Biography
Having assisted production designer Jean-Baptiste Poirot on the 1984 romcom "La Smala" and served as location manager on a couple of other features, Jean-Jacques Gernolle made his debut as a production designer on Paul Vecchiali's pioneering AIDS drama, "Encore." He reunited with the same director for the father-and-son saga "Wonderboy," and caught the oppressive nature of a provincial mining town for Gérard Krawczyk's aspiring singer melodrama, "Héroïnes." But Gernolle changed tack with Gérard Pirés' cult Marseille car chase hit "Taxi," which led to further collaborations with screenwriter Luc Besson on "Taxi 2" and the maverick cop actioner "Wasabi." These were also directed by Krawczyk, who Gernolle reteamed with again in 2005 for the feel-good café comedy "It's Our Life." Although he created disconcerting interiors for the voyeuristic thriller "En Face" and the austere psychological drama "Labyrinth," Grenolle also has a keen eye for a location, as he proved with the buddy comedy "The Corsican Investigation," the sporty thriller "Fair Play" and the bereavement drama "All the Beauty of the World," as well as the TV cop show "Les Enqu'tes d'Éloïse Rome." He conjured up fantasy settings for lavish adaptations like "Treasure Island" and "Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves," and the swashbuckling parody, "Philibert," while achieving an appropriate sense of intimacy for the touching children's hospital drama "Oscar and the Lady in Pink."
