Otto Bathurst

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Otto Bathurst
Otto Bathurst.png
Bathurst in 2015
Born
Otto Benjamin Charles Bathurst [1]

(1971-01-18) 18 January 1971 (age 53) [1]
Hammersmith, London England [2]
Occupations
  • Television director
  • film director
ChildrenThree [3]

Otto Benjamin Charles Bathurst (born 18 January 1971) [1] is a British television and film director. In 2014, he won a BAFTA for his work on BBC drama Peaky Blinders . [4] [5] He was also previously BAFTA nominated for his work on BBC series Criminal Justice and Five Days . [6]

Contents

Early life

Bathurst was born on 18 January 1971, [1] the son of Elizabeth Mary (Thompson) [7] and Christopher Bathurst, 3rd Viscount Bledisloe. [8] He grew up in Dudley and Bridgnorth. [9] He began to study engineering at university, but dropped out to move to London and work in film. [9]

Family life

Bathurst lives in Somerset, England. He has three children, the first, Eric, was born in 2006 and the second, Ursula, in 2008. [10] [11] The Bathurst family has resided in the town of Bath, Somerset since 2013, [3] [12] [11] Otto enjoys cooking and his favourite restaurant serves classic Indian cuisine. [13]

The Bathursts are followers of the “socially dangerous” Universal Medicine cult and dedicated to its leader, Serge Banhayon’s teachings. [14] [10] [12] [15] Based in Frome, Somerset, the sect is reportedly popular with middle-class professionals and in 2019 it was ruled as a "socially harmful cult" by the Supreme Court of New South Wales. The Times reported that Bathurst "is the best known of the group's British adherents" and first identified him as a follower. [16] [14]

Career

Bathurst began his career in editing and then worked on commercials, before moving into television. [17] He has taught filmmaking at Oxford and London universities. [15]

In 2009, Bathurst directed Margot, a biopic of Margot Fonteyn starring Anne-Marie Duff, which focused upon the relationship between Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev. [18]

In 2011, he directed "The National Anthem", the first episode of the anthology television series Black Mirror . [19]

He has also directed episodes of Urban Gothic , Teachers , and Hustle . In 2013, he was described by Express & Star as "Britain's most exciting director". [9]

In 2018, he made his feature film directorial debut with Robin Hood . [20] It starred Jamie Dornan as Will Scarlett, Jamie Foxx as Little John, Tim Minchin as Friar Tuck, Eve Hewson as Maid Marian, and Taron Egerton as the eponymous hero. [21] The film was universally panned [22] and was estimated to have lost the studio US$83.7 million. [23]

Filmography

Feature film

Television

YearTitleNotes
2000-2001 Urban Gothic 4 episodes
2003 Teachers 3 episodes
2005-2006 Hustle 4 episodes
2007 Five Days 3 episodes
2008 Criminal Justice 3 episodes
2009MargotTV movie
2011 Black Mirror Episode "The National Anthem"
2013 Peaky Blinders 3 episodes
2014HysteriaUnaired pilot
2019 His Dark Materials Episodes "Armour" and "The Lost Boy";
Also executive producer
2022 Billy the Kid 2 episodes
2022–present Halo 4 episodes

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