Joe Cornish is a British writer and comedian, best known for the The Adam and Joe Show, which he presented with his long term partner in crime, and school friend, Joe Buxton from 1996 to 2001.
He moved on to radio and writing for other television shows, but recent years have seen him in great demand, he was hired to co-write Marvel Studios planned AntMan movie, and also re-writing the script for Steven Spielberg's and Peter Jackson's upcoming Tintin movie.
However Cornish still has more to show. This Friday the 13th of May sees the theatrical release of his directorial debut Attack the Block, a debut which has wowed audiences and critics after it premiere at the SXSW (South by South West) Festival in March.
As anticipation for the film rises, now is the perfect time to look at other British directors, those who have made it big and those, like Joe Cornish, who are on their way.
Gareth Edwards
Gareth Edwards might be a name you dont recognise but his debut film is one almost everyone has heard of. Monsters was released in 2010 and was written, directed, shot by Edwards, he even did all 250 special effects shots by himself on his home computer using off the shelf software.
Gareth was born in 1975 and had always wanted to make movies, and Monsters was a labour of love for the newbie director. Costing only $500,000 (a tiny amount when talking movies) starring only 2 actors, and shot on location, it told the story of a photo journalist escorting his bosses daughter across the "Quarantined zone" an area covering most of the U.S./Mexico border in which alien lifeforms has begun to develop.
Though many compared Gareths first movie to Neill Blomkamp's 2009 debut District 9, there are huge thematic and visual differences between the movies, with Monsters exploring the growth of a human relationship againt a science fiction backdrop. I would instead compare this film to Oren Peli's directorial debut Paranormal Activity which he also wrote.
It was a small budget horror picture, which went on to become massively successful and one of the most profitable movies of all time, leading Peli into a number of other horror projects. Like Paranormal Activity, Monsters was a strong debut and has given the director a bright future, with Edwards being linked to Legendary Pictures Godzilla reboot, much like Peli went into a number of big budget horror pictures, uncluding the recent release Insidious.
However if we focus on the film making philisophy, perhaps that is whats key to the success of the movie, Edwards completed the film himself as an auteur, having complete control over the film from writing to directing, and then editing, all on on a shoe string budget, something that, in time, will hopefully influence and motivate a new batch of British directors.
Duncan Jones
Duncan Jones was born in 1971, the child of rock star David Bowie and
model Mary Angela Barnett and after going through several changes of name he released his first feature film in 2009.
Moon starring Sam Rockwell and the voice of Kevin Spacey was a well designed and well thought out science fiction picture in the vein of 2001: A Space Odyssey, Alien and Silent Running which explored one mans solitary work on the moon as a miner, and the mysterious circumstances that surround it.
This smart, dark sci-fi picture came out of nowhere and achieved great success earning over $5 million in 5 weeks, a huge amount for a film of this size, surprising for a director whos greatest achievement so far was a controversial FCUK advertisement which was almost pulled off the air.
Like Joe Cornish, Jones was subject to praise and adjulation for the quality of his debut as a director, and like the position Cornish is in now, Duncan was in the unenviable position of making a follow up which would solidify the hype and praise, and show him as one of the best up and coming British directors working today.
Source Code, starring Jake Gyllenhaal as a soldier who has to relive the the last 8 minutes of someones life in order to find the location of a bomb and who left it there, though it at first seems a ridiculous premise, Duncans' deft directing and ability to combine science fiction and real emotional tales is evident and really carries the movie.
The film was released to critical acclaim, Jones has released another smart and intelligent science fiction movie which debuted at number #2 in the box office. Though Duncan has been outspoken about his love of science fiction and the influence it has had on his films, is it more science fiction next for the relatively new director?
Duncan was offered the prestigous job of directing the new Superman movie Man of Steel, being produced by Christopher Nolan and now being directed by Zak Snyder of 300 fame, as Jones turned it down due to possible pressure from fans.
There are also talks of him taking over a different comic adaptation, The Wolverine movie has been without a director since Darren Aronofskys departure and could be Duncans next project.However, more interesting are the plans for constructing a trilogy within the Moon filmic universe, with Sam Rockwell confirmed for at least a cameo in the possible future installments.
Joe Wright
Joe Wright is one of the more experienced directors on this list, having helmed a number of television shows and directed 4 feature films, and is slowly becoming one of Britains best directors in modern cinema, he even won the BAFTA for Best Newcomer for his adaptation of Pride & Prejudice, which was also nominated for four Academy Awards, pretty impressive for a debut.
Wright is probably best known for his literary adaptation Atonement, which became one of the most popular and well critically acclaimed films of 2007 being nominated for a plethora of awards and winning the Best Film award at the 61st BAFTA awards.
His other film releases have been of a similar genre, with Pride & Prejudice being his first movie released in 2005, and he followed this with a second literary adaptation Atonement. He followed this with The Soloist in 2009, starring Jamie Foxx as a homeless musician, and Robert Downey Jr as a journalist determined to help him. Though this has been his weakest picture, it also made sure no one knew what to expect from his new release.
Hanna was released in the UK on the 5 May 2011, and Saoirse Ronan has receieved massively positive reviews for her portayal of a mysterious young girl called Hanna, trained to be a soldier by her father, who is played by Eric Bana. The movie was scored by The Chemical Brothers, and is a massive departure from Wright's previous releases, Hanna is a much more exubarant, kinetic movie, and contains some great action scenes which have been worked into a really quite personal tale, of a young girl becoming a woman.
