Jean de Segonzac (sometimes credited as Jean DeSegonzac) is an American director, screenwriter and cinematographer who has worked in documentaries and television programs. Most of his work has been in gritty, cinéma vérité-style law enforcement TV dramas.
Early life Jean de Segonzac was born to Adalbert and Madeleine de Segonzac, the youngest of four children (his siblings include Lionel de Segonzac, Catherine Shainberg, and Laurence de Segonzac)."French Writer Adalbert de Segonzac." Washington Post. January 5, 2002. His father (whose nickname was "Ziggy") was a French journalist who was the chief U.S. correspondent for France Soir in Washington, D.C., for two decades as well as a former president of the Foreign Press Association."Adalbert de Segonzac, 89, French Reporter." New York Times. February 8, 2002. Jean de Segonzac graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1975.Rhode Island School of Design. "Rhode Island School of Design to Showcase Talent of Film and TV Industry Alumni Via Unique Los Angeles Exhibition." Press release. May 8, 2000; Bowman, David. This Must Be the Place: The Adventures of Talking Heads in the Twentieth Century. Reprint ed. New York: HarperCollins, 2002.
Career His first known credit was as cinematographer on the documentary film Born on the Fourth of July in 1985.Blau, Robert. "'Fourth of July': One Chicagoan's Struggle to Film a Vietnam Tragedy." Chicago Tribune. November 10, 1985. His second major work was Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt (1989),Boyar, Jay. "Festival Begins Today With Road Trip, 2 Darker Journeys." Orlando Sentinel. May 29, 1993. followed by Crack USA: County Under Siege, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature (his camera work was called "intrusive" by one reviewer).Mathews, Jack. "Movie Reviews: 'Crack' An Indictment of U.S. Legal System." Los Angeles Times. March 17, 1990. He next worked on the 1991 documentary Where Are We? Our Trip Through America (1992) which followed gay filmmakers Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman as they went from small town to small town, interviewing local people.Thomas, Kevin. "On the Road to Find Out 'Where Are We'." Los Angeles Times. July 2, 1993. Newsday said, "The film owes much of its success to director of photography Jean De Segonzac, whose alert camera takes in such eccentric details as a copy of The New Sweden on the coffee table of a model mobile home and a kitten lapping water from a miniature kidney-shaped pool.Stuart, Jan. "Portraits of a Nation." Newsday. July 30, 1993.
His breakthrough effort was Nick Gomez's independent feature film, Laws of Gravity (1992).Canby, Vincent. "Shabby Lives in Brooklyn, With Camera Looking On." New York Times. March 21, 1992; Toumarkine, Doris. "RKO observes 'Laws of Gravity'." The Hollywood Reporter. June 8, 1992. One reviewer called his images for the film "exceptional cinema verite camera work",Turan, Kenneth. "Toronto's Feel-Good Festival of Film." Los Angeles Times. September 14, 1992. while another praised the cinematography as "jumpy, in-your-face".Carr, Jay. "Festival Films Opening Commercially." Boston Globe. September 25, 1992. His cinematography for the film was a runner-up for the 1992 New York Film Critics Circle Awards.Fox, David J. "N.Y. Film Critics Honor 'Player,' Altman." Los Angeles Times. December 18, 1992; Dobnik, Verena. "Clint Eastwood's 'Unforgiven' Wins Film Critics' Awards." Associated Press. January 3, 1993; Cohn, Lawrence. "NSFC Honors Clint, Thompson." Variety. January 4, 1993. De Segonzac not only provided the cinematography, but also refused his $5,000 salary in order to help complete the film.Broderick, Peter. "The ABC's of No-Budget Filmmaking." Filmmaker. Winter 1993. A reviewer for The Washington Post said de Segonzac "fills the screen with beautifully framed scenes that need little verbal underpinning."Harrington, Richard. "'Road Scholar': Not Quite Poetry in Motion." Washington Post. August 6, 1993.
In 1994, de Segonzac was part of the team that won a Peabody Award for the documentary Road Scholar. The film follows Romanian-born poet, novelist and National Public Radio commentator Andrei Codrescu around the United States as he attempts to define what it means to be an American (as seen through the eyes of a naturalized citizen). The film was co-directed by Roger Weisberg and de Segonzac, with de Segonzac also providing the cinematography."'Boxing' Match Set at Sundance." The Hollywood Reporter. December 1, 1992; Turnquist, Kristi. "'Road Scholar': Critic's Choice Movies." The Oregonian. April 30, 1993; Andersen, John. "Highway To Nation's Soul." Newsday. July 16, 1993; Sterritt, David. "Freeze Frames." Christian Science Monitor. July 23, 1993.
