Alejandro González Iñárritu is a Mexican film director, screenwriter, and film producer. His feature directorial debut was the psychological drama Amores perros (2000) from a script by Guillermo Arriaga, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and won the Critics' Week Grand Prize; it marked the first of Iñárritu's and Arriaga's thematic "Death trilogy."Multiple sources:
In 2002, Iñárritu took on commercial short films with "Powder Keg", an entry in BMW’s acclaimed The Hire series. The short, which starred Clive Owen alongside Stellan Skarsgård, earned him a Cannes Gold Lion Advertising Award. Following the success of Amores Perros, Iñárritu reunited with Arriaga for his 2003 follow-up, 21 Grams, once again utilizing a non-linear, intersecting storyline. Starring Sean Penn, Naomi Watts, and Benicio del Toro, the film competed for the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, where Penn earned the Volpi Cup for Best Actor, and later netted Academy Award nominations for both Watts and Del Toro.Multiple references:
In 2001, Iñárritu contributed an 11-minute segment to the anthology film 11'09"01 September 11, which featured short films from international directors responding to the September 11 attacks. He directed the short film Anna for the 2007 anthology Chacun son cinéma, a project commissioned for the 60th anniversary of the Cannes Film Festival. In 2012, Iñárritu directed Naran Ja: One Act Orange Dance, an experimental short featuring dancer Julia Eichten and choreography by Benjamin Millepied for the L.A. Dance Project. In 2006, Iñárritu directed Babel, the final installment in his "Death Trilogy" written by Guillermo Arriaga, for which Iñárritu won the Best Director Award at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival, becoming the first Mexican director to receive the honor. Babel received seven Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director, and won the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture Drama, while composer Gustavo Santaolalla won the Academy Award for Best Original Score. Following the film's completion, Iñárritu and Arriaga ended their working relationship.Multiple references:
Following his success with Babel, Iñárritu directed the Spanish-language drama Biutiful (2010), which received Academy Award nominations for Best Foreign Language Film and Best Actor for Javier Bardem. He followed this with the dark comedy Birdman (2014) and the historical survival drama The Revenant (2015). The projects earned him consecutive Academy Awards for Best Director, making him one of three directors in history to accomplish the feat; Birdman also won Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay, while The Revenant received twelve nominations and three wins, including Best Actor for Leonardo DiCaprio. His subsequent work includes the virtual reality installation Carne y Arena (2017), the Spanish-language feature Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths (2022), and the English-language film Digger (2026), starring Tom Cruise.
Film Year Title Director Writer Producer Editor Notes 2000 Amores perros 2003 21 Grams 2006 Babel 2010 Biutiful 2014 Birdman 2015 The Revenant 2022 Bardo Also composer 2026 Digger
Short films Year Title Director Producer Writer Editor Notes 1996 El timbre 2001 Powder Keg From The Hire series for BMW 2002 "Mexico" Also sound designerSegment from the film 11'09"01 September 11 2007 "Anna" Segment from the film To Each His Own Cinema 2012 Naran Ja 2017 Flesh and Sand
Writer or producer only +YearTitleWriterProducer1995Detrás del dinero2005Nine LivesToro negro2008Rudo y Cursi2009Mother and Child2012The Last Elvis2014The Land of Silence2017Los Ojos del Mar2021Shake Your Cares Away
Commercials Year Title Brand 2010 Write the Future Nike 2012 The Things That Connect Us Facebook 2018 Air Moves You Nike
Unrealized projects Year Title and description 2000sThere Be Dragons, written by Barbara Nicolosi, which Iñárritu turned down, leading to Roland Joffe directing the film 2010sRed Flag, a film adaptation of Jennifer Vogel's memoir Flim-Flam Man: A True Family History starring Sean Penn, which eventually became Penn's own Flag Day (2021)The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, which Iñárritu turned down, leading to Francis Lawrence directing the filmTrue Detective season 1, which Iñárritu turned down, leading to Cary Joji Fukunaga directing the episodesA film adaptation of Rudyard Kipling's novel The Jungle Book, which eventually became Andy Serkis' Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle (2018)The One Percent, a Starz television series about an organic farming family played by Ed Harris, Hilary Swank, & Ed Helms, written by Iñárritu, Alexander Dinelaris Jr., Nicolas Giacobone, and Armando Bó, which Starz got a straight-to-series order, but dropped out in 2017 as the U.S. broadcaster of the series, with production company MRC shopping the project to other networks or streaming platforms. Multiple references:
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