Hopefully the success of Hanna will see Joe Wright focusing on a broader range of genres for his future films, however his next planned project is yet another literary adaptation, but this is of Hans Christian Anderson's The Little Mermaid. I, like many others, don't know what to expect.
Edgar Wright
Edgar Wright is probably the most famous director on this list, and is best known for working with British comedy duo Simon Pegg and Nick Frost in The Shaun of the Dead, and Hot Fuzz, the first two parts of their planned Cornetto trilogy.
Born in 1974, Wright started directing television shows and a number of music videos, before being asked in 1998 to direct Simon Pegg's and Jessica Hyne's new sitcom, Spaced. Bringing his sci-fi and horror influences to the show, the sitcom was imbued with a number of different styles something which helped the show garner a massive cult and celebrity following which has yet to wean also helped Edgar cultivate his kinetic directing style.
2004 saw Edgar making his big break, nearly a decade after his release of low budget picture A Fistful of Fingers in 1995, Shaun of the Dead was written by Edgar and Simon, and was billed as the first Rom-Zom-Com. It was a homage not only to the zombie movies of George A. Romero (Romero even gave Wright, Pegg and Frost cameos as zombies in his 2005 Land of the Dead because he like Shaun of the Dead so much) but to the movies Wright and Pegg loved as children.
It told the story of Shaun trying to get his girlfriend back, against the backdrop of a zombie apocolypse, it was a massive success, being instantly quoutable, funny and horrific in equal measure.
Edgar next worked with Pegg and Frost on Hot Fuzz, the second in Simon's and Edgar's yet to be finished Cornetto trilogy, a love letter to American buddy cop action movies, and much more of an action picture that helped prove that not only was Edgar an excellent writer, but that he has a unique directing style.
Edgar Wrights latest release was the comic adaptation Scott Pilgrim vs The World in 2010, a comedic action film. following Scott Pilgrim, played by Micheal Cera, as he tries to defeat his new girlfriend's seven evil exes. Based on one of the most popular comic series, the film was imbued with Edgars kinetic style, with a fast paced and graphical sequences directly influened by the video game generation (1-up anybody?).
Edgar Wright has a number of projects coming up, the release of his new horror comedy picture Them is to be released next year possibly starring Jack Black, and his Ant Man adaptation is not due till 2014. However fans, including myself, are still clamouring for the mysterious third installment in the Cornetto trilogy, tentatively titled The Worlds End.
Attack the Block is released nationwide Friday 13 May
FemaleFirst Joseph Weeks
Joe Cornish is a British writer and comedian, best known for the The Adam and Joe Show, which he presented with his long term partner in crime, and school friend, Joe Buxton from 1996 to 2001.
He moved on to radio and writing for other television shows, but recent years have seen him in great demand, he was hired to co-write Marvel Studios planned AntMan movie, and also re-writing the script for Steven Spielberg's and Peter Jackson's upcoming Tintin movie.
However Cornish still has more to show. This Friday the 13th of May sees the theatrical release of his directorial debut Attack the Block, a debut which has wowed audiences and critics after it premiere at the SXSW (South by South West) Festival in March.
As anticipation for the film rises, now is the perfect time to look at other British directors, those who have made it big and those, like Joe Cornish, who are on their way.
Gareth Edwards
Gareth Edwards might be a name you dont recognise but his debut film is one almost everyone has heard of. Monsters was released in 2010 and was written, directed, shot by Edwards, he even did all 250 special effects shots by himself on his home computer using off the shelf software.
Gareth was born in 1975 and had always wanted to make movies, and Monsters was a labour of love for the newbie director. Costing only $500,000 (a tiny amount when talking movies) starring only 2 actors, and shot on location, it told the story of a photo journalist escorting his bosses daughter across the "Quarantined zone" an area covering most of the U.S./Mexico border in which alien lifeforms has begun to develop.
Though many compared Gareths first movie to Neill Blomkamp's 2009 debut District 9, there are huge thematic and visual differences between the movies, with Monsters exploring the growth of a human relationship againt a science fiction backdrop. I would instead compare this film to Oren Peli's directorial debut Paranormal Activity which he also wrote.
It was a small budget horror picture, which went on to become massively successful and one of the most profitable movies of all time, leading Peli into a number of other horror projects. Like Paranormal Activity, Monsters was a strong debut and has given the director a bright future, with Edwards being linked to Legendary Pictures Godzilla reboot, much like Peli went into a number of big budget horror pictures, uncluding the recent release Insidious.
However if we focus on the film making philisophy, perhaps that is whats key to the success of the movie, Edwards completed the film himself as an auteur, having complete control over the film from writing to directing, and then editing, all on on a shoe string budget, something that, in time, will hopefully influence and motivate a new batch of British directors.
Duncan Jones
Duncan Jones was born in 1971, the child of rock star David Bowie and
model Mary Angela Barnett and after going through several changes of name he released his first feature film in 2009.
Moon starring Sam Rockwell and the voice of Kevin Spacey was a well designed and well thought out science fiction picture in the vein of 2001: A Space Odyssey, Alien and Silent Running which explored one mans solitary work on the moon as a miner, and the mysterious circumstances that surround it.
This smart, dark sci-fi picture came out of nowhere and achieved great success earning over $5 million in 5 weeks, a huge amount for a film of this size, surprising for a director whos greatest achievement so far was a controversial FCUK advertisement which was almost pulled off the air.
Tagged in Joe Cornish Edgar Wright