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Sam Taylor-Johnson

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Sam Taylor-Johnson
Sam Taylor-Wood in March 2010
Born (1967-03-04) 4 March 1967 (age 57)
Croydon, United Kingdom
Occupation(s)Film director, artist
Years active1993-present
Partner(s)Aaron Johnson
(2009—present; 1 child)
Children3 daughters

Samantha "Sam" Taylor-Wood OBE (born 4 March 1967), born Samantha Taylor, is an English filmmaker, photographer, and visual artist. Her directorial feature film debut came in 2009 with Nowhere Boy, a film based on the childhood experiences of The Beatles songwriter and singer John Lennon. She is one of a group of artists known as the Young British Artists.

Early life and career

Taylor-Wood was born in Croydon,[1] England. Writing in The Telegraph, journalist Anna van Praag said Taylor-Wood was born "to a yoga-teacher and astrologist mother, Taylor-Wood's biker father left when she was nine. It prompted her mother to enroll the family in a commune in Sussex, where they wore orange robes and took Sanskrit names, all of which Taylor-Wood hated."[2]

26 October 1993 by Henry Bond and Sam Taylor-Wood (1993)

Fine art career

Taylor-Wood began exhibiting fine art photography in the early-1990s. One collaboration with Henry Bond, titled 26 October 1993, featured Bond and Taylor-Wood reprising the roles of Yoko Ono and John Lennon in a pastiche of the photo-portrait made—by photographer Annie Leibovitz—a few hours before Lennon was assassinated, in 1980. In 1994, she exhibited a multi-screen video work titled Killing Time, in which four people mimed to an opera score. From that point multi-screen video works became the main focus of Taylor-Wood's work. Beginning with the video works Travesty of a Mockery and Pent-Up in 1996. Taylor-Wood was nominated for the annual Turner Prize in 1998, but lost out to the painter Chris Ofili. She won the Illy Café Prize for Most Promising Young Artist at the 1997 Venice Biennale.[citation needed] In 2002, Taylor-Wood was commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery to make a video portrait of David Beckham—whom she depicted sleeping. She is perhaps best known for her work entitled 'Crying Men' which features many of Hollywood's glitterati crying, including Robin Williams, Sean Penn, Laurence Fishburne, and Paul Newman.[3]

Nowhere Boy

In August 2008, Taylor-Wood was chosen to direct Nowhere Boy, a biopic about the childhood of The Beatles singer, John Lennon.

Speaking about her experience directing the movie, in September 2010, Taylor-Wood said,

"I thought, 'I'm in too deep and if I mess this up I'm just never gonna make a film again,' and I went into a panic. I got into the car and said, 'I just have to call these producers and pull out. I got into the car and I put the key into the ignition and Lennon's voice came straight out of the radio and it was [the Lennon song] Starting Over. It was one of those moments where I thought it was a sign: 'OK I'm gonna do it.'"[4]

The 53rd annual London Film Festival screened the film as its closing presentation on 29 October 2009. The film was released in the UK on Boxing Day, 2009. Charles Gant, writing in The Guardian—three weeks after the film's national release—said that the film had "extremely disappointing receipts."[5] Taylor-Wood was nominated for a BAFTA award on 21 January 2010, but lost out to Duncan Jones.

After five weeks on release in the USA, as of November 7, 2010, the film had taken $1,196,019.[6]

Other film and television work

In 2008, Taylor-Wood directed a short film Love You More, written by Patrick Marber and produced by Anthony Minghella. The film includes two songs by Buzzcocks and features a cameo appearance by the band's lead singer Pete Shelley. In February 2009, Sam Taylor-Wood, collaborating with Sky Arts chose to interpret Vesti la Giubba from Pagliacci. She commented: "I’m really happy to be involved in such a great project. I think by capturing one of opera's most moving moments in a film short, we have put a modern spin on the aria."[7] In 2011, she directed the music video of "Überlin" by R.E.M..[8] The clip stars her fiance Aaron Johnson, who, "throws some kung-fu kicks, attempts some pirouettes, prances, punches the air, chicken walks, tries out some bunny impressions, and, at one point, fondles his bottom."[9]

Personal life

Taylor-Wood with Aaron Johnson in September 2010

In the early 1990s, Taylor-Wood was in a relationship with artist Henry Bond.[10]

On 19 September 2008, Taylor-Wood and her art dealer husband, Jay Jopling—with whom she has two daughters, aged five and thirteen—announced their eleven-year marriage was over, and they were separating amicably.[11][12]

Taylor-Wood overcame two spells of cancer. When she was 30, she suffered from late-diagnosed colon cancer.[13] Three years later, she was diagnosed with breast cancer.[14] She claims that chemotherapy saved her life, together with her own will to live.[citation needed]

Taylor-Wood is in a relationship with her Nowhere Boy star, Aaron Johnson. As of 31 October 2009, the couple are engaged to be married. On July 7, 2010, Taylor-Wood gave birth to their first child, daughter Wylda Rae Johnson.[15][16] On July 29, 2011 it became known that the couple are expecting their second child.[17]

In 2009, Taylor-Wood made a cash payment of £11 million for a detached townhouse in Primrose Hill, London.[18][19]

Taylor-Wood was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2011 Birthday Honours for services to the arts.[20]

References

  1. ^ Film4/MirageCV
  2. ^ Anna van Praag, "Sam Taylor-Wood Interview," The Telegraph, 17 May 2008.
  3. ^ David Beckham portrait at National Portrait Gallery
  4. ^ Unattributed, "Lennon Sign Calmed Director Taylor-Wood," WENN, September 21, 2010
  5. ^ Charles Gant "Avatar's on the up but Nowhere Boy's going ... nowhere," The Guardian, Jan 12, 2010.
  6. ^ Yahoo Movies accessed, November 14, 2010,
  7. ^ "Unlikely trio make opera short films" Sky Arts Accessed 31 December 2009
  8. ^ http://www.clashmusic.com/news/rem-work-with-sam-taylor-wood Clashmusic.com, Accessed 7 March 2011
  9. ^ Ben Walsh, "Please put the camera away, darling..." The Independent, March 7, 2011
  10. ^ Gregor Muir, Lucky Kunst: The Story of YBA (London: Aurum, 2009). p. 84, (Ref. available on Amazon reader).
  11. ^ Noah, Sherna, "Art couple Taylor-Wood and Jopling to separate after 11 years' marriage" The Independent 20 September 2008
  12. ^ "Powerful art-world marriage ends." BBC News, 19 September 2008
  13. ^ The Telegraph, "Sam Taylor-Wood: the bigger pricture
  14. ^ The Telegraph, "Sam Taylor-Wood: the bigger picture"
  15. ^ "Sam Taylor-Wood and Aaron Johnson become the parents of baby girl Wylda. Expecting with baby No 2. Together with fiancee in early January 2012". The Daily Mail. July 8, 2010.
  16. ^ "Sam Taylor-Wood: I'd love another child with Aaron Johnson". The Daily Telegraph. November 7, 2010.
  17. ^ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2020301/Sam-Taylor-Wood-Aaron-Johnson-expecting-second-child-together.html
  18. ^ Simon Hattenstone "There's something about Sam," The Guardian, November 28, 2009
  19. ^ Simon Cable, "Sam Taylor-Wood pays £11m for love nest with her toyboy Aaron Johnson... in cash!," The Daily Mail, January 25, 2010
  20. ^ "No. 59808". The London Gazette (invalid |supp= (help)). 11 June 2011.

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