Jean-Claude Thibaut (born October 3, 1968) is a French filmmaker and producer, known for his bold and dark stylish films. Thibaut, as a filmmaker, explores and defines his particular fascination with men and women, but also examines his wider response to people, places, history and situations. His style combines chic seduction with sexual shock-tactics, embracing twists on traditional glamour frequently portrayed in his portraits of beautiful, talented and notorious public figures. Jean-Claude Thibaut has directed

Jon Hamm Jonathan Daniel Hamm (born March 10, 1971) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Don Draper in the period drama television series ''Mad Men'' (2007–2015), for which he won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Televisi ...

Catherine Zeta-Jones Catherine Zeta-Jones (; born 25 September 1969) is a Welsh actress. Known for her versatility, she is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, and a Tony Award. In 2010, she was appointed C ...

Sophie Marceau Sophie Marceau (; born Sophie Danièle Sylvie Maupu, 17 November 1966) is a French actress. As a teenager, she achieved popularity with her debut films ''La Boum'' (1980) and ''La Boum 2'' (1982), receiving a César Award for Most Promising Act ...

and

Naomi Campbell Naomi Elaine Campbell (born 22 May 1970) is an English model, actress, singer, and businesswoman. She began her career at the age of 15, and established herself amongst the most recognisable and in-demand models of the past four decades. Cam ...

among others …Thibaut collaborates with Estee Lauder,

Chanel Chanel ( , ) is a French high-end luxury fashion house founded in 1910 by Coco Chanel in Paris. Chanel specializes in women's ready-to-wear, luxury goods, and accessories and licenses its name and branding to Luxottica for eyewear. Chanel is ...

Dior Christian Dior SE (), commonly known as Dior (stylized DIOR), is a French Luxury goods, luxury fashion house controlled and chaired by French businessman Bernard Arnault, who also heads LVMH, the world's largest luxury group. Dior itself holds ...

and

Louis Vuitton Louis Vuitton Malletier, commonly known as Louis Vuitton (, ), is a French high-end Luxury goods, luxury fashion house and company founded in 1854 by Louis Vuitton (designer), Louis Vuitton. The label's LV monogram appears on most of its produc ...

. Thibaut received the 2004 Philips Morris award « 400 Copies in Theater » for his short film about a robot-cop fly in ''Lethal Wings'', underlined by one of the earliest

Alexandre Desplat Alexandre Michel Gérard Desplat (; born 23 August 1961) is a French film composer and conductor. He has won many awards, including two Academy Awards, for his musical scores to the films ''The Grand Budapest Hotel'' and ''The Shape of Water'', ...

soundtracks, which in turn also received the Audience Award in Beauvais and participated in more than 70 festivals around the world including

Los Angeles Film Festival The LA Film Festival was an annual film festival that was held in Los Angeles, California, and usually took place in June. It showcased independent, international, feature, documentary and short films, as well as web series, music videos, episod ...

and the

Chicago International Film Festival The Chicago International Film Festival is an annual film festival held every fall. Founded in 1964 by Michael Kutza, it is the longest-running competitive film festival in North America. Its logo is a stark, black and white close up of the comp ...

. In 2012

The Peninsula Hotels The Peninsula Hotels is a chain of luxury hotels operated by Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels. Founded by the Kadoorie family, the first hotel opened in 1928 and now stands as the oldest in Hong Kong. History Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotels, Limite ...

campaign “Peninsula Moments”, written by Thibaut received the 2012 Bronze Excellence in Branded Content Award, tailing

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

and

HSBC HSBC Holdings plc is a British multinational universal bank and financial services holding company. It is the largest bank in Europe by total assets ahead of BNP Paribas, with US$2.953 trillion as of December 2021. In 2021, HSBC had $10.8 tri ...

. Jean-Claude Thibaut is well known for his successful brand contents campaign for

, a film series on cities

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

and

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

using gender as a lens to interpret each city’s identity, introducing young rising stars as

Ethan Peck Ethan Gregory Peck (born March 2, 1986) is an American actor. He is the grandson of actor Gregory Peck and Greta Kukkonen, the elder Peck's first wife. In 2019, he played a young Spock in '' Star Trek: Discovery'' (2019), a role he has reprised fo ...

Grace Huang Grace Huang () is a Taiwanese-Australian actress of Cantonese descent, best known for her role as the Gemini Female in the RZA directed martial arts film, ''The Man with the Iron Fists''. Career Huang starred as Mei Chen in the pilot for the ...

and Cosmo Wolski and Rosey Chan. In 2011 Thibaut co-produced For Lovers Only, rated top romance Indie film in iTunes USA in 2012, directed by

Michael Polish Mark Polish and Michael Polish (born October 30, 1970), known informally as the Polish brothers, are American twin screenwriters and film producers. Michael usually directs their films, and Mark often has an acting role. Life The Polish brothe ...

with

Stana Katic Stana Katic (; born ) is a Canadian-American actress and producer. She played Kate Beckett on the ABC television romantic crime series ''Castle'' (2009–2016) and Agent Emily Byrne in the thriller series '' Absentia'' (2017–2020). Early lif ...

