- Michael Winterbottom
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Michael Winterbottom 
Michael Winterbottom, 2009Born 29 March 1961
Blackburn, Lancashire, England, UKOccupation Film director Michael Winterbottom (born 29 March 1961) is a prolific English filmmaker who has directed seventeen feature films in the past fifteen years. He began his career working in British television before moving into features. Three of his films — Welcome to Sarajevo, Wonderland and 24 Hour Party People — have been nominated for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
Contents
Personal life
Winterbottom was born in Blackburn, Lancashire. He went to Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Blackburn, taking his O Levels in an accelerated[clarification needed] four years, and then studied English at Balliol College, Oxford before going to film school at Bristol University, where his contemporaries included Marc Evans.[1]
Career
Early television career
Winterbottom's television career included such diverse projects as the pilot of Jimmy McGovern's mystery series Cracker, four television movies, an episode of the Inspector Alleyn Mysteries, two documentaries about Ingmar Bergman and an episode of the documentary series Cinema Europe: The Other Hollywood focusing on Scandinavian silent cinema.
He also directed the mini-series Family, written by Roddy Doyle. Each of four episodes focused on one member of a working-class Dublin family. It was this series that first brought Winterbottom to the attention of filmgoers, when it was edited down into a feature and shown at festivals.
Film
Winterbottom's 1995 cinematic debut firmly established his intense visual sense, naturalistic style and compelling use of pop songs to reinforce narrative. The story of a mentally unbalanced lesbian serial killer and her submissive lover/accomplice falling in love as they slaughter their way across the motorways of Northern England. It found only a limited release.
That same year, he reunited with Jimmy McGovern for the BBC television film Go Now, the story of a young man who falls ill with multiple sclerosis just as he meets the love of his life. Focusing on the turmoil this causes the couple, the film was given a theatrical release in many countries, including the United States.
In 1996 Winterbottom adapted his favourite novel, Thomas Hardy's bleak classic Jude the Obscure, the tale of forbidden love between two cousins which had so scandalized British society on its release in 1895 that Hardy gave up novel-writing. It was not Winterbottom's first time approaching the work, having already filmed the pig-slaughter sequence at film school. Starring Christopher Eccleston and Kate Winslet, Jude brought Winterbottom wider recognition, his first screening at Cannes and numerous Hollywood offers, all of which he eventually turned down.
Welcome to Sarajevo was filmed on location in the titular city, mere months after the Siege of Sarajevo had ended, adding greatly to its sense of authenticity and allowing frequent intercutting of actual news footage from the combat. The film is based on the true story of a British reporter, Michael Nicholson, who spirited a young orphan girl out of the war zone to safety in Britain.
- I Want You and With or Without You
Winterbottom's next two films both had distribution difficulties and were not widely seen. I Want You is a neo-noir sex thriller, shot in bold primary colors by the Polish cinematographer Slawomir Idziak and set in a decaying seaside resort. Starring Rachel Weisz and Alessandro Nivola, it focuses more on mood than plot and was inspired by the Elvis Costello song of the same name.[2] With or Without You, starring Christopher Eccleston, is a light Belfast-set sex comedy, about a couple who are trying desperately to conceive, only for each to have past loves re-enter their lives.
1999's Wonderland marked a decided shift in style for Winterbottom, with its loose, handheld photography and naturalistic, often improvised dialogue which drew comparisons to Robert Altman. Featuring Gina McKee, Shirley Henderson, John Simm, Ian Hart and Stuart Townsend, it is the story of three sisters and their extended family over the Guy Fawkes Day weekend in London.[3] The disparate elements are tied together by an orchestral score by minimalist composer Michael Nyman,[4] who would become a frequent collaborator with Winterbottom.
Winterbottom followed that project up with his biggest budgeted film, The Claim, an adaptation of Thomas Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge set in 1860s California. Shot with a budget of $20 million in the wilds of Canada, it was not a financial success and proved an ordeal to make, with Winterbottom himself getting frostbite. The production had previously been ready to shoot in Spain, with sets already built, when financing fell through. Attempts were made to cast Madonna, in a role eventually played by Milla Jovovich and many of the production details and difficulties were explained to the public on an unusually frank official website.
