Martin Campbell

Martin Campbell

Martin Campbell returns to the director's chair this week after nearly a four year hiatus with Edge of Darkness.

The movie seems him team up with Mel Gibson, who is also making a return to the big screen after a time away, for the fast paced thriller.

As homicide detective Thomas Craven investigates the death of his activist daughter, he uncovers not only her secret life, but a corporate cover-up and government collusion that attracts an agent tasked with cleaning up the evidence.

Born in New Zealand Campbell made his feature film debut in 1973 with movie The Sex Thief  starring David Warbeck, Diane Keen and Christopher Biggins.

While he continued to make movie through the mid seventies it was television where he really made his name.

He began with The Professionals filming five episodes over the next couple of years before going onto Minder and Shoestring.

But it was BBC drama Edge of Darkness in 1985 that he is best known, the TV version of his new movie, bringing him a British Academy Television Award for Best Director.

However in recent years he has become better known for his movies as he stepped into the world of 007 in 1995 when he directed GoldenEye.

It was the James Bond debut for Pierce Brosnan and the seventeenth movie in the franchise as well as being the first Bond movie for six years.

GoldenEye was a huge box office success as it went on to gross over $350 million worldwide, the most successful Bond movie since Moonraker.

After three years away from movies Campbell returned with The Mask of Zorro, which starred Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta Jones.

More success came Campbell's way as the movie was both critically acclaimed and a financial success, taking $250 million at the global box office.

Campbell would return to the world of Zorro in 2005 with The Legend of Zorro, which saw both Banderas and Zeta Jones return to their original roles.

However this time around the movie struggled in cinemas and was not met well by the critics.

But it was 2006 that brought Campbell his biggest movie success as he returned to the James Bond franchise to helm Daniel Craig's debut as 007 in Casino Royale, which was a reboot to the franchise.

In his first mission, James Bond must stop Le Chiffre, a banker to the world's terrorist organizations, from winning a high-stakes poker tournament at Casino Royale in Montenegro

Despite the controversy surrounding the casting of Craig, all because he was blonde, the movie was a massive hit.

Hitting the right note with the critics and cinema go-ers alike Casino Royale is currently the biggest grossing Bond movie of all time.

And Campbell has a couple of interesting project on the horizon as he teams up with leading man Ryan Reynolds for Green Lantern, the latest DC comic character to hit the big screen.

Jackie Earle Haley, Mark Strong, Blake Lively, Peter Sarsgaard have all been linked to the project which is expected to hit cinemas in 2011.

Other projects in the pipeline for the filmmaker are 36 and Nagasaki Deadline.

Edge of Darkness is released 29th January

FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw


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