A Band Apart Films was a production company founded by

Quentin Tarantino Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American film director, writer, producer, and actor. His films are characterized by stylized violence, extended dialogue, profanity, Black comedy, dark humor, Nonlinear narrative, non-lin ...

, Michael Bodnarchek, and

Lawrence Bender Lawrence Bender (born October 17, 1957) is an American film producer. Throughout his career, Bender-produced films have received 36 Academy Award nominations, resulting in eight wins. Bender rose to fame by producing ''Reservoir Dogs'' in 1992 an ...

that was active from 1991 to 2006. Its name is a play on the

French New Wave French New Wave (french: La Nouvelle Vague) is a French art film movement that emerged in the late 1950s. The movement was characterized by its rejection of traditional filmmaking conventions in favor of experimentation and a spirit of iconocla ...

classic film, '' Bande à part'' ("Band of Outsiders") by filmmaker

Jean-Luc Godard Jean-Luc Godard ( , ; ; 3 December 193013 September 2022) was a French-Swiss film director, screenwriter, and film critic. He rose to prominence as a pioneer of the French New Wave film movement of the 1960s, alongside such filmmakers as Fran� ...

, whose work was highly influential on the work of the company's members. Thanks in part to the popularity of Quentin Tarantino's and

Robert Rodriguez Robert Anthony Rodriguez (; born June 20, 1968) is an American filmmaker, composer, and visual effects supervisor. He shoots, edits, produces, and scores many of his films in Mexico and in his home state of Texas. Rodriguez directed the 1992 ac ...

's films, the company quickly gained cult-like status within Hollywood.

History

Tarantino formed A Band Apart in 1991, naming it after his favorite Godard film, '' Bande à part''. The company's logo was a stylized image of the robbers from ''

Reservoir Dogs ''Reservoir Dogs'' is a 1992 American crime film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino in his feature-length debut. It stars Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Chris Penn, Steve Buscemi, Lawrence Tierney, Michael Madsen, Tarantino, and Edward Bunke ...

'', Tarantino's debut film. Subsequently, several legal entities within the company were named after the film's characters. Mr. Pink LLC was for music video production budgets, and Mr. Brown LLC was for commercials. In addition to Tarantino, members of the company included

John Woo John Woo Yu-Sen SBS (; born September 22, 1946) is a Hong Kong filmmaker, known as a highly-influential figure in the action film genre. He was a pioneer of heroic bloodshed films (a crime action film genre involving Chinese triads) and the gun fu ...

Tim Burton Timothy Walter Burton (born August 25, 1958) is an American filmmaker and animator. He is known for his gothic fantasy and horror films such as ''Beetlejuice'' (1988), ''Edward Scissorhands'' (1990), ''The Nightmare Before Christmas'' (1993), ...

Steve Buscemi Steven Vincent Buscemi ( ,As stated in interviews by Buscemi himself, some may insist that his pronunciation of his own name is "wrong" because it does not match the original Italian pronunciation as well. It is not uncommon for people to pronou ...

Darren Aronofsky Darren Aronofsky (born February 12, 1969) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. His films are noted for their surrealistic, melodramatic, and sometimes disturbing elements, often in the form of psychological fiction. Aronof ...

John Landis John David Landis (born August 3, 1950) is an American comedy and fantasy filmmaker and actor. He is best known for the comedy films that he has directed – such as ''The Kentucky Fried Movie'' (1977), ''Animal House, National Lampoon's Animal ...

Joseph McGinty Nichol The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), also known locally as "The 'G", is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne, Victoria. Founded and managed by the Melbourne Cricket Club, it is the largest stadium in the Southern Hem ...

Nigel Dick Nigel Dick (born 21 March 1953) is a British music video and film director, writer and musician from Catterick, England, now based in Los Angeles, California. He directed the Britney Spears videos " ...Baby One More Time" and " Oops!... I Did I ...

, Varl Hobe,

Steve Carr ''yes'Steve is a masculine given name, usually a short form (hypocorism) of Steven or Stephen Notable people with the name include: steve jops * Steve Abbott (disambiguation), several people * Steve Adams (disambiguation), several people * Steve ...

, Cameron Casey,

Marcel Langenegger Marcel Langenegger (2 April 1967 – 10 September 2015) was a Swiss film director, film producer and screenwriter from Rebstein, Switzerland. His 2008 debut feature film, ''Deception'', starred Hugh Jackman, Ewan McGregor, and Michelle Williams. ...

