Michael AptedBirth Place: Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, England, UK Date of Birth: February 10, 1941 Heritage: British Famous for: Director of Up! Series Contact Michael Apted | 
|
|
Coal Miner's Daughter Background: “I've never much been interested in doing films that no one gets to see.” Michael Apted English filmmaker Michael Apted made a name for himself as one of the most productive film directors of his era. Starting his career with England's Granada Television in the early 1980s, he went on to score a massive victory with the “Up” series of documentaries, namely “Seven Plus Seven” (1970), “21 Up” (1977), “28 Up” (1984), “35 Up” (1991), “42 Up” (1998) and “49 Up” (2005). He also directed such popular documentary films as “Bring On the Night” (1985), from which he co-won a Grammy Award, “Moving the Mountain” (1994) and “Me and Isaac Newton” (1999). Making his feature directorial debut in the British drama “The Triple Echo” (1972), Michael did not attract the attention of Hollywood until 1980 when he emerged with the outstanding biopic “Coal Miner's Daughter.” His subsequent projects include “Gorky Park” (1983), “Gorillas in the Mist: The Story of Dian Fossey” (1988), “Class Action” (1991), “Nell” (1994), “The World Is Not Enough” (1999), “Enigma” (2001), “Enough” (2002) and “Amazing Grace” (2006). Apted has also directed episodic televisions and plays. He co-won a Directors Guild of America award after directing the first three episodes of the popular historical series “Rome” in 2005. A member of the Director's Guild of America since 1978, Apted was appointed the new President of DGA in 2003. He has also become a member of the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Thanks to his services to British film and the television industry, Apted was awarded the Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in 2008.
Childhood and Family: Son of Ronald William Apted and Frances Amelia Apted, Michael David Apted was born on February 10, 1941, in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, England. Coming from a middle class family where his father worked at an insurance company, Michael received a scholarship to attend City of London School and went on to study Law and History at the University of Cambridge (Downing College). He earned his BA in 1963. On July 9, 1966, Michael married Jo Apted. They divorced after having two sons, James and Paul. Currently, Michael is the husband of Dana Stevens.
Career: Starting out as a trainee at Granada Television in Manchester, Michael Apted moved on to become a researcher for Granada's investigative current affairs series, “World in Action” (1963) and during 1963-1964, directed episodes of “Coronation Street,” one of the longest running television programs in England. There, he worked with writer Jack Rosenthal. While working on “World in Action,” Apted became involved with Canadian director Paul Almond and was hired as an assistant for “7 Up” (1963), a TV film where fourteen 7-year-old children, picked up from various social levels in London, were interviewed concerning their lives, thoughts, and ambitions. The program was broadcasted on PBS fourteen years later in 1987. Apted continued to direct such TV series as “Escape,” “Haunted” and “City 68'” (all 1967) and in 1968, he was reunited with writer Jack Rosenthal for the made-for-TV film “There's a Hole in Your Dustbin, Delilah” (1968), which spawned the sitcom “The Dustbinmen” in 1969. The two would collaborate again in “The Lovers” (1970), a short-lived sitcom starring Paula Wilcox and Richard Beckinsale, and the 1984 TV movie “P'tang Yang Kipperbang.” A busy director, Apted could also be spotted helming episodes of the thriller series “Big Breadwinner Hog” (1969), the show “Parkin's Patch” (1969), “ITV Playhouse” (1968-1971), “Follyfoot” (1971-1972) and others. In 1970, Apted revisited the documentary realm with “Seven Plus Seven,” an update of Almond's “7 Up.” Now serving as director, he would continually update the documentary every seven years and spawned the sequels “21 Up” (1977), “28 Up” (1984), “35 Up” (1991), “42 Up” (1998) and “49 Up” (2005). Lured by the success of the series, Apted later created an American version called “Age Seven in America” (CBS, 1992) and “14 Up in America” (Showtime,1998), both directed by Phil Joanou with Apted serving as first producer and executive producer, respectively. Besides America, he spread the franchise to Japan, South Africa, Russia and Germany. Two years after the release of “Seven Plus Seven,” Apted made his feature directorial debut with “The Triple Echo” (1972), which starred Glenda Jackson, Brian Deacon and Oliver Reed. The drama, which was adapted from a novel by H. E. Bates, brought the director a Golden Prize nomination at the 1973 Moscow International Film Festival. For his sophomore effort, “Stardus” (1974), a sequel to the 1973 “That'll Be The Day,” he cast David Essex and Adam Faith in the lead roles. The film was followed by the British thriller “The Squeeze” (1977), starring Stacy Keach, and the drama “Agatha” (1979), starring Vanessa Redgrave in the title role. Apted made his American TV directorial debut in the