Background

Romanek was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Shirlee and Marvin Romanek. He credits seeing Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey at the age of nine with inspiring him to become a film director. He experimented with Super 8 and 16mm film as a teenager while attending New Trier High School. There, he studied first with Kevin Dole, a local filmmaker who was already creating a form of music video on his own in the mid-1970s, and then with Peter Kingsbury, a filmmaker who had studied with experimentalists Owen Land, John Luther Schofill, and Stan Brakhage at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Both teachers exposed students to works by significant figures of the American avant-garde cinema, such as Maya Deren, Kenneth Anger, and Paul Sharits.

Romanek subsequently attended Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York, and graduated from its Roy H. Park School of Communications with a degree in cinema and photography. He served as second assistant director for Brian De Palma on Home Movies, an autobiographical film De Palma conceived as an exercise for his students at Sarah Lawrence College (having returned to his alma mater as an instructor of film production). On set, Romanek met Keith Gordon, playing De Palma's alter ego. Gordon remembers Romanek's entrance into film production:

“

I actually met a lot of people who became important in my life, but Mark being one of the people who was really huge. Mark wasn't even officially one of the students in the class. Mark was kind of like me - he was a film geek. He was from Chicago. And he had followed Brian around on the set of The Fury and gotten a job as a production assistant on that movie. And when he heard that Brian was doing this project, he basically contacted him and said, 'Listen, can I come to New York and basically be like one of the students, even though I'm not technically in the class?' And Brian said, 'Fine.' So Mark became the second assistant director on the film. And he and I just hit it off pretty quickly. We had a similar passion for Stanley Kubrick. He showed me his short films, which I thought were really good and showed a lot of visual flair.

”

Romanek released his first film, Static, in 1986. It was co-written with Gordon and starred Gordon as a man who claimed he had invented a television set capable of showing a live picture of Heaven. The film achieved something of a cult following in London and led to Romanek's first job at the helm of a music video for the British new wave group The The, who featured on the soundtrack for Static, in 1986.

Career

Music videos

After a few years writing screenplays, Romanek decided to focus on music videos and signed on with Satellite Films, a division of Propaganda Films. His subsequent work has come to be regarded as among the best of the medium. He has worked with many top-selling recording artists from different genres of popular music, and his videos have been given credit for making stars out of some. One of his notable videos was for the Nine Inch Nails song "Closer". Its critical acclaim was only matched by its controversy, with many accusing the video as being disturbing and demonic (a big reason why the video was so popular among fans). Romanek would again work with Nine Inch Nails for the song "The Perfect Drug".

Romanek was given his first Grammy Award for Best Short Form Video in 1996 for "Scream", a collaboration between the pop superstar siblings Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson. The video, which cost $7 million to make, is cited as one of the most expensive ever made. Romanek won his second Grammy two years later, again with Janet Jackson, for her video "Got 'Til It's Gone". In 2002, Romanek shot a video for Audioslave's "Cochise" in which the band performed in the midst of a prolonged pyrotechnic display of the intensity usually seen only during fireworks finales. The explosions were so loud during the night shoot in the San Fernando Valley that local police and fire departments received hundreds of calls from residents who feared that a terrorist attack was under way.

Romanek's 2002 music video for Johnny Cash's cover of Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt" has been hailed by many critics and fans alike as the most personal and moving music video ever made. The song expresses self-loathing and the futility of worldly accomplishments; this content took on a new poignancy when sung by Cash near the end of his life, quietly performing in his memorabilia-filled home, with shots of the flood-ravaged "House of Cash" museum and archival shots of a younger, cockier Cash edited in. The video was nominated for seven VMAs, winning one for cinematography, and also won Romanek his third Grammy.

Other Romanek videos that have received accolades and awards include the VMA winners "Free Your Mind" (En Vogue), "Are You Gonna Go My Way" (Lenny Kravitz), "Rain" (Madonna), "Devil's Haircut" (Beck), "99 Problems" (Jay-Z), and "Criminal" (Fiona Apple). Many others have also received nominations. In 1997, Romanek received the VMA Video Vanguard Award for his contribution to the medium. Two of his music videos, "Closer" by Nine Inch Nails and "Bedtime Story" by Madonna, have been made part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

Romanek directed Jay-Z's performance art video for the song "Picasso Baby", which aired on HBO on August 2, 2013. The video was shot inside the Pace Gallery in New York and featured a group of personalities from the world of art, including Marina Abramović, whose 2010 performance art work "The Artist is Present" inspired the video. This marked Romanek's first music video in eight years, his last being Coldplay's video for "Speed of Sound" in 2005.

Romanek directed the music video for Taylor Swift's lead single "Shake It Off", which premiered on August 18, 2014.

Feature films

In 2002, Romanek wrote and directed his second feature film, One Hour Photo, about a department store photo processor who becomes obsessed with a family through their snapshots. The film proved to be only a moderate hit, but still established Romanek as a respected film director. Rumors spread that the studio, Fox Searchlight, had forced changes on Romanek that seriously altered the film from how he had intended it. He has dismissed this story, however, stating that there never was a "director's cut" of One Hour Photo and that the studio did not exercise any editorial control.

In 2005, Romanek was scheduled to direct a film adaptation of the book A Cold Case, but the project languished in development hell. In December 2005, it was announced that he would direct A Million Little Pieces, the film adaptation of the book of the same name, but due to events regarding the authenticity of the book's content, it has also become a subject of speculation as to whether the film will indeed be made or not. On February 8, 2007, he signed on to direct The Wolfman, but dropped out.

Romanek's third feature was the 2010 British dystopian drama Never Let Me Go. In October 2011, he was planning on taking over from director Ron Howard on the film adaptation of Dan Brown's bestselling novel The Lost Symbol. However, the film was eventually scrapped in favor of making Brown's fourth novel, Inferno, into a feature film instead.

