Johan Renck

Swedish director

Bo Johan Renck (born 5 December 1966) is a Swedish director of music videos, TV and film. He was originally a singer songwriter from 1991 to 2001, using the moniker Stakka Bo, and had an international hit with his single "Here We Go" in 1993. Renck later became a music video and television director, winning an Emmy Award in 2019 for his work on the mini series Chernobyl.

Renck was born on 5 December 1966 in Uppsala, Sweden, the son of medical doctor and professor Hans Renck and nurse Marina Kylberg. Hans taught at several universities around the world, so the Renck family moved around and lived in Miami, Uppsala, Malmö, Tromsø and Kuwait. He graduated from Stockholm School of Economics with a degree in business.

While at university, he dated singer and ex model Camilla Henemark of Army of Lovers, who introduced him to the Swedish music business. continuing to release music as Stakka Bo. Stakka Bo had a hit single in 1993 with the song "Here We Go", which peaked at No. 13 in the UK Singles Chart. Heavily influenced by the Stereo MCs, who were popular at the time, "Here We Go" appeared in an episode of the animated television series Beavis and Butt Head and sitcom Derry Girls, in the films Prêt à porter, Never Been Kissed and Alien Autopsy and in the video game UEFA Euro 2004. Due to a very tight budget, he ended up directing the first video for his solo project, and continued making his own videos, eventually directing videos of other Swedish artists such as Titiyo and The Cardigans. In 2012 he directed the music video "Blue Velvet" for Lana Del Rey which was also used for the commercial campaign by H&M, as well as the music video for "Wild" by Beach House. In 2015 he directed the ten minute video for David Bowie's "Blackstar", and "Lazarus" that appeared in January 2016. In 2005, he and his brother Martin directed two videos from Swedish band The Cardigans: "I Need Some Fine Wine and You, You Need to Be Nicer" and "Don't Blame Your Daughter (Diamonds)". He has been associated with Swedish artists like Karin Dreijer and Kent.

Renck's first film, Downloading Nancy, 2008 premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on 21 January 2008 in Park City, Utah. While the movie didn't receive very strong reviews, it generated a call from Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan. He directed three episodes of AMC television drama Breaking Bad, and moved on to work on one episode of The Walking Dead, Halt and Catch Fire, and Bates Motel. In addition, Renck directed a fashion art film called Decadent Control for Imagine Fashion that premiered in March 2011. It starred Roberto Cavalli, Eva Herzigová, Kirsty Hume and Brad Kroenig and used fashion from Agent Provocateur and H&M. In January 2020, Renck won the Directors Guild of America Award for Movies for Television and Limited Series. In the fall of 2019, it was announced that he was attached to the feature film Spaceman of Bohemia an adaptation to the book by U. S. based, Czech born writer Jaroslav Kalfař, with a screenplay written by Colby Day. The film is set up under Channing Tatum's company, Free Association. In May 2020, Variety reported he was in negotiations to direct and executive produce the limited series Girl A for producer Elizabeth Gabler (former president of Fox 2000) and Sony Pictures Entertainment. The series is adapted from the novel by debut author Abigail Dean. in January 2021, he was forced to drop out of the project due to scheduling conflicts, replaced as the pilot's director by Kantemir Balagov. In September 2022 he and his producing partner Michael Parets founder their own production company, Sinestra, and signed a 2 year first look deal with Freemantle Under this deal he will direct an adaptation of the novel Mouth to Mouth. In March 2023, he signed to direct a film adaptation of The Prisoner in His Palace, a novel based on the 12 soldiers who guarded Saddam Hussein in the months previous to his execution. He also signed to direct a TV adaptation of the novel The Day of the Triffids for Amazon Studios.

He is married to Elin Renck and has four children.

Year Title Peak chart positions Album SWE DEN EUR FIN NED NOR SWI UK 1991 "We Got the Atmosphere" (with E Type) — — — — — — — — — — rowspan="2" 1992 "Numania 1" (with E Type) — — — — — — — — — — 1993 "Here We Go" 4 6 10 17 — 15 23 10 7 13Supermarket "Down the Drain" 24 27 — 83 10 — — — 22 64 "Living It Up" 38 — — — — — — — — — 1994 "On Your Knees" — — — — — — — — — — "We" — — — — — — — — — — 1995 "Great Blondino" 15 — — — — — — — — —The Great Blondino 1996 "Softroom" 54 — — — — — — — — — "We Vie" (with Titiyo, Fleshquartet & Nåid) 10 — — — — — — — — —Jr. 2001 "Mute" 20 — — — — — — — — — "Killer" 34 — — — — — — — — — "Love of a Woman" — — — — — — — — — — "—" denotes items that did not chart or were not released in that territory.