Hiro Murai
Hiro Murai | |
---|---|
Born | 1983 (age 41–42) Tokyo, Japan |
Alma mater | University of Southern California |
Occupation | Filmmaker |
Years active | 2005–present |
Website | hiromurai |
Hiro Murai (born 1983)[1] is a Japanese-American filmmaker based in Los Angeles. His most notable works include internationally successful music videos for artists such as Childish Gambino, Earl Sweatshirt, Chet Faker, Flying Lotus, David Guetta, St. Vincent, The Shins, The Fray, Bloc Party, Queens of the Stone Age, and FKA Twigs.[2]
He received a Grammy Award in 2019 for Best Music Video for "This is America" with Childish Gambino.[3] He also received five Primetime Emmy Award nominations for the FX series Atlanta (2016–present), and the HBO limited series Station Eleven (2022).[4]
Contents
Early life and education
Murai was born to Japanese popular music composer Kunihiko Murai.[1] He moved to Los Angeles when he was nine years old. He graduated with a degree from the USC School of Cinematic Arts.[5]
After graduation, Murai turned to freelance work as the director of photography for numerous music videos, as well as VFX and storyboarding, most notably for Ace Norton. After some time Murai began to direct low budget films.
Career
In 2013, he directed the short film Clapping for the Wrong Reasons,[6][7] a companion piece for Childish Gambino's second studio album, Because the Internet, and its attached screenplay. In the same year, he created a multi-panel video set for Frank Ocean's performance at the Grammys.[8][9]
Since 2016, Murai has directed several episodes of the comedy-drama Atlanta, collaborating again with Donald Glover (aka Childish Gambino).[10][11] For his work on the show, he has received three nominations for the Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series.[12]
In 2016 he directed a Nike campaign starring Chance The Rapper.[13]
He directed the music video for Childish Gambino's "This Is America", released on May 5, 2018, which was described as "the most talked-about music video of recent memory",[14] and which Billboard critics ranked 10th among the "greatest music videos of the 21st century."[15] In 2019, Murai won the Grammy Award for Best Music Video for directing the video.[citation needed]
In November 2018, the trailer for his debut feature film Guava Island, starring Donald Glover and Rihanna, premiered at the Pharos Festival in New Zealand.[16] Guava Island was released on April 13, 2019, by Amazon Studios through Amazon Prime Video. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 74% based on reviews from 43 critics, with an average rating of 6.60/10.[17] On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 64 out of 100, based on 8 reviews, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[18]
In 2021, Murai directed the first and third episode the science fiction miniseries Station Eleven for HBO Max.[19]
In June 2018, it was announced that he would direct a science fiction feature film, Man Alive, written by David Robert Mitchell.[20]
Filmography
Film
Year | Title | Credits | Notes | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|
2019 | Guava Island | Director | Stars Donald Glover & Rihanna | [21][22] |
Television
Year | Title | Director | Producer | Executive producer |
Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2016–present | Atlanta | Yes | Yes | Yes | Directed 32 episodes; produced/executive produced 31 episodes | [10] |
2017 | Legion | Yes | No | No | Episode: "Chapter 6" | [23] |
2017 | Sea Oak | Yes | No | Yes | Amazon Video pilot | [24] |
2017 | Snowfall | Yes | No | No | Episode: "Trauma" | [25] |
2018–present | Barry | Yes | No | No | 4 episodes; HBO comedy series | [26] |
2021–2022 | Station Eleven | Yes | No | Yes | 2 episodes; HBO Max limited series | [27] |
2022 | The Bear | No | No | Yes | Hulu series | [28] |
Music videos
