“I try to live my life
where I end up at a point where I have no regrets. So I try to choose the road
that I have the most passion on, because then you can never really blame
yourself for making the wrong choices.”
Born on the 12th of February, 1969, Darren
Aronofsky isn’t your typical New Yorker. Describing himself as extremely shy,
Aronofsky was artistic from a young age. As a child he devoured vast amounts of
classic films, and even briefly assumed the occupation of graffiti artist. His
journey into the creative world of film was inevitable.
After high school, Aronofsky studied film at Harvard
University as well as at the American Film Institute. Indeed, his senior thesis
film Supermarket Sweep won numerous
awards and Aronofsky himself went on to become a National Student Academy Award
finalist. His decision to study film in an academic capacity set Aronofsky on
the same course as the original “film school” directors such as Scorsese and
Coppola. A classic criticism leveled at contemporary directors “educated” in
the art of film is that their features lack substance; their mastery of film
form and composition comes at the expense of true emotion and heart. Anyone
familiar with the films of Aronofsky, however, will recognise this claim as a
falsity.
Upon graduating, Aronofsky began working on his first
feature film after friends and family responded positively to a script he had
written. Armed with a $60,000 budget derived entirely from donations by friends
and family, Aronofsky started shooting Pi
in 1998. The completed film was sold to Artisan Entertainment $1 million, and
went on to gross over $3 million, winning the best director award at the 1998
Sundance Festival in the process. Aronofsky had arrived.
His follow up, Requiem
for a Dream was both a critical and commercial success, and went on to be
nominated for an Academy Award. It was in Requiem
that Aronofsky first began to employ techniques that would later become his
trademarks. Split screen is used extensively, along with the “Snorricam”; a
camera attached to an actor over the course of a particularly long take. Often,
Aronofsky cuts between extreme close ups and long shots, thus creating a sense
of isolation within his characters. Aronofsky noted that a typical 100 minute
film contains around 600 to 700 cuts. Requiem
however, is comprised of more than 2000; greatly contributing to its breakneck
pacing. Inevitably, Requiem garnered
controversy over its graphic depictions of drug use and sexual imagery, and
Aronofsky's refusal to compromise resulted in an unrated release. The shy artist
from New York was making waves.
Then came the blip. After the huge successes of his first
two features, Aronofsky, for the first time, had access to a bigger budget, and
bigger stars. His third feature, The
Fountain, would be his most ambitious film yet; interweaving three
non-related stories spanning a thousand years. The Fountain polarised critics, and performed poorly at the box
office. Ironically, I believe The
Fountain to be Aronofsky's finest work, but at this point it stands as a
considerable blot on an otherwise immaculate resume.
Aronofskys first encounter with failure affected him. For
his fourth feature, the director went back to basics. The Wrester would be a stripped down, raw account of a man living
on the edge. Dubious casting decisions on the part of Aronofsky paid dividends
in the long run. The Wrestler opened
to huge critical acclaim, with both stars being nominated for Academy Awards. The
film also became Aronofsky's biggest critical success of his career to date,
grossing over $25 million.
The fifth feature of Aronofsky; Black Swan can be viewed as a companion piece to The Wrestler. Dealing with similar
themes, and using many of the same techniques employed in previous Aronofsky
films; Black Swan went on to exceed
all expectations. Receiving vast critical acclaim, and nominated for five
Academy Awards, Black Swan
accumulated over $100 million worldwide.
Currently, Aronofsky is hard at work on his latest feature Noah; his interpretation of the story of
Noah’s Ark. Shooting began in Iceland on July the 12th 2012. For his
most recent production, Aronofsky has been given a working budget of over $100
million; by far the biggest of his career. Given what the director has achieved
in past years on microscopic budgets, the prospect of Noah is very interesting indeed…
To describe Aronofsky as obsessive would perhaps be unfair.
Then again, this is a man who has refused to compromise on any of his films
thus far, often resulting in budget cuts or unrated feature releases. Indeed,
during shooting Aronofsky is rumoured to avoid shaving or cutting his hair
until the production process is finished. All five of his films feature
characters dealing with strong obsessions that inevitably drive them towards
self-destruction. Is Aronofsky holding a mirror to himself in making these
powerful pieces of cinema?
Clearly Aronofsky is a man unprepared to compromise when it
comes to his passion. Originally attached to direct Batman: Year One in 2002, Aronofsky decided to leave the project in
order to start work on The Fountain.
Similarly, when asked to direct Batman
Begins in 2005, the director passed on the opportunity. Aronofsky also left
production of The Wolverine in 2011,
and abandoned directing The Fighter
last minute in favour of The Wrestler.
Aronofsky is a man who is not swayed by fame, commercial success or big
budgets; he just wants to make the films he loves so dearly. And that is a
quality to be admired by all.