PBS special “Childhood” (1977) and emerged as the stage director at London's National Theatre with 1978's “Strawberry Fields.” He also helmed his “21 Up” in 1977. In 1980, Apted branched out to Hollywood with “Coal Miner's Daughter,” a biopic about country music star Loretta Lynn. The film was hailed as one of the best musical bios ever made and under his direction, Sissy Spacek successfully won her Oscar for Best Actress. Also starring in the movie were Tommy Lee Jones, Beverly D'Angelo and Levon Helm. Following the promising debut, which instantly made him a celebrity, Apted teamed up with screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan and executive producer Steven Spielberg for “Continental Divide” (1981), but despite its unusual cast that included John Belushi and Blair Brown as romantic leads, the romance comedy was primarily ignored. It was not until 1983 that Apted enjoyed success again at the box office with “Gorky Park.” Filmed at Helsinki, Finland, and Stockholm, Sweden, and adapted from the novel by Martin Cruz Smith, the film brought Joanna Pacula a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress. In 1984, Apted directed “Firstborn” (1984), a drama starring Teri Garr, Peter Weller, Christopher Collet, Corey Haim, Sarah Jessica Parker and Robert Downey Jr., and served as executive producer for the Tommy Lee Jones vehicle “The River Rat,” which also marked the feature directing debut of Tom Rickman. The next year, Apted won a Grammy for Best Music Video, Long Form for his work in the documentary “Bring On the Night” (1985), shared with Sting. The film, which he directed and wrote, centered on the formation of Sting's rock group. Also in 1985, he was featured in the John Landis movie “Spies Like Us,” playing Ace Tomato Agent. Apted suffered a setback in 1987 with “Critical Condition.” He soon rebounded with “Gorillas in the Mist: The Story of Dian Fossey” (1988), a powerful drama based on the life of Dian Fossey (played by Sigourney Weaver). Weaver picked up an Academy Award nomination for her performance. The director closed out the decade with “The Long Way Home” (1989), a documentary about Russian rock star Boris Grebenshikov. After directing Gene Hackman and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio in “Class Action” (1991), Apted directed the premiere episode of the ABC series “My Life and Times” (1991) and his next “Up” sequel “35” (also1991). He also helmed the pilot episode and served as executive producer of the ABC series “Crossroads” (1992) and executive produced the CBS miniseries “Intruders” (also 1992), for director Dan Curtis. He returned to feature film for the Francis Ford Coppola directed “Bram Stoker's Dracula” (1992), for which he served as co-executive producer, and then directed the documentary “Incident at Oglala” and the related drama film “Thunderheart” (both 1992), which was co-executive produced and narrated by Robert Redford and co-produced by Robert De Niro. The documentary “Moving the Mountain” (1994), for which he traveled to China, netted a Vancouver International Film Festival for Best Documentary Feature and the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury-Forum of New Cinema at the 1995 Berlin International Film Festival. Apted next directed such movies as “Blink” (1994), “Nell” (1994), a drama which brought star Jodie Foster an Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe nomination for her performance, the conspiracy thriller “Extreme Measures” (1996) and the James Bond movie “The World Is Not Enough” (1999), starring Pierce Brosnan as 007. He also helmed the modern urban fable “Always Outnumbered” (HBO, 1998), from which he nabbed a Silver Spire for Television - Drama-Television Feature at the San Francisco International Film Festival, and the back-to-back documentaries “Inspirations” (1997) and “Me and Isaac Newton” (1999). The latter won the Best Documentary Award from the 2000 Florida Film Festival. Entering the new millennium, Apted resurfaced with “Enigma” (2001), based on the novel of the same name by Robert Harris. Set in the World War II, the thriller starred Dougray Scott and Kate Winslet and won the director the Feature Film Prize in Science and Technology Award at the Hamptons International Film Festival in 2001. He revisited the small screen the next year by creating “Married in America” (2002), a documentary series following nine newlywed couples over ten years before directing Jennifer Lopez in the psychological thriller “Enough” (2002). After a short hiatus, in 2005 Apted resumed his television career by directing the first three of the HBO hit series “Rome,” starring Kevin McKidd, Ray Stevenson and Polly Walker, and helmed “Amazing Grace” (2006), his first feature film since “Enough.” The film debuted at the Toronto Film Festival in September 2006 and was shown in the United States the following month at the Heartland Film Festival. Apted also directed the sequel “Married in America 2” in 2006 (also narrated the show) and the documentary film “The Power of the Game” (2007). His new fictional movie, “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader,” is set to be released in 2010.
|
|
|
