Spike Jonze had a climactic morning on Tuesday, April 30, coming face to face with an armed intruder, who then barricaded himself inside Jonze’s house for an hours-long standoff with police.
The filmmaker, 49, arrived at his home in the Los Feliz area of Los Angeles around 6 a.m. on Tuesday and found the man inside, according to TMZ. Jonze exited the house and called the police, but the man, who was armed with a knife, refused to come out once the cops arrived on the scene. A SWAT team arrived on the scene, and the man finally surrendered to the authorities close to 11 a.m. He was taken to an area hospital, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Dispatch audio obtained by TMZ identifies the possible suspect as a male wearing shorts and a T-shirt, but it’s unclear how he entered the home or whether he has any connection to Jonze. The site also reported that no one was injured in the standoff.
Helicopter footage shows the director, dressed in a camouflage jacket and gray sweatpants, talking to cops outside the home.
Jonze, born Adam Spiegel, won the 2013 Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for the film Her, which he directed, as well. His directing credits also include the films Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, and Where the Wild Things Are, and the music videos for Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage,” Fatboy Slim’s “Praise You,” and Kanye West’s “Flashing Lights.” Recently, Jonze has worked as the creative director for Viceland.
From 1999 to 2003, he was married to filmmaker Sofia Coppola, another winner in the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay category. He later dated Michelle Williams and Rinko Kikuchi.
