Gregg Araki
Encyclopedia
Gregg Araki is an American
independent
filmmaker. He is involved in New Queer Cinema
.
but grew up in Santa Barbara, California
. He completed a Bachelor of Arts in Film Studies at UC Santa Barbara and an MFA
in Film Production from the University of Southern California
in 1985.
. 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.
Two years later, Araki made a name for himself on the festival circuit with The Long Weekend (O' Despair)
. Produced, directed, written, photographed and edited by Araki (for his own Desperate Pictures Company), this very small-scale Big Chill
derivation involved a group of recent college graduates brooding over their futures during one woozy, boozy evening.
He followed this up in 1992 with The Living End
, a road movie
about two HIV-positive men whose paths cross one fateful day and the tumultuous relationship which ensues. The film starred Craig Gilmore and Mike Dytri, and featured Mary Woronov
(who appeared in several "underground" films by Andy Warhol
) and cult favorite Paul Bartel
. Premiering at the Sundance Film Festival
, the film was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize.
Araki's next three films comprised his "Teenage Apocalypse Trilogy."
Totally Fucked Up
(1993) (Totally F***ed Up in publicity) chronicled the dysfunctional lives of six gay adolescent people who have formed a family unit and struggle to get along with each other and with life in the face of various major obstacles. Araki himself classified it as "A rag-tag story of the fag
-and-dyke teen underground....A kinda cross between avant-garde
experimental cinema and a queer
John Hughes flick". The movie explored the young people's depression and misery.
The Doom Generation
(1995) was a black comedy
brimming with graphic violence, cultural symbol
ism and relentless eroticism
. The film starred Rose McGowan
, Johnathon Schaech
and James Duval
(who had starred in Totally Fucked Up), with cameos by indie favorite Parker Posey
, comedienne Margaret Cho
, 21 Jump Street
actor Dustin Nguyen
, The Brady Bunch
star Christopher Knight, The Love Boat
star Lauren Tewes
, Hollywood madame Heidi Fleiss
and musician Perry Farrell
. While largely trashed by critics, the piece won a measure of respect in a number of circles and is available on DVD
and VHS
in both rated and unrated versions due to several sex scenes as well as the violent climax
.
Nowhere
(1997) was described by its director as "A Beverly Hills, 90210
episode on acid
". It centered around a group of bored, alienated adolescent people in Los Angeles during a typical day of kinky sex, drugs, and the requisite wild party. Duval, Rachel True
, Nathan Bexton, Debi Mazar
, Christina Applegate
, Heather Graham, Ryan Phillippe
, Jaason Simmons
, Scott Caan
and Mena Suvari
starred in the film, with cameos by Beverly D'Angelo
, Facts of Life
star Charlotte Rae
, Traci Lords
, Shannen Doherty
, Rose McGowan
, John Ritter
and International Male
and fitness model Brian Buzzini.
Araki's subsequent effort, the romantic comedy
Splendor
, tells the story of a woman (Kathleen Robertson
) who cannot choose between two men (Johnathon Schaech
and Matt Keeslar
) and so decides to live with them both. Splendor was both a response to the controversy surrounding his relationship with Robertson and an homage to screwball comedies
of the 1940s and 1950s. Hailed as the director's most optimistic film to date, it made its premiere at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival
.
Araki's next venture was the ill-fated MTV
series This Is How the World Ends (2000), which was meant to have a budget of $1.5 million. The network only gave him $700,000 and hoped to find partners to finance the difference. Araki offered to make the pilot episode for $700,000, and MTV took him up on it, but after the pilot was shot it was not picked up for broadcast. There are, however, bootleg
copies of the pilot circulating the internet.
Following a short hiatus, Araki returned with the critically acclaimed Mysterious Skin
(2004) based on a novel by Scott Heim
, which tells the story of a teenage hustler and a withdrawn young man obsessed with alien abductions, and how they both deal with the sexual abuse
they suffered from their Little League
coach when they were children. With this film, Araki found critical acclaim and a generally good public reaction.
Araki's ninth feature, made in 2007, was the stoner comedy Smiley Face
, starring Anna Faris
, which he directed with a screenplay by Dylan Haggerty. Araki wanted to make a comic film after shooting the more serious and darker Mysterious Skin. Critics have mentioned the potential of this film in becoming a "cult classic".
