John
Boorman
John
Boorman was born on 18th January 1933 in Shepperton, Surrey, the
son of Ivy and George Boorman. He has directed a total of 22 movies
He
first began working as a journalist in the late 1950s, and then
moved into TV documentary filmmaking, eventually becoming the head
of the BBC's Bristol-based Documentary Unit in 1962.
Capturing
the interest of producer David Deutsch, he was offered the chance
to direct a film aimed at repeating the success of A Hard Day's
Night, directed by Richard Lester in 1964. Catch Us If You Can (1965)
is about competing pop group Dave Clark Five. While not as successful
commercially as Lester's film, it smoothed Boorman's way into the
film industry. He was drawn to Hollywood for the opportunity to
make larger-scale cinema, and, in Point Blank (1967), a powerful
interpretation of a Richard Stark novel, brought a stranger's vision
to the decaying fortress of Alcatraz and the proto-hippy world of
San Francisco. Lee Marvin gave the then-unknown director his full
support, telling MGM he deferred all his approvals on the project
to Boorman.
After
Point Blank, Boorman teamed up again with Lee Marvin and Toshiro
Mifune for Hell in the Pacific (1968), which tells a fable story
of two representative soldiers stranded together on an island.
Returning
to the UK, he made Leo The Last (US/UK, 1970). This film exhibited
the influence of Federico Fellin, starred Fellini regular Marcello
Mastroianni, and won Boorman a Best Director award at Cannes.
He
achieved much greater resonance with Deliverance (US, 1972, adapted
from a novel by James Dickey), the odyssey of city people played
by Jon Voight, Burt Reynolds, Ronny Cox and Ned Beatty as they trespass
into Appalachian backwoods and discover their inner savagery. This
film became Boorman's first true box office success, earning him
several award nominations.
At
the beginning of the 1970s, Boorman was planning to film The Lord
of the Rings and corresponded about his plans with the author, J.
R. R. Tolkien. Ultimately the production proved too costly, though
some elements and themes can be seen in Excalibur (see below).
A
wide variety of films followed: Zardoz (1973), starring Sean Connery,
was a post-apocalyptic science fiction piece, set in the 24th century.
According to the director's film commentary, the 'Zardoz world'
was on a collision course with an "effete" eternal society,
which it accomplished, and in the story must reconcile with a more
natural human nature.
Boorman
was selected as director for Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), but
the resultant film was widely ridiculed and regarded by many as
a total failure.
Excalibur
(UK, 1981), a long held dream project of Boorman's, is well-remembered
as a mythical film and one of the very few 'true' retellings of
the Arthurian legend and tragedy. Boorman cast actors Nicol Williamson
and (now Dame) Helen Mirren in spite of their protests, as the two
disliked each other intensely, but Boorman felt their mutual antagonism
would enhance their characterisations of the characters they were
playing. The production was based in the Republic of Ireland where
Boorman had relocated. For the film he employed all of his children
as actors and crew, and several of Boorman's later films have been
'family business' productions.
Hope
and Glory (1987, UK) is his most autobiographical movie to date,
a part retelling of his childhood in London during The Blitz. Produced
by Goldcrest Films with Hollywood financing, the film proved a Box
Office hit in the US, receiving numerous Oscar, BAFTA and Golden
Globe nominations.
In contrast, his 1990 US-produced comedy about a dysfunctional family,
Where the Heart Is, was a major flop.
The
Emerald Forest (1985) saw Boorman cast his actor son Charley Boorman
as an eco-warrior, in a rainforest adventure that included commercially-required
elements — action and near-nudity — with authentic anthropological
detail. Rospo Pallenberg's original screenplay was adapted into
a book of the same name by award winning author Robert Holdstock.
When
his friend David Lean died in 1991, Boorman was announced to be
taking over direction of Lean's long planned adaptation of Nostromo,
though the production collapsed. Beyond Rangoon (US, 1995) and The
Tailor of Panama (US/Ireland, 2000) both explore unique worlds with
alien characters stranded and desperate in them.
Boorman
won the Best Director Award at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival for
The General, his black-and-white biopic of Martin Cahill. The film
is about the somewhat glamorous, yet mysterious, criminal in Dublin
who was killed, apparently by the Provisional Irish Republican Army.
In
2004, Boorman was made a Fellow of BAFTA
Released
in 2006, The Tiger's Tail was a thriller set against the tableau
of early 21st century capitalism in Ireland. At the same time, Boorman
began work on a long-time pet project of his, a fictional account
of the life of Roman Emperor Hadrian (entitled Memoirs of Hadrian),
written in the form of a letter from a dying Hadrian to his successor.
In the meantime, a re-make/re-interpretation of the classic The
Wonderful Wizard Of Oz with Boorman at the helm was announced in
August 2009, and in production in 2010.
Filmography
Catch Us If You Can 1965
Point Blank 1967
Hell in the Pacific 1968
Leo the Last 1970
Deliverance 1972
Zardoz 1973
Exorcist II: The Heretic 1977
Excalibur 1981
The Emerald Forest 1985
Hope and Glory 1987
Where the Heart Is 1990
I Dreamt I Woke Up 1991
Two Nudes Bathing 1995
Beyond Rangoon 1995
The General 1998
Lee Marvin: A Personal Portrait 1998
The Tailor of Panama 2001
In My Country (based on the book Country of My Skull) 2005
The Tiger's Tail 2006
By Any Means 1 2008
Memoirs of Hadrian 2010 (in pre-production)
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz 2010 (in production)
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