James Gray
Birth : 1969-04-14, New York City, New York, USA
History
James Gray (born April 14, 1969; New York City) is an American film director and screenwriter. Gray was born in New York City and grew up in the neighborhood of Flushing. He is of Ukrainian-Jewish descent, with grandparents from Ostropol, Western Ukraine. The original family name was "Grayevsky". His father was once an electronics contractor. Gray attended the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts, where his student film, Cowboys and Angels, helped him get an agent and the attention of producer Paul Webster, who encouraged him to write a script which he could produce. As a child growing up in Queens, New York, Gray aspired to be a painter. However, when introduced in his early teenage years to the works of various filmmakers, including Francis Ford Coppola, Gray's interests expanded to the art of filmmaking. The Yards returned Gray to Queens where the story takes place.
In 1994, at age 25, Gray made his first feature film "Little Odessa" (1994), a film starring Tim Roth about a hit man confronted by his younger brother upon returning to his hometown, "Little Odessa," a section of Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. The film won the Silver Lion at the 51st Venice International Film Festival. Miramax Films released James Gray's second feature, "The Yards" (2000) starring Mark Wahlberg, Joaquin Phoenix, Faye Dunaway, Ellen Burstyn, Charlize Theron and James Caan in fall of 2000. The film was selected for official competition at the 2000 Cannes International Film Festival. His next film "The Immigrant" (2013) was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. In October 2016, Gray's film "The Lost City of Z" (2016) premiered at the New York Film Festival. The film, based on the book by David Grann, depicts the life of explorer Percy Fawcett, played by Charlie Hunnam. Gray first confirmed his plans to write and direct sci-fi space epic "Ad Astra" (2019) on May 12 during the 2016 Cannes Film Festival. On June 17, 2020, it was officially confirmed that his next film, titled "Armageddon Time" (2022), would be a coming-of-age drama story of loyalty and friendship against the historical backdrop of Ronald Reagan's presidential election loosely based on Gray's childhood memories, with Anne Hathaway, Anthony Hopkins and Jeremy Strong cast in the film.
Producer
In 1980, Queens, New York, a young Jewish boy befriends a rebellious African-American classmate to the disapproval of his privileged family and begins to reckon with growing up in a world of inequality and prejudice.
Director
In 1980, Queens, New York, a young Jewish boy befriends a rebellious African-American classmate to the disapproval of his privileged family and begins to reckon with growing up in a world of inequality and prejudice.
Writer
In 1980, Queens, New York, a young Jewish boy befriends a rebellious African-American classmate to the disapproval of his privileged family and begins to reckon with growing up in a world of inequality and prejudice.
Self - Interviewee (archive footage)
Brad Pitt is a singular actor in Hollywood's glamorous world, breaking through his "playboy image" and embodying American cinema's renewal. At the beginning there was a humble Midwestern aware of being a smokescreen for the illusions of his time, who has managed to keep control of his image to better serve the most talented directors of our time. To name but a few: David Fincher, Quentin Tarantino, the Coen brothers, Terrence Malick, James Gray and soon Damien Chazelle. This documentary dives into the brain of a complex, brilliant and endearing personality, far from the cliché of a world-famous movie icon to discover the hidden side of the most handsome man in the world.
Thanks
A man breaks into a tech billionaire's empty vacation home, but things go sideways when the arrogant mogul and his wife arrive for a last-minute getaway.
Stage Director
In this new "Marriage of Figaro", Jérémie Rhorer revisits this composer and US film director James Gray makes his first foray into opera. This opera is recorded for broadcast by Louise Narboni.
Director
In this new "Marriage of Figaro", Jérémie Rhorer revisits this composer and US film director James Gray makes his first foray into opera. This opera is recorded for broadcast by Louise Narboni.
Director
The near future, a time when both hope and hardships drive humanity to look to the stars and beyond. While a mysterious phenomenon menaces to destroy life on planet Earth, astronaut Roy McBride undertakes a mission across the immensity of space and its many perils to uncover the truth about a lost expedition that decades before boldly faced emptiness and silence in search of the unknown.
Producer
The near future, a time when both hope and hardships drive humanity to look to the stars and beyond. While a mysterious phenomenon menaces to destroy life on planet Earth, astronaut Roy McBride undertakes a mission across the immensity of space and its many perils to uncover the truth about a lost expedition that decades before boldly faced emptiness and silence in search of the unknown.
Screenplay
The near future, a time when both hope and hardships drive humanity to look to the stars and beyond. While a mysterious phenomenon menaces to destroy life on planet Earth, astronaut Roy McBride undertakes a mission across the immensity of space and its many perils to uncover the truth about a lost expedition that decades before boldly faced emptiness and silence in search of the unknown.
Thanks
Diane is a devoted friend and caretaker, particularly to her drug-addicted son. But as those around her begin to drift away in the last quarter of her life, she is left to reckon with past choices and long-dormant memories.
Self
Elia Kazan represented the American dream. An immigrant who came without anything and who became the Prince of Hollywood and Broadway after World War II. Actor, theater director, filmmaker, writer, he is the founder of Actor’s Studio, a collaborator of Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams, and a director who discovered Marlon Brando and James Dean.
Producer
A true-life drama in the 1920s, centering on British explorer Col. Percy Fawcett, who discovered evidence of a previously unknown, advanced civilization in the Amazon and disappeared whilst searching for it.
