Bill Forsyth | |
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 Forsyth in 2009 | |
| Born | William David Forsyth 29 July 1946 Glasgow, Scotland |
| Occupation(s) | Director, screenwriter |
| Years active | 1980–present |
William David Forsyth (born 29 July 1946). known as Bill Forsyth, is a Scottish film director and writer known for his films Gregory's Girl (1981), Local Hero (1983) and Comfort and Joy (1984) as well as his adaptation of the Marilynne Robinson novel Housekeeping (1987).
William David Forsyth was born on 29 July 1946 in Glasgow, Scotland. After leaving Knightswood School at the age of 17, he spent eight years making short documentary films, having formed Tree Films with fellow Scotsman Charles Gormley. [1] [2] [3]
Forsyth first came to attention with a low-budget film, That Sinking Feeling , made with youth theatre actors and featuring a cameo appearance by the Edinburgh gallery owner Richard Demarco. The relative success of the film was carried to a far higher level by his next film Gregory's Girl in 1981. This featured some of the same young actors, in particular John Gordon Sinclair, as well as the acting debut of Clare Grogan. The film was a major hit and won 'Best Screenplay' in that year's BAFTA Awards. In 1983 he wrote and directed the successful Local Hero , produced by David Puttnam, and featuring Burt Lancaster. It was rated in the top 100 films of the 1980s in a Premiere magazine recap of the decade. Forsyth's next film was the 1984 Comfort and Joy , about a Glasgow radio DJ caught in a rivalry between ice cream companies, which again featured Clare Grogan.
After Puttnam became the chairman of Columbia Pictures, he financed Forsyth's American debut, Housekeeping , an adaptation of Marilynne Robinson's 1981 novel. [4] It was the first time Forsyth made a film based on another work. By the time it was released in November 1987, Puttnam was notoriously fired from Columbia [5] , and the film was given minimal promotion due to its ties to the studio's ousted chairman. [6] [5] Despite the lack of financial success, Housekeeping did find critical acclaim and its reputation has continued to grow despite its limited availability. [7]
Forsyth's next film, Breaking In , was another departure, this time coming from an original script written by John Sayles. Despite the scale wages for the lead role, Forsyth was able to cast Burt Reynolds who liked the script and was already a fan of Forsyth's movies. [8] Once again, the critical acclaim for Forsyth's work was not met with financial success. [9]
Forsyth would team with Warner Brothers on Being Human (1994), starring Robin Williams and featuring John Turturro. The film was about a man developing throughout his life and had scenes from pre-history, Ancient Rome, 16th-century Spanish conquistadors and modern day New York City. Warner Brothers made Forsyth cut 40 minutes of the movie and the movie was released with minimal support from the studio [10] . This experience led Forsyth to concede that Hollywood was a difficult place to make movies, but denied that it destroyed him or put him off making movies, [11]
There is this myth about me going to Hollywood and being torn to pieces but it is a myth, and what happened to me could have happened to anyone in the system...once again what happened there was turned into this big event that it was not released but that is what usually happens in the big studios. They make more movies than they have money to promote.
In 1999 he made Gregory's Two Girls as a sequel to Gregory's Girl, with John Gordon Sinclair playing the same character. Reviewing the film for The Guardian , Peter Bradshaw said: "This quaint film is from the stable of Forsyth movies such as That Sinking Feeling and Local Hero, and disconcertingly out of its time... all Forsyth's films have charm, including this one. But, unfortunately, Gregory's Two Girls has the unhappy distinction of being an Accidental Period Piece." [12] However, Time Out London's reviewer said: "There's still comic mileage in Gordon-Sinclair's amiable fumbling Gregory... [A]ttention is directed towards wider, broadly political issues, but Forsyth's assured craftsmanship ensures that they are deftly woven into the storytelling. Gordon-Sinclair is a revelation, and although the film suffers from a lack of pace, its wealth of human insight and the premium it places on subtlety of expression make it a rare pleasure. [13]
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Producer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | That Sinking Feeling | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| 1980 | Gregory's Girl | Yes | Yes | No | BAFTA Award for Best Screenplay Nominated – BAFTA Award for Best Direction |
| 1981 | Andrina | Yes | Yes | No | TV film |
| 1983 | Local Hero | Yes | Yes | No | BAFTA Award for Best Direction National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Screenplay New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Screenplay Nominated – BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay |
| 1984 | Comfort and Joy | Yes | Yes | No | Nominated – BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay |
| 1987 | Housekeeping | Yes | Yes | No | |
| 1989 | Breaking In | Yes | No | No | |
| 1994 | Being Human | Yes | Yes | No | |
| 1999 | Gregory's Two Girls | Yes | Yes | No |
Local Hero is a 1983 Scottish comedy-drama film written and directed by Bill Forsyth and starring Peter Riegert, Peter Capaldi, Denis Lawson, Fulton Mackay and Burt Lancaster. Produced by David Puttnam, the film is about an American oil company representative who is sent to the fictional village of Ferness on the west coast of Scotland to purchase the town and surrounding property for his company. For his work on the film, Forsyth won the 1984 BAFTA Award for Best Direction.
David Terence Puttnam, Baron Puttnam, CBE, HonFRSA, HonFRPS, MRIA is a British-Irish film producer, educator, environmentalist and former member of the House of Lords. His productions include Chariots of Fire, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture, The Mission, The Killing Fields, Local Hero, Midnight Express and Memphis Belle. In 1982, he received the BAFTA for Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema, and in 2006 he was awarded the BAFTA Fellowship for lifetime achievement from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.
