movies
celebrities
tv
trailers
box office
photos
dvd
fans
Get Movie Showtimes
Select a Movie
Select a Movie
Now Playing
Act of Valor
(R)
Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked
(G)
Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked
(G)
Artist, The
(PG13)
Beauty and the Beast 3D
(G)
Big Miracle
(PG)
Chronicle
(PG13)
Contraband
(R)
Descendants, The
(R)
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
(PG13)
Ghost Rider: Spirit Of Vengeance 3D
(PG13)
Grey, The
(R)
Iron Lady, The
(PG13)
Jack and Jill
(PG)
Journey 2: The Mysterious Island
(PG)
Man on a Ledge
(PG13)
Muppets, The
(PG)
One for the Money
(PG13)
Red Tails
(PG13)
Safe House
(R)
This Means War
(R)
Underworld: Awakening
(R)
Vow, The
(PG13)
War Horse
(PG13)
Woman in Black, The
(PG13)
Go to
More Movies
OR
Find Theaters
Search
Sign up for our Newsletter
Fan Us
Follow Us
Gregg Araki
MAIN
PHOTOS
VIDEOS
NEWS
CREDITS
BIOGRAPHY
AWARDS
FANSITES
FORUM
BIRTHDAY
N/A
New York City, NY
RECENT CREDITS
Kaboom
(FILM)
Jan. 28, 2011
Smiley Face
(FILM)
Nov. 16, 2007
Mysterious Skin
(FILM)
May. 6, 2005
Splendor
(FILM)
Jan. 22, 1999
Nowhere
(FILM)
May. 9, 1997
View all
Gregg Araki Credits
BIOGRAPHY
One of the angriest, most unconventional, and relentlessly intriguing voices in independent cinema, filmmaker Gregg Araki emerged on the film scene with the subtlety of a gunshot to the head with The Living End in 1992.....
Expand Full Bio
One of the angriest, most unconventional, and relentlessly intriguing voices in independent cinema, filmmaker Gregg Araki emerged on the film scene with the subtlety of a gunshot to the head with The Living End in 1992. His story of two HIV-positive gay lovers on a highway rampage quickly established him as one of the key figures in the "New Queer Cinema." The film reached out to many of society's more alienated members--gay and straight--who related to its energetic rage and identified with the anger of its principle characters.
Of Asian-American heritage, Araki is a native of Southern California. After attending film school at the University of Southern California--where he was particularly influenced by screwball comedies such as Bringing Up Baby-- he made his directorial debut in 1987 with Three Bewildered People in the Night. With a budget of only $5,000 and using a stationary camera, he told the story of a romance between a video artist, her lover and her homosexual friend. Two years later, Araki made a name for himself on the festival circuit with Long Weekend (o' Despair). Produced, directed, written, photographed and edited by Araki (for his own whimsically named Desperate Pictures Company), this very small-scale Big Chill derivation involved a group of recent college graduates brooding over their futures during one woozy, boozy evening. Araki followed this modest effort with the aforementioned The Living End (1992), which was shown in competition at Sundance.
Araki's next film, Totally F***ed Up (1993), was one close to his heart. Filled with rage and decidedly anti-gay cinema sentiments, it chronicled the messed-up lives of six gay adolescents who have formed a family unit and are struggling to get along with each other and with life in the face of various major obstacles. Araki himself classified it as "A rag-tag story of the fag-and-dyke teen underground....A kinda cross between avant-garde experimental cinema and a queer John Hughes flick." Whereas this film was subversive in its exploration of the youths' depression and negative attitudes toward homosexuality, Araki's fifth film, The Doom Generation, was an all-out darkly comic assault on gay and straight audiences that brimmed with graphic violence, sledgehammer symbolism and relentless eroticism. While largely trashed by more conservative critics, the piece won a measure of respect in a number of circles.
Both Totally F***ed Up and The Doom Generation are part of Araki's so-called "teen apocalypse trilogy;" the final entry, Nowhere (1997), was described by its director as "A Beverly Hills 90210 episode on acid." Centering on a group of bored, alienated Los Angeles adolescents who while away a typical day with kinky sex, drugs, and the requisite wild party, the film combined a distinct brand of nihilism with a candy-colored cheerfulness. This cheerfulness was a large feature of Araki's subsequent effort, the romantic comedy Splendor. The story of a girl (Kathleen Robertson) who cannot choose between two boys (Johnathon Schaech and Matt Keeslar) and so decides to live with them both, Splendor was Araki's homage to his beloved screwball comedies. Hailed as the director's most optimistic film to date, it had its premiere at the 1999 Sundance Festival.
~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Collapse Full Bio
- Portions of Content Provided by
Rovi Data Solutions
© 2009 Rovi Data Solutions, Inc.
Headlines
Spirited Indies Shine at the 2006 Independent Spirit Awards No...
Nov. 30, 2005
It was a maverick kind of morning as the nominations for the 2006 Independent Spirit Awards were announced, honoring some of this year’s most affecting, avant garde and anti-studio independent film offerings.
Read Story
View all
Gregg Araki Headlines
Sponsored Links
Buy A Link Here
Recently Worked With...
Thomas Dekker
Kaboom
Released: Jan. 28, 2011
Carrot Top
Smiley Face
Released: Nov. 16, 2007
Brady Corbet
Mysterious Skin
Released: May. 6, 2005
Kathleen Robertson
Splendor
Released: Sep. 17, 1999
Ryan Phillippe
Nowhere
Released: May. 9, 1997
Don Galloway
The Doom Generation
Released: Oct. 27, 1995
Cooper
Totally F***ed Up
Released: Jan. 1, 1993
Mike Dytri
The Living End
Released: Aug. 14, 1992
Darcy Marta
Three Bewildered People in the Night
Released: Jan. 1, 1987
Collapse
Expand to view more
Fan Sites
Gregg Araki Fansites
No fan sites available. Create the first!
Are you the #1 Gregg Araki Fan? Sign Up To Create A Website Here.
Go
Build a Fan Site
Sponsored Links
Buy A Link Here
Top 5 Celebrities
Naomi Watts
September 28, 1968
Shoreham, England
Channing Tatum
April 26, 1980
Cullman, AL
Angelina Jolie
June 04, 1975
Los Angeles, CA
Rachel McAdams
October 07, 1976
London, Ontario, Canada
Zooey Deschanel
January 17, 1980
Los Angeles, CA
Go to
Top 100 Celebs