Tom Tykwer | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Tykwer at the74th Berlin International Film Festival in 2024 | |
| Born | (1965-05-23)23 May 1965 (age 60) |
| Occupation(s) | Film director,screenwriter,film composer |
| Years active | 1986–present |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 1 |
Tom Tykwer (German:[ˈtɪkvɐ]; born 23 May 1965)[1] is a German film director, producer, screenwriter, and composer. He is best known internationally for directing the thriller filmsRun Lola Run (1998),Heaven (2002),Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006), andThe International (2009). He collaborated withThe Wachowskis as co-director for thescience fiction filmCloud Atlas (2012) and theNetflix seriesSense8 (2015–2018), and worked on the score for Lana Wachowski'sThe Matrix Resurrections (2021). Tykwer is also well known as the co-creator of the internationally acclaimed German television seriesBabylon Berlin (2017–).
Tykwer was born inWuppertal,[2]West Germany. Fascinated by film from an early age, he started making amateurSuper 8 films at the age of eleven. He later helped out at a localarthouse cinema in order to see more films, including those for which he was too young to buy tickets. After graduating from high school, he applied to numerous film schools around Europe, unsuccessfully.
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Tykwer moved toBerlin where he worked as aprojectionist.[citation needed] In 1987, at the age of 22, he became the programmer of the Moviemento cinema and became known to German directors as a film buff.[3][independent source needed] In Berlin, Tykwer met and befriended the filmmakerRosa von Praunheim, who urged him to create stories from his own experience. He suggested, for example, that Tykwer record arguments with his girlfriend, and turn them into ashort film.Because (1990) was screened at theHof International Film Festival and well received by the audience, which inspired Tykwer to continue pursuing filmmaking.
He made a secondshort film,Epilog (1992), for which he took on personal financial debt, but he also gained valuable technical film making experience.[according to whom?] Tykwer wrote thescreenplay for, and directed, his first feature film, the psychological thrillerDeadly Maria (1993). It aired on German television and had a limited theatrical release in Germany and the international film festival circuit.
In 1994, Tykwer founded the production companyX Filme Creative Pool withStefan Arndt,Wolfgang Becker, andDani Levy.[citation needed]
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Tykwer and Becker wrote the screenplay for the comedyLife Is All You Get (1997), while working onWinter Sleepers (1997), Tykwer's second feature and a much bigger and more complex production thanDeadly Maria.Winter Sleepers brought Tykwer to the attention of Germancineastes andfilm festivals, but he was struggling financially.[according to whom?]
His next feature film,Run Lola Run (1998), became the most successful German film of 1998, earned $7 mln at the US box office, and elevated Tykwer to international fame. AsLola was becoming a success worldwide, Tykwer was already at work on his next film,The Princess and the Warrior (2000), a love story about a nurse and a former soldier, which was shot in his home town of Wuppertal.[4]
Miramax produced his next film,Heaven (2002), based on a screenplay by Polish filmmakerKrzysztof Kieślowski, which was shot in English, starredCate Blanchett andGiovanni Ribisi,[4] and was filmed inTurin andTuscany.
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Tykwer was approached by French producers to film a short contribution toParis, je t'aime (2006), a film composed of 20 short films by many famous directors depicting love in Paris. Tykwer shot the 10-minute short film,True, withNatalie Portman and Melchior Beslon. He shot the film quickly with almost no pre-production. The result, Tykwer later said, "symbolises an entire life for me, in just ten minutes."[5][independent source needed]
Tykwer shot the filmPink Children (2012) together with 4 German directors about their mentorRosa von Praunheim.
Tykwer's next film wasPerfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006), an adaptation of the novelPerfume by the German novelistPatrick Süskind.[6] It was filmed in the Spanish cities ofFigueras,Girona andBarcelona. Tykwer later made hisHollywood debut with the big-budgeted 2009conspiracy thrillerThe International, starringClive Owen andNaomi Watts, which was shot in several locations ranging from Berlin, Milan, New York City, and Istanbul. The film received a lukewarm reception from the public and critics alike.
Tykwer directed 2016'sA Hologram for the King, starringTom Hanks andSarita Choudhury, based on a novel by American novelistDave Eggers.[7] In 2017, Tykwer co-created the television seriesBabylon Berlin, directing and writing the screenplay; set in 1920s Berlin, the series comprised 16 episodes in its first two seasons.[4] A third season premiered in 2020. Later on, in 2023, the fifth season has been announced.[8]
In 2018, Tykwer headed the 68thBerlinale.[4]
In December 2024, it was announced that Tykwer's upcoming filmThe Light (Das Licht), starringLars Eidinger andNicolette Krebitz, would open the 75th Berlinale on 13 February 2025.[9]
SinceWinter Sleepers, the music for all of Tykwer's films (with the exception ofHeaven) has been composed byJohnny Klimek,Reinhold Heil, and Tykwer.[citation needed] The trio gave themselves the name "Pale 3", and it originally worked as afilm scoring group, then expanding to produce music unrelated to film.[citation needed]
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Both Tykwer's directing and his musical contributions have received accolades.[citation needed]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Director | Writer | Producer | Composer | |||
| 1993 | Deadly Maria | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| 1997 | Life Is All You Get | No | Yes | No | No | |
| Winter Sleepers | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | ||
| 1998 | Run Lola Run | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | |
| 1999 | Absolute Giganten | No | No | Yes | No | |
| 2000 | The Princess and the Warrior | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | |
| 2002 | Heaven | Yes | No | No | No | |
| 2003 | The Matrix Revolutions | No | No | No | Yes | Composed "In My Head" under the name Pale 3 |
| 2004 | Soundless | No | No | Yes | No | |
| 2006 | A Friend of Mine | No | No | Yes | No | |
| 2006 | Perfume: The Story of a Murderer | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | |
| 2006 | The Heart Is a Dark Forest [de] | No | No | Yes | No | |
| 2009 | The International | Yes | No | No | Yes | |
| 2010 | Three | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | |
| 2010 | Soul Boy | No | No | Yes | No | |
| 2011 | Endlich | No | No | Yes | No | |
| 2012 | Cloud Atlas | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Co-directed withThe Wachowskis |
| 2012 | Pink Children | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | |
| 2011 | Nairobi Half Life | No | No | Yes | No | |
| 2013 | Culture Hacking | No | No | Yes | No | |
| 2015 | Sense8 | Yes | No | No | No | Co-directed withThe Wachowskis[13] |
| 2016 | A Hologram for the King | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | |
| 2021 | The Matrix Resurrections[14] | No | No | No | Yes | Themes byDon Davis, Co-composed withJohnny Klimek |
| 2025 | The Light | Yes | Yes | No | No | Opening film ofBerlinale 2025[15] |
Other roles
In 2009, Tykwer signed a petition in support of film directorRoman Polanski, calling for his release after Polanski was arrested in Switzerland in relation to his1977 sexual abuse case.[17]
If you have a hokum deficit in your life, then tuck into this enjoyable hogwash, which recalls Heroes, is co-directed by Tom Tykwer (Cloud Atlas) and also stars Daryl Hannah (above, with Andrews).
