Joe Wright

For other people named Joe Wright, see Joe Wright (disambiguation). Joe Wright , Wright at the UK premiere of Atonement, 2007 Born (1972-08-25) 25 August 1972 (age 40), London, England Occupation Director Years active 1997-present Spouse(s) Anoushka Shankar Children Zubin Shankar Wright Joe Wright (born 25 August 1972) is an English film director known for Pride & Prejudice, Atonement, Hanna, and his 2012 adaptation of the classic Anna Karenina. Early life and career: Wright was born on 25 August 1972 in London, where his parents John and Lyndie founded the Little Angel Theatre, a puppet theatre in Islington. Wright always had an interest in the arts, especially painting. He would also make films on his Super 8 camera as well as spend time in the evenings acting in a drama club. Wright is dyslexic. He left school without any GCSEs. He began his career working at his parents' puppet 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. In his last year of studies he received a scholarship to make a short film for the BBC that won several awards. On the success of the short, he was offered the script for the serial Nature Boy. 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 1990s he worked at Oil Factory, a 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. During this decade Wright also worked part time as a roadie for Vegetable Vision who created visuals for various electronic music bands, such as Chemical Brothers, Darren Emerson, Underworld and Andrew Weatherall. He attributes some of the aesthetic and emotion of the UK rave scene as an influence on his work. Marriage: Joe Wright is married to Sitarist Anoushka Shankar, daughter of Ravi Shankar, and they have a son named Zubin. Feature films: Pride & Prejudice: In 2005 he made the transition to feature films with the critically acclaimed Pride & 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. 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 13 December 2007, the film was nominated for seven Golden Globe Awards, more than any other film that year. Though Wright himself was not nominated for director, the film received seven 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 the "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." It was to be released on 21 November 2008; however the release date was pushed back to 24 April 2009. Hanna: Wright reunited with Atonement star Saoirse Ronan for the action thriller Hanna. The title character is a 17 year old girl trained since birth to be an assassin by her father (Eric Bana), a rogue CIA asset. The movie received mostly positive reviews with Roger Ebert calling it a "first rate thriller" in his review The film received an aggregate score of 65 from Metacritic, meaning it received generally positive reviews. Anna Karenina: Main article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Karenina_(2012_film) Wright directed the 2012 screen adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's classic novel Anna Karenina. The cast included Keira Knightley as Anna, Jude Law as her husband, Aaron Taylor-Johnson as her young love, Irish actor Domhnall Gleeson as Konstantin Levin, as well as Kelly Macdonald, Olivia Williams, Matthew Macfadyen, and Michelle Dockery.Saoirse Ronan and Andrea Riseborough were initially cast in the film, but dropped out and were replaced by Alicia Vikander and Ruth Wilson, respectively. Directorial trademarks: After only five full-length features, Wright has distinguished himself as a director, winning a BAFTA award for best newcomer for Pride & Prejudice and becoming the youngest director ever to have a film open the Venice Film Festival with Atonement. According to the director's commentary on Pride & 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 & Prejudice, Atonement and Hanna all have long tracking shots in them. Atonement has a continuous 5 minute and 5 second shot of the Dunkirk evacuation. "Basically, I just like showing off", Wright told the audience at the Hay Festival. Filmography: Film and television director parts Year Title Notes 1997 Crocodile Snap 1998 The End 2000 Nature Boy TV 2001 Bob & Rose TV 2002 Bodily Harm TV 2003 Charles II: The Power and The Passion TV 2005 Pride & Prejudice BAFTA for Most Promising Newcomer, Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best New Filmmaker, Nominated--Chicago Film Critics Association for Most Promising Filmmaker, Nominated--Empire Awards for Best Director, Nominated--London Film Critics' Circle for British Newcomer of the Year 2007 Atonement Nominated--BAFTA Award for Best Direction, Nominated--Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Director, Nominated--Golden Globe Award for Best Director, Nominated--London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Director, Nominated--Southeastern Film Critics Association Awardsfor Best Director, Nominated--Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Director 2009 The Soloist 2011 Hanna 2012 Anna Karenina Casting and crew: Actor Pride & Prejudice (2005) Atonement (2007) The Soloist (2009) Hanna (2011) Anna Karenina (2012) Keira Knightley Y Y Y Anna Romano Y Y Y Olivia Williams Y Y Michelle Dockery Y Y Tom Hollander Y Y Y Brenda Blethyn Y Y Matthew Macfadyen Y Y Jena Malone Y Y Dario Marianelli Y Y Y Y Saoirse Ronan Y Y Jacqueline Durran Y Y Y Y Y Sarah Greenwood Y Y Y Y Y

Source: Wikipedia

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