Michael Radford | |
---|---|
Born | New Delhi, British India | 24 February 1946
Nationality | British |
Alma mater | Worcester College National Film and Television School |
Occupation(s) | Film director, screenwriter, television writer |
Spouse(s) | Iseult Teran (1990–1997) Emma Tweed (2006 –present) |
Children | 3 |
Awards | 1996 BAFTA Award for Best Direction , Il Postino: The Postman 1996 BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language , Il Postino: The Postman |
Michael James Radford (born 24 February 1946) is an English film director and screenwriter. [1] He began his career as a documentary director and television comedy writer before transitioning into features in the early 1980s.
His best-known credits include the 1984 film adaptation of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four starring John Hurt and Richard Burton (in his final role), the Shakespeare adaptation The Merchant of Venice , the true crime drama White Mischief , and the 1994 Italian-language comedy drama Il Postino: The Postman , for which he won the BAFTA Awards for Best Direction and Best Film Not in the English Language, and earned Academy Award nominations for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay.
Radford was born on 24 February 1946, in New Delhi, India, to a British father and an Austrian Jewish mother. He was educated at Bedford School before attending Worcester College, Oxford. After teaching for a few years, he went to the National Film and Television School, becoming a student there in its inaugural year.
Between 1976 and 1982, Radford worked as a documentary film maker, mostly on projects for the BBC, covering subjects such as Scottish islanders on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides who believe in the literal truth of the Bible: The Last Stronghold of the Pure Gospel; the soprano Isobel Buchanan: La Belle Isobel; the singer songwriter Van Morrison: Van Morrison in Ireland ; and the self-explanatory The Making of The Pirates of Penzance . On the last two of these Radford worked with the cinematographer Roger Deakins, who would later shoot two of Radford's feature films; Nineteen Eighty-Four and White Mischief . Another notable early work was Another Time, Another Place (1983), a feature film set in Scotland during World War II and centred on a love story between a local woman and an Italian POW.
Radford came to international attention with Nineteen Eighty-Four , his adaptation of George Orwell's novel 1984 , starring John Hurt as Winston Smith, and in which Richard Burton gave his final film performance. [2] The film was made in the time and place (London, April–June 1984) at which the book was set.
Radford's next film, released in 1987, was White Mischief , a period drama set in Kenya during the 1940s. [2] Radford again wrote the screenplay, an adaptation of the novel by James Fox also called White Mischief.
Michael Radford is most widely known as the writer and director of the 1994 film Il Postino: The Postman , which Radford adapted from the novel Ardiente Paciencia by Antonio Skármeta. [1] The massive international success of the film (for many years it was the largest grossing non-English language film ever made) led to international acclaim for Radford and the star of the film Massimo Troisi. Tragically Troisi died, aged 41, the day after the filming of Il Postino was completed. The film won many international film awards including the 'Best Film Not in the English Language' BAFTA for Radford, who was also nominated for the Best Director and Adapted Screenplay Academy Awards.
In 2000, Radford's film Dancing at the Blue Iguana was released. [2] In a departure from his more usual development technique, namely adapting novels, this film was largely improvised, although Radford shared the screenwriting credit with David Linter.
In 2004, Radford directed The Merchant of Venice (2004). [2] He adapted the William Shakespeare play (see: Shakespearean comedies), and the film stars Al Pacino as Shylock and Jeremy Irons as Antonio. [2] In 2007, he reunited Demi Moore and Michael Caine (who had already been together in 1984 for Blame it on Rio ) in Flawless , a diamond heist story set in 1960. [2] His most recent film is Elsa & Fred (2014), a romantic comedy starring Shirley MacLaine and Christopher Plummer.
Radford directed his first play in 2000, a West End production of The Seven Year Itch . This was an adaptation of Billy Wilder's 1955 film starring Marilyn Monroe.
Radford has a son, Felix (born 1991), from his first marriage to Iseult Teran. He also has a daughter, Amaryllis (born 2005), and a son, Linus (born 2010), with his current wife Emma Tweed.
In addition to English (his first language), he speaks fluent Spanish, French, Italian, and some Mandarin.