Year | Title | Artist | Director | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2005 | "Small Apartment Party Epiphany" | Make Believe | Yes | Co-directed with Steve Drypolcher Brandon Driscoll-Luttringer |
|
2006 | "Crooked Teeth" | Death Cab for Cutie | Director of photography | ||
"Someday You Will Be Loved" | Death Cab for Cutie | Director of photography | |||
"Cobrastyle" | Teddybears | Director of photography | |||
2007 | "Living a Lie" | Aqueduct | Director of photography | ||
2009 | "Submarine Symphonika" | The Submarines | Director of photography | ||
"Signs (Armand Van Helden Remix)" | Bloc Party | Yes | |||
"Me-Time" | Busdriver | Yes | |||
"Heartless" | The Fray | Yes | |||
"Unbalanced Pieces" | Soulsavers | Yes | |||
"Staying In Love" | Raphael Saadiq | Yes | |||
2010 | "Airplanes" | B.o.B featuring Hayley Williams | Yes | ||
"DJ Got Us Fallin' in Love" | Usher featuring Pitbull | Yes | |||
"The Show Goes On" | Lupe Fiasco | Yes | |||
2011 | "Stereo Hearts" | Gym Class Heroes featuring Adam Levine | Yes | ||
2012 | "Shady Love" | Scissor Sisters vs. Krystal Pepsy | Yes | ||
"Mind Control" | Friends | Yes | |||
"It's Only Life" | The Shins | Yes | |||
"She Wolf (Falling to Pieces)" | David Guetta featuring Sia | Yes | |||
"Chum" | Earl Sweatshirt | Yes | |||
"Cheerleader" | St. Vincent | Yes | |||
2013 | "Hive" | Earl Sweatshirt | Yes | ||
"High Road" | Cults | Yes | |||
"3005" | Childish Gambino | Yes | |||
2014 | "Smooth Sailing" | Queens of the Stone Age | Yes | ||
"Sweatpants" | Childish Gambino | Yes | |||
"Do You" | Spoon | Yes | |||
"Gold" | Chet Faker | Yes | |||
"#CAKE" | Shabazz Palaces | Yes | |||
"Never Catch Me" | Flying Lotus | Yes | |||
"Telegraph Ave" | Childish Gambino | Yes | |||
2015 | "Sober" | Childish Gambino | Yes | ||
"Grief" | Earl Sweatshirt | Yes | |||
2016 | "Take It There" | Massive Attack | Yes | ||
"Day Ones" | Baauer | Yes | |||
"Black Man in a White World" | Michael Kiwanuka | Yes | |||
2017 | "Dis Generation" | A Tribe Called Quest | Yes | [29] | |
2018 | "This Is America" | Childish Gambino | Yes | [30] | |
2020 | "sad day" | FKA Twigs | Yes |
Awards and nominations
- (2009) MVPA Award for Best Video under $25K. The Fray "Heartless"
- (2012) Best Music Video Lists: Pitchfork / BuzzFeed / Consequence of Sound / Video Static / Co.Create / NPR Music - for St. Vincent "Cheerleader" and Earl Sweatshirt "Chum"
- (2013) MVPA Best Electronic Video: David Guetta - "She Wolf"[31]
- (2014) UKMVA Director of the Year / Best Rock / Indie Video International QOTSA for Smooth Sailing.[32]
- (2014) Best Music Videos Lists: The Verge, Pitchfork, IMVDB, Stereogum
- (2018) MTV Video Music Award for Best Direction: Childish Gambino - "This Is America"[33]
- (2019) Grammy Award for Best Music Video: Childish Gambino - "This Is America"[34]
Year | Award | Category | Nominated work | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2017 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Comedy Series | Atlanta | Nominated | [35] |
2018 | Nominated | [36] | |||
Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series | "Teddy Perkins", Atlanta | Nominated | |||
2022 | "New Jazz", Atlanta | Pending | [37] | ||
Outstanding Directing for a Limited Series or Movie | "Wheel of Fire", Station Eleven | Pending |
References
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External links
- Official website
- Hiro Murai at the Internet Movie Database
- Hiro Murai at the Internet Music Video Database
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- Pages with reference errors
- Articles with short description
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- 1983 births
- Living people
- American film directors of Japanese descent
- Grammy Award winners
- Filmmakers from California
- Japanese filmmakers
- People from Tokyo
- USC School of Cinematic Arts alumni
- Japanese emigrants to the United States