J. A. Bayona

Juan Antonio García Bayona (born 9 May 1975 ) is a Spanish filmmaker.

The first movie he ever saw was Richard Donner's Superman (1978) which inspired him to be a director.

He studied at the Escola Superior de Cinema i Audiovisuals de Catalunya (ESCAC).

At age 19 he met Guillermo del Toro at the Sitges Film Festival presenting Cronos (1993) and Bayona recognized him as a mentor there.

After their initial conversations, del Toro promised to aid Bayona in the future if he were ever in the position to do so.

After graduating from ESCAC he began his career directing commercials and music videos.

At the age of 20, he signed his first contract as audiovisual producer for the Spanish band OBK.

After three years working with them, he was awarded the Premios Ondas for the music video "Tú sigue así".

Since then, he has become the principal director of the group Camela and was commissioned to illustrate the piece "Cómo repartimos los amigos", in which the duo Ella Baila Sola bid farewell to their audience.

He has also directed music videos for Pastora Soler ("En mi soledad"), Fangoria, Nena Daconte ("El Aleph"), Enrique Bunbury and Miren Iza ("Frente a frente"), in which the original singer Jeanette appears at the end of the video.

In 1999 he directed the short film My Holidays and in 2002 The Spongeman.

In 2004 Bayona met writer Sergio G. Sánchez, who was working on the short 7337.

Sánchez offered Bayona the script for The Orphanage.

In order to create the film he wanted, Bayona had to double both the film's budget and its runtime.

He was assisted by Guillermo del Toro, who offered to co-produce it.

He directed the 2007 horror film The Orphanage, the 2012 drama film The Impossible, and the 2016 fantasy drama film A Monster Calls.

The Orphanage premiered on 20 May 2007, at the Cannes International Film Festival, where it received a standing ovation lasting more than ten minutes.

Months later, on 11 October 2007, it premiered in Spanish cinemas and grossed $8.3 million.

Bayona was awarded the Goya Award for Best New Director in 2008.

The film was nominated for 14 categories of Goyas, and won 7.

In October of that same year, Variety announced that Universal Studios had signed a contract with Bayona to adapt the film Hater by David Moody, written by Glen Mazzara and produced by Guillermo del Toro.

Bayona was one of the many candidates considered to direct The Twilight Saga: Eclipse but was not interested in making the film.

In August 2010 he began filming The Impossible, based on the experiences of a Spanish family that lived through the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake.

In 2012 he created the music video for "Disconnected" by the British band Keane.

Filmed in English and starring Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts, the film was released on 11 October 2012, to positive critical response.

In its first weekend it grossed $8.6 million, breaking the record for the best opening in the history of the Spanish box office.

The Impossible was nominated for the Oscar and Golden Globe Awards in the category of Best Actress for the interpretation of Naomi Watts.

The film was also nominated in 14 categories at the Goya Awards, including Best Film, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor and Best Actor (Tom Holland), of which it won five awards.

In March 2012 Bayona directed the music video "Disconnected", the second single from the album Strangeland by the British band Keane.

The band has stated that it admires Bayona's film work, and Bayona has said he follows the music of Keane.

In 2013 The Impossible received a National Film Award in the framework of the 61st International Festival of San Sebastián.

On 11 September 2016, Keane released a music video for an exclusive new song, "Tear Up This Town", written and recorded for the fantasy drama film A Monster Calls, directed by Bayona.

The single was made available for digital download on 23 September 2016.

Bayona was responsible for directing the first two episodes of the Penny Dreadful series, created by John Logan and originally released on Showtime.

Filmed in Dublin, the series tells the story of a group consisting of a rich man, a medium, a gunman and a young doctor, all looking for the rich man's missing daughter.

In 2018, he directed the science fiction adventure film Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, the fifth installment of the Jurassic Park film series.

His 2023 film Society of the Snow was nominated for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film at the 96th Academy Awards.

He has also directed television commercials and music videos.

He directed the first two episodes of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.

Bayona was born in Barcelona, Spain.