Jon AmielBirth Place: London, England, UK Date of Birth: May 20, 1948 Heritage: British Contact Jon Amiel |
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Queen of Hearts Background: “My work in the theater primarily taught me how to work with actors. It gave me a lot of working with actors and an understanding of their process. Strange as it may seem, there are a large number of film directors that know nothing about working with actors, and many film directors don't even like actors that much. So I think my work in theater gave me that.” Jon Amiel A British-born film director and producer who got his career start at the London stage, Jon Amiel first gained prominence as a triumphant director of TV dramas thanks to his celebrated work on the documentary “The Silent Twins” (1985) and the highly successful miniseries “The Singing Detective” (1986). The latter musical/mystery/drama won the director not only a 1987 BAFTA nomination, but also an international recognition. Amiel made an eminent transformation to feature film with “Queen of Hearts” (1989), which won him the Montréal World Film Festival's First Film Prize and the Grand Prix at the Paris Film Festival. His U.S. debut, “Tune in Tomorrow” (1990), took home two awards at the Deauville Film Festival. Amiel has since directed such movies as the Jodie Foster and Richard Gere hit period drama “Sommersby” (1993), the thriller “Copycat” (1995, nabbed an Audience Award at the Cognac Festival du Film Policie), the crime/comedy “The Man Who Knew Too Little” (1997), the romantic caper “Entrapment” (1999) and the sci-fi/adventure “The Core” (2003). He resurfaced on TV during 2005 to 2007 by helming the short-lived series ““Eyes” and episodes of “Reunion” and “The Wedding Bells.” Moviegoers should not miss Amiel's comeback in 2008 with the British comedy “Angel Maker,” whose stars including the Oscar darling Helen Mirren. Amiel has mentioned “Midnight's Children” as his favorite book because “it is an impressive roller-coaster ride of a novel, funny, profound and very moving,” and “Fawlty Towers!,” a BBC comedy show popularized by John Cleese, as his favorite TV program. As for music, he is a fan of Keith Jarrett's famously favorable “Cologne Concert,” Faure's hauntingly innocent “Requiem,” Dylan's “Blood on the Tracks” and “Miles in a Silent Way.”
Childhood and Family: Jon Amiel was born on May 20, 1948, in London, England. Thanks to his English teacher, Paddy Browne, he was inspired to have confidence in himself and worked hard to get into University of Cambridge in Cambridge as an English literature major. “My English teacher Paddy Browne who kicked my lazy and very unconfident ass all the way to college. And Dennis Potter-who taught me not to be a chicken.” Jon Amiel
Career: Jon Amiel started his showbiz career as a composer for the London stage. Upon college, he worked as literary manager for the Hampstead Theatre Club, a preeminent London venue for new playwrights, and was responsible for selecting the plays that would be performed. It was also with the Hampstead that he had his first taste of directing. Amiel continued to helm for the Royal Shakespeare Company before working as a story editor for the BBC. After taking a three-month TV directing course, he increasingly built up a fruitful career as the director of TV dramas . Amiel directed a number of movies for British TV including such as “A Sudden Wrench,” “Gates of Gold,” “Busted” and most notably, the awardo winning “Romance, Romance” (1984). He also produced and directed the comedy series “Tandoori Nights” (1985). However, the newcomer did not win notice until directing “The Silent Twins” (1985), based on the true story of twins girls who spoke only to one another. The intriguing docudrama, which was broadcast during the same year Marjorie Wallace's non-fiction book “The Silent Twins” (1986) was published, became the BBC's choice for entry at the Montreal and Locarno Film Festivals. Led by this success, Amiel was tapped to direct the massively successful miniseries “The Singing Detective” (1986) for the BBC. Written by Dennis Potter and starring Michael Gambon, Patrick Malahide and Joanne Whalley, the show brought the director's international acclaim, since it was not only a hit in the U.K but also in America and Australia. For his effort, he was handed a 1987 BAFTA nomination for Best Drama Series, an honor he shared with the producers Kenith Trodd and John Harris. The attention he earned from “The Singing Detective” opened Amiel's doors to Hollywood and to direct film as well. In 1988, he made his American debut directing “The Luck Child,” an episode of Jim Henson's children's fantasy TV series, “The Storyteller,” starring John Hurt. His next victory came a year later with “Queen of Hearts” (1989), his feature film debut. Premiered at Cannes, the pleasing saga of an Italian immigrant family forced out to England as seen via the eyes of a kid was awarded Best First Film at the Montreal Festival and picked up the Grand Prix at the Paris Film Festival. He went on to burst into the Hollywood cinema with 1990's “Tune in Tomorrow...,” adapted from a book by Mario Vargas Llosa, “Aunt Julia And The Scriptwriter.” Starring Barbara Hershey as Aunt Julia, Keanu Reeves as Martin Loader and Peter Falk as Pedro Carmichael, the charming comedy/romance won Amiel both the Audience and Critics Awards at the Deauville Film Festival. Since then, he has preponderantly worked in Hollywood. Next, Amiel enjoyed a blockbuster hit with the period romance “Sommersby” (1993), which as a remake of the 1982 successful French movie “The Return of Martin Guerre.” Starring Jodie Foster and Richard Gere, the film grossed more than $140 million worldwide at the box office, despite its mixed reception, and successfully took home a Golden Screen Award in German. Already toiling in musicals, comedies and romantic dramas, then in 1995, Amiel ventured into the thriller genre with “Copycat,” featuring two tough women, an agoraphobic psychologist (played by Sigourney Weaver) and a devoted police detective (played by Holly Hunter), and won the Audience Award from the Cognac Festival du Film Policie for his work in the film. He then helmed Bill Murray, Peter Gallagher and Joanne Whalley for the crime/comedy “The Man Who Knew Too Little” (1997) as well as Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones in the action-adventure “Entrapment” (1999). 1999 also found Amiel lending producing talent to the comedy/romance film “Simply Irresistible,” directed by Mark Tarlov and starring Sarah Michelle Gellar and Sean Patrick Flanery. Returning to the director's chair since “Entrapment,” Amiel could be seen working with Aaron Eckhart, Hilary Swank,Delroy Lindo and Stanley Tucci, among others, for another action-adventure, “The Core” (2003). He revisited the small screen two years later when he directed episodes of “Eyes” (2005), a great crime/mystery show which was canceled after only five episodes. The same year, he also helmed an episode of the Sara Goodman-created series “Reunion” called “1986.” On March 7, 2007, Amiel directed an episode of Fox's sitcom, “The Wedding Bells,” about a group of wedding planners who are dedicated to give their clients the perfect wedding. When asked about his next project, he said, “I've never managed that nice reassuring trick of being able to swing from one movie to the next like Tarzan. All I know about my next movie is that it'll be as different from The Core as this one has been from all my other movies. For some reason, best understood by my therapist probably, I seem to need to scare the crap out of myself every time I start a new project. The unknown always scares me most.” The 59-year-old filmmaker is scheduled to revisit English film in 2008 with “Angel Maker,” penned by Paul Billing. The comedy/crime/drama will star Anna Friel, John Hurt, Helen Mirren, Anne-Marie Duff, Daniel Brühl, Moritz Bleibtreu and Benno Fürmann, among other artists.
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