Araki's tenth film Kaboom
made its premiere at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival, and was awarded the first ever Queer Palm for its contribution to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender issues. The film was released in America on January 28.
One consistent feature of Araki's work to date is the presence of music from the shoegazer genre as film soundtracks, first seen on Totally Fucked Up and heavily so on the films Nowhere and Mysterious Skin (even going so far as to employ Robin Guthrie
to oversee the latter's score). Both The Living End and Nowhere are named after tracks by shoegazing bands (The Jesus and Mary Chain
and Ride
respectively).
until 1997, when he entered a relationship with actress Kathleen Robertson
, whom he had directed in Nowhere. The relationship ended in 1999. Araki has since mainly dated men.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
independent
Independent film
An independent film, or indie film, is a professional film production resulting in a feature film that is produced mostly or completely outside of the major film studio system. In addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies, independent films are also produced...
filmmaker. He is involved in New Queer Cinema
New Queer Cinema
New Queer Cinema is a term first coined by the academic B. Ruby Rich in Sight & Sound magazine in 1992 to define and describe a movement in queer-themed independent filmmaking in the early 1990s...
.
Early life
Araki was born in Los AngelesLos Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
but grew up in Santa Barbara, California
Santa Barbara, California
Santa Barbara is the county seat of Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Situated on an east-west trending section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States, the city lies between the steeply-rising Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean...
. He completed a Bachelor of Arts in Film Studies at UC Santa Barbara and an MFA
Master of Fine Arts
A Master of Fine Arts is a graduate degree typically requiring 2–3 years of postgraduate study beyond the bachelor's degree , although the term of study will vary by country or by university. The MFA is usually awarded in visual arts, creative writing, filmmaking, dance, or theatre/performing arts...
in Film Production from the University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
in 1985.
Career
Araki made his directorial debut in 1987 with Three Bewildered People in the NightThree Bewildered People in the Night
Three Bewildered People in the Night is a 1987 American drama film directed by Gregg Araki. The film follows three characters through the dissolution of a heterosexual relationship and the possible beginning of a gay one.-Plot:...
. 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
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
friend.
Two years later, Araki made a name for himself on the festival circuit with The Long Weekend (O' Despair)
The Long Weekend (O' Despair)
The Long Weekend is a 1989 American drama film directed by Gregg Araki. The film follows three couples, one gay, one lesbian and one heterosexual, spending a weekend together.-Cast:* Bretton Vail as Michael* Maureen Dondanville as Rachel...
. Produced, directed, written, photographed and edited by Araki (for his own Desperate Pictures Company), this very small-scale Big Chill
The Big Chill (film)
The Big Chill is a 1983 American comedy-drama film directed by Lawrence Kasdan, starring Tom Berenger, Glenn Close, Jeff Goldblum, William Hurt, Kevin Kline, Mary Kay Place, Meg Tilly, and JoBeth Williams. It is about a group of baby boomer college friends who reunite briefly after 15 years due to...
derivation involved a group of recent college graduates brooding over their futures during one woozy, boozy evening.
He followed this up in 1992 with The Living End
The Living End (film)
The Living End is a 1992 film by Gregg Araki. Described by some critics as a "gay Thelma and Louise," the film is an early entry in the New Queer Cinema genre. The Living End was nominated for a Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival in 1992....
, a road movie
Road movie
A road movie is a film genre in which the main character or characters leave home to travel from place to place. They usually leave home to escape their current lives.-History:...
about two HIV-positive men whose paths cross one fateful day and the tumultuous relationship which ensues. The film starred Craig Gilmore and Mike Dytri, and featured Mary Woronov
Mary Woronov
Mary Woronov is an American actress and writer. She is primarily known for her roles in independent and cult films. Woronov has appeared in over 80 movies, as well as numerous appearances in mainstream television series, such as Charlie's Angels and Knight Rider.-Early life:Woronov was born in the...