Castle (TV series) ''Castle'' is an American crime mystery/comedy-drama television series that aired on ABC for a total of eight seasons from March 9, 2009, to May 16, 2016. The series was produced jointly by Beacon Pictures and ABC Studios. Created by Andrew ...

Early life and career

Thibaut was born on October 3, 1968, in

Annecy Annecy ( , ; frp, Èneci or ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Southeastern France. It lies on the northern tip of Lake Annecy, south of Geneva, Switzerland. Nicknamed ...

Haute-Savoie Haute-Savoie (; Arpitan: ''Savouè d'Amont'' or ''Hiôta-Savouè''; en, Upper Savoy) or '; it, Alta Savoia. is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Southeastern France, bordering both Switzerland and Italy. Its prefecture is ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, the son of Nicole Thibaut (born Bacou), a neonatal nurse, and Paul Thibaut, a war veteran doctor, one of the first homeopathic practitioners in France. Thibaut began making movies at age eight with a super 8 camera. He studied animation at the AAA (Annecy Animation Association) and received his Baccalaureate diploma in 1989, leaving his hometown to study at The

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Insti ...

(UCSD) in 1991. Thibaut eschewed the film school route, and created a VFX company Explorer Films in Paris, worked on a multitude of TV commercials, including

Jan Kounen Jan Kounen (born Jan Coenen; 2 May 1964) is a Netherlands-born French film director and producer. In France, he is mostly known for his films ''Dobermann'' (1997), '' Blueberry, l'experience secrete'' (2004) and ''99 francs'' (2007). Outside Fr ...

Dobermann (film) ''Dobermann'' is a 1997 French crime film directed by Jan Kounen starring Tchéky Karyo, Vincent Cassel, and Monica Bellucci. Plot The charismatic criminal Dobermann (Vincent Cassel), who got his first gun when he was christened, leads a gang of ...

with

Vincent Cassel Vincent Cassel (; ; born 23 November 1966) is a French actor. He first achieved recognition for his performance as a troubled History of the Jews in France, French Jewish youth in Mathieu Kassovitz's 1995 film ''La Haine (Hate)'', for which he ...

and

Monica Bellucci Monica Anna Maria Bellucci (; born 30 September 1964) is an Italian actress and model. She began her career as a fashion model, modelling for Dolce & Gabbana and Dior, before making a transition to Italian films and later American and French ...

amongst others. In 1996 he becomes director of photography on dark humor feature film comedies, most notably Philippe Haim’s

Barracuda A barracuda, or cuda for short, is a large, predatory, ray-finned fish known for its fearsome appearance and ferocious behaviour. The barracuda is a saltwater fish of the genus ''Sphyraena'', the only genus in the family Sphyraenidae, which was ...

with

Jean Rochefort Jean Raoul Robert Rochefort (; 29 April 1930 – 9 October 2017) was a French actor. He received many accolades during his career, including an Honorary César in 1999. Life and career Rochefort was born on 29 April 1930 in Paris, France, to ...

and -first time on screen -

Guillaume Canet Guillaume Canet (; born 10 April 1973) is a French actor, film director and screenwriter, and show jumper. Canet began his career in theatre and television before moving to film. He starred in several films like ''Joyeux Noël'', '' Love Me If ...

. He also served as director of photography on

Albert Dupontel Albert Dupontel (; born 11 January 1964) is a French actor, film director and screenwriter. Following his father's path, he studied medicine but eventually switched to theater, disillusioned by hospital life. He started his career as a stand-up c ...

’s ''Le Createur'' and

James Huth James Huth (born 29 August 1947 in Sutton, Greater London) is an English-born French film director, screenwriter and producer, mostly known for his collaborations with actor Jean Dujardin Jean Edmond Dujardin (; born 19 June 1972) is a French ...

’s

Serial Lover ''Serial Lover'' is a 1998 film directed by James Huth. Plot Claire Doste is about to reach the age of 35 and has everything one dreams of, such as having four boyfriends and a creative job in a publishing house specialising in crime novels. One ...

. In 2000, Thibaut ends his career as a director of photography and begins work as film director after serving as a second unit DP on

Doug Liman Douglas Eric Liman (; born July 24, 1965) is an American film director and producer. He is known for directing the films '' Swingers'' (1996), '' Go'' (1999), '' The Bourne Identity'' (2002), '' Mr. & Mrs. Smith'' (2005), ''Jumper'' (2008), ''Edg ...

