He was a pioneer in many respects in his music videos and commercials. For example, the music video he made for IAM (Je danse le Mia) was the first music video to use morphing techniques. He also took the technique used by Bruce Bickford in his 1971 animation The Last Battle on Flat Earth (1971), in which multiple cameras photograph a person simultaneously from all around, and applied it to live action. This technique was used by Gondry in an insurance commercial, then in Björk's "Army of Me" music video and The ...
In 2006, the director posted a short video on YouTube titled "Michel Gondry Solves a Rubik's Cube With His Feet," in which he solved the famous puzzle with his toes.
He played drums on Ye's hit single "Diamonds from Sierra Leone" (2005).
He spent 2005 at MIT as a visiting artist.
Together with Spike Jonze, he released a DVD collection titled Work of Director. It is a collection of DVDs, one on Michel Gondry, one on Spike Jonze, one on Jonathan Glazer and one on Chris Cunningham. Each contains the music videos, commercials and short videos of these directors. This helped bring public recognition to their work for many bands and for pop culture in general.
Spike Jonze recommended him to the studio to direct the film Human Nature (2001).
His grandfather Constant Martin invented the Clavioline, one of the first synthesizers, and his father sold electric guitars.
His 1994 commercial "Drugstore" for Levi's 501 Jeans holds the record for the most awards won by a TV commercial.
His grandfather Constant Martin invented the clavioline, one of the first keyboard synthesizers. His father was a computer programmer. His mother was a pianist.
At the 2006 Berlin Film Festival, he said that the main setting of The Science of Sleep (2006) was a house where he had lived 15 years earlier.
By directing Kate Winslet in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), he directed what she has said is her favorite performance of her own.
He was inspired to make Be Kind Rewind (2008) after making Dave Chappelle's Block Party (2005), which takes place on a single city block.
He directed an Oscar-nominated performance: Kate Winslet's performance in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004).
He has a son named Paul.
He is a big fan of Mya.
In 2005 and 2006 he was a Visiting Artist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
He graduated from the École Olivier de Serres in Paris.
He is the brother of Olivier Gondry.