Iain Softley

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Iain Softley
Born (1956-11-30) 30 November 1956 (age 67)
Chiswick, London, England, United Kingdom
Occupation(s)Film director, producer, screenwriter
Years active1994–present
SpouseSarah Curtis
Children3

Iain Declan Softley (born 30 November 1956) is an English film director, producer, and screenwriter. His films include Backbeat, Hackers, The Wings of the Dove , K-PAX , The Skeleton Key , Inkheart and the BBC adaptation of Sadie Jones's novel The Outcast.

Contents

Career

Softley was educated at St Benedict's School, Ealing, London, and Queens' College, Cambridge, where he directed a number of highly-praised theatrical productions. He worked for Granada TV and the BBC in the 1980s before moving on to music videos and film.

Softley's first film, the Stuart Sutcliffe biopic, Backbeat , which he wrote and directed, was released in 1994. It opened the Sundance Film Festival [1] and went on to receive a BAFTA Award nomination for Best British Film. For his work on the film, Softley received Best Newcomer Awards from The London Film Critics Circle and Empire Magazine. [2]

Following Backbeat, Softley directed the cyber thriller Hackers, starring Angelina Jolie and Jonny Lee-Miller. This was followed in 1997 by an adaptation of Henry James' novel, The Wings of the Dove, starring Helena Bonham-Carter. The film premiered at the Toronto and Venice Film Festivals, earned four Academy Award nominations, and won a number of awards including two BAFTAs and multiple acting honors for Bonham Carter. [3]

Softley's next two films (released by Universal Pictures [4] ) topped the US box office: [5] the sci-fi mystery film K-PAX , starring Kevin Spacey, and Jeff Bridges, and the suspense thriller, The Skeleton Key with Kate Hudson, Gena Rowlands and John Hurt.

Other film credits include: Inkheart , from Cornelia Funke's best-selling book, with Helen Mirren, Paul Bettany and Jim Broadbent; Trap for Cinderella, starring Tuppence Middleton and Alexandra Roach, which Softley adapted and directed from Sebastien Japrisot's French crime novel; and Curve starring Julianne Hough, produced by Blumhouse Productions and released by Universal Pictures in 2016. [6]

In 2010, Softley directed a stage adaptation of Backbeat, which was co-written with Stephen Jeffreys. It premiered at the Citizens Theatre in Glasgow, [7] before transferring to the Duke of York's Theatre, in London [8] and then subsequently Toronto, Los Angeles and Berlin. [9] [10] [11]

In 2016, it was announced that Softley will direct Icarus, based on the life of British/American astronaut, Michael Foale, which Softley has developed with writers Hilary Thompson and Laurence Coriat. He will co-produce the project through his company, Forthcoming Films. [12] Softley attended Queens' College, Cambridge at the same time as Foale.

Aside from his work in film, Softley has also worked in television. In 2012, he directed the short film, The Man, as part of Sky Arts' Playhouse Presents strand. The film was a satirical take on the clandestine Bilderberg Group and starred Stellan Skarsgard, Zoe Wannamaker, Hayley Atwell and Stephen Fry. [13] In 2015, the BBC broadcast a two-part adaptation of author Sadie Jones' novel The Outcast which Softley also directed. [14] The film was warmly received by The Guardian , with Julia Raeside writing: "The tone set by Iain Softley's beautifully restrained direction and the careful use of music creates a real feeling of loss from the start, just as in the book, but he somehow avoids all hammy visual foreshadowing and narrative signposting, so often used to gee a plot along". [15]

Softley also directed the upcoming Disney+ short film The Shepherd , which stars John Travolta and is an adaptation of Frederick Forsyth's novel The Shepherd . [16] [17]

Production company

Together with his wife, film producer Sarah Curtis, Softley runs Forthcoming Films, which produces and develops their respective projects. Past productions include: Backbeat , On a Clear Day , Hysteria , Trap for Cinderella and Ophelia . [18]

Future productions include: the Michael Foale biopic Icarus. [19]

Personal life

Softley and Curtis live in London. Together, they have three children. [20]

Filmography

Films

YearTitle Director Producer Writer
1994 Backbeat YesNoYes
1995 Hackers YesExecutiveNo
1997 The Wings of the Dove YesNoNo
2001 K-PAX YesNoNo
2005 The Skeleton Key YesYesNo
2008 Inkheart YesYesNo
2013 Trap for Cinderella YesNoYes
2015 Curve YesNoNo
2023 The Shepherd YesNoYes

Television

YearTitleNotes
2012 Playhouse Presents Episode "The Man"
2015 The Outcast Miniseries (2 episodes)

Musical video

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<i>K-PAX</i> 1995 American science fiction novel by Gene Brewer

K-PAX is an American science fiction novel by Gene Brewer, the first in the K-PAX series. The series deals with the experiences on Earth of a being named Prot. It is written in the first person from the point of view of Prot's psychiatrist.

<i>Inkheart</i> 2003 young adult fantasy novel by Cornelia Funke

Inkheart is a 2003 young adult fantasy novel by Cornelia Funke, and is the first book of the Inkheart series, with Inkspell (2005) and Inkdeath (2007) succeeding it. The novel became one of the finalists of 2004 BookSense Book of the Year Award for Children's Literature and won the Flicker Tale Children's Book Award in 2006. Based on a 2007 online poll, the National Education Association listed the book as one of its "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children".