24 Hour Party People documents the anarchic, drug and sex-fueled rise and fall of the influential label Factory Records and the music scene in Manchester from the late 1970s to the mid-1990s. As much an ode to the city of Manchester as the story of the contemporary musical world, the film stars Steve Coogan as broadcaster/music-mogul Tony Wilson.[5]
His 2002 film In This World depicts the harrowing journey of two Afghan refugees from Pakistan, across the Middle East and Europe to Britain which they try to enter with the help of people smugglers. Shot on digital video with non-professional actors who virtually lived out the events of the film, its compelling sense of reality brought Winterbottom numerous awards including a Golden Bear and a BAFTA for best film not in the English language.[6]
The futuristic romantic mystery Code 46 is a retelling of the Oedipus myth, in a world where cloning has created people so interrelated that strict laws (the Code 46 of the title) govern human reproduction. Essentially a film noir, it follows a fraud investigator played by Tim Robbins as he investigates a femme fatale played by Samantha Morton. The film's highly stylized settings were created on a limited budget by taking the tiny crew around the world, shooting in places which already looked like one hundred years in the future. Much of the film was shot in Shanghai, while Dubai and Rajasthan in India were also variously mixed to create a multi-ethnic melting-pot culture.
- 9 Songs
9 Songs, released in 2004, gained attention as the most sexually explicit film ever to receive a certificate for general release in the UK. It charts a year-long relationship between two lovers, almost exclusively through their sexual interaction and various rock concerts the couple attend. During these concerts, the nine songs of the film's title often comment on the couple's relationship. The film became notorious in the UK for its candid scenes of unsimulated sex between the leads, Kieran O'Brien and Margo Stilley.[7]
He followed that with 2006's A Cock and Bull Story, which was released in the United States and Australia as Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story. It is an adaptation of the famously "unfilmable" The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, one of the earliest novels.[8] Shandy is a narrator so easily distracted in relating his life story that by the end of the book he has not yet come to his own birth. The film, similarly, is about the making of a film of Tristram Shandy, and the impossibility of that task. Moreover, it deals with the impossibility of capturing the complexity of life in a work of art, but the value of the attempt. Steve Coogan stars as himself and as Shandy. The film also marks the end of Winterbottom's lengthy collaboration with writer Frank Cottrell Boyce,[9] who chose to be credited under the pseudonym Martin Hardy.[10]
Winterbottom's The Road to Guantanamo is a docu-drama about the "Tipton Three", three British Muslims captured by US forces in Afghanistan who spent two years as prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp as alleged enemy combatants.[11] It was shot in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran (which doubled as Cuba) in the autumn of 2005. It premiered at the Berlinale on 14 February 2006. It debuted in the UK on television, on 9 March, as it was co-financed by Channel 4.[11]
A Mighty Heart is based on the book by Mariane Pearl, wife of murdered journalist Daniel Pearl.[12] The film stars Angelina Jolie and focuses on the pregnant Mariane's search for her missing husband in Pakistan in 2002. Produced by Jolie's partner Brad Pitt, it was shot in the autumn of 2006 in India, Pakistan and France and premiered out of competition at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival on 21 May.[13]
Genova is a family drama about an Englishman, played by Colin Firth, who moves his two American daughters to Italy following the death of his wife. Once there, the oldest girl starts exploring her sexuality, while the younger girl begins to see the ghost of her mother.[14] It co-stars Catherine Keener and Hope Davis and was filmed in the titular city of Genoa, Italy, during the summer of 2007.[12] It was written by Wonderland screenwriter Laurence Coriat. It premiered at the 2008 Toronto Film Festival and Winterbottom later won the Silver Shell for best director at the San Sebastian International Film Festival.
- The Shock Doctrine
Winterbottom was reunited with his The Road to Guantanamo co-director Mat Whitecross on a documentary based on Naomi Klein's bestselling book The Shock Doctrine. The film follows the use of upheavals and disasters by various governments as a cover for the implementation of free market economic policies that benefit only an elite few. Klein at first disowned the film after learning that it would be composed almost entirely of period footage and narration, with virtually no interview material with sources.[15] The film premiered at the 2009 Berlin Film Festival and aired in the UK on Channel 4's More4 documentary channel on 1 September 2009. It made its American premiere at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, alongside Winterbottom's following film. At the festival, Klein, who had reconciled herself with the filmmakers' approach, participated in a Q&A with Winterbottom and Whitecross.
- The Killer Inside Me
Winterbottom's film of Jim Thompson's 1952 noir novel, starring Casey Affleck, Kate Hudson and Jessica Alba is a period film which follows a small town Texas sheriff (Affleck), who is also a psychotic killer, through his descent into complete madness. It premiered at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival and caused controversy for the realistic brutality of its violence toward women.[14] In his defence, Winterbottom said, "It's the not the real world. It's kind of a parallel version of the real world. . . . I was taken in by that world."[16]
- The Trip
This improvised six-episode comedy series, filmed in the English Lake District, stars Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon as the semi-fictionalized versions of themselves they previously played in A Cock and Bull Story. Coogan, an actor unhappy with his career, agrees to write a series of restaurant reviews for The Observer in order to impress his girlfriend Misha (Margo Stilley). As the series opens, she has dumped him and he invites Brydon to take her place on the vacation. Each episode of the series takes place largely over a different gourmet meal, the restaurant names giving each episode their title. The episodes were edited down into a feature film which premiered at the Toronto International Film festival in September 2010, while the series itself then aired on the BBC starting in November, 2010.[17]
- Trishna
Winterbottom's modern retelling of Tess of the d'Urbervilles is his third Thomas Hardy film.[18] It stars Riz Ahmed and Freida Pinto and was shot in Jaipur[19] and Mumbai[20], India in early 2011. It premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 9, 2011.
