Tom Tykwer

{{Infobox person

| name = Tom Tykwer

| image = Tom Tykwer (Berlin Film Festival 2009).jpg

| imagesize =

| caption = Tykwer at the Berlin Film Festival

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1965|5|23|df=y}}

| birth_place = Wuppertal, West Germany

| birth_name =

| other_names =

| spouse = {{marriage|Marie Steinmann|2009}}

| children = 1

| occupation = Film director, screenwriter, film composer

| years_active = 1986–present|

| website =

}}

Tom Tykwer ({{IPA|de|ˈtɪkvɐ|lang}}; born 23 May 1965)Bock, Hans-Michael; Bergfelder, Tim, ed. (2009). [https://books.google.com/books?id=z7gFT_Duq1cC&pg=PA488&dq=%22may+23+1965%22+%22tom+tykwer%22 The Concise Cinegraph: Encyclopaedia of German Cinema]. New York: Berghahn Books. p. 488. {{ISBN|978-1-57181-655-9}}. is a German film director, producer, screenwriter, and composer. He is best known internationally for directing the thriller films Run Lola Run (1998), Heaven (2002), Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006), and The International (2009). He collaborated with The Wachowskis as co-director for the science fiction film Cloud Atlas (2012) and the Netflix series Sense8 (2015–2018), and worked on the score for Lana Wachowski's The Matrix Resurrections (2021). Tykwer is also well known as the co-creator of the internationally acclaimed German television series Babylon Berlin (2017–).

Early life

Tykwer was born in Wuppertal,{{cite book|title=501 Movie Directors|editor-first=Steven Jay|editor-last=Schneider|publisher=Cassell Illustrated|location=London|year=2007|page=618|isbn=9781844035731|oclc=1347156402}} West Germany. Fascinated by film from an early age, he started making amateur Super 8 films at the age of eleven. He later helped out at a local arthouse 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.

Career

=1986–1995=

Tykwer moved to Berlin where he worked as a projectionist.{{citation needed|date = August 2022}} 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.[http://www.tomtykwer.com/Biography Biography], Tomtykwer.com{{third-party inline | date = August 2022}} In Berlin, Tykwer met and befriended the filmmaker Rosa 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 a short film. Because (1990) was screened at the Hof International Film Festival and well received by the audience, which inspired Tykwer to continue pursuing filmmaking.

He made a second short film, Epilog (1992), for which he took on personal financial debt, but he also gained valuable technical film making experience.{{according to whom|date = August 2022}} Tykwer wrote the screenplay for, and directed, his first feature film, the psychological thriller Deadly 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 company X Filme Creative Pool with Stefan Arndt, Wolfgang Becker, and Dani Levy.{{citation needed|date = August 2022}}

=1996–2005=

Tykwer and Becker wrote the screenplay for the comedy Life Is All You Get (1997), while working on Winter Sleepers (1997), Tykwer's second feature and a much bigger and more complex production than Deadly Maria. Winter Sleepers brought Tykwer to the attention of German cineastes and film festivals, but he was struggling financially.{{according to whom|date = August 2022}}

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. As Lola 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.

Miramax produced his next film, Heaven (2002), based on a screenplay by Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Kieślowski, which was shot in English, starred Cate Blanchett and Giovanni Ribisi, and was filmed in Turin and Tuscany.

=2006–2015=

Tykwer was approached by French producers to film a short contribution to Paris, 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, with Natalie 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."[http://www.tomtykwer.com/Filmography/True True] at Tomtykwer.com{{third-party inline | date = August 2022}}

Tykwer shot the film Pink Children (2012) together with 4 German directors about their mentor Rosa von Praunheim.