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<i>Backbeat</i> (film) 1994 film by Iain Softley

Backbeat is a 1994 independent drama film directed by Iain Softley. It chronicles the early days of The Beatles in Hamburg, West Germany. The film focuses primarily on the relationship between Stuart Sutcliffe and John Lennon, and also with Sutcliffe's German girlfriend Astrid Kirchherr. It has subsequently been made into a stage production.

Outcast or Outcasts may refer to:

<i>The Wings of the Dove</i> (1997 film) 1997 film based on the novel by Henry James, directed by Iain Softley

The Wings of the Dove is a 1997 British-American romantic drama film directed by Iain Softley and starring Helena Bonham Carter, Linus Roache, and Alison Elliott. The screenplay by Hossein Amini is based on the 1902 novel of the same name by Henry James. The film was nominated for four Academy Awards and five BAFTAs, recognizing Bonham Carter's performance, the screenplay, the costume design, and the cinematography.

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The Inkheartseries is a succession of four fantasy novels written by German author Cornelia Funke, comprising Inkheart (2003), Inkspell (2005), Inkdeath (2007), and The Colour of Revenge (2023). The books chronicle the adventures of teen Meggie Folchart whose life changes dramatically when she realizes that she and her father, a bookbinder named Mo, have the unusual ability to bring characters from books into the real world when reading aloud. Mostly set in Northern Italy and the parallel world of the fictional Inkheart book, the central story arc concerns the magic of books, their characters and creatures, and the art of reading.

<i>Inkheart</i> (film) 2008 film by Iain Softley

Inkheart is a 2008 fantasy adventure film directed by Iain Softley, produced by Cornelia Funke, Dylan Cuva, Sarah Wang, Ute Leonhardt, Toby Emmerich, Mark Ordesky, Ileen Maisel and Andrew Licht, written by David Lindsay-Abaire, music composed by Javier Navarrete and starring Brendan Fraser, Paul Bettany, Helen Mirren, Jim Broadbent, Andy Serkis, and Eliza Bennett. It is based on Cornelia Funke's 2003 novel of the same name.

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The Shepherd is a 2023 British drama short film written and directed by Iain Softley and starring Ben Radcliffe and John Travolta. Travolta serves as an executive producer of the film. It is based on Frederick Forsyth's 1975 book of the same title. The film was released on Disney+ on December 1, 2023.

Hossein Amini is an Iranian-born British screenwriter and film director. Amini has worked as a screenwriter since the early 1990s. He was nominated for numerous awards for the 1997 film The Wings of the Dove, including an Academy Award for Best Writing – Adapted Screenplay. He also won a "Best Adapted Screenplay" award from the Austin Film Critics Association for his screenplay adaptation of Nicolas Winding Refn's Drive (2011), based on the novel by James Sallis. For his directorial debut, he both wrote and directed The Two Faces of January, an adaptation of the Patricia Highsmith novel.

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References

  1. ↑ "Iain Softley interview: Trap For Cinderella, Hackers & more". Den of Geek. Retrieved 18 July 2017.
  2. ↑ "Iain Softley". IMDb. Retrieved 18 July 2017.
  3. ↑ The Wings of the Dove , retrieved 18 July 2017
  4. ↑ "Universal Begins Principal on THE SKELETON KEY and THE PERFECT MAN - ComingSoon.net". ComingSoon.net. 28 May 2004. Retrieved 18 July 2017.
  5. ↑ "K-PAX tops US box office". The Guardian. 29 October 2001. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 18 July 2017.
  6. ↑ "Iain Softley". Casarotto Ramsay & Associates. Retrieved 18 July 2017.
  7. ↑ "What's On: Backbeat: 09 Feb 2010". Citizens Theatre. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  8. ↑ "Backbeat, Duke of York's Theatre, London". The Independent. 12 October 2011. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  9. ↑ "BACKBEAT: Beatles-Mania in Berlin - Musical1". Musical1 (in German). 2 June 2016. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  10. ↑ McNulty, Charles (1 February 2013). "Review: In 'Backbeat,' it's the Beatles' early, non-fab years". Los Angeles Times. ISSN   0458-3035 . Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  11. ↑ Morrow, Martin (30 July 2012). "Backbeat: A Beatles love story" . Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  12. ↑ Lodderhose, Diana (19 October 2016). "Archery Pictures, Forthcoming Films & Start Motion Pictures Developing Mike Foale Feature 'Icarus'". Deadline. Retrieved 18 July 2017.
  13. ↑ "Playhouse Presents - S1 - Episode 9: Playhouse Presents: The Man". Radio Times. Retrieved 18 July 2017.
  14. ↑ "BBC One: The Outcast: Episode 1 credits". BBC. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
  15. ↑ Raeside, Julia (13 July 2015). "The Outcast review – 'I feared for Sadie Jones's adaptation of her perfect novel – but it is excellent'". The Guardian . London. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
  16. ↑ Tangcay, Jazz (11 October 2023). "'The Shepherd' Trailer: John Travolta Is a Mysterious RAF Rescue Pilot in Alfonso Cuarón-Produced Drama (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
  17. ↑ Whittock, Jesse (5 December 2022). "'Chivalry' Producer Richard Johns Launches Argo Films With John Travolta Disney+ Short 'The Shepherd'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
  18. ↑ "Forthcoming Productions". BFI. Archived from the original on 7 November 2017. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  19. ↑ Lodderhose, Diana (19 October 2016). "Archery Pictures, Forthcoming Films & Start Motion Pictures Developing Mike Foale Feature Icarus". Deadline. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  20. ↑ Robert, Christina (4 November 2012). "How I make it work: Sarah Curtis". The Sunday Times. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 13 October 2013.
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