Jason Reitmann

It was little less than inevitable that Jason Reitman, born in Montreal, on October 19, 1977, would consider being a film director, taking into account who his parents were.

Born in Montreal on October 19, 1977, Jason Reitman has known the world of cinema since he was little, as his father is the director specializing in comedy Ivan Reitman , responsible for hits like Ghostbusters . His mother, Geneviève Robert , is an actress in titles like Dracula vs. Frankenstein . Extremely shy, he describes his childhood as “a bit of a freak, typical of a loser.”

At the age of ten he was already filming his own shorts with his father’s homemade camera, who encouraged him to follow in his footsteps without knowing that he was destined to succeed as a director. “One day I asked my father why he hadn’t taken me to the Oscars. He replied that if he was ever nominated, he would take me. So I asked him if he would be willing to accompany me when I was. He was cracking up,” Jason recalls. His question was providential, the only nomination that Reitman Sr. has received throughout his entire career is as producer of Up in the Air , a film by his son who is nominated for best picture.

Precisely, Jason made his film debut at the hands of his father, who gave him small roles in The Twins Strike Twice , Ghostbusters II , Kindergarten Cop and Dave, President for a Day . In addition, he accompanied him for hours on the editing table and did his first steps as a production assistant.

After graduating from Harvard-Westlake Institute, he majored in English and creative writing at the University of Southern California. During his college years he put his ingenuity to work, as he founded a company dedicated to selling calendars, whose profits allowed him to launch his first short film, Operation , about the theft of human organs.

The short was shown at the Sundance Festival, where it was not successful, but he took advantage of his stay at the contest to make contacts. His next work, Consent , fared better, winning the Best Short Film Award at the Seattle Festival. Co-written with Michele Lee , the writer he married in 2004, it recounted a couple’s first date in a wacky comedy key.

Although he had been asked to make his debut as a director in the feature film field with Colleague, where is my car? , the project did not like anything. He had the courage to say no, waiting for the opportunity to tell something more solid on the screen. Finally, Fox hired him for Thank You for Smoking , one of the most promising debut films of recent times. The producer gave him a free hand to introduce all the changes he wanted in the novel.

The risky Reitman personally wrote the script, thinking of great actors to play small roles, some of them highly valued, such as Katie Holmes , William H. Macy , Maria Bello , Rob Lowe , Sam Elliott , Robert Duvall or Aaron Eckhart , who had to be the protagonist. He decided to try his luck by writing a letter to all of them that explained in detail why they were the ideal actors for the film. The young Reitman was so lucky that everyone said yes and ended up participating in the film. This smart and acid comedy described a curious character, Nick Naylor, public relations at the service of the tobacco industry.

The truth is that Reitman arrived at Juno when the clever script by Diablo Cody , a blogger and former stripper, had already been given the green light. The director knew how to endow the scriptwriter’s story with great charm, and he also got a lot out of a wonderful cast, headed by the young Ellen Page , one of the most talented promises to have appeared on the screen in recent times. Both Cody, Page and Reitman were nominated for an Oscar -he also opted for best film-, but in the end only the screenwriter (Cody) took the statuette.

Reitman’s greatest merit is that despite the light and funny appearance of the film, he dealt deeply with the issue of teenage pregnancy and motherhood, without overlooking abortion, which could have raised sparks. The protagonist of him renounces the interruption of the pregnancy after a revealing visit to a clinic.

He himself became a father, when his wife gave birth. “That has completely changed me and I hope it is reflected in my cinema,” he told me in an interview, when he came to Spain to promote Up in the Air , an adaptation of a novel by Walter Kim, which reflected the filmmaker’s maturity. Through the adventures of a layoff specialist ( George Clooney ), he addresses issues such as communication in the telecommunications age, family relationships and the economic crisis. The film has received six Oscar nominations. Reitman himself has been the recipient of several critics’ association awards for the adapted screenplay, alongside Sheldon Turner .

Reitman has launched his own company, Hard C. Productions, with which he launched Jennifer’s Body , with a script by Diablo Cody. During the filming of My Super Ex-Girlfriend , a comedy by his father, Jason became good friends with one of the actors, Rainn Wilson , known for The Office . This encouraged him to direct two chapters of this famous series.