In September 2013, he took part in the Clipper Round the World Sailing Race, in which he raced one of 12 identical 70-foot racing yachts from London to Rio. [3]
Year | Title | Functioned as | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Director | Writer | |||
1979 | Everyman | Yes | Yes | Episodes: "The Last Stronghold of the Pure Gospel" & "La Belle Isobel" |
Scotch and Wry | No | Yes | 3 episodes | |
1976–77 | Omnibus | Yes | No | Episodes: "Unita" & "The Madonna and the Volcano" |
1980 | The Two Ronnies | No | Yes | 3 episodes |
The White Bird Passes | Yes | Yes | Television film | |
1981 | A Kick Up the Eighties | No | Yes | 5 episodes [5] |
Three of a Kind | No | Yes | 3 episodes [5] | |
1981–82 | Crackerjack! | No | Yes | 10 episodes [5] |
1982 | The Late, Late Breakfast Show | No | Yes | 11 episodes [5] |
1996 | Homicide: Life on the Street | Yes | No | Episode: "Justice: Part 1" |
Year | Association | Category | Work | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|
1983 | Taormina Film Fest | Golden Charybdis | Another Time, Another Place | Won |
1985 | Fantasporto | International Fantasy Film Award | Nineteen Eighty-Four | Nominated |
International Istanbul Film Festival | Golden Tulip | Won | ||
London Evening Standard | Best Film | Won | ||
1986 | Accademia del Cinema Italiano | Best Foreign Film | Another Time, Another Place | Nominated |
1995 | Ciak | Best Film | Il Postino: The Postman | Won |
Rome Foreign Press Association | Best Film | Nominated | ||
Los Angeles Film Critics Association | Best Foreign Language Film | Nominated | ||
São Paulo International Film Festival | Best Feature | Won | ||
1996 | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences | Best Director | Nominated | |
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences | Best Adapted Screenplay | Nominated | ||
Norwegian International Film Festival | Best Foreign Feature Film | Won | ||
London Film Critics' Circle | British Director of the Year | Won | ||
British Academy of Film and Television Arts | Best Adapted Screenplay | Nominated | ||
Best Direction | Won | |||
Best Film Not in the English Language | Won | |||
Argentine Film Critics Association | Best Foreign Film | Won | ||
Directors Guild of America | Outstanding Directorial Achievements in Motion Pictures | Nominated | ||
Radio Nacional de España | Best Foreign Film | Won | ||
Radio Nacional de España | Rosa de Sant Jordi Audience Award | Won | ||
1997 | Académie des Lumières | Best Foreign Film | Won | |
Danish Film Academy | Best Foreign Film | Won | ||
Kinema Junpo | Best Foreign Language Film | Won | ||
2004 | London Film Critics' Circle | British Director of the Year | The Merchant of Venice | Nominated |
2005 | Accademia del Cinema Italiano | Best European Film | Nominated | |
2012 | Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma | Best Documentary Film | Michel Petrucciani | Nominated |
2014 | Bari International Film Festival | Platinum Award for Cinematic Excellence | — | Won |
Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival | International Audience Choice Award | Elsa & Fred | Won | |
2017 | El Gouna Film Festival | Golden Star – Feature Narrative Competition | The Music of Silence | Nominated |
Montecarlo Film Festival | Career Award | — | Won |
Il Postino: The Postman is a 1994 comedy-drama film co-written by and starring Massimo Troisi and directed by English filmmaker Michael Radford. Based on the 1985 novel Ardiente paciencia by Antonio Skármeta, itself adapted from a 1983 film written and directed by Skármeta, the film tells a fictional story in which the real life Chilean poet Pablo Neruda forms a friendship with a simple Procida postman (Troisi) who learns to love poetry. The cast includes Troisi, Philippe Noiret, and Maria Grazia Cucinotta. The screenplay was adapted by Radford, Troisi, Anna Pavignano, Furio Scarpelli, and Giacomo Scarpelli.
Massimo Troisi was an Italian actor, cabaret performer, comedian, screenwriter and film director. He is best known for his works in the films I'm Starting back from Three (1981) and Il Postino: The Postman (1994), for which he was posthumously nominated for two Oscars. Nicknamed "the comedian of feelings", he is considered one of the most important actors of Italian theater and cinema.
Lee Hall is an English writer and lyricist. He is best known for writing the screenplay for the film Billy Elliot (2000) and the book and lyrics for its adaptation as a stage musical of the same name. In addition, he wrote the play The Pitmen Painters (2007), and the screenplays for the films War Horse and Rocketman (2019).
Nineteen Eighty-Four is a British television adaptation of the 1949 novel of the same name by George Orwell, originally broadcast on BBC Television in December 1954. The production proved to be hugely controversial, with questions asked in Parliament and many viewer complaints over its supposed subversive nature and horrific content. It starred Peter Cushing, Yvonne Mitchell, Donald Pleasence and André Morell.
