Karyn Kusama Biography | Who Is Karyn Kusama
Karyn Kusama is an American award-winning film and TV director. She made her television debut with the 2000 movie “Girlfight” for which she wrote and directed. She also won the award of the Youth at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature.
Karyn was born in St. Louis, Missouri, She is the daughter of “Haruo Kusama” a Psychiatrist and “Susan McGuire” an educational Psychiatrist. Her dad is Japanese while her mom is American. Coming to her educational background, She graduated from Ladue Horton Watkins High School in St. Louis, and in 1990, she earned a BFA in Film & TV from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.
After graduating Kusama worked as an editor on documentary films, in production on independent film and music videos, as a nanny, and painting houses. Through her nanny job she met filmmaker John Sayles and worked as his assistant for three years while he was making the film Lone Star, as well as the development of his films Men with Guns and Limbo. While working for Sayles, she continued to write screenplays. In 1992, Kusama started boxing at Gleason’s Gym in Brooklyn, training with Hector Roca. She began collecting ideas for Girlfight but didn’t start writing it until two years later.
Kusama wrote and directed her debut feature, Girlfight. It took several years to find financing for the film, reportedly due to her insistence that the main character is a Latina rather than allowing the film to become a vehicle for a well-known white actress. After financing fell through shortly before shooting began, Girlfight was partially financed by film-maker John Sayles, for whom she worked as an assistant at the time and who served as a mentor.
The film was released in 2000 and won the Director’s Prize and shared the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, as well as the Prix de la Jeunesse at the Cannes Film Festival. The independent feature film with a budget of around US$1 million was critically well-received. However, it brought in only US$1,667,000, which was considered a poor return; it has since become a classic example of the “Sundance Effect”.
In 2005, Kusama directed her second film, Æon Flux, a Paramount Pictures studio production that starred Charlize Theron and had a budget of US$62,000,000. The film had been ushered through production by Paramount studio chief Sherry Lansing but during production Lansing left.
This resulted in the film being recut and reworked, with significant changes from Kusama’s original vision. Following this experience, Kusama said she would never again work on a film in which she doesn’t have control of the final cut. Its worldwide gross was estimated at around US$52,000,000.
In 2009, Kusama directed the horror film Jennifer’s Body, which was written by Diablo Cody and starred actress Megan Fox in the lead role. The film grossed approximately US$31,000,000 on a budget of around US$16,000,000. Despite its box office success, the film received mixed reviews from critics upon its release but has since become a cult classic.
In regards to the reappraisals of the film, Kusama credited its “distinctly female perspective,” stating she had intended to make a movie where young women could see themselves represented. Kusama has since described working on both Æon Flux and Jennifer’s Body as “learning experiences,” wherein she learned how to navigate the Hollywood studio system.
In 2015, Kusama directed The Invitation, a horror movie written by Kusama’s husband Phil Hay and his writing partner, Matt Manfredi, and starring Logan Marshall-Green. The film was funded by a film consortium called Gamechanger Films, who fund films directed by women. It premiered at the 2015 SXSW Festival, to great acclaim, and was released by Drafthouse Films.
The film would win the International Critic’s Award at the 2015 Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival and was also nominated for Best Picture. Other accolades won by the film including Best Film at the 2015 Sitges Film Festival and the Golden Octopus at the 2015 Strasbourg European Fantastic Film Festival.
Part of the film’s inspiration is the experiences of loss that Kusama, Hay, and Manfredi had. Kusama’s brother, Kevin, died when she was young, as did a close friend in New York. The film was shot in sequence, cost US$1 million, and was filmed in 20 days in Los Angeles. Due to the low production cost and time of the film, Kusama noted that despite the challenges involved with making a movie in this manner she had the creative control she lacked in her previous Hollywood films.
