Barry Sonnenfeld (born April 1, 1953) is an American film/TV director and former cinematographer for The Coen Brothers. Known for having directed films such as The Addams Family and its sequel, Addams Family Values, along with the Men in Black trilogy.
Behind the scenes, he's known for his quirk of directing while dressed as a cowboy
◊ sometimes astride a saddle mounted on a wheeled cart
◊.
Films and television series directed with pages on TV Tropes:
- The Addams Family (1991)
- Addams Family Values (1993)
- For Love or Money (1993)
- Get Shorty (1995)
- Men in Black (1997)
- Men in Black II (2002)
- Men in Black 3 (2012)
- Wild Wild West (1999)
- The Tick (2001-2002)
- Big Trouble (2002)
- RV (2006)
- Pushing Daisies (2007-2009)
- Nine Lives (2016)
- A Series of Unfortunate Events (2017-2019)
- Schmigadoon! (2021-present)
Tropes associated with Barry Sonnenfeld's work
- Author Appeal: Sonnenfeld, even as a director of photography, loves frenetic Steadicam shots.
- Genre Roulette: From Westerns to Fantasy to Comedy, he seems to be a guy who likes to do a number of genres.
- Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism: His movies usually have a very heartfelt and optimistic edge.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Pie sometimes has a significance to characters in his movies and TV shows. See Men in Black II, Pushing Daisies (which he produced and directed the premiere episode of), and Men in Black 3 (for different reasons than in II).
