Lenny Abrahamson
Lenny Abrahamson | |
|---|---|
| Born | Leonard Abrahamson 30 November 1966 |
| Occupation(s) | Film director, screenwriter |
| Years active | 1991–present |
Leonard "Lenny" Abrahamson (born 30 November 1966) is an Irish film and television director. Abrahamson is known for his films Adam & Paul, Garage and What Richard Did.
Work
Abrahamson was born in Dublin and in his twenties won a scholarship to study for a Phd in Philosophy in Stanford University. He failed to complete this however and returned to Ireland to take up filmmaking, initially directing commercials, filming a popular series of adverts for Carlsberg.[1] Abrahamson's first film was Adam & Paul, a black comedy that featured a pair of heroin addicts as they made their way around Dublin in search of a fix. The follow up film to this was 2007's Garage, starring Pat Short as a lonely petrol station attendant in rural Ireland. Both films won the IFTA award for best film.
Also in 2007, RTE screened Abrahamson's four-part TV miniseries Prosperity, which was written in collaboration with Mark O'Halloran, the co-writer of Adam and Paul and Garage. Like these two films, Prosperity focused on people on the fringes of Irish society, with each one-hour episode focusing on a specific character, including an alcoholic, a single mother, and an asylum seeker. In 2012 Abrahamson won his third IFTA for best film with What Richard Did, and was the most successful Irish film of 2012.
In 2013 it was announced that he was to adapt Emma Donoghue's best-selling novel Room.[2]
Abrahamson directed the film Frank, which premiered at Sundance Film Festival in January 2014. The film is about eccentric musician Frank Sidebottom.[3] It stars Michael Fassbender, Domhnall Gleeson and Maggie Gyllenhall.
In 2014 it was announced that Abrahamson would direct an adaptation of Laird Hunt's Civil War novel Neverhome.[4]
Filmography
Cinema
- Adam & Paul (2004)
- Garage (2007)
- What Richard Did (2012)
- Frank (released May 2014)
- Room (pre-production)
TV series
- Prosperity (Television) (2007)
Awards and nominations
Irish Film & Television Awards
- Best Director for Film – Adam & Paul (2004) Winner
- Best Director for Film – Garage (2007) Winner
- Best Director for Film – What Richard Did (2012) Winner
- Best Director for Television - Prosperity (2007) Winner
- C.I.C.A.E. – Garage (2007)
References
- ^ Ryan Gilbey (2013-01-03). "Lenny Abrahamson: 'Good guys can be complex, too'". The Guardian. Retrieved 2013-09-04.
- ^ Andreas Wiseman (2013-09-03). "Lenny Abrahamson to direct Room adaptation". Screen Daily. Retrieved 2013-09-04.
- ^ Michael Rosser (2013-01-10). "First photo of Gyllenhaal, Fassbender and Gleeson in Frank". Screen Daily. Retrieved 2013-09-04.
- ^ Niall Murphy (2014-09-24). "Irish Film: Lenny Abrahamson to adapt Laird Hunt's Neverhome". Scannain. Retrieved 2014-09-24.