Tykwer's next film was Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006), an adaptation of the novel Perfume by the German novelist Patrick Süskind.{{cite web

| url =https://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/27/movies/27perf.html

| title =The Sweet Smell of Life That Drives Him to Kill

| last =Scott

| first =A. O.

| date =2006-12-27

| publisher =The NY Times

| access-date =2023-06-29

}} It was filmed in the Spanish cities of Figueras, Girona and Barcelona. Tykwer later made his Hollywood debut with the big-budgeted 2009 conspiracy thriller The International, starring Clive Owen and Naomi 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.

=2016–present=

Tykwer directed 2016's A Hologram for the King, starring Tom Hanks and Sarita Choudhury, based on a novel by American novelist Dave Eggers.{{cite web

| url =https://www.dw.com/en/illusions-in-the-desert-tom-tykwers-hologram-premieres-in-new-york/a-19201124

| title =Tom Tykwer's 'Hologram' premieres in New York

| last =Kürten

| first =Jochen

| date =2016-04-20

| publisher =DW

| access-date =2023-06-29

}} In 2017, Tykwer co-created the television series Babylon Berlin, directing and writing the screenplay; set in 1920s Berlin, the series comprised 16 episodes in its first two seasons. A third season premiered in 2020. Later on, in 2023, the fifth season has been announced.{{cite web

| url =https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/babylon-berlin-fifth-season-without-sky-deutschland-1235526158/

| title ='Babylon Berlin' to Proceed With 5th Season, Without Sky Deutschland

| last =Roxborough

| first =Scott

| date =2023-06-29

| publisher =The Hollywood Reporter

| access-date =2023-06-29

}}

In 2018, Tykwer headed the 68th Berlinale.{{cite web

| url =https://www.dw.com/en/babylon-berlin-director-tom-tykwer-to-head-berlinale-jury-in-2018/a-41212487

| title =Tom Tykwer to head Berlinale Jury in 2018

| last =Braun

| first =Stuart

| date =2017-02-11

| publisher =Deutsche Welle

| access-date =2023-06-29}}

In December 2024, it was announced that Tykwer's upcoming film The Light (Das Licht), starring Lars Eidinger and Nicolette Krebitz, would open the 75th Berlinale on February 13, 2025.{{Cite web|date=2024-12-05

|last=Ntim

|first=Zac

|url=https://deadline.com/2024/12/berlin-film-festival-tom-tykwer-the-light-opening-film-1236194916/

|title=Berlin Film Festival To Open With Tom Tykwer Feature 'The Light'

|access-date=2024-12-05

|website=Deadline Hollywood}}

Musical composition

Since Winter Sleepers, the music for all of Tykwer's films (with the exception of Heaven) has been composed by Johnny Klimek, Reinhold Heil, and Tykwer.{{citation needed|date = August 2022}} The trio gave themselves the name "Pale 3", and it originally worked as a film scoring group, then expanding to produce music unrelated to film.{{citation needed|date = August 2022}}

Critical reception

{{expand section | with = further explicitly source-derived content relevant to this topic | small = no | date = August 2022}}

Both Tykwer's directing and his musical contributions have received accolades.{{citation needed|date = August 2022}}

Awards

1994: Bavarian Film Awards, Best New Director
1998: Bavarian Film Awards, Best Production{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090325011005/http://www.bayern.de/Anlage19170/PreistraegerdesBayerischenFilmpreises-Pierrot.pdf|url= http://www.bayern.de/Anlage19170/PreistraegerdesBayerischenFilmpreises-Pierrot.pdf| title=Bavarian Film Awards| archive-date=25 March 2009| website=Bayern.de}}
2005: State-Award of the Film Commission North Rhine-Westphalia
2006: Bavarian Film Awards, Best Director{{cite web |url=http://www.bayern.de/Pressemitteilungen-.1255.19209/index.htm |title=Bayerisches Landesportal: Ministerpräsident Stoiber verleiht Bayerischen Filmpreis 2006 |publisher=Bayern.de |date=19 January 2007 |access-date=12 March 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120209215437/http://www.bayern.de/Pressemitteilungen-.1255.19209/index.htm |archive-date=9 February 2012}}
2012: Golden Globe Awards, Best Original Score for Cloud Atlas (Nominated){{cite web| url= https://deadline.com/2012/12/golden-globe-awards-nominations-2013-388146/ |title= Golden Globe Nominations for 2013| website=Deadline Hollywood|date= 13 December 2012}}

