- Born
- Birth nameJames R. Jarmusch
- Height6′ 2″ (1.88 m)
- Moved to New York City at the age of seventeen from Akron, Ohio. Graduated from Columbia University with a B.A. in English, class of '75. Without any prior film experience, he was accepted into the Tisch School of the Arts, New York.
- IMDb mini biography by: J. Pae - Jarmusch came to New York City from Akron, Ohio to study at Columbia and NYU's film school. He would also study film at the Cinematheque Francaise in Paris. He worked as an assistant on Lightning Over Water (1980), a film by Nicholas Ray and Wim Wenders, before making his first film, _Permanent Vacation (1982)_, made for roughly $15,000. After much hustling, he found a German producer by the name of Otto Grokenberger, who stayed out of his way and provided him with complete artistic control. The result was the highly stimulating Stranger Than Paradise (1984), a film he structured around Screamin' Jay Hawkins' song, "I Put A Spell On You", and which would go on to win the Camera D'Or at the 1984 Cannes Film Festival.
- IMDb mini biography by: Ari Grief <agrief@yorku.ca>
- ParentsRuth ElizabethRobert Thomas Jarmusch
- RelativesTom Jarmusch(Sibling)Ann Jarmusch(Sibling)
- Stationary camera (deadpan). His films often involve travlers as well as life after midnight. Shows and views the American landscape from a non-commercial viewpoint (e.g. the tavern were everybody knows your name instead of franchised stripmalls)
- Often casts musicians as actors in his films
- Salt & pepper hair
- The narrative structure of his films mostly lack clear plot progression and focus more on mood and character development
- Offscreen distant train whistle
- Founder member of "the Sons of Lee Marvin". Other members include Tom Waits, Thurston Moore, John Lurie, Nick Cave. Membership requires a plausible likeness to Lee Marvin such that you could be rumored to be his son.
- At college one of his professors was cult director Nicholas Ray. They formed a friendship and Jarmusch became his assistant for the making of a film.
- Doesn't allow his movies to be dubbed for foreign movie markets. They are mostly shown with subtitles in other countries. His only films that were dubbed are Down by Law (1986) which was dubbed in French and The Dead Don't Die (2019) which was dubbed in French and Spanish.
- Once almost died from eating wild mushrooms, which resulted in an interest in the study of mushroom.
- He owns the negatives to all his own films, except one, Year of the Horse (1997), which he made for Neil Young.
- I know. It's all so . . . independent. I'm so sick of that word. I reach for my revolver when I hear the word 'quirky.' Or 'edgy.' Those words are now becoming labels that are slapped on products to sell them. Anyone who makes a film that is the film they want to make, and it is not defined by marketing analysis or a commercial enterprise, is independent. My movies are kind of made by hand. They're not polished -- they're sort of built in the garage. It's more like being an artisan in some way.
- I consider myself a dilettante in a positive way, and I always have. That affects my sense of filmmaking.
- I feel so lucky. During the late 70's in New York, anything seemed possible. You could make a movie or a record and work part time, and you could find an apartment for 160 bucks a month. And the conversations were about ideas. No one was talking about money. It was pretty amazing. But looking back is dangerous. I don't like nostalgia. But, still, damn, it was fun. I'm glad I was there.
- I prefer to be subcultural rather than mass-cultural. I'm not interested in hitting the vein of the mainstream.
- I'm happiest when I'm shooting the movie. Filming is like sex. Writing the script is like seduction, then shooting is like sex because you're doing the movie with other people. Editing is like being pregnant, and then you give birth and they take your baby away. After this process is done, I will watch the movie one more time with a paying audience that doesn't know I'm there, and then I will never see it again. I'm so sick of it.
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