Mini biography

Michel Haznavicius (March 29, 1967, France)

Michel Haznavicius (born 29 March 1967) is a French film director, producer and screenwriter best known for his spy movie parodies OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies and OSS 117: Lost in Rio, both of which star Jean Dujardin.

His upcoming film The Artist is scheduled to compete for the Palme d’Or at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.

Before directing films, Haznavicius worked in television, beginning with the Canalplus channel, where he started as a director in 1988.

[About silent movies]: “I think it’s the ultimate way to tell a story for a filmmaker.”

He then moved into directing commercials for such companies as Reebok and Bouygues Telecom and made his first feature-length film, La classe américaine, for television in 1993.

The film, co-directed with Dominique Mézerette, consisted entirely of footage taken from various films produced by the Warner Bros. studio, re-edited and dubbed into French.

Haznavicius directed his first short film, Echec au capital, in 1997, and followed it up with his first theatrically released feature, Mes amis, which starred his brother, actor Serge Hazanavicius.

Seven years later, Haznavicius wrote and directed his second feature, OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies, a send-up of 1960s spy movies and, specifically OSS 117, a popular character created by Jean Bruce in 1949.

The film was a modest box office success, making $23 million worldwide.A sequel, OSS 117: Lost in Rio, followed in 2009. Both films were later distributed in the United States by Music Box Films. --Wikipedia

Director - Selected filmography

1. The Artist (2011)