Wayne Isham Wayne Isham (born December 2, 1958) is an American film director and music video director who has directed films and music videos of many popular artists. Early life and education Isham was born in December 2, 1958. He attended the University ...

, Terry Windell, Lisa Prisco, Phil Harder-Rick Fuller,

Coodie & Chike Coodie Simmons (born January 18, 1971) and Chike Ozah (born April 6, 1978) are film directors, screenwriters, cinematographers, and producers. Coodie and Chike started directing together with their music video for Kanye West entitled "Through the ...

, Osbert Parker,

Luc Besson Luc Paul Maurice Besson (; born 18 March 1959) is a French film director, screenwriter and producer. He directed or produced the films '' Subway'' (1985), ''The Big Blue'' (1988), and '' La Femme Nikita'' (1990). Besson is associated with the ' ...

, Porker LeVance,

Adam Christian Clark Adam Christian Clark is an American film director, screenwriter, and editor, who is best known for combining naturalistic techniques in performance and dialog with stylized cinematic devices in editing and camerawork. Early life Adam Christian ...

André 3000 André Lauren Benjamin (born May 27, 1975), better known as André 3000, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer and actor. He is best known for being a part of southern hip hop duo Outkast alongside fellow rapper Big Boi. B ...

Christopher Morrison Christopher "MINK" Wingfield Morrison is a British American film director, writer, producer and comic book novelist. Early life Christopher "mink" Wingfield Morrison was born in London and relocated with his parents to Los Angeles, California. ...

and Michael Palmieri, Andy Mornahan, Chash Brower, Steve Lowe, Loren Hill, Darren Grant, Charles Whittenmier, Geoff McGann, Olivier Venturini, The 405 Guys, and Craig Tanamoto. The company catapulted to fame with the 1994 release of Tarantino's ''

Pulp Fiction ''Pulp Fiction'' is a 1994 American crime film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, who conceived it with Roger Avary.See, e.g., King (2002), pp. 185–7; ; Starring John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis, Tim Roth, Ving Rhame ...

'', which was considered by some critics to be the most influential American film of the decade. In the summer of 1995, the company added a division for commercials and later, for music video production, adding a third co-owner Michael Bodnarchek. Kristin Cruz (aka Kris Foster) and Heidi Santelli launched A Band Apart Music Videos as directors' rep and executive producer, respectively.

Company closure

Tarantino and Bender are no longer working together and Tarantino is the sole owner of A Band Apart Films.

David Heyman David Jonathan Heyman (born 26 July 1961) is a British film producer and the founder of Heyday Films. Heyman secured the rights to the ''Harry Potter'' film series in 1999 and went on to produce all eight installments of the franchise. He als ...

(''

Harry Potter ''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven fantasy literature, fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young Magician (fantasy), wizard, Harry Potter (character), Harry Potter, and his friends ...

'', ''

Gravity In physics, gravity () is a fundamental interaction which causes mutual attraction between all things with mass or energy. Gravity is, by far, the weakest of the four fundamental interactions, approximately 1038 times weaker than the stro ...

'') produced Tarantino's ninth film ''

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood ''Once Upon a Time in Hollywood'' is a 2019 comedy-drama film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. Produced by Columbia Pictures, Bona Film Group, Heyday Films, and Visiona Romantica and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing, it is a ...

''. While the company is listed as studio for Tarantino's 2009 ''

Inglourious Basterds ''Inglourious Basterds'' is a 2009 war film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, starring Brad Pitt, Christoph Waltz, Michael Fassbender, Eli Roth, Diane Kruger, Daniel Brühl, Til Schweiger and Mélanie Laurent. The film tells an alter ...

'' and 2012 ''

Django Unchained ''Django Unchained'' () is a 2012 American revisionist Western film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, starring Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kerry Washington, and Samuel L. Jackson, with Walton Goggins, Dennis Chri ...

'', and credited in the 2007 ''Grindhouse'' movies, it is unclear whether the company was reformed for the films or was credited for involvement in pre-2006 production of those films.

Filmography

Films produced and co-produced

Music videos produced (partial list)

References

External links

An Archive of the Company's Website ''circa 2001''City Pages feature on Michael Bodnarchek, co-founder of A Band Apart
{{DEFAULTSORT:Band Apart 1991 establishments in California 2006 disestablishments in California American companies established in 1991 American companies disestablished in 2006 Companies based in Los Angeles Defunct companies based in Greater Los Angeles Defunct film and television production companies of the United States Entertainment companies based in California Film production companies of the United States Mass media companies established in 1991 Mass media companies disestablished in 2006 Television production companies of the United States Quentin Tarantino