Ben Wheatley
Ben Wheatley | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Wheatley in 2012 | |
| Born | 1972 (age 51–52) |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation(s) | Film director, screenwriter, film editor, film producer, animator |
| Notable work | Kill List Sightseers A Field in England High-Rise Free Fire Meg 2: The Trench |
| Spouse | Amy Jump |
| Children | 1 |
Ben Wheatley (born 1972)[1] is an English filmmaker, film editor, and animator. Beginning his career in advertising, Wheatley first gained recognition and acclaim for his commercials and short films, before transitioning into feature films and television programmes. He is best known for his work in the thriller and horror genres, with his films frequently incorporating heavy elements of black comedy and satire.
Wheatley has received numerous accolades for his work, including an Evening Standard British Film Award, five British Independent Film Award nominations, and numerous awards and honours from film festivals including South by Southwest, Karlovy Vary, Mar del Plata, Raindance, Toronto and Cannes.
Career
[edit]Initially a short film maker and animator, Wheatley moved his work to the internet, and was a regular contributor to the b3ta message board. His clip cunning stunt, which shows his friend Rob Hill jumping over a car, has had over ten million views.[citation needed][2] The hundred or so short animations and games found on the "Mr and Mrs Wheatley" site were noticed by large media companies, and Wheatley's work expanded into mainstream media.[citation needed]
In 2006, Wheatley won a "Lion" award at Cannes advertising festival for directing the AMBX viral, with The Viral Factory.[3] In July 2006 he directed live-action sections of the TV series Modern Toss ("i live ere", "Alan", "Drive by abuser", "Customer services", "Accident and emergency", "Citizens advice", "Illegal alphabet"), which was aired on Channel 4. Wheatley has also written and created clips for BBC Two's Time Trumpet, and has appeared in and directed sketches for BBC Three's Comedy Shuffle.[4] Between 2007 and 2009 Wheatley directed series two of Modern Toss and Ideal series five and six. In 2008, Wheatley co-created and directed the sketch series The Wrong Door for BBC Three.
In May 2009, he directed the feature film Down Terrace in eight days; it won the Next Wave prize at Fantastic Fest in Austin and Best UK Feature at Raindance in London.[5][6] In 2010 Wheatley completed his second feature, Kill List for Warp X.[7][8] The film received critical acclaim and won Michael Smiley a British Independent Film Award for Best Supporting Actor. The movie holds a 76% rating on Rotten Tomatoes with a critic consensus describing the film as "an expertly executed slow-burn crime thriller that thrives on tension before morphing into visceral horror."[9]
Wheatley's third film was the black comedy Sightseers, released in the UK in November 2012. It was written by its stars, Alice Lowe and Steve Oram, with additional material by Amy Jump, and was chosen for the Directors' Fortnight section of the 2012 Cannes Film Festival.[10][11] Wheatley's fourth film, A Field in England was financed through the Film4 talent and ideas hub, Film4.0. It was followed in 2015 by High Rise, an adaptation of the J. G. Ballard novel of the same name. He has also directed advertisements for Blink Productions and Moxie.