(who appeared in several "underground" films by Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
) and cult favorite Paul Bartel
Paul Bartel
Paul Bartel was an American actor, writer and director. Bartel was perhaps most known for his 1982 hit black comedy Eating Raoul, which he wrote, starred in and directed.-Life and career:...
. Premiering at the Sundance Film Festival
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...
, the film was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize.
Araki's next three films comprised his "Teenage Apocalypse Trilogy."
Totally Fucked Up
Totally Fucked Up
Totally Fucked Up is a 1993 American drama film written and directed by Gregg Araki...
(1993) (Totally F***ed Up in publicity) chronicled the dysfunctional lives of six gay adolescent people who have formed a family unit and struggle to get along with each other and with life in the face of various major obstacles. Araki himself classified it as "A rag-tag story of the fag
Faggot (epithet)
Faggot, often shortened to fag, is a pejorative term and common slur used chiefly in North America against homosexual males. Its pejorative use has spread from the United States to varying extents elsewhere in the English-speaking world through mass culture, including movies, music, and the...
-and-dyke teen underground....A kinda cross between avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
experimental cinema and a queer
Queer
Queer is an umbrella term for sexual minorities that are not heterosexual, heteronormative, or gender-binary. In the context of Western identity politics the term also acts as a label setting queer-identifying people apart from discourse, ideologies, and lifestyles that typify mainstream LGBT ...
John Hughes flick". The movie explored the young people's depression and misery.
The Doom Generation
The Doom Generation
The Doom Generation is a film by director Gregg Araki. Released in 1995, it stars Rose McGowan, James Duval and Johnathon Schaech as two teenagers and a 21-year-old punk drifter who become involved in a ménage à trois. It is the second of a trilogy of films known as the Teenage Apocalypse Trilogy,...
(1995) was a black comedy
Black comedy
A black comedy, or dark comedy, is a comic work that employs black humor or gallows humor. The definition of black humor is problematic; it has been argued that it corresponds to the earlier concept of gallows humor; and that, as humor has been defined since Freud as a comedic act that anesthetizes...
brimming with graphic violence, cultural symbol
Symbol
A symbol is something which represents an idea, a physical entity or a process but is distinct from it. The purpose of a symbol is to communicate meaning. For example, a red octagon may be a symbol for "STOP". On a map, a picture of a tent might represent a campsite. Numerals are symbols for...
ism and relentless eroticism
Eroticism
Eroticism is generally understood to refer to a state of sexual arousal or anticipation of such – an insistent sexual impulse, desire, or pattern of thoughts, as well as a philosophical contemplation concerning the aesthetics of sexual desire, sensuality and romantic love...
. The film starred Rose McGowan
Rose McGowan
Rose Arianna McGowan is an actress and singer. She is known for her role as Paige Matthews in The WB Television Network supernatural drama series Charmed. She played Ann-Margret alongside Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Elvis Presley in the CBS mini-series Elvis...
, Johnathon Schaech
Johnathon Schaech
Johnathon Schaech is an American actor, writer, and director.-Early life:Schaech was born in Edgewood, Maryland to Joseph, a Baltimore City law enforcement officer, and Joanne Schaech, a human resources executive. He is of German and Italian descent, and was raised Roman Catholic...
and James Duval
James Duval
James Edward Duval is an American actor, who is most famous for his roles in the Gregg Araki trilogy—Totally Fucked Up, The Doom Generation, and Nowhere—in addition to Frank in Donnie Darko, Blank in May, Miguel in Independence Day and Singh in Go.-Personal life:Duval was born in Detroit, Michigan...
(who had starred in Totally Fucked Up), with cameos by indie favorite Parker Posey
Parker Posey
Parker Christian Posey is an American actress. She became known during the 1990s after a series of roles in several well-received independent films. As a result, she has often been referred to as the "Queen of the Indies"....
, comedienne Margaret Cho
Margaret Cho
Margaret Cho is an American comedian, fashion designer, actress, author, and recording artist. Cho is best known for her stand-up routines, through which she critiques social and political problems, especially those pertaining to race and sexuality. She has also directed and appeared in music...
