Paul Greengrass

Paul Greengrass

Paul Greengrass is one of the best and most exciting British filmmakers who produces hit movie after hit movie.

He is set to return to the director's chair this October with his new film Captain Phillips, a movie that sees him team up with Tom Hanks for the very first time.

Captain Phillips is also the film that will have the honour of opening the BFI London Film Festival today (9th Oct), and is set to be one of the most talked about movies of the festival.

Greengrass kicked off his career by working as a director for current affairs programme World In Action, before making his feature film directorial debut with Resurrected.

The following years saw him move between TV series and TV movies as he worked on the likes of Open Fire and The One That Got Away.

Greengrass has never been afraid from tackling hard hitting subjects, and in 2002 he did just that with Bloody Sunday.

Directed and written by Greengrass, Bloody Sunday told the story of the Irish civil rights protest march of 1972, that ended in blood shed after British troops opened fire.

The movie was a critical hit and went on to pick up awards at the Sundance Film Festival as well as the Berlin Film Festival: where it tied for the Golden Bear with Spirited Away.

In 2004 the director showed that he could also successfully helm a blockbuster as he took over the reigns of the Bourne franchise.

The Bourne Supremacy saw him team up with actor Matt Damon for the first time to bring a second of Robert Ludlum's novels to the big screen.

United 93 and The Bourne Ultimatum followed: the former brought critical success, while the latter brought both critical and commercial success.

The Bourne franchise went out with a bang with The Bourne Ultimatum as this film became the most successful in the franchise. And while there has been a lot of talk of both Greengrass and Damon returning, that is looking less and less likely.

Captain Phillips is the first film for Greengrass since the excellent Green Zone, as he brings a remarkable true story to the big screen.

The movie tells the true story of Captain Richard Phillips and the 2009 hijacking by Somali pirates of the US-flagged MV Maersk Alabama, the first American cargo ship to be hijacked in two hundred years.

Captain Phillips is a movie that is already doing well with the critics and is set to be one of the successes of not only the festival but this autumn period of movies.

BFI London Film Festival runs 9th - 20th October.


by for www.femalefirst.co.uk
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