Joe Wright | |
|---|---|
 Wright in 2015 | |
| Born | Joseph Wright 25 August 1972 London, England |
| Occupation | Film director |
| Years active | 1997–present |
| Spouse | |
| Partner(s) | Haley Bennett (2017–present) |
| Children | 3 |
Joseph Wright (born 25 August 1972) is an English film director. His motion pictures include adaptations of Pride & Prejudice (2005), Atonement (2007), Anna Karenina (2012), and Cyrano (2021), the action thriller Hanna (2011), the Peter Pan origin story Pan (2015) [1] and Darkest Hour (2017). [2]
Wright always had an interest in the arts, especially painting. [3] He also made films on his Super 8 camera and spent time in the evenings acting in a drama club. Wright is dyslexic. He went to Islington Green Secondary School, but left without any GCSEs. [4]
He began his career working at his parents' puppet theatre, the Little Angel Theatre in Islington. 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 [5] where he was tutored by Malcolm Le Grice and Vera Neubauer. In his last year of studies he received a scholarship to make a short film for the BBC that won several awards.
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, he also worked part-time as a roadie for Vegetable Vision, who created visuals for electronic music bands such as Chemical Brothers, Darren Emerson, Underworld and Andrew Weatherall. Wright attributes some of the aesthetic and emotion of the UK rave scene as an influence on his work. [6]
On the success of his first short film, Wright was offered the script for the serial Nature Boy (2000). [7]
He followed this up with the serials Bodily Harm (2002) with Timothy Spall and the highly acclaimed Charles II: The Power and the Passion (2003) with Rufus Sewell, which won the BAFTA Award for Best Drama Serial.
In 2022, Wright began directing an eight-part adaptation of the bestselling novel M: Son of the Century, a historical novel by Antonio Scurati recounting the rise of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. [8]
In 2023, Wright was developing an adaptation for HBO of the bestselling non-fiction book Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of a Great American Fortune about heiress Huguette Clark, daughter of copper baron and United States Senator William A. Clark. [9]
In 2005, Wright made the transition to feature films with his critically acclaimed adaptation of Pride & Prejudice starring Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen. It received numerous accolades, nominations and awards, including four Academy Award nominations (including Best Actress) and six BAFTA nominations (Wright won for Most Promising Newcomer).
Wright's next feature was an adaptation of Ian McEwan's Booker Prize-shortlisted novel Atonement (2007), which reunited Wright with Keira Knightley, and also stars James McAvoy and Saoirse Ronan. It was nominated for seven Golden Globe Awards, more than any other film that year. Though Wright 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 won Best Film and Best Production Design.
Wright's next film was The Soloist, starring 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." [10] It was to be released on 21 November 2008, but was pushed back to 24 April 2009.
Wright reunited with Atonement star Saoirse Ronan for the 2011 action thriller Hanna. The title character is a 15-year-old girl trained since birth to be an assassin by her father (Eric Bana), a rogue CIA asset. It received mostly positive reviews, with Roger Ebert calling it a "first-rate thriller". [11] It received an aggregate score of 65 from Metacritic ("generally positive" reviews). [12]
Wright directed the 2012 screen adaptation by Sir Tom Stoppard 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. [13] [14] Saoirse Ronan and Andrea Riseborough were initially cast, but dropped out and were replaced by Alicia Vikander and Ruth Wilson, respectively. [15] [16] [17]
Wright then directed the 2015 prequel to Peter Pan for Warner Bros. The film starred Hugh Jackman, Garrett Hedlund, Rooney Mara, Amanda Seyfried and Levi Miller as Peter. The screenplay by actor-turned-screenwriter Jason Fuchs was from the 2013 Hollywood Black List, a selection of popular unproduced scripts. [18] The film was negatively received by critics and was considered a commercial flop, failing to recoup its budget at the box office. [19] [20] Rooney Mara's casting as Tiger Lily caused a controversy, due to her being of European ancestry, while Tiger Lily is traditionally portrayed as Native American. [21]
Wright's 2017 film Darkest Hour covers a pivotal month in the life of former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. It stars Gary Oldman as Churchill, along with Ben Mendelsohn, Ronald Pickup, David Schofield, Kristin Scott Thomas, Samuel West and Lily James. [22] Wright said the film was a rebuke to Donald Trump. [23]
