Barry Sonnenfeld Bio/Wiki, Net Worth, Married 2018
Barry Sonnenfeld is an American filmmaker and television director. He worked as cinematographer for the Coen brothers, then later he directed films such as The Addams Family and its sequel, Addams Family Values along with the Men in Black trilogy, and the critically acclaime...
Film director, Cinematographer, Film Producer, Actor, Television producer, Television Director
Education
New York University, Hampshire College
Nationality
United States of America
Spouse
Susan Ringo (m. 1989)
Children
Chloe Sonnenfeld
Parents
Kelly Sonnenfeld, Sonny Sonnenfeld
Nicknames
Barrington Sonnenfeld III
Awards
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series, Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Comedy Series, Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography
Nominations
Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Independent Spirit Award for Best Cinematography, Saturn Award for Best Director
Movies
Men in Black 3, Men in Black, Nine Lives, The Addams Family, Men in Black II, Wild Wild West, Get Shorty, Addams Family Values, RV, Big Trouble, Blood Simple, For Love or Money, Raising Arizona, Enchanted, When Harry Met Sally..., Misery, Miller's Crossing, Throw Momma from the Train, The Crew, The ...
TV Shows
Secret Agent Man
Star Sign
Aries
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Trademark
1
Known for his sense of physical comedy and slapstick scenes.
Directs mainstream films that have an offbeat quality to them
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Quote
1
[on directing Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones] Although Will would always be deferential and charming he's an eight-month-old Great Dane puppy, and he's got way too much energy, way too much joy, too much karmic perfection. And I think that may have affected Tommy. But from the entire first movie [they] loved each other. Will genuinely feels Tommy's one of the funniest people he's ever met because Tommy is George Burns and Will is Gracie Allen. You need both.
2
[on what he took away from each "Men in Black" film] - The first one was unique because it was the first one in the series and we got to create this world. What we realized in the second movie is that we thought the first movie was a comedy, and we realized that it was funny, but not a comedy. And the second one was too, "funny" or "joke-y," and we were trying for comic-beats as apposed to telling a great story. And the third Men in Black, we went back to the roots and it's much more like the first Men in Black, which is that it's really about emotion, character, and relationships. And if it's funny, it's funny because of those things, but we're not cutting to singing dogs.
3
A director sits on the set 11 and a half hours a day. And for 30 minutes they get to direct.
Has stated in many interviews that before making Men in Black (1997) he was considering doing a live-action film version of The Jetsons (1962). With Jim Carrey playing George Jetson and Nicole Kidman playing Jane Jetson.
Nephew of Vaudeville and screen comedian Gus Schilling, whose voice likeness he inherited genetically.
8
One of his most embarrassing moments occurred when he was a teenager attending his first rock concert. His mom had the PA announcer say, "Barry Sonnenfeld, call your mother.".
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Has a private bathroom designed to look like a public bathroom, complete with stalls and urinals in his house in New York.
10
Was offered the job of directing Forrest Gump (1994), but declined. The job then went to Robert Zemeckis, who won an Academy Award for it.
Started his career as a cinematographer in porn films. He's quoted in the January 26, 1998 Newsweek magazine (page 60) saying that he was depressed when he heard that Boogie Nights (1997) was being made (a film about making pornos) because he had wanted to make a movie about the time he shot 9 feature length pornos in nine days.
15
Was uninjured when a private jet he was travelling in collided with five empty 'planes after a rough landing in Van Nuys, California. [February 1999]
$60 Million
