Cary Fukunaga
Cary Fukunaga
Cary Joji Fukunaga is an American film director, writer, and cinematographer. He is known for writing and directing the 2009 film Sin Nombre, the 2011 film Jane Eyre and for directing and executive producing the first season of the HBO series True Detective, for which he won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series. He has received acclaim for the 2015 war drama Beasts of No Nation, in which Fukunaga was writer, director, producer, and cinematographer...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionDirector
Date of Birth10 July 1977
CityOakland, CA
CountryUnited States of America
Everyone wants to be liked, so of course you want critical acclaim. After that, box office acclaim isn't bad. More than anything I think you have to try and make something you're proud of.
I'm terrible at making titles. I never like the titles of my films.
I don't really see a huge divide between filmmaking and television. In the end, a lot of people are going to be watching this stuff on their laptops and their iPhones anyway. So, it doesn't really matter where it comes from, as long as the stories get told.
The authenticity aspect is pretty important to me. When we have to compromise and do something that's not authentic, it really rubs me, every time I have to see it in the edit, which is millions of times.
Film still looks way better than digital.
Even on my films, I always collaborate with the actors. That's a given. I think you need that. You need the actors to feel as much ownership of the performance and the direction of the story as you do, to get the most out of everyone's potential.
The theoretical casting part of movies is the funnest part. You really can imagine so many different versions of a story, based on who's embodying it.
No, ramen's not good for you. But in Japan, our favorite thing to do after drinking all night, especially in Sapporo where it's freezing cold, is to go to the ramen place at two, three in the morning.
Sundance took me on my first film and from there sort of launched my career.
I enjoy setting the scene and coming up with interesting frames. 'True Detective' was a very hands-on set.
I'm never more miserable than when I write, and never more happy than having finished and having it sitting in front of me.
I didn't grow up watching detective shows. I've never even seen an episode of 'CSI.'
I have these plants in my house that are dying, so having a robot butler to water them when I'm away would be pretty handy.
I live in Brooklyn, New York, and hail from the 'East Bay,' Oakland, CA.