Filmography

Feature films

• Static (1986)
• One Hour Photo (2002)
• Never Let Me Go (2010)

Compilations

• The Work of Director Mark Romanek (2005)

Music videos

Year	Artist	Song Title	MTV Video Music Awards
1986	The The	"Sweet Bird of Truth"
1989	Robyn Hitchcock and the Egyptians	"Madonna of the Wasps"
		"One Long Pair of Eyes"
	Miki Howard	"Love Under New Management"
1990		"Until You Come Back to Me (That's What I'm Gonna Do)"
	En Vogue	"You Don't Have To Worry"
1991	De La Soul	"Ring Ring Ring (Ha Ha Hey)"
	ABC	"Love Conquers All"
1992	Keith Richards	"Wicked As It Seems"
	Definition of Sound	"Moira Jane's Café"
	Teenage Fanclub	"What You Do To Me"
	k.d. lang	"Constant Craving"	1 Win Best Female Video 2 Nominations Best Cinematography - Marc Reshovsky Best Art Direction - Tom Foden
	En Vogue	"Free Your Mind"	3 Wins Best R&B Video Best Dance Video Best Choreography - Frank Gatson, LaVelle Smith Jnr & Travis Payne 5 Nominations Video of the Year Best Group Video Viewer's Choice Best Direction - Mark Romanek Best Cinematography - Thomas Kloss
1993	Lenny Kravitz	"Are You Gonna Go My Way"	1 Win Best Male Video 1 Nomination Best Art Direction - Nigel Phelps
	David Bowie	"Jump They Say"
		"Black Tie White Noise"
	Madonna	"Rain"	2 Wins Best Cinematography - Harris Savides Best Art Direction - Jan Peter Flack
	Lenny Kravitz	"Is There Any Love In Your Heart"
1994	Iggy Pop	"Beside You"
	Nine Inch Nails	"Closer"	2 Nominations Breakthrough Video Best Art Direction - Tom Foden
	G. Love & Special Sauce	"Cold Beverage"
1995	Madonna	"Bedtime Story"
	R.E.M.	"Strange Currencies"
	Michael Jackson	"Scream" (feat. Janet Jackson)	3 Wins Best Dance Video Best Choreography - LaVelle Smith Jnr, Tina Landon, Travis Payne & Sean Cheeseman Best Art Direction - Tom Foden 8 Nominations Video of the Year Best R&B Video Breakthrough Video Viewer's Choice Best Direction - Mark Romanek Best Editing - Robert Duffy Best Cinematography - Harris Savides Best Special Effects - Kevin Tod Haug, Alexander Frisch, Ashley Clemens, Richard 'Dr.' Baily, Jay Johnson & P. Scott Makela
1996	Sonic Youth	"Little Trouble Girl"
	Eels	"Novocaine For the Soul"	2 Nominations Best Cinematography - Jeff Cronenweth Best Special Effects - Ashley Clemens
	Weezer	"El Scorcho"
	Beck	"Devils Haircut"	2 Wins Best Male Video Best Editing - Hank Corwin
1997	Nine Inch Nails	"The Perfect Drug"	5 Nominations Video of the Year Best Alternative Video Best Direction - Mark Romanek Best Cinematography - Jeff Cronenweth Best Art Direction - Tom Foden
	Fiona Apple	"Criminal"	1 Win Best Cinematography - Harris Savides 1 Nomination Best Female Video
	Janet Jackson	"Got 'Til It's Gone" (feat. Q-Tip & Joni Mitchell)
1998	Lenny Kravitz	"If You Can't Say No"
1999	Macy Gray	"Do Something"	1 Win Best Cinematography - Jeff Cronenweth 1 Nomination Best Art Direction - Nigel Phelps
		"I Try" (Second Version)	1 Win Best New Artist 1 Nomination Best Female Video
2000	The Wallflowers	"Sleepwalker"
2001	Mick Jagger	"God Gave Me Everything"
2002	No Doubt	"Hella Good"
	Audioslave	"Cochise"
2003	Johnny Cash	"Hurt"	1 Win Best Cinematography - Jean-Yves Escoffier 5 Nominations Video of the Year Best Male Video Best Direction - Mark Romanek Best Editing - Robert Duffy Best Art Direction - Ruby Guidara
	Red Hot Chili Peppers	"Can't Stop"
	Linkin Park	"Faint"
2004	Jay-Z	"99 Problems"	4 Wins Best Rap Video Best Direction - Mark Romanek Best Editing - Robert Duffy Best Cinematography - Joaquín Baca-Asay 2 Nominations Video of the Year Best Male Video
2005	Coldplay	"Speed of Sound"	4 Nominations Video of the Year Best Editing - Adam Pertofsky Best Cinematography - Harris Savides Best Special Effects - A52
2013	Jay-Z	"Picasso Baby"
2014	U2	"Invisible"
	Taylor Swift	"Shake It Off"
2016	Beyoncé	"Sandcastles"
	Justin Timberlake	"Can't Stop the Feeling!"

Further reading

• Henry Keazor, Thorsten Wübbena: Video Thrills The Radio Star. Musikvideos: Geschichte, Themen, Analysen. Bielefeld 2005, p. 335ss., p. 344ss.
• "`(...) an unforgettable emotional impact´ - Jay-Z/Mark Romanek: `99 Problems´", in: Klaus Herding/Antje Krause Wahl (Eds.), Wie sich Gefühle Ausdruck verschaffen - Emotionen in Nahsicht, Taunusstein: Driesen 2007, p. 321 - 342

[ Source: Wikipedia ]