Screenplay
A true-life drama in the 1920s, centering on British explorer Col. Percy Fawcett, who discovered evidence of a previously unknown, advanced civilization in the Amazon and disappeared whilst searching for it.
Director
A true-life drama in the 1920s, centering on British explorer Col. Percy Fawcett, who discovered evidence of a previously unknown, advanced civilization in the Amazon and disappeared whilst searching for it.
Executive Producer
Former NHL hockey player Sheldon Kennedy was sexually abused by his junior hockey coach, and has since become one a leading advocate for victims of child abuse. During a speaking engagement at a University in Ontario, Canada, Sheldon met two students who disclosed the sexual abuse they had suffered as children to Sheldon and the audience. The film tells the story of these victims and the challenges they face while attempting to recover from the trauma they suffered as children.
Thanks
A dark, strange psychological trip following a woman fighting two different versions of herself.
Self
Filmmakers discuss the legacy of Alfred Hitchcock and the book “Hitchcock/Truffaut” (“Le cinéma selon Hitchcock”), written by François Truffaut and published in 1966.
Thanks
10 years after a global economic collapse, a hardened loner pursues the men who stole his car through the lawless wasteland of the Australian outback, aided by the brother of one of the thieves.
Writer
1921 New York. An immigrant woman is tricked into a life of burlesque and vaudeville until a dazzling magician tries to save her and reunite her with her sister who is being held in the confines of Ellis Island.
Producer
1921 New York. An immigrant woman is tricked into a life of burlesque and vaudeville until a dazzling magician tries to save her and reunite her with her sister who is being held in the confines of Ellis Island.
Director
1921 New York. An immigrant woman is tricked into a life of burlesque and vaudeville until a dazzling magician tries to save her and reunite her with her sister who is being held in the confines of Ellis Island.
Thanks
Two brothers, on either side of the law, face off over organized crime in Brooklyn during the 1970s.
Executive Producer
Two brothers, on either side of the law, face off over organized crime in Brooklyn during the 1970s.
Screenplay
Two brothers, on either side of the law, face off over organized crime in Brooklyn during the 1970s.
Dreamers is a film directed by Noelle Deschamps in 2012. Creation was always imagined as a mysterious process. Following these filmmakers, brings to light their passion, their imagination and their magical process.
Thanks
On the night of his marriage proposal, a lovesick man must confront his darkest secrets or risk losing his girlfriend.
Self
Documentary by Luc Lagier exploring Godard's career as a filmmaker, the production of Breathless and his influence and his relationship with American cinema.
Thanks
I'm Still Here is a portrayal of a tumultuous year in the life of actor Joaquin Phoenix. With remarkable access, the film follows the Oscar-nominee as he announces his retirement from a successful film career in the fall of 2008 and sets off to reinvent himself as a hip-hop musician. The film is a portrait of an artist at a crossroads and explores notions of courage and creative reinvention, as well as the ramifications of a life spent in the public eye.
Writer
A depressed man moves back in with his parents following a recent heartbreak and finds himself with two women.
Producer
A depressed man moves back in with his parents following a recent heartbreak and finds himself with two women.
Director
A depressed man moves back in with his parents following a recent heartbreak and finds himself with two women.
Screenplay
A New York nightclub manager tries to save his brother and father from Russian mafia hitmen.
Director
A New York nightclub manager tries to save his brother and father from Russian mafia hitmen.
Writer
In the rail yards of Queens, contractors repair and rebuild the city's subway cars. These contracts are lucrative, so graft and corruption are rife. When Leo Handler gets out of prison, he finds his aunt married to Frank Olchin, one of the big contractors; he's battling with a minority-owned firm for contracts.
Director
In the rail yards of Queens, contractors repair and rebuild the city's subway cars. These contracts are lucrative, so graft and corruption are rife. When Leo Handler gets out of prison, he finds his aunt married to Frank Olchin, one of the big contractors; he's battling with a minority-owned firm for contracts.
Himself
A group portrait of filmmakers attend the 1995 Sundance Film Festival. Featuring Matthew Harrison, Richard Linklater, Ethan Hawke, Todd Haynes, Greg Araki, Abel Ferrara, Atom Egoyan, James Gray, Robert Redford, Haskell Wexler, among many others. Co-directed by Amy Hobby. [Filmed in Pixelvision and blown-up to evocatively grainy 16mm.]
Director
The film follows the personal relationship between a father and his two sons, one of whom is a hit-man for the Russian mafia in Brooklyn.
Screenplay
The film follows the personal relationship between a father and his two sons, one of whom is a hit-man for the Russian mafia in Brooklyn.
Director
This is James Gray's student film from the University of Southern California. A private investigator who is hired to bring a man's 16-year-old runaway daughter back home has second thoughts about his job when he sees the man beat his daughter.
Screenplay
This film will focus on JFK’s evolution from an unremarkable young man desperate to prove his mettle to his powerful father, into a WWII hero whose triumph over adversity hardened leadership skills that forged his path to the White House.
Director
This film will focus on JFK’s evolution from an unremarkable young man desperate to prove his mettle to his powerful father, into a WWII hero whose triumph over adversity hardened leadership skills that forged his path to the White House.
Director
A former spy is called up out of retirement to assist in an unusual investigation.