Wright won a BAFTA award for best newcomer for Pride & Prejudice and was the youngest director to have a film open the Venice Film Festival with Atonement. [24] 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 five-minute and five second shot of the Dunkirk evacuation. "Basically, I just like showing off", Wright told the audience at the Hay Festival. [25]
After meeting on the set of Pride & Prejudice , Wright began a relationship with actress Rosamund Pike. They were engaged from 2007 to 2008. [26] [27]
Wright was married to British-American sitarist Anoushka Shankar from 2010 until 2019. [28] They have two sons, Zubin and Mohan, born in 2011 and 2015. [29] [30] They separated in December 2017 and their divorce was finalized in September 2019 as a judge concluded that Wright had committed adultery and that his wife found living with him "intolerable". [31] [32]
Since 2017, Wright has been in a relationship with American actress Haley Bennett. Their daughter was born in 2018 in Brooklyn Heights. [33] [34] [35] As of 2019, the family resides in the UK in Somerset. [36]
Short film
Director
| Year | Title | Distribution |
|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Pride & Prejudice | Focus Features / Universal Pictures |
| 2007 | Atonement | Universal Pictures |
| 2009 | The Soloist | Paramount Pictures / Universal Pictures |
| 2011 | Hanna | Focus Features / Sony Pictures Releasing |
| 2012 | Anna Karenina | Focus Features |
| 2015 | Pan | Warner Bros. Pictures |
| 2017 | Darkest Hour | Focus Features / Universal Pictures |
| 2021 | The Woman in the Window | Netflix |
| Cyrano | United Artists Releasing / Universal Pictures |
Executive producer
| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Nature Boy | Miniseries |
| 2001 | Bob & Rose | 4 episodes |
| 2002 | Bodily Harm | Miniseries |
| 2003 | Charles II: The Power and the Passion | Television film |
| 2016 | Black Mirror | Episode "Nosedive" |
| 2024 | The Agency | Upcoming; 2 episodes |
| 2025 | M. Son of the Century [37] | Director |
| Year | Title | Academy Awards | BAFTA Awards | Golden Globe Awards | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominations | Wins | Nominations | Wins | Nominations | Wins | ||
| 2005 | Pride & Prejudice | 4 | 6 | 1 | 2 | ||
| 2007 | Atonement | 7 | 1 | 14 | 2 | 7 | 2 |
| 2012 | Anna Karenina | 4 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 1 | |
| 2017 | Darkest Hour | 6 | 2 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 2021 | Cyrano | 1 | 4 | 2 | |||
| Total | 22 | 4 | 39 | 6 | 13 | 3 | |
| Year | Title | Award | Category | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Pride & Prejudice | BAFTA Awards | Most Promising Newcomer | Won |
| Boston Society of Film Critics | Best New Filmmaker | Won | ||
| Chicago Film Critics Association | Most Promising Filmmaker | Nominated | ||
| Empire Awards | Best Director | Nominated | ||
| London Film Critics' Circle | British Newcomer of the Year | Nominated | ||
| 2007 | Atonement | BAFTA Awards | Best Direction | Nominated |
| Broadcast Film Critics Association | Best Director | Nominated | ||
| Golden Globe Awards | Best Director | Nominated | ||
| London Film Critics' Circle | Best Director | Nominated | ||
| Southeastern Film Critics Association Awards | Best Director | Nominated | ||
| Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association | Best Director | Nominated | ||
| 2021 | The Woman in the Window | Golden Raspberry Awards | Worst Director | Nominated |
Directed Academy Award performances
| Year | Performer | Film | Result | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Academy Award for Best Actor | |||||||
| 2018 | Gary Oldman | Darkest Hour | Won | ||||
| Academy Award for Best Actress | |||||||
| 2006 | Keira Knightley | Pride & Prejudice | Nominated | ||||
| Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress | |||||||
| 2008 | Saoirse Ronan | Atonement | Nominated | ||||
Keira Christina Knightley is an English actress. Known for her work in independent films and blockbusters, particularly period dramas, she has received numerous accolades, including nominations for two Academy Awards, two BAFTAs, three Golden Globes, and a Laurence Olivier Award. In 2018, she was appointed an OBE at Buckingham Palace for services to drama and charity.
Anoushka Hemangini Shankar is a British-American sitar player and musician of Indian descent, as well as occasional writer. She performs across multiple genres and styles—classical and contemporary, acoustic and electronic. In addition to releasing seven solo studio albums beginning with Anoushka (1998), she has also worked alongside a wide variety of musicians, including Karsh Kale on the full-length collaboration Breathing Under Water (2007) and her father Ravi Shankar. She has received eleven Grammy Awards nominations and was the first musician of Indian origin to perform live and to serve as a presenter at the ceremony. She was the youngest and first woman to receive a British House of Commons Shield.
