Gregg Araki

Gregg Araki (born December 17, 1959) is an American filmmaker. He is noted for his heavy involvement with the New Queer Cinema movement. His film Kaboom (2010) was the first winner of the Cannes Film Festival Queer Palm.

Gregg Araki
Araki in 2014
Born (1959-12-17) December 17, 1959
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
EducationUniversity of California, Santa Barbara (B.A.)
University of Southern California (M.F.A.)
Occupation(s)Film director, screenwriter, producer
Years active1987–present
StyleNew Queer Cinema

Early life

Araki was born in Los Angeles on December 17, 1959, to Japanese American parents.[1][2] He grew up in nearby Santa Barbara, California and enrolled in college at the University of California, Santa Barbara.[3] He graduated with a B.A. from UCSB in 1982.[2][4] He later attended the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts, where he graduated with a M.F.A. in 1985.[2][3][5]

Career

Low-budget beginnings

Araki made his directorial debut in 1987 with Three Bewildered People in the Night. With a budget of only $5,000 and using a stationary camera, he told the story of a romance between a video artist, her sweet-heart, and her gay friend.[3][6] Two years later, Araki followed up with The Long Weekend (O' Despair), another film with a $5,000 budget.[3][6] His third film, The Living End (1992), saw an increase to $20,000.[6] He had to shoot his early movies often spontaneously and lacking proper permits.[2]

Despite the financial constraints, Araki's films received critical acclaim. He received awards from the Locarno International Film Festival and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, with an additional nomination for a Sundance Film Festival award.[2][7]

Teenage Apocalypse trilogy

Araki's next three movies—Totally F***ed Up (1993), The Doom Generation (1995), and Nowhere (1997)—were collectively dubbed the Teenage Apocalypse trilogy.[3] The trio has been characterized as "... teen alienation, hazy sexuality and aggression."[8] A former student of his at UC Santa Barbara, Andrea Sperling, co-produced the films with him.[9]

The trilogy saw Araki work increasingly with more notable actors and actresses including Rose McGowan, Margaret Cho, Parker Posey, Guillermo Díaz, Ryan Phillippe, Heather Graham, and Mena Suvari among others.

The trilogy received varying degrees of reviews, from a thumbs down and "zero stars" by Roger Ebert to "Literally the Best Thing Ever" by Rookie, and were eventually heralded as cult classics.[10][11][12]

Araki at the Deauville American Film Festival in September 2010

Subsequent efforts

Araki's following film, Splendor (1999), was both an homage to screwball comedies of the 1940s and 1950s and a response to the controversy surrounding his ongoing relationship (despite Araki self-identifying as gay) with actress Kathleen Robertson.[2][3] Hailed as the director's most optimistic film to date, it made its premiere at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival.[13]

Araki's next project was the ill-fated MTV production This Is How the World Ends, which was originally planned with a budget of $1.5 million.[14] He viewed it as a chance to reach the masses through MTV's viewership and signed on to do the project despite the budget being cut to $700,000.[2][14] Araki wrote, directed, and shot the pilot episode, but ultimately MTV decided against the project and the effort never aired.[2][14]

Following a short hiatus, Araki returned in 2004 with the critically acclaimed Mysterious Skin, based on the 1995 Scott Heim novel of the same name.[2] This marked the first time that Araki worked with someone else's source material.[14][15]

Araki's next feature was the stoner comedy Smiley Face (2007), featuring Anna Faris, Adam Brody, and John Krasinski, written by Dylan Haggerty. It marked a stark change from the dark, heavy drama of Mysterious Skin, a change purposely planned by Araki.[14][15] It received very favorable reviews, with some describing it as another of Araki's potential cult classics.[14][16][17]

Kaboom marked Araki's tenth film and made its premiere at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival. It was awarded the first ever Queer Palm for its contribution to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender issues.[18]

Araki followed that film with White Bird in a Blizzard (2014), which was given limited release to mixed reviews. Araki returned to television with the 2019 series Now Apocalypse, co-executive produced by Gregory Jacobs and Steven Soderbergh on Starz.

Style

One consistent feature of Araki's work to date is the presence of music from the shoegazing genre as film soundtracks, first seen on Totally Fucked Up and heavily so on the films Nowhere and Mysterious Skin.[1][19] Both The Living End and Nowhere owe their titles to this shoegaze influence: The Living End after The Jesus and Mary Chain song of the same name, and Nowhere after Ride's album entitled Nowhere.[20]

Awards and honors

In 2010, Kaboom was named the first ever winner of the Cannes Film Festival Queer Palm.[18] Araki has also been honored with the 2006 Filmmaker on the Edge Award at the Provincetown International Film Festival.[21] In 2013, Araki was recognized by the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City with the retrospective God Help Me: Gregg Araki.[22][23][24]

Personal life

Araki has previously self-identified as "a gay Asian American".[25] However, beginning in 1997 he had a relationship with actress Kathleen Robertson that ended in 1999.[26][27][28] In a 2014 interview, Araki said that "[I] don’t really identify as anything", adding "[I] probably identify as gay at this point, but [I] have been with women".[29]

Filmography

Film
Year Title Notes
1987 Three Bewildered People in the Night
1989 The Long Weekend (O' Despair)
1992 The Living End
1993 Totally Fucked Up Part 1 of "Teen Apocalypse Trilogy"
1995 The Doom Generation Part 2 of "Teen Apocalypse Trilogy"
1997 Nowhere Part 3 of "Teen Apocalypse Trilogy"
1999 Splendor
2004 Mysterious Skin
2007 Smiley Face
2010 Kaboom
2014 White Bird in a Blizzard

