J. A. Bayona

Juan Antonio Bayona
Bayona in 2012
Born	Juan Antonio García Bayona[1] (1975-05-09) 9 May 1975 Barcelona, Spain
Occupation	Film director, filmmaker, film producer, screenwriter
Years active	1999–present

Juan Antonio García Bayona (born 9 May 1975), commonly known as J. A. Bayona, is a Spanish film director. In addition to directing television commercials and music videos, Bayona is best known for directing the 2007 horror film The Orphanage and the 2012 drama film The Impossible. He will direct the fifth installment of the Jurassic Park film series.

Early life

Bayona was born in Barcelona, Spain. He has a twin brother, Carlos Garcia Bayona, who acknowledged in an interview have come to take their place once (and spend a whole night receiving congratulations by The Orphanage).

He studied at the Escola Superior de Cinema i Audiovisuals de Catalunya (ESCAC).^[2] At age 19 he met Guillermo del Toro on Sitges Film Festival presenting Cronos (1993) that Bayona recognized as a mentor.^[3] After their initial conversations, Del Toro promised to aid Bayona in the future, were he ever in the position to do so.^[3]

Career

1990s

After graduating in ESCAC he began his career directing commercials and music videos. His first contract as audiovisual producer came from the hand of the Spanish band OBK when he was 20 years old and, after three years working with them, got the Premios Ondas for the music video "Tú sigue así".^[2][4] Since then, it has become the principal head of the group Camela and was commissioned to illustrate the piece "Cómo repartimos los amigos", with which the duo Ella Baila Sola is he said goodbye to his audience.

He has also directed music videos for Pastora Soler ("En mi soledad"), Fangoria, Nena ("El Aleph"), Enrique Bunbury and Miren Iza ("Frente a frente"), which appears at the end singer Jeanette, original interpreter of the subject, in 2012 put images to single "Disconnected" by British band Keane.

In 1999 he directed the short film My Holidays and 2002 The Spongeman.

2000s

In 2004 he met the writer Sergio G. Sánchez, who was working in the short 7337, which offered the script for The Orphanage.^[5][6] In order to create the film as he wanted, Bayona had to double both the film's budget and the amount of filming time.^[7] Bayona, who to shoot this film had to double the budget and duration, was helped by Guillermo del Toro, who offered to co-produce it.^[7] The Orphanage premiered on May 20, 2007 to International Film Festival Cannes, receiving a standing ovation from more than 10 minutes by the present audience. Months later, on October 11, 2007, premiered in Spanish cinemas and grossed $8.3 million.^[8][9]

Bayona was awarded the Goya Award for Best New Director in 2008 - the film was nominated for 14 categories of the Goya Awards, which won 7.^[8][10] In October of that same year, Variety she announced that the producer Universal Studios have signed a contract with the Barcelona director to adapt the film Hater by David Moody, written by Glen Mazzara and produced by Guillermo del Toro.

Bayona was one of the many candidates to direct The Twilight Saga: Eclipse but was not chosen and not interested in making the film.^[11]

2010s

Bayona in 2012.

In August 2010 he began filming The Impossible, based on experience film that lived a Spanish family 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake in 2004.^{[12] [13][12]} Filmed in English language and starring Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts, the film was released on October 11, 2012 and criticism was positive. In its first weekend it grossed $8.6 million, which made it to reap record the best opening of the history of the Spanish box office. The Impossible was nominated for the Academy Award and Golden Globe Award in the category Best Actress for the interpretation of Naomi Watts. She was also nominated in 14 categories at the Goya Awards, including Best Film, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor and Best Actor (Tom Holland), of which obtained 5. In 2013 he received the National Film Award in the framework of the 61st International Festival of San Sebastian.

In March 2012 directed the music video "Disconnected" second single from the album Strangeland, the British band Keane. The band has stated that admires the work done Bayona films, as well as the Spanish filmmaker said he is a follower of the music of Keane. On 11 September 2016, the band Keane released a music video for an exclusive new song, "Tear Up This Town", which was written and recorded for the fantasy drama film A Monster Calls directed by Bayona. The single was made available for digital download on 23 September 2016.^[14]

Bayona was responsible for directing the first two episodes of Penny Dreadful series, created by John Logan and originally issued in Showtime. Filmed in Dublin, fiction tells the story of a group consisting of a rich man, a medium, a gunman and the young Victor Frankenstein looking for the daughter of the first. To do this, they must cope with strange beings. The series has a lot of its creator, according Bayona.

In 2014 started shooting the film A Monster Calls, an adaptation of the novel by Patrick Ness, co-starring Lewis MacDougall, Felicity Jones and Liam Neeson. The film tells the story of a young (Lewis MacDougall) who must care for her mother (Felicity Jones), ill with cancer. To overcome this situation, the young befriends a monster (Liam Neeson). With this film, Bayona closes his personal trilogy about the mother-child relationships.^[15]

Future projects

Back in October 2008, Variety announced that Universal Studios had signed Bayona to direct Hater, an adaptation of British author David Moody's thriller novel about an epidemic of violence caused by regular people. The film will be written by Glen Mazzara and produced by Guillermo Del Toro and Mark Johnson.^[13][16] It was announced on April 18, 2016 that he would direct the fifth installment to the Jurassic Park franchise.^[17]

Filmography

Film

Television

Awards and nominations

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to J. A. Bayona.

• J. A. Bayona at AllMovie
• J. A. Bayona at the Internet Movie Database
• Juan Antonio Bayona at Rotten Tomatoes