Future projects
- Bailout
Winterbottom is attached to direct this adaptation of author Jess Walter's novel The Financial Lives of the Poets, which Walter adapted for the screen.[21] Starring Jack Black, the film follows a man who loses his job and must keep his family afloat by working as a pot dealer.[22] It is scheduled to shoot in January 2012.[23]
- Untitled Amanda Knox Project
This film will involve the dramatic, headline-making trial, conviction and eventual acquittal of American student Amanda Knox for the murder of her British roommate Meredith Kercher.[24] Winterbottom traveled to Perugia, Italy in 2010 and attended court hearings for research on the project, at one time set to star Colin Firth. He said the film would be fictionalized and focus on journalists and the media circus surrounding the trial more than on the actual events in dispute. [25]
- Paul Raymond’s Wonderful World of Erotica
Winterbottom is set to reteam with Steve Coogan on a biography of famed British pornographer/strip club owner Paul Raymond. The film is being written by Matt Greenhalgh.[26]
- The Trip 2
Producer Andrew Eaton has announced plans for a second series of the show with Coogan and Brydon, this time taking them on a culinary driving tour through Italy.[27]
- The Longest Cocktail Party
Winterbottom is attached to direct a film version of Richard DeLillio's 1973 autobiographical novel about his time working with The Beatles. Liam Gallagher is co-producing the project with Winterbottom and his long-time producer Andrew Eaton. It is being written by British comedy writer Jesse Armstrong.[28]
- The Promised Land
Jim Sturgess, Colin Firth and Matthew Macfadyen are set to star in this political thriller set in 1930s/1940s Palestine. Sturgess and Macfadyen will play two British police officers hunting Zionist militant Avraham Stern, while Firth will play an official of the British Mandate government. The screenplay was written by Winterbottom and Laurence Coriat, and Winterbottom has already shot documentary footage with the surviving participants in the events.[29]
- Seven Days
Winterbottom has been working since 2007 on a project that will not be released until 2012. Seven Days stars John Simm as a man imprisoned for drug-smuggling and charts his relationship with his wife, played by Shirley Henderson. Written by Winterbottom and Coriat, the film is being shot a few weeks at a time, over a five-year period, to reflect the protagonist's time in prison and achieve an authentic aging process.[12]
- London Fields
Another prospective future project is this adaptation by Martin Amis of his own novel. It follows a psychic who encounters two different men — one of whom might be her killer. Gemma Arterton has stated in interviews that she is attached to play the lead role of Nicola Six.[30]
Filmography
- Rosie the Great (1989, TV)
- Forget About Me (1990, TV)
- Under the Sun (1992, TV)
- Love Lies Bleeding (1992, TV)
- Family (1994, TV)
- Butterfly Kiss (1995)
- Go Now (1995)
- Jude (1996)
- Welcome to Sarajevo (1997)
- I Want You (1998)
- Wonderland (1999)
- With or Without You (1999)
- The Claim (2000)
- 24 Hour Party People (2002)
- In This World (2003)
- Code 46 (2003)
- 9 Songs (2004)
- A Cock and Bull Story (2006)
- The Road to Guantanamo (2006)
- A Mighty Heart (2007)
- Genova (2008)
- The Shock Doctrine (2009)
- The Killer Inside Me (2010)
- The Trip (2010, TV)
- Trishna (2012)
- Bailout (2012)
References and notes
- ^ Hill, Claire (2004-01-17). "Dark Marc". The Western Mail. http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/content_objectid=13826351_method=full_siteid=50082_headline=-Dark-Marc-name_page.html. Retrieved 2009-09-21.
- ^ "Wettbewerb/In Competition". Moving Pictures, Berlinale Extra (Berlin): 24. 11–22 February 1998.
