Phil Joanou

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Phil Joanou
Born (1961-11-20) November 20, 1961 (age 59)
La Cañada Flintridge, California, U.S.
OccupationFilm director, music video director
Years active1984–present

Phil Joanou (born November 20, 1961) is an American director of film, music videos, and television programs.

Biography[]

Joanou was born in La Cañada Flintridge, California and began making short films on super-8 when he was 14 years old. Joanou studied at UCLA's theater department and then moved on to USC's cinema program. His award winning student film "Last Chance Dance" caught the eye of Steven Spielberg who hired him to direct two Amazing Stories, "Santa '85" and "The Doll" when he was 23 years old. John Lithgow won a best actor Emmy for his role in "The Doll" and memorably said in his acceptance speech, "I'd like to thank the director, Phil Joanou -- remember that name."

Spielberg then offered Joanou his first feature film, "Three O'clock High." Filmed in Ogden, Utah on a five million dollar budget, the black comedy was released in 1987. Although the film was not a box-office success in its initial run, it went on to become a cult favorite with a huge following. While in post-production on "Three O'clock High," Joanou was introduced to the Irish Rock Band, U2 and after a series of discussions the band asked him to direct their 1988 concert film, "U2: Rattle and Hum." The film chronicled the band's Joshua Tree Tour as they moved across the United States at the end of 1987. Joanou operated the camera for the documentary portion of the shoot and edited over one million feet of film into the final picture. The film was released to critical acclaim and was premiered in five cities: Dublin, London, Madrid, New York and Los Angeles in a one week period. Joanou's collaboration with U2 continued on for over twenty years with the director shooting nine music videos for the band as well as a documentary ("40 cents a day") that covered Bono's journey throughout Africa for One and Project Red. His U2 video for the song "One" has been viewed over 126 million times on YouTube. His other collaborations with the band include: "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses" -- "If God Will Send His Angeles" -- "Merry Christmas, Baby Please Come Home" -- "One Tree Hill" -- "When Love Comes to Town" -- "All Because of You" and "Sometimes You Can't Make it on Your Own."

Joanou also collaborated with Tom Petty on two music videos. The first, "You Don't Know How it Feels" won the MTV award for best rock video and the second, "Walls (circus version)" was a part of the "She's the One" soundtrack. He also directed videos for Whitney Huston and Mariah Carey ("When You Believe") as well as Bon Jovi ("Keep the Faith).

After the release of "Rattle and Hum," Joanou went on to direct the Irish gangster drama, "State of Grace." The film starred Sean Penn, Gary Oldman, Ed Harris, Robin Wright, John C. Reilly and John Torturro. It was released by Orion Pictures in September 1990, the same week as Martin Scorsese's "Goodfellas." The film received positive reviews, but was eclipsed by the Scorsese classic.

In 1990 Joanou directed the American version of Michael Apted's British "7-up" documentary series. The original film, as well as this U.S. version followed a group of seven year old children to see how they would evolve over the course of their lives, re-visiting them every seven years. The first installment directed by Joanou "Age-7 in America" was hosted by Meryl Streep and introduced on network television by Oprah Winfrey. It went on to win a Peabody award for best documentary that same year.

In 1991 Joanou directed the psychological thriller, "Final Analysis." The film starred Richard Gere, Kim Basigner, Uma Thurman and Eric Roberts. Most notable, the film was shot by Joanou's frequent collaborator Jordan Cronenweth (his last feature film) and was known for its creation of a full-scale lighthouse in a Burbank airport hanger by the acclaimed production designer Dean Tavoularis (Godfather 1 & 2, Apocalypse Now). Released in 1992, the film was well received, but turned out to be only a moderate box-office success.

After several brief forays into two anthology television shows (Fallen Angeles "Dead End for Delia" for producer Sydney Pollack, with Gary Oldman) and ("Wild Palms" for producer Oliver Stone) Joanou returned to features with his Alec Baldwin starrer, "Heaven's Prisoners." Based on the James Lee Burke novel of the same name, the film was shot in New Orleans in the summer of 1994. The production was beset by myriad of problems and Joanou was said to be very frustrated by the experience with Savoy Pictures (who financed the film). The company went bankrupt before Joanou was able to complete the movie and the film was released unfinished. Both Joanou and Baldwin attempted to raise the funds to complete the movie outside of the studio, but were unable to do so.

After the disappointment of "Heaven's Prisoners" Joanou went into the indie world of filmmaking to write, direct, produce and edit "Entropy." Produced by Brad Epstein, Robert DeNiro and Jane Rosenthal at Tribeca Films, this semi-autobiographical film (starring Stephen Dorff, Kelly McDonald, Judith Godreche and U2) was independently produced for three million dollars while shooting in New York, Los Angeles, Paris, Dublin and Cape Town. U2 provided five songs for the film and also performed live, while Bono and Larry Mullen Jr. played themselves as characters in the film. The film was ultimately purchased by Touchstone Pictures (Disney) and was never heard from again. To this day it cannot be found for download or on any streaming services.

The second installment of the American "7-up" series, "14-up in America," was completed in 1998 when Joanou filmed the same children, now 14-years-old. Unfortunately, due to a conflict with a feature film Joanou was directing (Gridiron Gang), rather than wait until the Sony film was finished, Granda Television (the producer of the documentary project), chose to move forward with a different director for "21-up." This installment was never aired and the project was abandoned.

In the early 2000's Joanou focused on commercial work, directing commercials for Nike, Coke, Gatorade, Bud Light, Honda, Ford, GM, Lexus, Brand Jordan, Sony, UPS, Microsoft, EA, Mercedes, Disney, Visa, MasterCard and many others.

In 2005 Joanou directed "Gridiron Gang" based on the award winning documentary that followed the first season of the inaugural football program at Camp Kilpatrick, a juvenile detention center in Los Angeles. The film starred Dwayne Johnson and opened number one in both its theatrical run and its home video release. Joanou also directed Chris Tucker's first stand-up comedy special for Netflix in 2013.

His most recent film entitled, "The Veil," took Joanou into the Horror/Mystery genre for Blumhouse, Universal Pictures and Netflix. The film stars Jessica Alba, Thomas Jane, Lily Rabe, Shannon Woodward and Reid Scott and is currently streaming on Netflix.

Filmography[]

Videography[]

Television[]

  • "", Amazing Stories, Steven Spielberg producer, (1985)
  • "The Doll", Amazing Stories, Steven Spielberg producer, John Lithgow, (1986)
  • "Wild Palms", Oliver Stone, final episode, (1993)
  • "" Fallen Angeles, Sidney Pollack producer, Gary Oldman, (1993)
  • "Third Rock from the Sun" Nightmare on Dick Street, 3D dream sequences only, (1996)

References[]

External links[]

Retrieved from ""