Tom Tykwer

Tom Tykwer ({{#invoke:IPA|main}}; born 23 May 1965)<ref>Bock, Hans-Michael; Bergfelder, Tim, ed. (2009). The Concise Cinegraph: Encyclopaedia of German Cinema. New York: Berghahn Books. p. 488. Template:ISBN.</ref> is a German film director, producer, screenwriter, and composer. He is best known internationally for directing the thriller films Run Lola Run (1998), Heaven (2002), Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006), and The International (2009). He collaborated with The Wachowskis as co-director for the science fiction film Cloud Atlas (2012) and the Netflix series Sense8 (2015–2018), and worked on the score for Lana Wachowski's The Matrix Resurrections (2021). Tykwer is also well known as the co-creator of the internationally acclaimed German television series Babylon Berlin (2017–).

Early life

Tykwer was born in Wuppertal,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> West Germany. Fascinated by film from an early age, he started making amateur Super 8 films at the age of eleven. He later helped out at a local arthouse cinema in order to see more films, including those for which he was too young to buy tickets. After graduating from high school, he applied to numerous film schools around Europe, unsuccessfully.

Career

1986–1995

Template:BLP one source Tykwer moved to Berlin where he worked as a projectionist.Template:Citation needed In 1987, at the age of 22, he became the programmer of the Moviemento cinema and became known to German directors as a film buff.<ref>Biography, Tomtykwer.com</ref>Template:Third-party inline In Berlin, Tykwer met and befriended the filmmaker Rosa von Praunheim, who urged him to create stories from his own experience. He suggested, for example, that Tykwer record arguments with his girlfriend, and turn them into a short film. Because (1990) was screened at the Hof International Film Festival and well received by the audience, which inspired Tykwer to continue pursuing filmmaking.

He made a second short film, Epilog (1992), for which he took on personal financial debt, but he also gained valuable technical film making experience.Template:According to whom Tykwer wrote the screenplay for, and directed, his first feature film, the psychological thriller Deadly Maria (1993). It aired on German television and had a limited theatrical release in Germany and the international film festival circuit.

In 1994, Tykwer founded the production company X Filme Creative Pool with Stefan Arndt, Wolfgang Becker, and Dani Levy.Template:Citation needed

1996–2005

Template:BLP unreferenced section Tykwer and Becker wrote the screenplay for the comedy Life Is All You Get (1997), while working on Winter Sleepers (1997), Tykwer's second feature and a much bigger and more complex production than Deadly Maria. Winter Sleepers brought Tykwer to the attention of German cineastes and film festivals, but he was struggling financially.Template:According to whom

His next feature film, Run Lola Run (1998), became the most successful German film of 1998, earned $7 mln at the US box office, and elevated Tykwer to international fame. As Lola was becoming a success worldwide, Tykwer was already at work on his next film, The Princess and the Warrior (2000), a love story about a nurse and a former soldier, which was shot in his home town of Wuppertal.<ref name=dw2018/>

Miramax produced his next film, Heaven (2002), based on a screenplay by Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Kieślowski, which was shot in English, starred Cate Blanchett and Giovanni Ribisi,<ref name=dw2018/> and was filmed in Turin and Tuscany.

2006–2015

Template:BLP sources section Tykwer was approached by French producers to film a short contribution to Paris, je t'aime (2006), a film composed of 20 short films by many famous directors depicting love in Paris. Tykwer shot the 10-minute short film, True, with Natalie Portman and Melchior Beslon. He shot the film quickly with almost no pre-production. The result, Tykwer later said, "symbolises an entire life for me, in just ten minutes."<ref>True at Tomtykwer.com</ref>Template:Third-party inline

Tykwer shot the film Pink Children (2012) together with 4 German directors about their mentor Rosa von Praunheim.

Tykwer's next film was Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006), an adaptation of the novel Perfume by the German novelist Patrick Süskind.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It was filmed in the Spanish cities of Figueras, Girona and Barcelona. Tykwer later made his Hollywood debut with the big-budgeted 2009 conspiracy thriller The International, starring Clive Owen and Naomi Watts, which was shot in several locations ranging from Berlin, Milan, New York City, and Istanbul. The film received a lukewarm reception from the public and critics alike.

2016–present

Tykwer directed 2016's A Hologram for the King, starring Tom Hanks and Sarita Choudhury, based on a novel by American novelist Dave Eggers.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 2017, Tykwer co-created the television series Babylon Berlin, directing and writing the screenplay; set in 1920s Berlin, the series comprised 16 episodes in its first two seasons.<ref name=dw2018/> A third season premiered in 2020. Later on, in 2023, the fifth season has been announced.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 2018, Tykwer headed the 68th Berlinale.<ref name=dw2018>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In December 2024, it was announced that Tykwer's upcoming film The Light (Das Licht), starring Lars Eidinger and Nicolette Krebitz, would open the 75th Berlinale on February 13, 2025.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Musical composition

Since Winter Sleepers, the music for all of Tykwer's films (with the exception of Heaven) has been composed by Johnny Klimek, Reinhold Heil, and Tykwer.Template:Citation needed The trio gave themselves the name "Pale 3", and it originally worked as a film scoring group, then expanding to produce music unrelated to film.Template:Citation needed

Critical reception

Template:Expand section Both Tykwer's directing and his musical contributions have received accolades.Template:Citation needed

Awards

• 1994: Bavarian Film Awards, Best New Director
• 1998: Bavarian Film Awards, Best Production<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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• 2005: State-Award of the Film Commission North Rhine-Westphalia
• 2006: Bavarian Film Awards, Best Director<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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• 2012: Golden Globe Awards, Best Original Score for Cloud Atlas (Nominated)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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Filmography

Year	Title	Role				Notes
		Director	Writer	Producer	Composer
1993	Deadly Maria	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes
1997	Life Is All You Get	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No
	Winter Sleepers	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:Yes
1998	Run Lola Run	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:Yes
1999	Absolute Giganten	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No
2000	The Princess and the Warrior	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:Yes
2002	Heaven	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No
2003	The Matrix Revolutions	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Composed "In My Head" under the name Pale 3
2004	Soundless	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No
2006	A Friend of Mine	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No
2006	Perfume: The Story of a Murderer	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:Yes
2006	Template:Ill	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No
2009	The International	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes
2010	Three	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:Yes
2010	Soul Boy	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No
2011	Endlich	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No
2012	Cloud Atlas	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Co-directed with The Wachowskis
2012	Pink Children	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:Yes
2011	Nairobi Half Life	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No
2013	Culture Hacking	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No
2015	Sense8	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Co-directed with The Wachowskis<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
2016	A Hologram for the King	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:Yes
2021	The Matrix Resurrections<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Themes by Don Davis, Co-composed with Johnny Klimek
2025	The Light	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No	Opening film of Berlinale 2025<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Other roles

• Inglourious Basterds (2009) — German dialogue translator.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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Personal life

In 2009, Tykwer signed a petition in support of film director Roman Polanski, calling for his release after Polanski was arrested in Switzerland in relation to his 1977 sexual abuse case.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

External links

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• Tom Tykwer at Filmportal.de
• Interview at Stumped?
• The Art of Scriptwriting: Tom Tykwer on Matrix 4 at the 21. international literature festival berlin