Since 1993, the majority of de Segonzac's work has been on television in law enforcement-themed dramas such as Homicide: Life on the Street,Sandler, Adam. "Homicide: Life On The Street: 'Nearer My God to Thee'." Variety. October 14, 1994; McMillen, Liz. "'Homicide's' Last Shooting." Washington Post. April 30, 1995; O'Connor, John J. "From Darkly Powerful To Kinky, and Back." New York Times. May 4, 1995. Oz,Zurawik, David. "We're Not in Kansas Anymore." Baltimore Sun. July 6, 1997; Elias, Justin. "From the People of 'Homicide,' Life Off the Street." New York Times. July 6, 1997. Brooklyn South, Law & Order, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,Gallo, Phil. "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit." Variety. September 17, 1999. and Law & Order: Criminal Intent.Fries, Laura. "Law & Order: Criminal Intent." Variety. September 28, 2001. He also worked for Michael Moore's Emmy-winning TV Nation,Loynd, Ray. "TV Nation." Variety. July 19, 1994. and provided director and cinematographer duties for a number of made-for-television movies.Richmond, Ray. "Bad As I Wanna Bed: The Dennis Rodman Story." Variety. February 2, 1998; Brennan, Steve. "NBC Spins Off 'Law' Film for Noth." The Hollywood Reporter. July 10, 1998; Sumner, Jane. "Police Show Swerves to Dallas." Dallas Morning News. September 18, 1998; Johnson, Steve. "Here's Your Scorecard for the Networks' February Sweeps." Chicago Tribune. February 3, 1999; Ault, Susanne. "'Homicide' Resurrected as NBC Telepic." Variety. October 21, 1999; James, Caryn. "A Founding Father and Perhaps the Mother." New York Times. February 11, 2000; Sokolsky, Bob. "Norco's La Rue Put on 'Ice' for a While." Riverside Press Enterprise. July 22, 2000; Roxborough, Scott. "'Lost City Raider' Cast Shaping Up." The Hollywood Reporter. March 7, 2008. With Barry Levinson, he is credited with having created the "loose, free-flowing visual style" of Homicide: Life on the Street "that built on the documentary-style affectations of Hill Street Blues."Seitz, Matt Zoller. "10 Greatest TV Pilots Ever." Salon.com. September 24, 2010. Accessed 2011-10-22. Critic Matt Zoller Seitz, writing for Salon.com, called it one of the 10 greatest television pilots of all time. In 2000, de Segonzac directed actress Adrienne Shelly in the Law & Order episode "High & Low". In 2003, he directed the movie Code 11–14, about a serial Killer on a Boeing 747SP from Sydney Australia to Los Angeles with David James Elliot and Nanci Chambers. Shelly was murdered on November 1, 2006. In February 2007, de Segonzac directed the Law & Order episode "Melting Pot", which was a thinly veiled version of the Shelly murder.Gill, John Freeman. "Murder, They Wrote." New York Times. February 11, 2007.
In 1996, de Segonzac's cinematography for John McNaughton's independent crime drama Normal LifeHolden, Stephen. "A Femme Fatale Who's a Little Loony." New York Times. November 1, 1996. (with Luke Perry and Ashley Judd) won him notice for his "hovering, purposefully untidy camerawork".McCarthy, Todd. "Normal Life." Variety. February 12, 1996.
de Segonzac made his feature film directorial debut with Mimic 2 in 2001.Harris, Dana. "D.P. Catches Helming Bug for 'Mimic 2'." Variety. March 23, 2000. He directed his second feature film, the low-budget science fiction thriller Lost City Raiders, in 2008 and in 2003 he directed the film Code 11–14 with David James Elliot, a Boeing 747SP from Sydney Australia to Los Angeles with a Serial Killer on board."Tandem Links Up for $6.4m Sci-Fi Movie." Press release. Tandem Communications. 6 March 2008. Accessed 2010-10-22.
In 2011, de Segonzac was a co-director on the television series Lights Out on the FX cable network,Stanley, Alessandra. "With a Life on the Ropes, Seeking Redemption in the Ring." New York Times. January 10, 2011. Accessed 2011-10-22. and directed the seventh episode of the first season of the Kelsey Grammer 2011 television series Boss on the Starz cable network. Kenigsberg, Ben. "Kelsey Grammer Stars in Boss." Time Out Chicago. October 12, 2011. Accessed 2011-10-22.
de Segonzac directed the very first episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in 1999. In October 2012, he directed the series' 300th episode as well.Cutler, Jacqueline. "'SVU' Nabs Its 300th Episode." Batavia Daily News. October 23, 2012.
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