Mike Newell (Director)

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Mike Newell at WonderCon 2010

Michael Cormac Newell (born March 28, 1942 in St Albans , Hertfordshire ) is a British director and film producer .

life and work

After graduating from St Albans School, Newell attended the University of Cambridge . He began his directorial career in the 1960s with the British television station Granada Television . It was only at the age of 38 that he switched to the cinema business. Five years and two films later, he attracted attention with the critically acclaimed Dance with a Stranger , a biographical drama starring Miranda Richardson as Ruth Ellis , the last woman to be hanged in Britain. For his directorial success he won the Prix ​​de la jeunesse at the Cannes International Film Festival in 1985.

Newell continued his cinematic success with Enchanted April , a 1922 adaptation of Elizabeth von Arnim's novella Enchanted April . Miranda Richardson won a Golden Globe Award for best actress in a comedy or musical , and Joan Plowright won for best female Supporting role .

The comedy Four Weddings and a Funeral was also critically acclaimed and won numerous awards including a César (Best Foreign Film), two BAFTA Awards (Best Picture, Director), a Golden Globes (Best Actor: Hugh Grant ) and several London awards Critics Circle Film Awards (Director, Film, Production, and Screenplay).

Since that successful film, Newell has made several Hollywood films, none of which have been able to repeat the success. He directed Donnie Brasco (with Al Pacino and Johnny Depp ), Turbulence - and Other Disasters (with John Cusack , Billy Bob Thornton , Cate Blanchett and Angelina Jolie ) and Mona Lisa's Smile (with Julia Roberts , Kirsten Dunst and Julia Stiles ). In 2003 he accepted an offer to direct Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire , the fourth film in the hit Harry Potter series. Ironically, he is the first British director of the series, which is based on the books by Scottish author Joanne K. Rowling and has an almost entirely British cast ( Chris Columbus is American and Alfonso Cuarón is Mexican).

In 2010, Newell's video game adaptation Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time was released . The film is based on the game of the same name from the popular video game series Prince of Persia . The leading roles are played by Jake Gyllenhaal and Gemma Arterton .

In December 2012, Newell's next film Great Expectations (with Helena Bonham Carter and Ralph Fiennes ) was released in German cinemas, based on the novel Great Expectations by Charles Dickens . Filming for Reykjavik should begin in 2013 . The film was supposed to be about the peace talks between the USA and Russia during the Cold War, which took place in 1986. Newell and producer Ridley Scott have won Michael Douglas as Ronald Reagan and Christoph Waltz as Michail Gorbatschow for the leading roles . Baltasar Kormákur was later associated with the film as a director, but has not appeared to this day.

Filmography (selection)

Awards

  • 1985 Prix ​​de la Jeunesse at the Cannes International Film Festival
  • 1995 BAFTA Award for Best Director in the Film Four Weddings and a Death (David Lean Award for Direction)
  • 1995 London Critics Circle Film Awards for Best Director

Web links

Commons : Mike Newell (director)  - collection of images

Individual evidence

  1. ^ "Great Expectations": gloomy trailer for the adaptation of the novel with Helena Bonham Carter , Filmstarts.de. August 14, 2012. Retrieved October 18, 2012. 
  2. ↑ Christoph Waltz plays Michail Gorbatschow , Kinofilme.com. October 15, 2012. Retrieved October 18, 2012. 
  3. ↑ Reykjavik | Film 2021. In: Moviepilot.de. Retrieved March 6, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Newell, Mike
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Newell, Michael Cormac
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British director
DATE OF BIRTH March 28, 1942
PLACE OF BIRTH St Albans , Hertfordshire , England