Michael WinterbottomBirth Place: Blackburn, Lancashire, England, UK Date of Birth: March 29, 1961 Heritage: British Famous for: Director of 'Wonderland' (1999) Contact Michael Winterbottom | 
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A Mighty Heart Background: "Why can a writer engage in sexual imagery with no restrictions and yet a film author can't do the same?" Michael Winterbottom Starting out in the cutting room at Thames Television, award-winning British filmmaker Michael Winterbottom began his career working in British television before moving to features directing such acclaimed films as "Butterfly Kiss" (1995), "Go Now" (1995), "Jude" (1996), "Welcome to Sarajevo" (1997), "I Want You" (1998), "Wonderland" (1999), "The Claim" (2000), "24 Hour Party People" (2002), "In This World" (2002), "Code 46" (2003), "9 Songs" (2004), "Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story" (2005), "The Road to Guantanamo" (2006), "A Mighty Heart" (2007), and "Genova" (2008). The talented, intelligent independent director is currently directing Steve Coogan in the upcoming fact-based film, "Murder in Samarkand."
Childhood and Family: In Blackburn, Lancashire, England, Michael Winterbottom was born on March 29, 1961. He went to Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, in Blackburn. He earned a degree in English at Oxford University before studying film at Bristol University and in London. He went to college with director Marc Evans. Winterbottom's company Revolution Films produced Marc Evans' second film, “Resurrection Man” (1998). “When I was at university, the film club always showed 'In the Realm of the Senses' (1976) at the start of a new year to get people to join. It was full of explicit sex, yet you can buy it in HMV now.” Michael Winterbottom Winterbottom has two daughters with his former partner, author Sabrina Broadbent, who wrote a novel titled "Descent."
Career: "I think I’ve been interested in films since I was 14. I really enjoyed watching them but it wasn’t until later that I wanted to make them. I think I still enjoy watching them more than making them. Some of my favorite filmmakers came out of the New Wave like Fassbinder, Truffaut and the Italians like Fellini and Bertolucci." Michael Winterbottom A former film school student at Bristol University, Michael Winterbottom landed his first job in the industry in the cutting room at Thames Television. In the late 1980s, he directed two TV documentaries about Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman: "Ingmar Bergman: The Magic Lantern" and "Ingmar Bergman: The Director.” He subsequently worked on the youth-oriented "The Strangers" (1989; received a BAFTA nomination as Best Educational Film) and "Forget About Me" (1990), both of which marked his first collaboration with screenwriter Frank Cottrell Boyce. In 1993, Winterbottom directed the British crime drama series "Cracker" (opening episode titled "Cracker: The Mad Woman in the Attic"), and formed the production company Revolution Films with Andrew Eaton He also worked on his first TV miniseries, the four-part "Family" (1994). It was nominated for a BAFTA TV Award for Best Drama Serial and won a C.I.C.A.E. Award at the Torino International Festival of Young Cinema. The mid 1990s saw Winterbottom directing his debut feature, “Butterfly Kiss” (1995), a dramatic thriller about lesbian lovers Eunice (played by Amanda Plummer), a nomadic serial killer, and Miriam (played by Saskia Reeves), a naive and lonely young girl, on a serial killing spree along the roads of Northern England. The film received a handful of nominations, including a Golden Berlin Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival, Best Young Film at the European Film Awards, and a Golden Spike at the Valladolid International Film Festival. That same year, he also directed "Go Now" (1995), a drama starring Robert Carlyle and Juliet Aubrey, which was released in the U.S. in May 1998. It was nominated for a BAFTA TV Award for Best Single Drama. Winterbottom went on to direct Christopher Eccleston and Kate Winslet in the underrated adaptation of Thomas Hardy's novel "Jude the Obscure," "Jude" (1996), which won a Golden Hitchcock at the Dinard British Film Festival and Best New British Feature at the Edinburgh International Film Festival. The film also received a Crystal Globe nomination at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. After declining a $1.5 million offer to direct “Good Will Hunting” (1997), Winterbottom directed the fact-based "Welcome to Sarajevo" (1997), an ironically titled film about a British TV journalist (played by Stephen Dillane) who develops a bond with a Bosnian child (played by Emira Nuševic). The film that also featured Woody Harrelson and Marisa Tomei was nominated for a Golden Palm at the Cannes Film Festival and a Gold Hugo - Best Film at the Chicago International Film Festival. The following year, Winterbottom took home a Youth Jury Award from the Valladolid International Film Festival for his directing work in the romantic thriller starring Rachel Weisz, "I Want You" (1998), which was also nominated for a Golden Berlin Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival. Also that year, Winterbottom became a member of jury at the Cannes Film Festival. Wrapping up the decade, Winterbottom garnered praise for directing "Wonderland" (1999), which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and was released theatrically in the U.S. in 2000. The dramatic film was nominated for the Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film at the BAFTA Film Awards, Best Director at the British Independent Film Awards, a Golden Palm at the Cannes Film Festival, and a Golden Spike at the Valladolid International Film Festival. Hitting the new millennium, Winterbottom helmed the Western romance "The Claim" (2000; starring