- ^ Wise, Damon; "Smile — you're on candid camera" Guardian.co.uk, 9 September 2000
- ^ Jeffries, Stuart; "The walking wounded of Wonderland" Guardian.co.uk, 18 January 2000
- ^ Morley, Paul; "Shooting the past" Guardian.co.uk, 23 February 2001
- ^ Bedell, Geraldine; "A Winterbottom's tale" Guardian.co.uk, 1 February 2004
- ^ Jeffries, Stuart; "'I am the opposite of ashamed'" Guardian.co.uk, 24 January 2005
- ^ Mullan, John; "A taste of Shandy" Guardian.co.uk, 18 October 2005
- ^ Winterbottom films scripted by Cottrell Boyce include A Cock and Bull Story, Code 46, 24 Hour Party People, The Claim, Welcome To Sarajevo, Butterfly Kiss and Forget About Me.
- ^ Dawtrey, Adam; "Phantom scribe gets BIFA nom" Variety.com, 27 November 2005
- ^ a b Stafford Smith, Clive; "Out of sight" Guardian.co.uk, 14 February 2006
- ^ a b c Pulver, Andrew; "Rapid response unit" Guardian.co.uk, 14 September 2007
- ^ "Festival de Cannes: A Mighty Heart". festival-cannes.com. http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/4431903/year/2007.html. Retrieved 2009-12-20.
- ^ a b Johnston, Sheila; "Michael Winterbottom interview: on his film 'Genova'" Telegraph.co.uk, 31 March 2009
- ^ Jones, Sam; "Naomi Klein disowns Winterbottom adaptation of Shock Doctrine" Guardian.co.uk, 28 August 2009
- ^ Sherryl Connelly, "Jessica Alba leaves screening of 'The Killer Inside Me,' stirring outrage at Sundance over violence", New York Daily News, January 26, 2010
- ^ Jones, Sam; "Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon are reunited... to do lunch" Guardian.co.uk, 25 July 2010
- ^ "Rising Actor Riz Ahmed Joins Michael Winterbottom’s ‘Trishna’" The Playlist, 4 February 2011
- ^ http://www.movietalkies.com/news/8864/really-knotty-freida%27s-jaipur-wedding-twist/comments
- ^ http://fenilandbollywood.com/2011/04/16/freida%E2%80%99s-secret-shoot-at-chakala-for-holly-biggie/ Freida’s secret shoot at Chakala for Holly biggie
- ^ Fleming, Mike. "CANNES: Jack Black Teams For ‘Bailout’ Comedy With Director Michael Winterbottom". Deadline. http://www.deadline.com/2011/05/cannes-jack-black-teams-for-bailout-comedy-with-director-michael-winterbottom/.
- ^ http://www.amazon.com/Financial-Lives-Poets-Jess-Walter/dp/0061916048
- ^ http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/afm-2011-sony-picks-up-256715
- ^ http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/afm-2011-sony-picks-up-256715
- ^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/01/colin-firth-meredith-kercher-journalist
- ^ "Steve Coogan & Michael Winterbottom To Team Again For ‘Paul Raymond’s Wonderful World Of Erotica’" The Playlist, 31 May, 2011
- ^ http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/archives/steve_coogan_rob_brydon_set_to_travel_italy_with_michael_winterbottom_for_s/
- ^ http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/archives/michael_winterbottom_planning_to_direct_beatles_movie_the_longest_cocktail_/
- ^ "Michael Winterbottom Talks 1930's Palestine-Set British Terrorism Tale, 'The Promised Land'" The Playlist, 15 June 2010
- ^ "Gemma Arterton Stays Chatty; Actress In Talks For 'London Fields,' 'Corsica 72,' May Play Courtney Love?" The Playlist, 15 September 2010
External links
- Michael Winterbottom at the Internet Movie Database
- Critical essay by Deborah Allison SensesOfCinema.com
- "Fiction vs. Reality in the Films of Michael Winterbottom" AlternateTakes.co.uk
- Resonance FM radio interview — "Reality Check: Michael Winterbottom’s Code 46" PanelBorders.Wordpress.com
Films by Michael Winterbottom 1980s Rosie the Great (1989)
1990s Forget About Me (1990) · Under the Sun (1992) · Love Lies Bleeding (1993) · Family (1994) · Butterfly Kiss (1995) · Go Now (1995) · Jude (1996) · Welcome to Sarajevo (1997) · I Want You (1998) · With or Without You (1999) · Wonderland (1999)
2000s The Claim (2000) · 24 Hour Party People (2002) · In This World (2003) · Code 46 (2003) · 9 Songs (2004) · A Cock and Bull Story (2006) · The Road to Guantanamo (2006) · A Mighty Heart (2007) · Genova (2008) · The Shock Doctrine (2009)
2010s The Killer Inside Me (2010) · The Trip (2010) · Trishna (2011) · Bailout (2012)
Categories:- 1961 births
- Alumni of the University of Bristol
- English film directors
- Living people
- Old Blackburnians
- People from Blackburn
- Silver Bear for Best Director recipients
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