Joe Wright

For other persons named Joseph Wright, see Joseph Wright

For other persons named Joe Wright, see Joe Wright

For other persons named Joey Wright, see Joey Wright

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Joe Wright
The director at the UK premiere of Atonement
Born	1972 London, England
Occupation	Director

Joe Wright (born 1972) is an English film director best known for 2005's Pride and Prejudice and 2007's Atonement.

Early life and career

Wright was born in London, where his parents founded the Little Angel Theatre, a puppet theatre in Islington.

Wright always had an interest in the arts, especially painting.^[1] He would also make films on his Super 8 camera as well as spend time in the evenings acting in a drama club. Being dyslexic, he left school without any GCSEs.

He began his career working at his parents' theatre. He also took classes at the Anna Scher Theatre School and acted professionally on stage and camera. He spent an art foundation year at Camberwell College of Arts, before taking a degree in fine art and film at Central St Martins^[2]. In his last year of studies he received a scholarship to make a short film for the BBC that won some awards . On the success of the short, he was offered the script for the serial Nature Boy with Callum Keith Rennie.^[3] He followed this up with the serials Bodily Harm with Timothy Spall, and the highly acclaimed Charles II: The Power and the Passion with Rufus Sewell which won the BAFTA Award for Best Drama Serial.

During the 90s he worked at Oil Factory, a world class music video production company based in Caledonian Road, Kings Cross. He worked on a variety of productions in numerous roles, including casting director. Here he was able to get the opportunity to direct some music videos. Alongside this, particularly on the strength of his short film work, he was also developing The End, his second short film.

Feature films

Pride and Prejudice

In 2005 he made the transition to feature films with the critically acclaimed Pride and Prejudice starring Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen. The film received numerous accolades including 4 Academy Award nominations (including best actress), 6 BAFTA nominations (Wright won the BAFTA for most promising newcomer) and a host of other nominations and wins.

Joe Wright looks down from the balcony of the Odeon at the premiere of Atonement in Leicester Square, London

Atonement

Wright's next feature was an adaptation of Ian McEwan's Booker Prize shortlisted novel Atonement which was released in 2007, reuniting Wright with Keira Knightley and also stars James McAvoy. On December 13, 2007, the film was nominated for 7 Golden Globe Awards, more than any other film that year. Though Wright himself was not nominated for Director, the film received six Academy Award nominations, winning only for Best Original Score. At the BAFTA Awards it received 14 nominations and went on to win for Best Production Design and Best Film.

The Soloist

His next film was The Soloist which stars Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey Jr. It is about " true story of musical prodigy Nathaniel Ayers, who developed schizophrenia in his second year at Juilliard and ended up homeless on the streets of downtown L.A. where he performs the violin and cello."^[4] It was to be released on November 21, 2008; however the release date was pushed back to April 24, 2009.

Indian Summer

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Joe Wright's return to the British experience is based on the book Indian Summer: The Secret History of the End of an Empire by Alex von Tunzelmann.^[5] The story centres around Lord Mountbatten of Burma and his wife Edwina Mountbatten traveling to India to oversee the hand over of power to the first Indian Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, in the final moments of the British Empire. The events following this led to the deaths of around a million people. Wright will direct for Working Title Films and Universal Studios, the screenplay currently being penned by Gladiator writer William Nicholson.^[5] It has been reported the project was announced on Jul. 14, 2009 and shelved on Oct. 20, 2009. ^[6]

Directorial trademarks

After only three full-length features, Wright has distinguished himself as a director, winning a BAFTA award for best newcomer for Pride and Prejudice and becoming the youngest director ever to have a film open the Venice Film Festival with Atonement.^[7] According to the director's commentary on Pride and Prejudice, Wright is influenced by the work of British film director David Lean, and possessing a certain knowledge of art history, tries sometimes to compose his shots after classical paintings.

Charles II: The Power and The Passion, Pride and Prejudice and Atonement all have long tracking shots in them. Atonement has a continuous 4.5 minute shot of the Dunkirk evacuation. "Basically, I just like showing off," Wright told the audience at the Hay Festival.^[8]

Filmography

Director

• Crocodile Snap (1997)
• The End (1998)
• Nature Boy (2000) (TV)
• Bob & Rose (2001) (TV)
• Bodily Harm (2002) (TV)
• Charles II: The Power and The Passion (2003) (TV)
• Pride & Prejudice (2005)
• Atonement (2007)
• The Soloist (2009)
• Indian Summer (2011)

References

External links

• Joe Wright at the Internet Movie Database