Wes Bentley, Milla Jovovich, Nastassja Kinski, Peter Mullan, and Sarah Polley), which is loosely based on Thomas Hardy's novel “The Mayor of Casterbridge” set in 1860s California. It was nominated for a Golden Berlin Bear at the Berlin International Film, Best Director at the British Independent Film Awards, and a Golden Spike at the Valladolid International Film Festival. About the appeal of making "The Claim" (2000), Winterbottom explained, “The appeal was partly the idea of doing a story set in the Gold Rush without it necessarily being a Western. One of the attractions was that when gold was discovered in California, the state had just become part of America and it was populated by Mexicans and Native Americans. It seemed just as legitimate for us to make this our subject matter as it was for an American film maker. And borrowing from Hardy's ‘The Mayor of Casterbridge’ also gave a sense of generational change to the story. We could take the Gold Rush, its pioneers, and immigrants as one generation, and then the young generation could be represented by the coming of the railroad and the beginning of civilization in California. Hopefully in the film you get a sense of transition from an immigrant mining culture to an American culture.” Two years later, Winterbottom directed "24 Hour Party People" (2002; starring Steve Coogan), a musical about Manchester's popular music community from 1976 to 1997 and Factory Records. It earned Winterbottom nominations at the Cannes Film Festival (for a Golden Palm) and the Emden International Film Festival (for an Emden Film Award). That same year, he also directed “In This World” (2002), a docudrama that follows two young Afghan refugees as they leave a refugee camp in Pakistan for a better life in London. The film was released in the U.K. in March 2003 and the United States in September 2003. Although it did not make much money, the film was highly recommended by critics. It won BAFTA Film Awards' Best Film not in the English Language, the Directors Guild of Great Britain's (DGGB) Outstanding Directorial Achievement in British Film, as well as a Berlin International Film Festival's Golden Berlin Bear, a Peace Film Award, and Prize of the Ecumenical Jury. Still in 2002, Winterbottom helmed "Going Mad in Hollywood," a drama about filmmaker Lindsay Anderson's friendship with writer David Sherwin. The following year, he directed Tim Robbins and Samantha Morton in the disquieting science fiction love story, "Code 46" (2003), which won a Grand Prize of European Fantasy Film in Silver at the Sitges - Catalonian International Film Festival. Winterbottom subsequently directed “9 Songs” (2004), whose title refers to the nine songs played by eight different rock bands that complement the story of the film. The film received a Golden Seashell nomination at the San Sebastián International Film Festival. In 2005, Winterbottom directed "Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story," an adaptation of Laurence Sterne's novel, "The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman." The comedy won a Golden Tulip - Best Foreign Film at the Istanbul International Film Festival. It was also nominated for an Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film at the BAFTAs, Best Director at the British Independent Film Awards, an ALFS Award - British Producer of the Year at the London Critics Circle Film Awards, and a Golden Seashell at the San Sebastián International Film Festival. Winterbottom next directed the controversial docudrama "The Road to Guantanamo" (2006), the true story of three friends who set off from Britain for a wedding overseas and end up as terrorist suspects in Guantanamo Bay. The film that was filmed in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran, premiered at the Berlin Film Festival in Berlin, Germany, on February 14, 2006. It received generally positive reviews and won Winterbottom a Silver Berlin Bear - Best Director at the Berlin International Film Festival and Best Documentary at the Independent Spirit Awards. It was also nominated for a BAFTA TV Award for Best Single Drama, a Golden Berlin Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival, and an European Film Award for Best Director. Winterbottom then directed Angelina Jolie, who portrayed Mariane Pearl, the real-life wife of murdered Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, in "A Mighty Heart" (2007). The film was met with relatively positive reviews despite initial financial failure. On November 27, 2007, the film was nominated for 3 Independent Spirit Awards, including Best Screenplay, Best Actress and Best Picture of the Year. Recently, Winterbottom directed "Genova," a ghost story about a British man who moves his two American daughters to Genoa following the death of his wife. The film that stars Colin Firth, Catherine Keener, and Hope Davis was filmed in the city of Genoa during the summer of 2007 and premiered at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival. Winterbottom is currently working on his upcoming projects, "Seven Days," a dramatic TV movie that he also co-wrote, and "Murder in Samarkand," a film based on the memoirs of Craig Murray (portrayed by Steve Coogan), the former U.K. ambassador to Uzbekistan who was fired in 2004 after drawing attention to human right abuses and torture in the country. “I don't particularly like the idea that there's an arc to the story and that therefore in this scene you have to convey this bit of information or emotion. I like more the feeling that, of course, there is a shape to the story, but that each scene should feel right, should be true at that moment, and that gradually you accumulate these moments of truth until you get enough of them together that it becomes a story that's interesting.” Michael Winterbottom
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