Darren Aronofsky was born on February 12, 1969 in Brooklyn, New York. A self-described "tv junkie," his
mother plopped him down in front of the TV as a child, and told him "don't cry anymore."
(see interview) As a result, the rapid,
frenetic style of television has informed his style as a director, most notably in Requiem for a Dream.
Aronofsky attended Harvard, where he studied both animation and live-action film. His senior thesis
film, Supermarket Sweep (1990), starring Sean Gullete (the star of Pi), later became a National Student
Academy Award Finalist. After Harvard, Aronofsky studied at the AFI, and earned an M.F.A. in directing. His AFI student
film, Protozoa (1993) starred Lucy Liu. It has never been released, but according to aronofsky.net, it echoes
many of his later themes, including addiction, listlessness and the search for some central meaning or truth - as the
film puts it, simply "it." Protozoa also marks the beginning of the partnership between Aronofsky and
cinematographer Matthew Libatique.
It was not until February of 1996 that Aronofsky began developing Pi, his next project. It was
essentially a no-budget film, costing around $60,000 to complete. Every penny that could feasibly pinched was: the movie
set was catered by Aronofsky's mother, and associate producer Scott Franklin, searching for ways to finance the film,
suggested that they simply ask everyone they knew for $100, promising a return of $150 if the film succeeded.
Fortunately, the film was a success - it debuted at Sundance, where Aronofsky garnered the prestigious award for
direction. Subsequently, Pi was picked up by Artisan, and released into theaters.
Aronofsky's second project, Requiem for a Dream (2000), was adapted from a novel of the same name
by Hubert Selby, Jr. (who actually helped co-write the screenplay). Aronofksy had long been captivated by Selby's work,
and especially Last Exit to Brooklyn, but was unable, for years, to finish the difficult Requiem. At the
behest of a friend, Aronofsky finally convinced himself to finish it, which led to his decision to adapt it for the
screen. Although the cast included a pair of comparatively big name stars (Jared Leto, Jennifer Connolly), Aronofsky
gave every actor in Pi a part in Requiem. After the film premiered in 2000, Aronofsky was cemented as a
rising independent star.
However, since then he has faltered somewhat. Proteus, the submarine thriller he was attached to
write and direct, was eventually re-titled Below, and although Aronofsky's screenplay was used, and he remained
a producer, he did not direct. He was also attached to direct, at one point, what became Batman Begins. Long a fan of comic books, Aronofsky was at one time rumored to be the director for the Watchmen project,
but there has been no follow-up. The success of both Sin City and Batman Begins will likely
have a significant impact on the continued survival of this dark superhero fantasy.
Aronofsky's next writer/director project, The Fountain, was set to film in 2002 on a $75 million
budget, starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett, but sometime before filming was to start, Pitt pulled out due to creative
differences. Normally, this would have been the death knell for a film like this, but Aronofsky managed to cut the
budget to $40 million, and the film now stars Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz. As Aronofsky said to the
New York Times, The Fountain
"is about a man's search for the fountain of youth at the core. It's about a man who's searching for eternal life whose
wife is dying, who comes to terms with his own mortality and comes to terms with his own life and his own existence
through trying to save his wife." It will be interesting to see how Aronofsky's distinctive visual style meshes with
this time-traveling epic. The film has finished filming, but a release date has yet to be set by Warner Brothers.
Two other projects with which Aronofsky is nominally affiliated are listed on the imdb as "announced":
Lone Wolf and Cub, an adaptation of a series of graphic novels by Kazuo Koike, and Flicker, about which
little information is available.
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