Pride & Prejudice is a 2005 historical romantic drama film directed by Joe Wright, in his feature directorial debut, and based on Jane Austen's 1813 novel. The film features five sisters from an English family of landed gentry as they deal with issues of marriage, morality, and misconceptions. Keira Knightley stars as Elizabeth Bennet, while Matthew Macfadyen plays Mr Darcy, who falls in love with her.
Dario Marianelli is an Italian composer.
Atonement is a 2007 romantic war drama film directed by Joe Wright and starring James McAvoy, Keira Knightley, Saoirse Ronan, Romola Garai, and Vanessa Redgrave. It is based on the 2001 novel by Ian McEwan. The film chronicles a crime and its consequences over six decades, beginning in the 1930s. It was produced for StudioCanal and filmed in England. Distributed in most of the world by Universal Studios, it was released theatrically in the United Kingdom on 7 September 2007 and in North America exactly three months later on 7 December 2007.
Seamus McGarvey, ASC, BSC is a cinematographer from Armagh, Northern Ireland. He lives in Tuscany, Italy.
Coco Mademoiselle is a women's perfume by French fashion house Chanel, introduced in 2001 for younger consumers. The fragrance was created by Jacques Polge, the nose of Chanel from 1978 to 2015.
Saoirse Una Ronan is an American-born Irish actress. Primarily known for her work in period dramas since adolescence, she has received various accolades, including a Golden Globe Award, in addition to nominations for four Academy Awards and five British Academy Film Awards.
Sarah Greenwood is a British production designer.
Katie Spencer is a British set decorator.
The 2008 Evening Standard British Film Awards, held on 4 February 2008 honoured the best British and Irish films of 2007.
Cut is a British advertising campaign launched in 2009 by the charitable organisation Women's Aid to promote awareness of domestic violence. The campaign was created by advertising agency Grey London, and centres on a 120-second commercial starring Keira Knightley. The commercial was supported by poster and online components. Cut was directed by Joe Wright and produced by Dominic Delaney. Post-production work was handled by Big Buoy and Prime Focus. The campaign drew a significant amount of media attention, especially after advertising approval body Clearcast prohibited the short film from appearing on even post-watershed television, due to several particularly violent scenes. The title of the piece refers to the filmmaking practice of cutting.
The 28th London Film Critics Circle Awards, honouring the best in film for 2007, were announced by the London Film Critics Circle on 8 February 2008.
Hanna is a 2011 action thriller film directed by Joe Wright. The film stars Saoirse Ronan as the titular character, a girl raised in the wilderness of northern Finland by her father, an ex-CIA operative, who trains her as an assassin. Cate Blanchett portrays a senior CIA agent who tries to track down and eliminate the girl and her father. The soundtrack was written by The Chemical Brothers.
Anna Karenina is a 2012 historical romantic drama film directed by Joe Wright. Adapted by Tom Stoppard from Leo Tolstoy's 1878 novel, the film depicts the tragedy of Russian aristocrat and socialite Anna Karenina, wife of senior statesman Alexei Karenin, and her affair with the affluent cavalry officer Count Vronsky. Keira Knightley stars as the titular character; this is her third collaboration with director Joe Wright following Pride & Prejudice (2005) and Atonement (2007). Jude Law and Aaron Taylor-Johnson appear as Karenin and Vronsky, respectively. Matthew Macfadyen, Kelly Macdonald, Domhnall Gleeson, and Alicia Vikander appear in key supporting roles.
Traces of You is the seventh studio album by British-American sitarist Anoushka Shankar. It was released on 4 October 2013 through Deutsche Grammophon. The album, which is Shankar's first release since her 2011 Grammy-nominated album Traveller, was produced by British composer and multi-instrumentalist Nitin Sawhney. Traces of You features vocals by Norah Jones, Shankar's half-sister, on three tracks. In December 2014, the album was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best World Music Album category.
Keira Knightley wore a green dress in the 2007 romantic war drama film Atonement. The garment was created by costume designer Jacqueline Durran with director Joe Wright, and is worn during the film's climactic scene. The dress, combining period and modern elements, was praised by media publications upon Atonement's release, and is regarded as a standout in film fashion.
Anna Karenina (Original Music from the Motion Picture) is the soundtrack album composed by Dario Marianelli for the 2012 film Anna Karenina by Joe Wright. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Score, Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score, and BAFTA Award for Best Original Music.
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