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Iain Smith OBE (born 1949 in Glasgow, Scotland) is a Scottish film producer, editor and director. He is most famous for his productions of Hollywood blockbusters such as Seven Years in Tibet (1997) and The Fifth Element.
Smith has contributed to many film industry committees in the UK and has been a Board member of the UK Film Council, Scottish Screen, the Production Guild of Great Britain and the Children's Film and Television Foundation.
Biography
Iain was educated in Glasgow at Willowbank Primary School, Hillhead High School and studied at Jordanhill College School, leaving in 1968. He received a 1st Class Hons Diploma from London School of Film Technique (1969/70).
Iain has been married for 35 years to Isabel Smith, who is a successful physio-therapist. They have three children: Ben, who is working as a sports journalist, Ailie, a make-up artist, and Claire, who is studying English at Southampton University.
In the early 1970s, Iain worked as assistant editor, assistant director or production manager on numerous short films, commercials and children's feature films. He worked in London for several years before returning to his native Scotland to make My Childhood for the British Film Institute, the first of the trilogy by Bill Douglas.
In 1976, Iain formed his own production company in partnership with Jon Schorstein (Smith Schorstein Associates Ltd) and produced television commercials, documentaries, children's feature films and low budget dramas. In 1978, he production-managed Bertrand Tavernier's Deathwatch, starring Romy Schneider and Harvey Keitel. A year later, he joined David Puttnam and Hugh Hudson to make Chariots of Fire, starring Ian Charleson and Ben Cross.
Iain went on to line produce a variety of films for David Puttnam, including Bill Forsyth's Local Hero, starring Burt Lancaster and Peter Riegert, Roland Joffe's The Killing Fields (film)The Killing Fields, starring Sam Waterston and Haing Ngor, and Roland Joffe's The Mission, starring Robert De Niro and Jeremy Irons. He also produced Brian Gilbert's The Frog Prince.
In 1987, Iain formed Applecross Productions and went on to co-produce Richard Marquand's Hearts of Fire, starring Bob Dylan and Rupert Everett, followed by Michael Austen's Killing Dad, starring Richard E. Grant, Denholm Elliott and Julie Walters. In 1991, he co-produced Roland Joffe's City of Joy, starring Patrick Swayze and Pauline Collins, and in 1992, executive produced Ridley Scott's 1492 - Conquest of Paradise, starring Gerard Depardieu and Sigourney Weaver.
In 1994, Iain co-produced Stephen Frear's Mary Reilly, starring Julia Roberts and John Malkovich for Tristar Pictures, followed by Luc Besson's The Fifth Element in 1996, which starred Bruce Willis and Gary Oldman and was produced by his company Zaltman Films Ltd for Gaumont.
He then produced Jean-Jacques Annaud's Seven Years in Tibet, starring Brad Pitt and David Thewlis for Columbia Pictures, followed by Jon Amiel's Entrapment with Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones for Twentieth Century Fox.
Smith executive produced Tony Scott's Spy Game for Universal Pictures, which starred Robert Redford and Brad Pitt, followed by Anthony Minghella's Cold Mountain for Miramax, starring Jude Law, Nicole Kidman and Renée Zellweger. He went on to produce Oliver Stone's Alexander for Intermedia, starring Colin Farrell, Anthony Hopkins and Angelina Jolie, followed by producing Darren Aronofsky's The Fountain for New Regency/Warner Bros., starring Hugh Jackman, Rachel Weisz and Ellen Burstyn, and Alfonso Cuarón's Children of Men for Strike Entertainment/Universal Pictures.
In 2008, Smith produced Timur Bekmambetrov's Wanted for Universal Pictures. He is currently shooting Joe Carnahan's "The A Team" for Twentieth Century Fox and is in pre-production with K. Lorrel Manning's first feature Happy New Year.
Iain Smith was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2008 New Year Honours.
Membership
Iain Smith has served on the boards of the UK Film Council, Scottish Screen, the Joint board of Creative Scotland, the Scottish Film Council, the Scottish Film Production Fund, the Scottish Film Training Trust and as a Governor of the National Film and Television School. He is currently a patron of the London Film School, Chair of the Film Skills Council, and is a director of the Children’s Film and Television Foundation. He has recently been appointed Chair of the new UK Film Industry Training Board, and is Chair of the Edinburgh International Film Festival.
In 2005 he was awarded a BAFTA Scotland for Outstanding Achievement in Film.
References
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