Starting in 2015, Kusama began working regularly on TV as a director on shows like Halt and Catch Fire, Casual, and Billions. Kusama is slated to direct the upcoming adaptation of Breed, an adult horror novel by Scott Spencer under the pen name Chase Novak. The film will again be produced and written by Kusama’s husband Phil Hay and his partner Matt Manfredi.
In 2018, Kusama released her latest directorial effort, a Los Angeles-set crime thriller titled Destroyer. The film stars Nicole Kidman in its lead role, who according to Kusama had lobbied for the part after reading the script. The film was again written and produced by Hay and Manfredi, with La La Land producer Fred Berger serving as an additional producer.
The film began production in December of 2017 for a 33-day shoot and was shot on location. The film made its debut at the Telluride Film Festival to positive reactions and later screened in competition for the Platform Prize at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival. The American theatrical rights for the film have been acquired by Annapurna Pictures, with a release set for December 2018
Karyn Kusama Age | How Old Is Karyn Kusama?
Karyn was born on March 21, 1968, in St.Louis Missouri. She is currently 51 years old as of 2019.
Karyn Kusama Height | How Tall Is Karyn Kusama?
Karyn stands at an average height of 5 feet and 4 inches.
Karyn Kusama Husband | Karyn Kusama Married
Kusama is married to Phil Hay who is also a screenwriter. The two got married back in October 2006. Although they had known each other since meeting at Sundance when Girlfight premiered in 2000, it wasn’t until they worked together on Æon Flux that they began dating. In their marriage, The duo has been blessed with a Son.
Karyn Kusama Net Worth | How Rich Is Karyn Kusama?
Throughout her career, Kusama has managed to accumulate an estimated net worth of 17 million dollars as of 2019.
Karyn Kusama Destroyer
Destroyer is a 2018 Crime film directed by Karyn and written by her husband Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi. Most recently, Kusama’s film Destroyer has been picking up some hefty Oscar buzz, due to Nicole Kidman’s hard-charging performance as a Los Angeles detective navigating a murder case and her own past trauma. The film plays out in two timelines, with a younger, fresh-faced Kidman in the past, as an undercover cop infiltrating a drug ring, while her raddled, grim present self deals with the outcome of that long-ago case.
Destroyer has been widely praised for its forcefulness, its complexity, and for the way it lets Kidman play out familiar tropes in new ways. Her character, Erin Bell, is a hard-bitten detective in the Raymond Chandler or Dashiell Hammett mode. She embodies some familiar tropes for men — archetypes that go back to the 1940s but her brutal ways of fighting and her complete indifference to the contempt and resentment of her fellow officers mark her as unusual for a female character.
Karyn Kusama The invitation
The invitation is a 2015 horror thriller film directed by Kusama and Written by her spouse Phil Hay alongside Matt Manfredi. The film stars Logan Marshall-Green, Tammy Blanchard, Michiel Huisman, and Emayatzy Corinealdi. Chilling and uncomfortable. At the beginning of the film, Will (Logan Marshall-Green) and his girlfriend, Kira (Emayatzy Corinealdi), hit a coyote on the way to a dinner party at his ex-wife’s house.
With this first ominous note, the film unfolds and leaves viewers on edge up until the final twist. For the first 75 minutes, “The Invitation” feels like a thriller and actually reminded me a lot of James Ward Byrkit’s “Coherence” from 2014 (another film I didn’t care for at all and can’t believe people compare to “Primer”). The final 20 minutes are a relatively straightforward jumpy slasher, followed by a climax that is designed to make you say, “omg wtf” but just made me go, “meh.”
Karyn Kusama Movies
- Sleeping Beauties 1991
- Girlfight 2000
- Æon Flux 2005
- Jennifer’s Body 2009
- Speechless 2013
- The Invitation 2015
- XX 2017
- Destroyer 2018
TV Shows
- The L Word 2007
- Halt and Catch Fire 2014-2017
- Chicago Fire 2015
- The Man in the High Castle 2015-2016
- Casual 2016
- Billions 2016-2017