The Auteurs #42: Julie Taymor

One of the daring visionaries in the world of film and theatre, there is definitely no one like Julie Taymor who is someone that is known for extravagance as well as creating unique re-interpretations of famous stories. While she’s only made a small number of films so far, they have managed to be quite extraordinary in terms of not just her approach to sprawling set designs and lavish visuals. It’s also in the stories she tell as it often plays into individuals and artists trying to cope with their work and surroundings. While much of film work hasn’t been commercially successful, Taymor’s willingness to not compromise her vision has made her one of the few women in films that has managed to make a name for herself in an industry dominated by men.

Born on December 15, 1952 in Newton Massachusetts, Julie Taymor was the daughter of a political science teacher and a gynecologist as the world of theater came early in her life as she staged plays early in her life as she became part of the Boston Children Theatre company at age 10 as she would discover Julie Portman’s Theatre Workshop a year later. After spending much of teens traveling around the world with the Experiment in International Living and graduating high school at the age of 16. Taymor went to Paris to study at the L’Ecole Internationale de Theatre Jacques Lecoq where she studied mime as well as be introduced to the world of international cinema through the works of Federico Fellini and Akira Kurosawa. Taymor would spend much of the 1970s honing her craft in the world of theater as a performer as well as designing masks and costumes for various theatre companies where she received the Watson Fellowship in 1974 that allowed to travel to Asia to continue her studies.

More can be read here at Cinema Axis.

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