, 21 Jump Street
21 Jump Street
21 Jump Street is an American police procedural crime drama television series that aired on the Fox Network from April 12, 1987, to April 27, 1991, with a total of 103 episodes. The series focused on a squad of youthful-looking undercover police officers investigating crimes in high schools,...
actor Dustin Nguyen
Dustin Nguyen
Dustin Nguyen is a Vietnamese-American actor, director, writer and martial artist. He is best known for his roles as Harry Truman Ioki on 21 Jump Street and as Johnny Loh on V.I.P.-Early life:...
, The Brady Bunch
The Brady Bunch
The Brady Bunch is an American sitcom created by Sherwood Schwartz and starring Robert Reed, Florence Henderson, and Ann B. Davis. The series revolved around a large blended family...
star Christopher Knight, The Love Boat
The Love Boat
The Love Boat is an American television series set on a cruise ship, which aired on the ABC Television Network from September 24,1977, until May 24,1986.The show starred Gavin MacLeod as the ship's captain...
star Lauren Tewes
Lauren Tewes
Cynthia Lauren Tewes ,known simply as Lauren Tewes,is an American actress best known for playing Cruise Director Julie McCoy on the sitcom The Love Boat beating out over 100 other actresses for the role...
, Hollywood madame Heidi Fleiss
Heidi Fleiss
Heidi Lynne Fleiss is an American former madam, and also a columnist and television personality regularly featured in the 1990s in American media. She is often referred to as the "Hollywood Madam"....
and musician Perry Farrell
Perry Farrell
Perry Farrell is the frontman for the alternative rock band Jane's Addiction. Farrell created the touring festival Lollapalooza as a farewell tour for Jane's Addiction in 1991; it has since evolved into an annual destination festival. Farrell continues to produce Lollapalooza with partners William...
. While largely trashed by critics, the piece won a measure of respect in a number of circles and is available on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
and VHS
VHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
in both rated and unrated versions due to several sex scenes as well as the violent climax
Climax (narrative)
The Climax is the point in the story where the main character's point of view changes, or the most exciting/action filled part of the story. It also known has the main turning point in the story...
.
Nowhere
Nowhere (film)
Nowhere is a 1997 film by director and screenwriter Gregg Araki. It stars James Duval and Rachel True as Dark and Mel, a bisexual teen couple who are both sexually promiscuous....
(1997) was described by its director as "A Beverly Hills, 90210
Beverly Hills, 90210
Beverly Hills, 90210 is an American drama series that originally aired from October 4, 1990 to May 17, 2000 on Fox and was produced by Spelling Television in the United States, and subsequently on various networks around the world. It is the first series in the Beverly Hills, 90210 franchise...
episode on acid
LSD
Lysergic acid diethylamide, abbreviated LSD or LSD-25, also known as lysergide and colloquially as acid, is a semisynthetic psychedelic drug of the ergoline family, well known for its psychological effects which can include altered thinking processes, closed and open eye visuals, synaesthesia, an...
". It centered around a group of bored, alienated adolescent people in Los Angeles during a typical day of kinky sex, drugs, and the requisite wild party. Duval, Rachel True
Rachel True
Rachel India True is an American film and television actress.-Career:In 1991, True had some appearances , beginning a string of TV jobs, including turns on Beverly Hills, 90210, The Drew Carey Show, Once and Again, and HBO's Dream On. By 1993, she had moved to Los Angeles and appeared opposite...
, Nathan Bexton, Debi Mazar
Debi Mazar
Deborah "Debi" Mazar is an American actress, perhaps best known for her Jersey Girl-type roles; as sharp-tongued women in independent films; and for her recurring role as press agent Shauna Roberts on the HBO series Entourage.-Early life:...
, Christina Applegate
Christina Applegate
Christina Applegate is an American actress. She is best known for playing Kelly Bundy on the Fox sitcom Married... with Children. Since then, she has established a film and television career, winning a Primetime Emmy and earning Tony and Golden Globe nominations...
, Heather Graham, Ryan Phillippe
Ryan Phillippe
Matthew Ryan Phillippe , better known as Ryan Phillippe, is an American actor. After appearing on the soap opera One Life to Live, he came to fame in the late 1990s starring in a string of films, including I Know What You Did Last Summer, Cruel Intentions, and 54...