Television
Year Title Role
2000 This Is How the World Ends Unaired pilot for MTV
2016 American Crime Episode: "Season Two: Episode Three"
Greenleaf Episode: "Men Like Trees Walking"
Red Oaks 2 episodes
2017–2018 13 Reasons Why 4 episodes
2018 Riverdale Episode: "Chapter Twenty-Four: The Wrestler"
Heathers 2 episodes
2019 Now Apocalypse Creator, director, writer, executive producer
2022 Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story Episode: "Lionel"
American Gigolo Episode: "Nothing Is The Real But the Girl"

References
  1. Rich, B. Ruby (March 26, 2013). New Queer Cinema: The Director's Cut. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press. ISBN 9780822399698.
  2. Prono, Luca (December 30, 2007). Encyclopedia of Gay and Lesbian Popular Culture. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9780313335990.
  3. Hart, Kylo-Patrick R. (September 20, 2010). Images for a Generation Doomed: The Films and Career of Gregg Araki. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 9780739139974.
  4. "UCSB Notable Alumni: Art". alumni.ucsb.edu. UC Santa Barbara Alumni Association. Archived from the original on May 5, 2018. Retrieved December 17, 2014.
  5. "USC Filmmakers Descend on Sundance". news.usc.edu. 29 January 2007. Retrieved December 17, 2014.
  6. Chua, Lawrence (Fall 1992). "Gregg Araki". Bomb. New Art Publications (41). Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved December 17, 2014.
  7. "Do The Right Thing wins honors". The Item. Sumter, South Carolina. December 21, 1989. Archived from the original on March 19, 2021. Retrieved December 17, 2014.
  8. O'Connell, Ryan (January 31, 2011). "The Work of Gregg Araki: Teenagers, Aliens and Shoegaze". thoughtcatalog.com. Archived from the original on March 19, 2021. Retrieved December 17, 2014.
  9. Taubin, Amy (September 7, 1999). "Market Forces". The Village Voice. New York City. Retrieved July 21, 2016.
  10. Ebert, Roger (November 10, 1995). "The Doom Generation". rogerebert.com. Retrieved December 17, 2014.
  11. Cills, Hazel (June 13, 2012). "Literally the Best Thing Ever: Gregg Araki's Totally Effed-Up L.A." Rookie. Archived from the original on March 19, 2021. Retrieved December 17, 2014.
  12. McAllister, Matt (September 6, 2011). "Gregg Araki Interview: At World's End". futuremovies.co.uk. Retrieved December 17, 2014.
  13. "1999 Sundance Film Festival - Splendor". history.sundance.org. Sundance Film Festival. Retrieved December 18, 2014.
  14. Tasker, Yvonne, ed. (October 21, 2010). Fifty Contemporary Film Directors. London: Routledge. ISBN 9781136919459.
  15. Smith, Damon (February 2008). "Rebel, Rebel". Bright Lights Film Journal. Oakland, California (59). Archived from the original on March 19, 2021. Retrieved December 18, 2014.
  16. Konrad, Todd. "Smiley Face". independentfilmquarterly.com. Archived from the original on March 19, 2021. Retrieved December 18, 2014.
  17. Mottram, James (January 26, 2007). "Brits reign at Sundance". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on March 19, 2021. Retrieved December 18, 2014.
  18. Tsiokos, Basil (May 23, 2010). "UPDATE: "Kaboom" Claims First Queer Palm". indiewire.com. Indiewire. Archived from the original on March 19, 2021. Retrieved December 17, 2014.
  19. O'Neill, Phelim (2011-08-05). "Gregg Araki's films are giving the US a crash course in shoegazing". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 2021-03-19. Retrieved 2016-11-17.
  20. O'Neill, Phelim (August 5, 2011). "Gregg Araki's films are giving the US a crash course in shoegazing". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on March 19, 2021. Retrieved December 18, 2014.
  21. "FILMMAKER ON THE EDGE". ptownfilmfest.org. Provincetown International Film Festival. Retrieved December 17, 2014.
  22. "God Help Me: Gregg Araki". Museum of Arts and Design. Museum of Arts and Design. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
  23. Renninger, Bryce J (19 August 2013). "Never-Aired MTV Pilot & Master Class at Museum of Art Design's Gregg Araki Retrospective". Indiewire. Indiewire. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
  24. Grossman, Jeremy (17 September 2013). "Cult filmmaker Gregg Araki talks career retrospective". Washington Square News. New York University. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
  25. Yutani, Kimberly (1996). "Gregg Araki and the Queer New Wave". In Leong, Russell (ed.). Asian American Sexualities: Dimensions of the Gay and Lesbian Experience. Psychology Press. p. 177. ISBN 9780415914376.
  26. Szymanski, Michael (July 20, 1997). "Having It Both Ways". Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, California. Archived from the original on May 13, 2016. Retrieved December 17, 2014.
  27. Turner, Megan (September 8, 1999). "STRANGE BEDFELLOWS: GAY DIRECTOR FALLS FOR 90210 BABE". New York Post. New York City, New York. Archived from the original on March 28, 2018. Retrieved December 17, 2014.
  28. Lim, Dennis (January 14, 2011). "Young and Restless Never Gets Old". The New York Times. New York City, New York. Retrieved December 17, 2014.
  29. Musto, Michael (October 20, 2014). "Gregg Araki on His New Movie, White Bird in a Blizzard, and Being Gay in Hollywood". Out.
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