A sci-fi TV series, Silk Road, to be written and directed by Wheatley, has been announced. It is said to be "in the vein of the Patrick McGoohan TV series The Prisoner, and will be screened on HBO.[12] In 2014 Wheatley directed the first two episodes of the eighth series of Doctor Who, a show he has been a fan of since childhood.[13]
Wheatley wrote and directed Free Fire (2016), starring an ensemble cast including Cillian Murphy, Brie Larson, Armie Hammer and Sharlto Copley. His film Happy New Year, Colin Burstead was made for the BBC 2018 Christmas schedule, and remains available to watch on iPlayer.[14]
In November 2018 Wheatley was hired to direct an adaptation of Daphne du Maurier's gothic romance novel Rebecca, a Working Title Films production. Released on Netflix in October 2020 the film stars Lily James, Armie Hammer, and Kristin Scott Thomas.[15][16] It received mixed reviews, with a score of 46 on review aggregator site Metacritic.[17]
In the fall of 2019 Wheatley was announced as the director of the sequel for Tomb Raider, based on the popular video-game franchise of the same name and starring Academy Award-winning actress Alicia Vikander as Lara Croft, with Amy Jump to pen the script.[18] However, in October 2020 it was announced that the film's March 2021 release had been delayed indefinitely, amid a series of production issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic.[19] In January 2021 Wheatley was replaced by Lovecraft Country creator Misha Green, and the script was rewritten.[20]
In November 2020, it was announced that Wheatley had wrapped production on In the Earth, a pandemic-set horror film starring Joel Fry, Ellora Torchia, Hayley Squires and Reece Shearsmith. Neon released the film in the U.S. in 2021.[21]
In October 2020, it was announced that Wheatley would take over the sequel to the science-fiction horror film The Meg, starring Jason Statham and Li Bingbing, based on Steve Alten's eponymous series of novels.[22][23] Alten confirmed the sequel would be an adaptation of the second book of the series, The Trench.[24]
Personal life
[edit]Wheatley was born in Billericay, Essex, England. He went to Haverstock School in North London and it was here during the sixth form that he met Amy Jump, who is now his wife and co-founder of the "Mr and Mrs Wheatley" blog.[25] The couple have a son[26] and live in Brighton.[27]
Filmography
[edit]Feature film
[edit]| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Editor |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Down Terrace | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 2011 | Kill List | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 2012 | Sightseers | Yes | No | Yes |
| 2013 | A Field in England | Yes | No | Yes |
| 2015 | High-Rise | Yes | No | Yes |
| 2016 | Free Fire | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 2018 | Happy New Year, Colin Burstead | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 2020 | Rebecca | Yes | No | No |
| 2021 | In the Earth | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 2023 | Meg 2: The Trench | Yes | No | No |
| TBA | Normal | Yes | No | No |
Executive producer
- Down Terrace (2009)
- The Duke of Burgundy (2014)
- ABCs of Death 2 (2014)
- Aaaaaaaah! (2015)
- Tank 432 (2015)
- The Greasy Strangler (2016)
- The Ghoul (2016)
- LostDogFilm (2016)
- In Fabric (2018)
- In The Earth (2021)
- Klokkenluider (2022)
Short film
[edit]| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Rob Loves Kerry | |
| 2012 | U Is for Unearthed | Segment of The ABCs of Death; Also editor |
Television
[edit]| Year | Title | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Director | Writer | Notes | ||
| 2006 | Time Trumpet | No | Yes | 4 episodes |
| 2007 | Comedy: Shuffle | Yes | Yes | 1 episode |
| 2008 | Modern Toss | Yes | No | 5 episodes |
| The Wrong Door | Yes | Yes | 6 episodes | |
| 2009 | Steve Coogan: The Inside Story | Yes | No | TV special Co-directed with Dave Walker |
| 2009–2010 | Ideal | Yes | No | 14 episodes |
| 2012 | Burge & Way | Yes | No | TV movie |
| 2014 | Doctor Who | Yes | No | Episodes "Deep Breath" and "Into the Dalek" |
| 2018–2019 | Strange Angel | Yes | No | 3 episodes |
| 2024 | Generation Z | Yes | Yes | 6 episodes[28] Also executive producer |
Music videos
[edit]- "Formaldehyde" by Editors (2013)
- "Mork n Mindy" by Sleaford Mods (2020)
Awards and nominations
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Ben Child (29 August 2013). "Ben Wheatley to direct adaptation of JG Ballard's High Rise". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 19 November 2015. Retrieved 22 May 2014.
- ^ "Making Viral Videos Your Job". YouTube. 10 July 2007. Retrieved 14 November 2024.
- ^ AMBX Archived 28 April 2007 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Time Trumpet Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Now Toronto 'Q&A'
- ^ Film4 Compiling ‘The Kill List’ Archived 9 May 2010 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Devil Worshippers Beware! You May Be Part of The Kill List". Dread Central. 13 September 2012. Archived from the original on 4 January 2014. Retrieved 17 April 2020.