, Jaason Simmons
Jaason Simmons
Jaason Simmons is an Australian actor best known for the role of Logan Fowler on the TV series Baywatch.-Early life and career:...
, Scott Caan
Scott Caan
Scott Andrew Caan is an American actor. He stars in the CBS television series Hawaii Five-0, for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe award. He is the son of actor James Caan.-Early life:...
and Mena Suvari
Mena Suvari
Mena Alexandra Suvari is an American actress, fashion designer, and model. Shortly after beginning her career as a model, she appeared in guest roles on 1990's television shows such as Boy Meets World and High Incident...
starred in the film, with cameos by Beverly D'Angelo
Beverly D'Angelo
Beverly Heather D'Angelo is an American actress and singer.-Early life:D'Angelo was born in Columbus, Ohio, the daughter of Priscilla , a violinist, and Gene D'Angelo, a bass player and television station manager. She is of part Italian ancestry...
, Facts of Life
The Facts of Life (TV series)
The Facts of Life is an American sitcom that originally ran on the NBC television network from August 24, 1979 to May 7, 1988. A spin-off of the sitcom Diff'rent Strokes, the series' premise focused on Edna Garrett as she becomes a housemother at the fictional Eastland School, a prestigious...
star Charlotte Rae
Charlotte Rae
Charlotte Rae is a prolific American character actress of stage, comedienne, singer and dancer, who in her six decades of television is perhaps best known for her portrayal of Edna Garrett in the sitcoms Diff'rent Strokes and The Facts of Life...
, Traci Lords
Traci Lords
Traci Lords , also known as Traci Elizabeth Lords and Tracy Lords, is an American film actress, producer, film director, writer and singer...
, Shannen Doherty
Shannen Doherty
Shannen Maria Doherty is an American actress, producer, author and television director, known for her work as Heather Duke in Heathers , as Brenda Walsh in Beverly Hills, 90210 and its spinoff series 90210, and as Prue Halliwell in Charmed .-Early life and career:Doherty was born in Memphis,...
, Rose McGowan
Rose McGowan
Rose Arianna McGowan is an actress and singer. She is known for her role as Paige Matthews in The WB Television Network supernatural drama series Charmed. She played Ann-Margret alongside Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Elvis Presley in the CBS mini-series Elvis...
, John Ritter
John Ritter
Jonathan Southworth "John" Ritter was an American actor, voice over artist and comedian perhaps best known for having played Jack Tripper and Paul Hennessy in the ABC sitcoms Three's Company and 8 Simple Rules, respectively...
and International Male
International Male
International Male is or was a mail-order vendor of men's casual, office-casual and some gallant clothing which are or were at various price levels and which are and were generally geared to the dandy. The company is owned by New Jersey-based group Hanover Direct, and has existed since the late...
and fitness model Brian Buzzini.
Araki's subsequent effort, the romantic comedy
Romantic Comedy
Romantic Comedy can refer to* Romantic Comedy , a 1979 play written by Bernard Slade* Romantic Comedy , a 1983 film adapted from the play and starring Dudley Moore and Mary Steenburgen...
Splendor
Splendor (1999 film)
Splendor is a film directed by Gregg Araki starring Kathleen Robertson, Johnathon Schaech, Matt Keeslar, Kelly Macdonald and Eric Mabius. The film narrates the lives of the characters Veronica Abel and Zed , and how a relationship forms between these three characters that is equivalent to a...
, tells the story of a woman (Kathleen Robertson
Kathleen Robertson
Kathleen Robertson is a Canadian actress. She is best known for her role as Clare Arnold in Beverly Hills, 90210 .-Career:Robertson started taking acting classes when she was ten, and had roles in local theater productions...
) who cannot choose between two men (Johnathon Schaech
Johnathon Schaech
Johnathon Schaech is an American actor, writer, and director.-Early life:Schaech was born in Edgewood, Maryland to Joseph, a Baltimore City law enforcement officer, and Joanne Schaech, a human resources executive. He is of German and Italian descent, and was raised Roman Catholic...
and Matt Keeslar
Matt Keeslar
Matt Keeslar is an American actor.Keeslar was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the son of Fred Keeslar and Ann Ferguson, who divorced in 1977....