’s Blockbuster The Bourne Identity (principal photography by Oliver Wood and Don Burgess. After his second short film ''South'', the story of a musician with his home studio build in a huge tree, the original soundtrack composed by

Philippe Cohen Solal Gotan Project is a musical group based in Paris (France), consisting of musicians Eduardo Makaroff (Argentine), Philippe Cohen Solal (French) and Christoph H. Müller (Swiss), a former member of Touch El Arab.Madlen Albrecht ''Le développemen ...

, leader of

Gotan Project Gotan Project is a musical group based in Paris (France), consisting of musicians Eduardo Makaroff (Argentine), Philippe Cohen Solal (French) and Christoph H. Müller (Swiss), a former member of Touch El Arab.Madlen Albrecht ''Le développemen ...

, Thibaut started to direct commercial with a first

Armani Giorgio Armani S.p.A. (), commonly known as Armani, is an Italian luxury fashion house founded in Milan by Giorgio Armani which designs, manufactures, distributes and retails haute couture, ready-to-wear, leather goods, shoes, accessories, and ...

project in 2001 for Partizan Entertainment and l’Oréal luxury division. He joined

Ridley Scott Associates Sir Ridley Scott (born 30 November 1937) is a British film director and producer. Directing, among others, science fiction films, his work is known for its atmospheric and highly concentrated visual style. Scott has received many accolades thr ...

, which represent him in the commercial international market from 2011 to 2019. Jean-Claude Thibaut founded Armored, a director-driven production company based in LA, NYC and Paris.

Armored

Set on a directing career, Thibaut formed a creative production compan
Armored
in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

and LA and started off directing documentary, branded content film, music video and TV commercials for

Hermes Hermes (; grc-gre, Ἑρμῆς) is an Olympian deity in ancient Greek religion and mythology. Hermes is considered the herald of the gods. He is also considered the protector of human heralds, travellers, thieves, merchants, and orato ...

Lanvin Lanvin () is a French Luxury goods, luxury fashion house based in Paris. Founded in 1889 by Jeanne Lanvin, it is the oldest French fashion house still in operation. Since 2018, it has been a subsidiary of Shanghai-based Lanvin Group. Bruno Sialel ...

Rick Owens Richard Saturnino Owens (born November 18, 1962) is an American fashion designer from Porterville, California. In addition to his main line, Owens has a furniture line and a number of diffusion lines. Early life and education Richard Saturnino ...

Vogue Italia ''Vogue Italia'' is the Italian edition of ''Vogue'' magazine. Owned by Condé Nast International, it has been called the top fashion magazine in the world. It's been in publication since 1964. Name ''Vogue Italia'' was first published as ''N ...

Miu Miu Miu Miu is an Italian high fashion women's clothing and accessory brand and a fully owned subsidiary of Prada. It is headed by Miuccia Prada and headquartered in Paris, France. History Miu Miu was established in 1992 by Miuccia Prada. The name ...

Dolce & Gabbana Dolce & Gabbana (), also known by initials D&G, is an Italian luxury fashion house founded in 1985 in Legnano by Italian designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana. The house specializes in ready-to-wear, handbags, accessories, and cosmetic ...

and

. In 2010, Thibaut produced a series of fashion films:

Megan Fox Megan Denise Fox (born May 16, 1986) is an American actress. She made her acting debut in the family film '' Holiday in the Sun'' (2001), which was followed by numerous supporting roles in film and television, such as the teen musical comedy ...

's ''The Tip'' and

Cristiano Ronaldo Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro (; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a forward and captains the Portugal national team. He is currently a free agent. Widely regarded as one of the greatest p ...

's ''Housekeeping ''directed by

Johan Renck Bo Johan Renck (born 5 December 1966) is a Swedish director of music videos, TV and film. He was originally a singer-songwriter from 1991 to 2001, using the moniker Stakka Bo, and had an international hit with his single " Here We Go" in 1993. Ren ...

for Armani Jeans with a first 5 million views in a week. The films were released in Cinema worldwide. Thibaut took a new direction with storytelling with the co-production of ''For Lovers Only'' directed by

Filmography

Short Films

*
Lethal Wings
' (1994) - Director *
South
' (2001) - Director *
Anytime Soon
' (2010) - Director *Two Missing Hourds (2020) - Director

Feature Films

* '' For Lovers Only'' (2010) - Producer *Brainious (2018) - Co-producer

Fashion Films

Megan Fox's "The Tip''
(2011) - Producer *
"When L.A. is a Man"
for Louis Vuitton (2012) - Director
"When Hong Kong is a Woman"
for Louis Vuitton (2012) - Director

Early life and career

Armored

Filmography

Short Films

Feature Films

Fashion Films

Awards and nominations

References

External links