Alethea Jones
Jones at Tropfest 2012 in Sydney, Australia
NationalityAustralian
Occupation(s)Film director, producer, screenwriter
Known forLemonade Stand (2012)
Fun Mom Dinner (2017)

Alethea Jones is an Australian film and television director. She is best known for her films Lemonade Stand (2012) and Fun Mom Dinner (2017), and the TV series Queen America.

Career

Jones's first short film, When the Wind Changes (which she directed and edited), premiered at the 2010 Melbourne International Film Festival and in 2011 won the prestigious Inside Film (IF) Award for Best Short Film as well as the Most Popular Film Award at Flickerfest and Best Comedy and People's Choice awards at the St Kilda Film Festival.[1]

Her big break was directing the short film Lemonade Stand, which won first prize at the 2012 Tropfest Film Festival. Tropfest founder and director, John Polson said: "Lemonade Stand is an incredibly well made film and a favourite amongst the judges. There was intense discussion in the judging room, and some really interesting debates. Alethea should be very proud to have been selected by some of the industry’s greatest talent."[2]

Her first feature film was Fun Mom Dinner, starring Toni Collette, Paul Rudd, Molly Shannon, Adam Scott, and Adam Levine. The film had its world premiere at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival,[3]

In August 2017, it was announced that Jones would develop and direct the live action Barbie film, starring Anne Hathaway based on a script from Olivia Milch and produced by Sony.[4][5] In October 2018, Sony lost the rights to the film and it moved across to Warner Brothers with Margot Robbie to star.[6] A new creative team was assembled with the studio change and Hathaway, Jones and Milch did not go across for contractual reasons.[7] Jones is also attached to direct the period musical Big Gay Jamboree, to be produced by LuckyChap Entertainment, from a script being written by Maria Mindelle and Jonathan Parks-Ramage.[8][9] In October 2022, Jones was announced as the producer and first episode director of Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies on streaming service Paramount+.[10]

Awards

Personal life

Jones grew up in Northern New South Wales, Australia and graduated from the Victorian College of Arts in 2007.

She currently resides in Los Angeles with her husband, Emmy-award nominated sound designer PK Hooker.[13][14]

Filmography (as director)

Year Film Notes Reference
TBA Big Gay Jamboree pre-production
2024 High Potential Director; also executive producer
2023 Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies 3 episodes; also executive producer
2023 Mrs. Davis 3 episodes; also executive producer
2021 Made for Love TV series (2 episodes)
2020 Dispatches from Elsewhere TV series (1 episode)
2019 Dollface TV series (2 episodes)
2019 Lodge 49 TV series (guest director)
2018-19 Queen America TV series (10 episodes)
2018 Wrecked TV series (2 episodes)
2018 American Woman TV series (1 episode)
2017 Fun Mom Dinner Film
2015 A History of Radness TV movie
2013 The Elegant Gentleman's Guide to Knife Fighting TV Mini-Series (3 episodes)
2012 Lemonade Stand Short Film
2011 Cop Hard TV series (5 episodes)
2010 When the Wind Changes Short Film

References

  1. ^ "One To Watch: Alethea Jones". Harper's Bazaar.
  2. ^ "Alethea Jones wins Tropfest with Lemonade Stand". if.com.au. 20 February 2012.
  3. ^ "Fun-mom-dinner".
  4. ^ "Sony Sets Dates for 'Spider-Man' Spinoff 'Silver & Black' and 'Sicario 2'". The Hollywood Reporter. 11 August 2017.
  5. ^ Mendelson, Scott. "Will Margot Robbie's 'Barbie' Movie Ever Actually Get Made?". Forbes. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  6. ^ "'Barbie' Zooming From Sony To Warner Bros; Margot Robbie In Early Talks". Deadline.com. 5 October 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  7. ^ "Greta Gerwig, Noah Baumbach to Co-Write 'Barbie' Starring and Produced by Margot Robbie". 15 July 2019.
  8. ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (28 February 2019). "Margot Robbie's LuckyChap Mounting Period Musical 'Big Gay Jamboree' At Paramount". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
  9. ^ Ali (1 March 2019). "Margot Robbie sets up musical with Paramount". Moviehole. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  10. ^ Del Rosario, Alexandra (5 October 2021). "'Grease: Rise Of The Pink Ladies': Justin Tranter, Jamal Sims, Alethea Jones Board Paramount+ Prequel Series' Creative Team". Deadline. Retrieved 5 October 2022.
  11. ^ "Submissions open soon for Tropfest Australia 2019". IF Magazine. 10 October 2018. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  12. ^ Sophie Ted, Manson (12 January 2018). "From Katherine Langford to Alethea Jones: meet the home-grown talent taking over Hollywood". Vogue. Vogue Australia.
  13. ^ "Alethea Jones talks Fun Mom Dinner and life as a Hollywood director". University of Melbourne. University of Melbourne. 8 August 2017. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  14. ^ "PK Hooker - Emmy Awards". Emmy Awards.

External links

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