) and so decides to live with them both. Splendor was both a response to the controversy surrounding his relationship with Robertson and an homage to screwball comedies
Screwball comedy film
The screwball comedy is a principally American genre of comedy film that became popular during the Great Depression, originating in the early 1930s and thriving until the early 1940s. It is characterized by fast-paced repartee, farcical situations, escapist themes, and plot lines involving...
of the 1940s and 1950s. Hailed as the director's most optimistic film to date, it made its premiere at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...
.
Araki's next venture was the ill-fated MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
series This Is How the World Ends (2000), which was meant to have a budget of $1.5 million. The network only gave him $700,000 and hoped to find partners to finance the difference. Araki offered to make the pilot episode for $700,000, and MTV took him up on it, but after the pilot was shot it was not picked up for broadcast. There are, however, bootleg
Bootleg recording
A bootleg recording is an audio or video recording of a performance that was not officially released by the artist or under other legal authority. The process of making and distributing such recordings is known as bootlegging...
copies of the pilot circulating the internet.
Following a short hiatus, Araki returned with the critically acclaimed Mysterious Skin
Mysterious Skin
Mysterious Skin is a 2004 drama film directed by American filmmaker Gregg Araki, who also wrote the screenplay based on the 1996 novel of the same name by Scott Heim...
(2004) based on a novel by Scott Heim
Scott Heim
Scott Heim is an American novelist from Hutchinson, Kansas, currently living in Massachusetts. Heim's first novel, Mysterious Skin, was published in 1995.- Biography :...
, which tells the story of a teenage hustler and a withdrawn young man obsessed with alien abductions, and how they both deal with the sexual abuse
Sexual abuse
Sexual abuse, also referred to as molestation, is the forcing of undesired sexual behavior by one person upon another. When that force is immediate, of short duration, or infrequent, it is called sexual assault. The offender is referred to as a sexual abuser or molester...
they suffered from their Little League
Little League
Little League Baseball and Softball is a non-profit organization in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania, United States which organizes local youth baseball and softball leagues throughout the U.S...
coach when they were children. With this film, Araki found critical acclaim and a generally good public reaction.
Araki's ninth feature, made in 2007, was the stoner comedy Smiley Face
Smiley Face (film)
Smiley Face is a 2007 American/German comedy film written by Dylan Haggerty and directed and co-produced by Gregg Araki. It stars Anna Faris as a young woman who has a series of misadventures after eating a large number of cupcakes laced with cannabis...
, starring Anna Faris
Anna Faris
Anna Kay Faris is an American actress, singer and comedienne. She is known for her starring role in the Scary Movie film series, as well as roles in The Hot Chick , Lost in Translation , Just Friends , My Super Ex-Girlfriend , Smiley Face , and The House Bunny...
, which he directed with a screenplay by Dylan Haggerty. Araki wanted to make a comic film after shooting the more serious and darker Mysterious Skin. Critics have mentioned the potential of this film in becoming a "cult classic".
Araki's tenth film Kaboom
Kaboom (film)
Kaboom is a 2010 film, written and directed by Gregg Araki. The film stars Roxane Mesquida, Thomas Dekker, Juno Temple, Haley Bennett, and James Duval...
made its premiere at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival, and was awarded the first ever Queer Palm for its contribution to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender issues. The film was released in America on January 28.
One consistent feature of Araki's work to date is the presence of music from the shoegazer genre as film soundtracks, first seen on Totally Fucked Up and heavily so on the films Nowhere and Mysterious Skin (even going so far as to employ Robin Guthrie
Robin Guthrie
Robin Guthrie is a musician best known as co-founder of the Cocteau Twins. During his career Guthrie has played guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, drums and other musical instruments, in addition to programming, sampling and sound processing...
to oversee the latter's score). Both The Living End and Nowhere are named after tracks by shoegazing bands (The Jesus and Mary Chain
The Jesus and Mary Chain
The Jesus and Mary Chain are a Scottish alternative rock band formed in East Kilbride, Glasgow in 1983. The band revolves around the songwriting partnership of brothers Jim and William Reid...
and Ride
Ride (band)
Ride were a British alternative rock band that formed in 1988 in Oxford, England, consisting of Andy Bell, Mark Gardener, Laurence "Loz" Colbert, and Steve Queralt. The band were initially part of the "shoegazing" scene. Following the break-up of the band in 1996, members moved on to various other...
respectively).
