[[quoteright:264:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jonze_5588.jpg]]

->''"As a feature film director, you got to be a guarding dog of the whole production. You got to be able to hold 100 script pages in the head at the same time. If you miss a detail, it's wasted."''

Spike Jonze (real name Adam Spiegel, born October 22, 1969 in New York City, New York) is an American director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. Outside his accomplished film career, he is probably most well known for his string of music videos in [[TheNineties the 1990s]] and co-creating and executive producing the Creator/{{MTV}} television series ''Series/{{Jackass}}''.

He apparently has a good grasp on quality control in terms of directing, seeing as his ''lowest''-rated film on Website/RottenTomatoes, ''Film/WhereTheWildThingsAre'', holds a 73% rating, which is considered "certified fresh". He also won the 2014 MediaNotes/AcademyAwardForBestOriginalScreenplay for ''Film/{{her|2013}}''[[note]]previously being nominated for [[MediaNotes/AcademyAwardForBestDirecting Best Director]] in 2000 for ''Film/BeingJohnMalkovich''[[/note]], which marked his solo screenwriting debut.

Not to be confused with novelty bandleader Music/SpikeJones, from whom his stage name (given by the owner of a community store he frequented in high school) is based. And don't mix him up with Creator/SpikeLee.

!!Jonze as writer/director/producer:
[[index]]
* ''Film/BeingJohnMalkovich'' (1999, director)
* ''Film/HumanNature'' (2001, producer)
* ''Series/{{Jackass}}: TheMovie'' (2002, producer, actor)
** ''Jackass: Number Two'' (2006, producer, actor)
** ''Jackass [[ThirdIs3D 3D]]'' (2010, producer, actor)
* ''Film/{{Adaptation}}'' (2002, director)
* ''Film/{{The Fall|2006}}'' (2006, producer)
* ''Film/SynecdocheNewYork'' (2008, producer)
* ''Film/WhereTheWildThingsAre'' (2009, director, co-wrote with David Eggers)
* ''The One Second Film'' (2009, producer)
* ''Film/{{Im Here|2010}}'' (2010, director, writer, ShortFilm)
* ''Film/{{her|2013}}'' (2013, director, writer)
[[/index]]

!!Jonze as actor only:

* ''Film/ThreeKings'' (1999)
* ''Film/TheWolfOfWallStreet'' (2013)
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Sing 2}}'' (2021, voice)
* ''Film/{{Babylon|2022}}'' (2022)