Filmography

class="wikitable"
rowspan="2" \| Year ! rowspan="2" \| Title ! colspan="4" \| Role ! rowspan="2" \| Notes
width="65"\| Director ! width="65"\| Writer ! width="65"\| Producer ! width="65"\| Composer
1993 \| Deadly Maria \| {{yes}} \| {{yes}} \| {{yes}} \| {{yes}} \|
rowspan=2\|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 \| {{Ill\|The Heart Is a Dark Forest\|de\|Das Herz ist ein dunkler Wald}} \| {{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 with The 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 with The Wachowskis{{Cite news\|title=Eight entangled minds strive to make sense of an unfolding drama\|author=Walsh, Ben\|date=30 May 2015\|work=The Independent\|pages=38\|quote=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).\|id={{ProQuest\|1684118018}}}}
2016 \| A Hologram for the King \| {{yes}} \| {{yes}} \| {{no}} \| {{yes}} \|
2021 \| The Matrix Resurrections{{Cite web \|date=September 7, 2021 \|title=Johnny Klimek & Tom Tykwer Scoring Lana Wachowski's 'The Matrix Resurrections' \|url=https://filmmusicreporter.com/2021/09/07/johnny-klimek-tom-tykwer-scoring-lana-wachowskis-the-matrix-resurrections/ \|url-status=live \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210907181211/https://filmmusicreporter.com/2021/09/07/johnny-klimek-tom-tykwer-scoring-lana-wachowskis-the-matrix-resurrections/ \|archive-date=September 7, 2021 \|access-date=September 7, 2021 \|website=Film Music Reporter}} \| {{no}} \| {{no}} \| {{no}} \| {{yes}} \| Themes by Don Davis, Co-composed with Johnny Klimek
2025 \| The Light \| {{Yes}} \| {{Yes}} \| {{no}} \| {{No}} \| Opening film of Berlinale 2025{{Cite web\|url=https://cineuropa.org/film/471039/ \|title= The Light \|first= Tom \|last= Tykwer \|date=5 December 2024\|access-date=6 December 2024 \|website= Cineuropa\|language=en}}

class="wikitable"

