After studies in English literature, Jon Amiel graduated from Cambridge University and ran the Oxford and Cambridge Shakespeare Company, which often toured the USA. He became the Hampstead Theatre Company's literary manager and began directing there, relocating to the Royal Shakespeare Company.Amiel joined the BBC as a story editor, studied te...
Show more »
After studies in English literature, Jon Amiel graduated from Cambridge University and ran the Oxford and Cambridge Shakespeare Company, which often toured the USA. He became the Hampstead Theatre Company's literary manager and began directing there, relocating to the Royal Shakespeare Company.Amiel joined the BBC as a story editor, studied television directing and did TV work through the late 1970s and early 1980s, scoring attention in 1985 with _Silent Twins, The (1985)_, an unforgettable recreation of the tragic "silent twins" June and Jennifer Gibbons, who spoke only to each other. Airing during the same year Marjorie Wallace's non-fiction book The Silent Twins (1986) was published by Prentice Hall), the docudrama was the BBC's selection for entry at the Locarno and Montreal Film Festivals. As noted in Stephen Gilbert's biography of Dennis Potter, Amiel was working on The Silent Twins (1986) when Kenith Trodd gave him the six Singing Detective scripts. After international acclaim for The Singing Detective (1986), Amiel's feature film debut, Queen of Hearts (1989), premiered at Cannes, was named Best First Film at the Montreal Festival and won the Birmingham Festival's Best British Feature Film Award. Amiel's Tune in Tomorrow... (1990), based on Mario Vargas Llosa's Aunt Julia And The Scriptwriter, won the Deauville Festival's Prix Publique. He followed with the period drama Sommersby (1993), the thriller Copycat (1995), The Man Who Knew Too Little (1997) and moved into action-adventure with Entrapment (1999) and The Core (2003). Show less «
I spend quite a lot of time in rehearsal, not so much to rehearse the words but to rehearse the char...Show more »
I spend quite a lot of time in rehearsal, not so much to rehearse the words but to rehearse the character's side you don't see. I try and use rehearsal a lot to build a sense of intimacy between actors. Show less «
The films I love are exactly those films that are hard to define. These days most films are one ride...Show more »
The films I love are exactly those films that are hard to define. These days most films are one ride in the fairground -- rollercoaster for action, tunnel of love for romance or ghost house for horror -- but I love movies that give you the feeling you've been to the whole fair. The movies that combine all those elements are my favorites which is unfashionable at the moment because genre is big at the moment. -- on if he has any favorite genres Show less «
I feel the moment you start worrying about your audience you are lost. As a filmmaker, you're like a...Show more »
I feel the moment you start worrying about your audience you are lost. As a filmmaker, you're like a man on a desert island and you write a message, stick it in a bottle, and cast it out to sea in the hope someone finds it. You don't really see your audience and knowing who they are is impossible. I really just tried to make a film I felt and sensed. [Producer] Jeremy Thomas doesn't make you worry about demographics or audience expectations, he worries about the film and whether or not you're making the one you want. He's a producer who likes and trusts filmmakers, which makes him an highly prized producer. -- on making "Creation" Show less «