Darren Aronofsky

Darren Aronofsky (born February 12, 1969, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.) is an American director, screenwriter, and producer known for making psychologically intense and often surreal films, including Requiem for a Dream (2000) and The Whale (2022). He was nominated for an Academy Award for best director for Black Swan (2010).

Early life and education

Aronofsky was born to Abraham and Charlotte Aronofsky, both of whom were teachers. During childhood he became interested in black-and-white photography and later focused on creative writing. The idea that he could become a movie director was first sparked in high school when, having planned to see another movie that was sold out at the theater, he bought a ticket for fellow Brooklynite Spike Lee’s She’s Gotta Have It (1986). He told Jimmy Fallon in 2023, “I had never seen anything like that. So it was sort of like, ‘Oh, someone from Brooklyn can do something in this world,’ and it kind of opened my eyes.”

Also while in high school Aronofsky began cultivating what became a lifelong fascination with the natural world and environmentalism through a study abroad program during which he did fieldwork in Kenya and in Prince William Sound, Alaska. After graduating, Aronofsky enrolled in Harvard University and initially studied social studies and then social anthropology. Eventually, he took a course in filmmaking, telling The Harvard Crimson in 2000 that it was “the first class that kept me awake at night.” His senior thesis was a short film called Supermarket Sweep (1991), which was a finalist for the Student Academy Awards. Aronofsky graduated from Harvard in 1991.

He then moved to Los Angeles to pursue graduate studies in directing at the American Film Institute Conservatory. He received his M.F.A. in 1994. Aronofsky has cited as influences the directors Kurosawa Akira, Roman Polanski, Federico Fellini, and Terry Gilliam.

Pi and Requiem for a Dream

In 1998 Aronofsky released his first feature-length film, the surrealistic sci-fi thriller Pi, about a mathematician who becomes obsessed with divining the number that will unlock the mysteries of the universe. Aronofsky, who was raised in Conservative Judaism, drew from, among other things, the Kabbala tradition of esoteric Jewish mysticism and modern computer science in writing the script. The film, shot in black and white on a shoestring budget, was critically acclaimed and won Aronofsky the directing award at the Sundance Film Festival.

His next film was the cult favorite Requiem for a Dream (2000), based on Hubert Selby, Jr.’s 1978 book of the same name about four people struggling with various addictions, including to diet pills and heroin. The film employed what became Aronofsky’s trademark technique: the hip-hop montage, a style that features quick-cut editing, extreme close-ups, and split-screen effects. He explained the technique to The Harvard Crimson:

Hip-hop montage comes from growing up in the ’80s in Brooklyn with hip-hop culture. There was hip-hop art, hip-hop music, rap, dance, break. And there were films about hip-hop, but there wasn’t really hip-hop techniques used in filmmaking. I wanted to try and apply that to narrative filmmaking, to sample images with sounds, and with that you could advance the story very quickly. It really works well in Requiem, because it’s detailing something that’s obsessive, an addiction, and it’s repetitive.

The film received positive reviews, especially for the intense performances of Ellen Burstyn, Marlon Wayans, Jared Leto, and Jennifer Connelly, but some critics and audiences found its story unrelentingly depressing and its style disorienting. Burstyn was nominated for an Academy Award for best actress, and the film received special recognition for excellence in filmmaking from the National Board of Review.

The Fountain, The Wrestler, and Black Swan

Aronofsky’s next feature was The Fountain (2006), a dramatic sci-fi epic about a scientist (Hugh Jackman) who desperately seeks a cure for his wife (Rachel Weisz), who has cancer. The film took longer than expected to complete because its original star, Brad Pitt, quit the project seven weeks before production in Australia. Aronofsky subsequently revised the script and shot the film on a soundstage instead. Although The Fountain was nominated for the Golden Lion (best film) at the Venice Film Festival, it received generally negative reviews from critics, many of whom were confused by its complex narrative.

Much more warmly received was Aronofsky’s The Wrestler (2008), a moving story of an aging professional wrestler (Mickey Rourke) who attempts to maintain his fading career while building a relationship with a stripper (Marisa Tomei) and to reunite with his estranged daughter (Evan Rachel Wood). The film briefly resurrected Rourke’s career, earning him a best actor Oscar nomination, and it scored a supporting actress nomination for Tomei.

Black Swan (2010) further solidified Aronofsky as a master of psychological dramas about characters in desperate or disturbing circumstances. The film follows a sheltered ballerina (Natalie Portman) whose relentless quest for perfection in performing Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s ballet Swan Lake drives her to madness. Film critic Roger Ebert praised it as “a full-bore melodrama, told with passionate intensity, gloriously and darkly absurd.” Aronofsky received an Oscar nomination for his directing, and the film also was nominated for best picture. Portman took home the award for best actress.

Later career

Aronofsky’s next films were Noah (2014), a biblical epic starring Russell Crowe in the title role, and Mother! (2017), an allegorical movie about humankind’s disregard for Earth, starring Jennifer Lawrence and Javier Bardem. The latter film received mixed reviews from critics and flopped at the box office.

That pattern of dividing critics and audiences continued with Aronofsky’s next film, The Whale (2022). Adapted from Samuel D. Hunter’s 2012 play, the movie centers on a morbidly obese man who has become a recluse since the death of his lover but who attempts to reconcile with his teenage daughter. Some audiences objected to the film’s portrayal of people with eating disorders, calling the movie “fatphobic,” and to the choice of hiring as the lead a non-obese actor (Brendan Fraser) and dressing him in a prosthetic “fat suit.” Critics compared The Whale to Requiem for a Dream, pointing to the films’ shared theme of addiction. However, Aronofsky told the British Film Institute, “I didn’t see [The Whale] as an addiction movie. For me, it was really getting into the psychology and the drama of this character that most people on first impressions would dismiss and judge.” Fraser won the Oscar for best actor, and Hong Chau was nominated for her supporting role.

Aronofsky turned to the documentary form for his next project, Welcome to Earth (2023), a travelogue series featuring actor Will Smith exploring various natural wonders; Aronofsky served as an executive producer and directed one episode. He also served as producer on other projects, including the miniseries One Strange Rock (2018), the series Black Gold and Limitless (both 2022), and the movies Jackie (2016), White Boy Rick (2018), The Good Nurse (2022), and Viktor (2024).

Personal life

Aronofsky has a son from a former relationship with the actress Rachel Weisz. He was also in a one-year relationship with Lawrence that began after the pair worked together on Mother!