Julia is a fictional character in George Orwell's 1949 dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. Her last name is not revealed in the novel, but she is called Dixon in the 1954 BBC TV production.
1984 is a 1956 British black-and-white science fiction film, based on the 1949 novel Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell, depicting a totalitarian future of a dystopian society. The film followed a previous Westinghouse Studio One adaptation and a BBC-TV made-for-TV adaptation. 1984 was directed by Michael Anderson and starring Edmond O'Brien as protagonist Winston Smith, and featured Donald Pleasence, Jan Sterling, and Michael Redgrave.
1984 (For the Love of Big Brother) is a soundtrack album by the British pop duo Eurythmics. Released on 12 November 1984 by Virgin Records, it was the duo's fourth album overall and contains music recorded by Eurythmics for the film Nineteen Eighty-Four, based on George Orwell's dystopian novel of the same name. Virgin Films produced the film for release in its namesake year, and commissioned Eurythmics to compose a soundtrack.
The 1st Critics' Choice Movie Awards were presented on January 22, 1996, honoring the finest achievements of 1995 filmmaking.
The 49th British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTAs, took place on 23 April 1996 at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London, honouring the best national and foreign films of 1995. Presented by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, accolades were handed out for the best feature-length film and documentaries of any nationality that were screened at British cinemas in 1995.
A postman is a mail carrier, a person delivering post.
George Orwell's 1949 dystopian political novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, has been adapted for the cinema, radio, television, theatre, opera and ballet.
Mario Cecchi Gori was an Italian film producer and owner of companies. He produced over 200 films, notably with Damiano Damiani, Dino Risi and Ettore Scola.
Nineteen Eighty-Four is a 1984 dystopian film written and directed by Michael Radford, based upon George Orwell's 1949 novel. Starring John Hurt, Richard Burton, Suzanna Hamilton, and Cyril Cusack, the film follows the life of Winston Smith (Hurt), a low-ranking civil servant in a war-torn London ruled by Oceania, a totalitarian superstate. Smith struggles to maintain his sanity and his grip on reality as the regime's overwhelming power and influence persecutes individualism and individual thinking on both a political and personal level.
Nineteen Eighty-Four is a dystopian novel and cautionary tale by English writer George Orwell. It was published on 8 June 1949 by Secker & Warburg as Orwell's ninth and final book completed in his lifetime. Thematically, it centres on the consequences of totalitarianism, mass surveillance, and repressive regimentation of people and behaviours within society. Orwell, a staunch believer in democratic socialism and member of the anti-Stalinist Left, modelled the Britain under authoritarian socialism in the novel on the Soviet Union in the era of Stalinism and on the very similar practices of both censorship and propaganda in Nazi Germany. More broadly, the novel examines the role of truth and facts within societies and the ways in which they can be manipulated.
Roberto Perpignani is an Italian film editor.
The Robert Award for Best Non-English Language Film, previously named the Robert Award for Best Non-American Film until 2018, is an award presented by the Danish Film Academy at the annual Robert Awards ceremony. The award has been handed out since 1997. Between 1984 and 1996 a Robert Award for Best Foreign Film was handed out.
O'Brien is a fictional character and the main antagonist in George Orwell's 1949 novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. The protagonist Winston Smith, living in a dystopian society governed by the Party, feels strangely drawn to Inner Party member O'Brien. Orwell never reveals O'Brien's first name. The name indicates that O'Brien is of Irish origin, but this background is never shown to have any significance.
Anna Pavignano is an Italian screenwriter born in 1955 in Borgomanero. She is best known for her screenplay for the film Il Postino: The Postman and I'm Starting from Three. She was the partner in life and career of Massimo Troisi from 1977 to 1987.
Il Postino is an opera in three acts by Daniel Catán with a Spanish libretto by the composer. Based on the novel Ardiente paciencia by Antonio Skármeta and the film Il Postino by Michael Radford, the work contains elements of drama and comedy, integrating themes of love and friendship along with political and spiritual conflict. The opera premiered at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion by Los Angeles Opera on 23 September 2010.
Massimo Troisi: Somebody Down There Likes Me is a 2023 Italian documentary film co-written and directed by Mario Martone. The documentary film is a Mario Martone's personal journey in Massimo Troisi's cinema. By assembling the scenes of his films, Martone wants to highlight Troisi as a great director of our cinema even before being a great comic actor. It was selected at the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival in Berlinale Special, where it had its world premiere on 17 February 2023. It was released in cinemas on 23 February 2023.