Michael J. Bassett

Michael J. Bassett
Born	Shropshire, Midlands, United Kingdom
Occupation	Film director and Screenwriter
Website
http://www.michaelbassett.com

Michael J. Bassett is an English screenwriter and film director. He has produced a variety of films, both for television and cinema. Bassett's first feature, the horror film Deathwatch, was set in the trenches of World War One. Bassett's most recent project, Solomon Kane had a nationwide cinema release in the United Kingdom in 2010. It was also shown throughout Europe.

Life and career

Bassett was born and grew up in Newport, Shropshire in the West Midlands of the United Kingdom where he was educated at Adams Grammar School. Here he enjoyed a life which he has described as a "safe, unremarkable childhood".^[1] Here he developed an obsession with wildlife and nature, Bassett's fascination with films would not arise until much later. Bassett's childhood aspirations were of being a wildlife veterinarian in Africa. With less than ideal grades in school, a veterinary career slowly became out of the question and at the age of 16, Bassett left school and became a wildlife film maker's assistant, where he would spend 18 months learning photography and film making.

After his time as an assistant, Bassett decided to go back to school to do A-Levels in the hopes of getting a Zoology degree. Once back in school, Bassett wrote to a variety of TV producers, looking for work as a nature presenter. Eventually, Bassett was contacted by Janet Street Porter, shortly after which he began working as a presenter on the children's show Get Fresh^[1] where he presented the science and nature segments. He left to work on other programs but as work stopped coming in he was losing interest, at this point Bassett realized that he wanted to make movies. Still, this would require quite a risk, so Bassett worked for a year animating and voicing the puppet, Scally The Dog on Children's ITV, while he thought things over.

After putting Scally the Dog to rest, Bassett produced several short films, as well as a 16 mm piece for broadcast television. All the while, Bassett worked on feature scripts which he used to try to catch producers attention. After a period of years, Bassett finally got some notice with a screenplay titled No Man's Land. Many studios offered to purchase the script, but Bassett was determined to direct his film. Eventually, one company accepted and the film was retitled Deathwatch.^[2] Bassett works currently on the $10 million project The Unblinking Eye,^[3] a serial killer film with Jeffrey Dean Morgan in the lead as detective John Calisto.^[4]

Filmography

Filmography (directing)

• Deathwatch (2002)
• Wilderness (2006)
• Solomon Kane (2009)
• Silent Hill: Revelation 3D

Filmography (second unit directing)

• The Abduction Club (2002)

Filmography (film crew)

• Waking Ned (1998) (Electronic Press Kit Director)

Filmography (writing)

• Bugs (1995)
• Deathwatch (2002)
• Solomon Kane (2009)
• Silent Hill: Revelation 3D

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Biography
2. ^ Interview with Michael Bassett, Director of Wilderness at eatmybrains.com
3. ^ "Jeffrey Dean Morgan Focuses The Unblinking Eye on Terror". DreadCentral. http://www.dreadcentral.com/news/35857/jeffrey-dean-morgan-focuses-the-unblinking-eye-terror. 
4. ^ "'The Unblinking Eye', New Serial Killer Thriller from 'Solomon Kane' Director". BloodyDisgusting. http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/19068. 

External links

• Official website
• Michael Bassett's Blog
• Michael J. Bassett at the Internet Movie Database
• Comingsoon.net movie news

Persondata
Name	Bassett, Michael J.
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth
Place of birth	Shropshire, Midlands, United Kingdom
Date of death
Place of death