!!Notable music videos directed by Jonze:
* Music/SonicYouth - "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3gN9Up6hmc 100%]]" (1992) [[note]]co-directed with Tamra Davis[[/note]]
* Music/TheBreeders - "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxvkI9MTQw4 Cannonball]]" (1993) [[note]]co-directed with Kim Gordon[[/note]]
* Music/TeenageFanclub - "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeuvjxmaEkk Hang On]]" (1993)
* Music/{{Weezer}} - "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHQqqM5sr7g Undone (The Sweater Song)]]" (1994)
* Music/BeastieBoys - "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5rRZdiu1UE Sabotage]]" (1994)
* MC 900 Foot Jesus - "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LA-AvBjBm5k If I Only Had a Brain]]" (1994)
* Weezer - "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kemivUKb4f4 Buddy Holly]]" (1994)
* Beastie Boys - "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhqyZeUlE8U Sure Shot]]" (1994)
* Music/{{REM}} - "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycvJHQUqU1M Crush with Eyeliner]]" (1995)
* Wax - "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPOqcqJqeCo California]]" (1995)
* Music/{{Bjork}} - "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htobTBlCvUU It's Oh So Quiet]]" (1995)
* Elastica - "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djjw3BKUV28 Car Song]]" (1995)
* Music/ThePharcyde - "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqVsfGQ_1SU Drop]]" (1996)
* Music/TheChemicalBrothers - "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0dxByaPWhM Elektrobank]]" (1997)
* Music/{{Pavement}} - "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-mQxmrZJn8 Shady Lane]]" (1997)
* Puff Daddy - "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaEMpAlppNE It's All About the Benjamins]]" (1997)
* R.E.M. - "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LewYq40Svw Electrolite]]" (1997)
* Music/FatboySlim - "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruAi4VBoBSM Praise You]]" [[note]]credited as being directed by the "Torrance Community Dance Group"; Jonze himself plays the leader of the troupe in the video and accepted his MTV Video Music Award in character[[/note]]
* Sean Lennon - "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awoTylLBF9I Home]]" (1998)
* Fatboy Slim feat. [[Music/GeorgeClinton Bootsy Collins]] - "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQ7z57qrZU8 Weapon of Choice]]" (2000)
* Fatlip - "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WotkQ6vFuGw What's Up, Fatlip?]]" (2000) [[note]]Jonze also directed [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9ql-LMl8lo a documentary]] about Fatlip and the making of the video[[/note]]
* Music/TenaciousD - "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FL4HSiGvk68 Wonderboy]]" (2001)
* Weezer - "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0C3zgYW_FAM Island in the Sun]]" (2001)
* Music/YeahYeahYeahs - "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcjPFAV1foU Y Control]]" (2004)
* Ludacris - "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yt849wJyVk Get Back]]" (2004)
* Music/KanyeWest feat. Dwele - "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ila-hAUXR5U Flashing Lights]]" (2008)
* Music/LCDSoundsystem - "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xT6cdfP_cM Drunk Girls]]" (2010) [[note]]co-directed with James Murphy[[/note]]
* Music/ArcadeFire - "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Euj9f3gdyM The Suburbs]]" (2010) [[note]]Jonze also directed an accompanying short film, ''Scenes from the Suburbs''[[/note]]
* Kanye West & Jay-Z - "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoEKWtgJQAU Otis]]" (2011)
* Beastie Boys feat. Music/{{Santigold}} - "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEgduwsINW8 Don't Play No Game I Can't Win]]" (2011) [[note]]Jonze also directed an [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-QIiVS_7Hs alternate 11-minute version]].[[/note]]
* Kanye West feat. Music/PaulMcCartney - "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WibQR0tQ0P8 Only One]]" (2015)

!!!Tropes applied to his films or to himself include:

* AuteurLicense: Gained one with his very first feature film, ''Being John Malkovich''.
* CompanionCube: He directed the famous [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I07xDdFMdgw "Lamp"]] commercial for IKEA.
* CreatorCameo: That's him as the leader of the fictional Torrance Community Dance Group in the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiXg_70rMeM video]] for Music/FatboySlim's "Praise You"
* HeAlsoDid:
** He co-created Series/{{Jackass}}. Anyone familiar with skateboard culture will tell you, his role isn't terribly surprising.
** Before being known as an arthouse director, he was notable for directing ''Video Days'', a skateboarding video.
* {{Hipster}}: Frequently stated as various hipsters' go-to director, along with Creator/WesAnderson.
* MyNaymeIs: Jonze is pronounced like the common surname Jones.
* [[PlayingAgainstType/FilmDirecting Directing Against Type]]: The co-creator of ''Series/{{Jackass}}'' directing and writing an adaptation of a [[Literature/WhereTheWildThingsAre children's book]]?
* ProductionPosse: Often works with screenwriter Creator/CharlieKaufman (though he would end up directing his own scripts instead, starting with Film/WhereTheWildThingsAre onwards), cinematographer Lance Acord (though he's been replaced with Hoyte Van Hoytema from ''Film/{{her|2013}}'' onwards), composer Music/CarterBurwell, and editor Eric Zumbrunnen (he was replaced with Jeff Buchanan following Zumbrunnen's death from cancer in 2017).
* RecycledInSpace: His short film ''I'm Here'' is essentially [[spoiler:''Literature/TheGivingTree'' with robots]], and it's ''[[TearJerker far]]'' SugarWiki/{{better than it sounds}}.
* StylisticSuck: The video for Fatboy Slim's "Praise You" is a {{Deconstruction}} of this. None of the dancers are technically good dancers, least of all their leader 'Richard Koufey' (Jonze himself), but they are clearly rehearsed and disciplined, they're giving it their best shot, and somehow in spite of the general lameness of the dance itself, it's completely awesome.
* ViewersAreGeniuses: His films often deal with heavy philosophical concepts. It takes a Philosophy major to get them all.
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