- ^ "'Kill List' – in Cinemas Across the UK Now!". Archived from the original on 23 June 2013. Retrieved 1 October 2012.
- ^ "Kill List". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on 30 April 2019. Retrieved 26 February 2019.
- ^ Leffler, Rebecca (24 April 2012). "Cannes 2012: Michel Gondry's 'The We & The I' to Open Director's Fortnight". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 24 May 2019. Retrieved 25 April 2012.
- ^ "2012 Selection". quinzaine-realisateurs.com. Directors' Fortnight. Archived from the original on 26 April 2012. Retrieved 25 April 2012.
- ^ Hatfull, Jonathan (19 March 2013). "SIGHTSEERS DIRECTOR BEN WHEATLEY GETS HBO TV SERIES". Scifinow.co.uk. Silk Road for HBO. Archived from the original on 10 October 2013. Retrieved 30 April 2013.
- ^ Wiseman, Andreas (14 October 2013). "Ben Wheatley to direct Doctor Who". ScreenDaily. Archived from the original on 14 October 2013. Retrieved 14 October 2013.
- ^ "Ben Wheatley's 'Happy New Year, Colin Burstead' Set for BBC Two Christmas Slot in UK After London Film Fest Debut". 8 September 2018. Archived from the original on 24 October 2018. Retrieved 27 December 2018.
- ^ Kroll, Justin (14 November 2018). "Lily James, Armie Hammer to Star in Daphne du Maurier Adaptation 'Rebecca'". Variety. Archived from the original on 3 December 2018. Retrieved 3 December 2018.
- ^ "Kristin Scott Thomas Joins Ben Wheatley's 'Rebecca' Adaptation for Netflix". The Hollywood Reporter. 9 May 2019. Archived from the original on 13 May 2019. Retrieved 15 May 2019.
- ^ "Rebecca (2020) Reviews - Metacritic". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 30 December 2020. Retrieved 10 November 2020.
- ^ "Ben Wheatley Directing Tomb Raider 2 with Alicia Vikander | Movies | Empire". 9 April 2019. Archived from the original on 11 November 2020. Retrieved 10 November 2020.
- ^ "Tomb Raider 2 Has Been Delayed Indefinitely | Movies | Empire". 28 October 2020. Archived from the original on 9 November 2020. Retrieved 10 November 2020.
- ^ Mike Fleming Jr (25 January 2021). "MGM Sets 'Lovecraft Country's Misha Green To Write/Direct Next 'Tomb Raider' With Alicia Vikander Reprising As Lara Croft". Deadline. Archived from the original on 26 January 2021. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
- ^ "Ben Wheatley Directs 'In the Earth' Horror Pic for Neon | Hollywood Reporter". The Hollywood Reporter. 6 November 2020. Archived from the original on 13 November 2020. Retrieved 10 November 2020.
- ^ "Ben Wheatley Directing the Meg 2 | Movies | Empire". 25 October 2020. Archived from the original on 2 November 2020. Retrieved 10 November 2020.
- ^ Kit, Borys (23 October 2020). "'The Meg 2' Finds Its Director With 'Rebecca' Filmmaker Ben Wheatley (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 28 November 2020. Retrieved 26 February 2021.
- ^ "Steve Alten's September Newsletter". Archived from the original on 16 November 2020. Retrieved 10 November 2020.
- ^ MrandMrsWheatley
- ^ "A Field in England director Ben Wheatley on the key films in his life". The Dissolve. Archived from the original on 24 January 2016. Retrieved 20 January 2016.
- ^ "Ben Wheatley Update". Film City Brighton & Hove. Archived from the original on 29 May 2016. Retrieved 20 January 2016.
- ^ Kanter, Jake (18 October 2023). "'Generation Z' First Look: Ben Wheatley's Zombie Series Unveils Cast Including Robert Lindsay". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on 18 October 2023. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
External links
[edit]- Ben Wheatley at IMDb
