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John BoormanJohn Boorman, is a five time Oscar nominated filmmaker, who was born in Epsom, England on January 18th, 1933, and grew up in a household dominated by women - as demonstrated in his semi-autobiographical movie, HOPE AND GLORY. Boorman was lured into the world of cinema as a youngster, and in 1956, he was hired as an apprentice film editor at ITN. He made his directorial debut in 1965 with CATCH US IF YOU CAN, a film featuring the music group The Dave Clark Five. Following this, he made a documentary on silent film pioneer D. W. Griffith for the BBC. In 1967 he went to Hollywood to make his first major film for MGM, POINT BLANK, starring Lee Marvin. POINT BLANK was shot by the veteran Hollywood cameraman Philip Lapthrop, and was heavily influenced by Alain Resnais' experimental cutting style. In retrospect, it's amazing this existential gangster film was made at all, given it's experimental approach, but Marvin gave the unknown director (at the time) his full support, telling MGM he deferred all his approvals on the project to Boorman. Marvin was also cast in Boorman's next film, HELL IN THE PACIFIC, along with the great Japanese star, Toshiro Mifune. This beautifully photographed war film, set in a deserted south seas island during WW II, was shot by cinematographer Conrad Hall who was the second of a long line of top-notch cameramen who were to establish Boorman as one of the great visual stylists of the cinema. With each of his subsequent films, Boorman would usually experiment with a different cameraman on creating lavish photography for whatever the mood of his subject demanded (Vilmos Zsigmond on DELIVERANCE, Geoffrey Unsworth on ZARDOZ, William Fraker for the EXORCIST 2, Philippe Rousselot on THE EMERALD FOREST, and John Seale on BEYOND RANGOON). In 1999, Boorman won the "Best Director" award at the Cannes Film Festival. He lives in Annamoe, Ireland, very close to the famous Glendalough twin lakes and the Round Tower mentioned my Yeats in poetry. Filmography - 1965 CATCH US IF YOU CAN (WB)
- 1967 Point Blank (MGM) Panavision
- 1969 HELL IN THE PACIFIC (CRC) Panavision
- 1970 LEO THE LAST (UA)
- 1972 Deliverance (WB) Panavision
- 1974 Zardoz (Fox) Panavision
- 1977 (WB)
- 1981 Excalibur (Orion/WB)
- 1985 THE EMERALD FOREST (Embassy) Panavision
- 1987 Hope and Glory (Columbia)
- 1990 WHERE THE HEART IS (Touchstone)
- 1991 I DREAMT I WOKE UP (Merlin Films/BBC)
- 1995 TWO NUDES BATHING (Short)
- 1995 BEYOND RANGOON (Castle Rock/Col.) Panavision
- 1998 THE GENERAL (Sony Classics) Panavision
- 1998 LEE MARVIN: A Personal Portrait (AMC)
- 2001 The Tailor of Panama (Columbia) Panavision
- 2005 IN MY COUNTRY / COUNTRY OF MY SKULL (Sony Classics)
References - That's all, folks An article in The Guardian by Boorman arguing that the current Hollywood studio system promotes mediocrity and is unsustainable..
*Excerpt from autobiography Adventures of a Suburban Boy recounting Boorman's contact with Lee Marvin.
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