for release in 2007. He also worked on the script of the action drama Lone Wolf and Club (2008), a live-action adaptation of the graphic novel series by Kazuo Koike.
Awards:
