Gillian Robespierre

American director and writer (born 1978)

For other uses, see Robespierre (disambiguation).

Gillian Robespierre

Robespierre in 2014

Born|  (1978-06-29) June 29, 1978 (age 45)

New York, New York, U.S.

Education| School of Visual Arts (BA)
Occupation(s)| Filmmaker, writer, director, producer, actress
Known for| Obvious Child
Children| 1[1]

Gillian Robespierre (born June 29, 1978)[2] is an American director and writer, known for writing and directing the films Obvious Child and Landline.

## Early life[edit]

Gillian Robespierre, 2014

Robespierre was born to a Jewish family and raised in New York City.[3] In 2005 she graduated from the School of Visual Arts, where she majored in Film and Video.[4][5]

## Career[edit]

Robespierre began her career working as a production assistant on big budget features like American Gangster.[6] She also worked for the Directors Guild of America until 2014.[4]

In 2009, Robespierre co-wrote (with Anna Bean and Karen Maine) and directed the short film Obvious Child, about a young woman who is impregnated after a one-night stand and decides to have an abortion. Robespierre approached Jenny Slate to star in the lead role after seeing her perform at a comedy club.[7] Robespierre later expanded the short into her 2014 feature film debut Obvious Child with Slate once again playing the lead role. The film premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival where it was acquired by A24 Films.

In early 2015, Robespierre announced she was developing a comedy pilot for FX with Elisabeth Holm, who co-wrote Obvious Child, starring Jenny Slate and Ari Graynor.[8] Robespierre's second film, Landline, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 20, 2017, followed by a theatrical release on July 21, 2017. The film stars Jenny Slate, Abby Quinn, Edie Falco, John Turturro, and Jay Duplass.

It was announced in January 2021 that Robespierre would direct an adaptation of Melissa Broder's novel The Pisces, about a woman and her "erotic infatuation with a merman". The film will star Claire Foy.[9]

## Filmography[edit]

Film  Year  | Title  | Credit  | Notes

|
|
|

2009  | Obvious Child | Writer, director, producer  | (Short)
2014  | Obvious Child | Writer, director, producer  |
2017  | Landline | Writer, director  |
TBA  | The Pisces | Writer, director  |

### As director[edit]

Television

* Casual (4 episodes) (2017–18)
* Crashing (6 episodes) (2018–19)
* Silicon Valley (1 episode) (2018)
* Jenny Slate: Stage Fright (2019)
* Shrill (1 episode) (2019)
* Mrs. Fletcher (2 episodes) (2019)
* A Teacher (2 episodes) (2020)
* Only Murders in the Building (2 episodes) (2021)
* And Just Like That... (2 episodes) (2021)
* Everything's Trash (1 episode) (2022)
* The Answers (1 episode) (TBA); also executive producer

## References[edit]

1. ^ "Jenny Slate and Gillian Robespierre: From 'Obvious Child' to not-so-obvious family dynamics". Chicago Tribune. 27 July 2017.
2. ^ "Gillian M Robespierre". FamilySearch.
3. ^ Stosuy, Brandon. "Gillian Robespierre on getting a movie made".
4. ^ a b "Meet the 2014 Sundance Filmmakers #38: Gillian Robespierre Delivers Raw Honesty and Humor in 'Obvious Child'". IndieWire. January 16, 2014.
5. ^ Grimaldi, James (Fall 2014). "What's in Store". Visual Arts Journal. p. 13
6. ^ ARELLANO, JENNIFER (5 November 2014). "INSIDE DIRECTOR GILLIAN ROBESPIERRE'S ANTI-ESTABLISHMENT WARDROBE". Retrieved 28 April 2015.
7. ^ Johnson, Kjerstin. "New short film is cute, quirky, and candid. And it's about abortion". Retrieved 28 April 2015.
8. ^ Stanhope, Kate (27 April 2015). "It's Official: Jenny Slate to Star in FX Comedy Pilot From 'Obvious Child' Team". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 27 April 2015.
9. ^ Davis, Edward. "Claire Foy Teams With Director Gillian Robespierre For Erotic Merman Infatuation Tale, 'The Pisces'". Retrieved 29 January 2021.

## External links[edit]

* Gillian Robespierre at IMDb

* v
* t
* e

National Board of Review Award for Best Directorial Debut

* Kasi Lemmons (1997)
* No award (1998)
* Kimberly Peirce (1999)
* No award (2000)
* John Cameron Mitchell (2001)
* Rob Marshall (2002)
* Vadim Perelman (2003)
* Zach Braff (2004)
* Julian Fellowes (2005)
* Jason Reitman (2006)
* Ben Affleck (2007)
* Courtney Hunt (2008)
* Duncan Jones / Oren Moverman / Marc Webb (2009)
* Tim Hetherington & Sebastian Junger (2010)
* J. C. Chandor (2011)
* Benh Zeitlin (2012)
* Ryan Coogler (2013)
* Gillian Robespierre (2014)
* Jonas Carpignano (2015)
* Trey Edward Shults (2016)
* Jordan Peele (2017)
* Bo Burnham (2018)
* Melina Matsoukas (2019)
* Channing Godfrey Peoples (2020)
* Michael Sarnoski (2021)
* Charlotte Wells (2022)

Authority control databases

International|

* VIAF

National|

* Norway
* United States

Other|

* IdRef

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