Claire Patricia Grogan, known professionally as Clare Grogan or sometimes as C. P. Grogan, is a Scottish actress and singer. She is best known as the lead singer of the 1980s new wave music group Altered Images, as well as for supporting roles in the 1981 film Gregory's Girl and the science fiction sitcom Red Dwarf as the first incarnation of Kristine Kochanski.
Gregory's Girl is a 1980 Scottish coming-of-age romantic comedy film written and directed by Bill Forsyth and starring John Gordon Sinclair, Dee Hepburn and Clare Grogan. The film is set in and around a state secondary school in the Abronhill district of Cumbernauld.
John Gordon Sinclair is a Scottish actor. He is best known for playing Gregory in the 1981 film Gregory's Girl. There was a Gordon Sinclair already registered with Equity, so he took John Gordon Sinclair as his professional name. In 2019, Sinclair played Drew Cubbin in the BBC drama Traces.
Comfort and Joy is a 1984 Scottish comedy film written and directed by Bill Forsyth and starring Bill Paterson as a radio disc jockey whose life undergoes a bizarre upheaval after his girlfriend leaves him. After he witnesses an attack on an ice cream van by angry competitors, he is led into the struggle between two Italian families over the ice cream market of Glasgow. The film received a BAFTA Award Nomination for Best Original Screenplay in 1985.
James Prime is a Scottish musician best known as the keyboard player for rock band Deacon Blue. Prime also lectures at the University of the West of Scotland. Known as a Hammond/piano player, his talents have been sought after by John Martyn, Johnny Hallyday, Phil Cunningham, Eddi Reader and Little Richard..
Local Hero is the debut soundtrack album by British singer-songwriter and guitarist Mark Knopfler, released in April 1983 by Vertigo Records internationally and by Warner Bros. Records in the United States. It contains music composed for the 1983 film Local Hero, produced by David Puttnam and both written and directed by Bill Forsyth.
Gregory's Two Girls is a 1999 Scottish film, set in Cumbernauld and also in various locations in Edinburgh. It is the sequel to Gregory's Girl (1981), which also starred John Gordon Sinclair and Kennie Pullen and was written and directed by Bill Forsyth. The film received mixed reviews.
Alex Norton is a Scottish actor. He is known for his roles as DCI Matt Burke in the STV detective drama series Taggart, Eric Baird in BBC Two sitcom Two Doors Down, DCS Wallace in Extremely Dangerous, Gerard Findlay in Waterloo Road and Eddie in the Renford Rejects. He has also had roles in internationally successful films including Braveheart, Local Hero and Les Misérables.
Iain Smith OBE is a Scottish film producer. He is known for his productions of Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), The Fountain (2006), Children of Men (2006) and The Fifth Element (1997), among others.
The 49th New York Film Critics Circle Awards honored the best filmmaking of 1983. The winners were announced on 21 December 1983 and the awards were given on 29 January 1984.
Scotland has produced many films, directors and actors.
That Sinking Feeling is a 1979 Scottish comedy film written and directed by Bill Forsyth, his first film as a director. The film is set in his home city of Glasgow in Scotland. The young actors in film were members of the Glasgow Youth Theatre. The film also features Richard Demarco, the Edinburgh gallery owner, playing himself. The four main actors went on to feature in Forsyth's following film Gregory's Girl.
Robert "Rab" Buchanan is a Scottish former actor, most famous for playing in three films by director Bill Forsyth: That Sinking Feeling (1979), Gregory's Girl (1981) and Comfort and Joy (1984). Buchanan, like other young actors in these films, had come to the notice of Forsyth while at the former Glasgow Youth Theatre. After these films Buchanan quit acting and now works on the technical staff at Tolbooth Theatre in Stirling, Scotland.
Donald Graham Burt is an American production designer. He has worked on multiple films including The Joy Luck Club, Dangerous Minds, and Donnie Brasco, as well as with David Fincher on Zodiac in 2007. In 2008, he designed the sets for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button which won an Academy Award for Best Art Direction in 2009, an Art Directors Guild Award for Best Achievement in Art Direction, and a BAFTA Film Award for Best Production Design, along with receiving a nomination for a Satellite Award for Best Art Direction & Production Design. In 2020, Burt won an Academy Award for David Fincher's black-and-white biographical drama film Mank.
Breaking In is a 1989 American crime comedy film directed by Bill Forsyth, written by John Sayles, and starring Burt Reynolds, Casey Siemaszko and Lorraine Toussaint. The film follows professional small-time criminals as they live and practice their trades.
Housekeeping is a 1987 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Bill Forsyth, starring Christine Lahti, Sara Walker, and Andrea Burchill. Based on Marilynne Robinson's 1980 novel Housekeeping, it is about two young sisters growing up in Idaho in the 1950s. After being abandoned by their mother and raised by elderly relatives, the sisters are looked after by their eccentric aunt whose unconventional and unpredictable ways affect their lives. It was filmed on location in Alberta and British Columbia, Canada. It won two awards at the 1987 Tokyo International Film Festival.
Michael Daley CoulterBSC is a Scottish cinematographer. He achieved prominence for his collaborations with writer-director Bill Forsyth, and went on to work on high-profile films like Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), Sense and Sensibility (1995), FairyTale: A True Story (1997), Notting Hill (1999), Mansfield Park, Love Actually (2003), The Bank Job (2008), and The Hustle (2019). He was nominated for an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award for his work on Sense and Sensibility. He is a member of the British Society of Cinematographers, and BAFTA Scotland.
Local Hero is a musical with music and lyrics by Mark Knopfler, and a book by Bill Forsyth and David Greig. The musical is based on the 1983 film of the same name, written by Bill Forsyth. It tells the story of an American oil company representative who is sent to the fictional village of Furness on the west coast of Scotland to purchase the town and surrounding property for his company. The musical made its world premiere at the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh in March 2019.
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