Personal life
Araki self-identified as gayGay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
until 1997, when he entered a relationship with actress Kathleen Robertson
Kathleen Robertson
Kathleen Robertson is a Canadian actress. She is best known for her role as Clare Arnold in Beverly Hills, 90210 .-Career:Robertson started taking acting classes when she was ten, and had roles in local theater productions...
, whom he had directed in Nowhere. The relationship ended in 1999. Araki has since mainly dated men.
Filmography
- Three Bewildered People in the NightThree Bewildered People in the NightThree Bewildered People in the Night is a 1987 American drama film directed by Gregg Araki. The film follows three characters through the dissolution of a heterosexual relationship and the possible beginning of a gay one.-Plot:...
(1987) - The Long Weekend (O' Despair)The Long Weekend (O' Despair)The Long Weekend is a 1989 American drama film directed by Gregg Araki. The film follows three couples, one gay, one lesbian and one heterosexual, spending a weekend together.-Cast:* Bretton Vail as Michael* Maureen Dondanville as Rachel...
(1989) - The Living EndThe Living End (film)The Living End is a 1992 film by Gregg Araki. Described by some critics as a "gay Thelma and Louise," the film is an early entry in the New Queer Cinema genre. The Living End was nominated for a Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival in 1992....
(1992) - "Teenage Apocalypse Trilogy":
- Totally Fucked UpTotally Fucked UpTotally Fucked Up is a 1993 American drama film written and directed by Gregg Araki...
(1993) - The Doom GenerationThe Doom GenerationThe Doom Generation is a film by director Gregg Araki. Released in 1995, it stars Rose McGowan, James Duval and Johnathon Schaech as two teenagers and a 21-year-old punk drifter who become involved in a ménage à trois. It is the second of a trilogy of films known as the Teenage Apocalypse Trilogy,...
(1995) - NowhereNowhere (film)Nowhere is a 1997 film by director and screenwriter Gregg Araki. It stars James Duval and Rachel True as Dark and Mel, a bisexual teen couple who are both sexually promiscuous....
(1997)
- Totally Fucked Up
- SplendorSplendor (1999 film)Splendor is a film directed by Gregg Araki starring Kathleen Robertson, Johnathon Schaech, Matt Keeslar, Kelly Macdonald and Eric Mabius. The film narrates the lives of the characters Veronica Abel and Zed , and how a relationship forms between these three characters that is equivalent to a...
(1999) - This Is How the World Ends (TV pilot, 2000)
- Mysterious SkinMysterious SkinMysterious Skin is a 2004 drama film directed by American filmmaker Gregg Araki, who also wrote the screenplay based on the 1996 novel of the same name by Scott Heim...
(2004) - Smiley FaceSmiley Face (film)Smiley Face is a 2007 American/German comedy film written by Dylan Haggerty and directed and co-produced by Gregg Araki. It stars Anna Faris as a young woman who has a series of misadventures after eating a large number of cupcakes laced with cannabis...
(2007) - KaboomKaboom (film)Kaboom is a 2010 film, written and directed by Gregg Araki. The film stars Roxane Mesquida, Thomas Dekker, Juno Temple, Haley Bennett, and James Duval...
(2010)
External links
- Young, Beautiful, and F***ed: A conversation with Gregg Araki and other members of The Doom Generation in Bright Lights Film JournalBright Lights Film JournalBright Lights Film Journal is an online popular-academic film magazine, with a left-leaning critical orientation, based in Portland, Oregon, United States. It is edited and published by Gary Morris....
- Bright Lights Film Journal interview
- Gregg Araki - 100% Unofficial Fan-site
- 2011 radio interview at The Bat Segundo ShowThe Bat Segundo ShowThe Bat Segundo Show is a podcast based in New York run by writer and literary critic Edward Champion.The program features comprehensive interviews with prominent figures in arts and culture, with a special focus on literature. Past guests have included David Mitchell, David Lynch, Amy Sedaris,...