rowspan="2" | Year

! rowspan="2" | Title

! colspan="4" | Role

! rowspan="2" | Notes

width="65"| Director

! width="65"| Writer

! width="65"| Producer

! width="65"| Composer

1993

| Deadly Maria

| {{yes}}

rowspan=2|1997

| Life Is All You Get

| {{no}}

| {{yes}}

| {{no}}

Winter Sleepers

| {{yes}}

| {{no}}

| {{yes}}

1998

| Run Lola Run

| {{yes}}

| {{no}}

| {{yes}}

1999

| Absolute Giganten

| {{no}}

| {{yes}}

| {{no}}

2000

| The Princess and the Warrior

| {{yes}}

| {{no}}

| {{yes}}

2002

| Heaven

| {{yes}}

| {{no}}

2003

| The Matrix Revolutions

| {{no}}

| {{yes}}

| Composed "In My Head" under the name Pale 3

2004

| Soundless

| {{no}}

| {{yes}}

| {{no}}

2006

| A Friend of Mine

| {{no}}

| {{yes}}

| {{no}}

2006

| Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

| {{yes}}

| {{no}}

| {{yes}}

2006

| {{Ill|The Heart Is a Dark Forest|de|Das Herz ist ein dunkler Wald}}

| {{no}}

| {{yes}}

| {{no}}

2009

| The International

| {{yes}}

| {{no}}

| {{yes}}

2010

| Three

| {{yes}}

| {{no}}

| {{yes}}

2010

| Soul Boy

| {{no}}

| {{yes}}

| {{no}}

2011

| Endlich

| {{no}}

| {{yes}}

| {{no}}

2012

| Cloud Atlas

| {{yes}}

| Co-directed with The Wachowskis

2012

| Pink Children

| {{yes}}

| {{no}}

| {{yes}}

2011

| Nairobi Half Life

| {{no}}

| {{yes}}

| {{no}}

2013

| Culture Hacking

| {{no}}

| {{yes}}

| {{no}}

2015

| Sense8

| {{yes}}

| {{no}}

| Co-directed with The Wachowskis{{Cite news|title=Eight entangled minds strive to make sense of an unfolding drama|author=Walsh, Ben|date=30 May 2015|work=The Independent|pages=38|quote=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).|id={{ProQuest|1684118018}}}}

2016

| A Hologram for the King

| {{yes}}

| {{no}}

| {{yes}}

2021

| The Matrix Resurrections{{Cite web |date=September 7, 2021 |title=Johnny Klimek & Tom Tykwer Scoring Lana Wachowski's 'The Matrix Resurrections' |url=https://filmmusicreporter.com/2021/09/07/johnny-klimek-tom-tykwer-scoring-lana-wachowskis-the-matrix-resurrections/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210907181211/https://filmmusicreporter.com/2021/09/07/johnny-klimek-tom-tykwer-scoring-lana-wachowskis-the-matrix-resurrections/ |archive-date=September 7, 2021 |access-date=September 7, 2021 |website=Film Music Reporter}}

| {{no}}

| {{yes}}

| Themes by Don Davis,
Co-composed with Johnny Klimek

2025

| The Light

| {{Yes}}

| {{no}}

| {{No}}

| Opening film of Berlinale 2025{{Cite web|url=https://cineuropa.org/film/471039/ |title= The Light |first= Tom |last= Tykwer |date=5 December 2024|access-date=6 December 2024 |website= Cineuropa|language=en}}

Other roles

Inglourious Basterds (2009) — German dialogue translator.{{cite web|url=https://www.filmink.com.au/rewind-the-making-of-inglourious-basterds/| title=Rewind: The Making Of Inglourious Basterds |first=Gaynor |last=Flynn |date=May 29, 2016 |access-date=June 14, 2021| website=FilmInk}}

Personal life

In 2009, Tykwer signed a petition in support of film director Roman Polanski, calling for his release after Polanski was arrested in Switzerland in relation to his 1977 sexual abuse case.{{cite web |url=https://laregledujeu.org/2009/11/10/479/signez-la-petition-pour-roman-polanski/ |title=Signez la pétition pour Roman Polanski ! |date=10 November 2009 |website=La Règle du jeu |language=fr |access-date=29 August 2021 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20210829153459/https://laregledujeu.org/2009/11/10/479/signez-la-petition-pour-roman-polanski/ |archive-date=29 August 2021}}

References

External links

{{official website|http://www.tomtykwer.com}}
{{IMDb name|878756}}
[https://www.filmportal.de/en/person/tom-tykwer_efc121b072a16c3fe03053d50b3736f2 Tom Tykwer] at Filmportal.de
[https://web.archive.org/web/20070928110723/http://www.stumpedmagazine.com/Interviews/tom-tykwer.html Interview] at Stumped?
[https://www.literaturfestival.com/festival/programm/2021/ref%202021/the-art-of-scriptwriting?searchterm=the+art+of+script The Art of Scriptwriting: Tom Tykwer on Matrix 4] at the 21. international literature festival berlin

Category:1965 births

Category:Best Director German Film Award winners

Category:Film people from North Rhine-Westphalia

Category:German film directors

Category:German film score composers

Category:Living people

Category:German male film score composers

Category:Mass media people from Wuppertal

Category:Members of the Academy of Arts, Berlin

Category:Postmodernist filmmakers

Category:Sundance Film Festival award winners