French film director and screenwriter Jean-Pierre Jeunet gained international attention in the late 1990s, beginning as an independent film maker with partner Marc Caro and moving on to direct the big-budget motion picture Alien: Resurrection. A self-taught director who possesses a distinctive style and aesthetic, Jeunet gained even more acclaim following the release of his 2001 film, the charming romantic comedy Amélie. Together with animator Caro, Jeunet had achieved cult status early in his career with the 1991 film Delicatessen, a black comedy set in a post-apocalyptic future.

Jeunet was born in France's Loire region in 1953, and he began exercising his vivid imagination at an early age. Speaking to interviewer Scot Tobias on the Onion AV Club Web Site, Jeunet remembered: "When I was a kid, I used to escape from my family with my imagination, and I kept this spirit into my adult life. This doesn't always...