British producer and director (born 1942)
Michael Cormac Newell (born 28 March 1942) is an English film and television director and producer. He won the BAFTA for Best Direction for Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), which also won the BAFTA Award for Best Film , and directed the films Donnie Brasco (1997) and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005).[ 1]
Early life
Newell was born in St Albans , Hertfordshire , as the son of amateur actors,[ 2] and was educated at St Albans School . He read English at Magdalene College, Cambridge .[ 3] [ 4] He then attended a three-year training course at Granada Television with the intention of entering the theatre.
Career
Newell directed various British TV shows from the 1960s onwards (such as Spindoe , credited as Cormac Newell, and Big Breadwinner Hog ), but eventually shifted his focus to film direction.
His first feature-length project was The Man in the Iron Mask (1977), a made-for-television film. His first critically acclaimed movie was Bad Blood (1981), concerning the 1941 manhunt for the New Zealand mass-killer Stan Graham played by Jack Thompson . This was followed by Dance with a Stranger (1985), a biographical drama starring Miranda Richardson as Ruth Ellis , the last woman to be hanged in the UK. For his directorial efforts, Newell won the Award of the Youth at the 1985 Cannes Film Festival .
Newell continued his successes in the film industry with Enchanted April (1991), an adaptation of the 1922 novel by Elizabeth von Arnim . Miranda Richardson won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical and Joan Plowright won the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture .
During this period, George Lucas recruited Newell as one of the numerous feature film directors to direct episodes of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles .
The comedy Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) was also critically acclaimed, winning numerous awards, including a César Award (Best Foreign Film), a Golden Globe (Best Actor – Hugh Grant ), and a number of London Critics Circle Film Awards (Best Director, Film, Producer, and Screenwriter).
Since these award-winning productions, Newell has directed a number of films in Hollywood, such as Donnie Brasco (1997) (starring Al Pacino and Johnny Depp ), Pushing Tin (1999) (starring John Cusack , Billy Bob Thornton , Cate Blanchett , and Angelina Jolie ) and Mona Lisa Smile (2003) (starring Julia Roberts , Kirsten Dunst , and Julia Stiles ).
In 2005, Newell was presented with an honorary degree of Doctor of Arts by the University of Hertfordshire which has a campus in St Albans, his birthplace. He was also awarded the BAFTA Britannia Award for Artistic Excellence in Directing for his career prior to 2005.[ 5] Newell became the first British director of the Harry Potter film series with the production of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire , the fourth adaptation in the series, which became a major critical and financial success worldwide. Newell is heard briefly as the radio announcer at the beginning of the film.
Newell directed Love in the Time of Cholera in 2007 and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time in 2010. In February 2011, Newell attended the British Academy Film Awards along with Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling , David Heyman , David Barron , David Yates , Alfonso Cuarón , Rupert Grint , and Emma Watson to collect the Michael Balcon Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Cinema on behalf of the Harry Potter film series.[ 6]
Continuing to work on adaptations, Newell directed Great Expectations (2012) from the novel by Charles Dickens with Ralph Fiennes , Helena Bonham Carter , and Jeremy Irvine in starring roles.[ 7] [ 8] [ 9] [ 10] [ 11] The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.[ 12]
On Christmas Day in 2016, Newell appeared as a contestant on a special episode of the BBC's University Challenge , representing his alma mater , Magdalene College, Cambridge .[ 4]
Filmography
Film
Director
Executive producer
Television
TV series
As executive producer
Year(s)
Name
Notes
2003
The Branch
2004–2006
Huff
16 episodes
TV movies
Sharon (1964) (Documentary)
Comedy Workshop: Love and Maud Carver (1964)
The Kindness of Strangers (1967)
Them Down There (1968)
The Visitors (1968)
The Gamekeeper (1968)
69 Murder – The Blood Relation (1968)
Blood Relations (1969)
Arthur Wants You for a Sunbeam (1970)
Mrs. Mouse, Are You Within? (1971)
Big Soft Nelly Mrs. Mouse (1971)
Baa Baa Black Sheep (1974)
The Gift of Friendship (1974)
The Boundary (1975)
The Midas Connection (1975)
Lost Yer Tongue? (1975)
Of the Fields, Lately (1976)
The Man in the Iron Mask (1977)
The Fosdyke Saga (1977)
Little Girls Don't (1978)
Blood Feud (1983)
Birth of a Nation (1983)
The Whole Hog (1989)
Common Ground (1990)
Jo (2002) (Also producer)
The Interestings (2016)
References
External links
Awards for Mike Newell
1990s
Goodfellas – Martin Scorsese , Robert Chartoff , and Irwin Winkler (1990)
The Commitments – Alan Parker , Lynda Myles , and Roger Randall-Cutler (1991)
Howards End – James Ivory and Ismail Merchant (1992)
Schindler's List – Steven Spielberg , Branko Lustig , and Gerald R. Molen (1993)
Four Weddings and a Funeral – Mike Newell and Duncan Kenworthy (1994)
Sense and Sensibility – Ang Lee and Lindsay Doran (1995)
The English Patient – Anthony Minghella and Saul Zaentz (1996)
The Full Monty – Peter Cattaneo and Uberto Pasolini (1997)
Shakespeare in Love – Donna Gigliotti , Marc Norman , David Parfitt , Harvey Weinstein , and Edward Zwick (1998)
American Beauty – Bruce Cohen and Dan Jinks (1999)
2000s
Gladiator – David Franzoni , Branko Lustig , and Douglas Wick (2000)
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring – Peter Jackson , Barrie M. Osborne , Tim Sanders , and Fran Walsh (2001)
The Pianist – Robert Benmussa, Roman Polanski , and Alain Sarde (2002)
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King – Peter Jackson , Barrie M. Osborne , and Fran Walsh (2003)
The Aviator – Sandy Climan , Charles Evans Jr. , Graham King , and Michael Mann (2004)
Brokeback Mountain – Diana Ossana and James Schamus (2005)
The Queen – Andy Harries , Christine Langan , and Tracey Seaward (2006)
Atonement – Tim Bevan , Eric Fellner , and Paul Webster (2007)
Slumdog Millionaire – Christian Colson (2008)
The Hurt Locker – Kathryn Bigelow , Mark Boal , Nicolas Chartier , and Greg Shapiro (2009)
2010s
The King's Speech – Iain Canning , Emile Sherman , and Gareth Unwin (2010)
The Artist – Thomas Langmann (2011)
Argo – Ben Affleck , George Clooney , and Grant Heslov (2012)
12 Years a Slave – Dede Gardner , Anthony Katagas , Jeremy Kleiner , Steve McQueen , and Brad Pitt (2013)
Boyhood – Richard Linklater and Cathleen Sutherland (2014)
The Revenant – Steve Golin , Alejandro G. Iñárritu , Arnon Milchan , Mary Parent , and Keith Redmon (2015)
La La Land – Fred Berger , Jordan Horowitz , and Marc Platt (2016)
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri – Graham Broadbent , Peter Czernin , and Martin McDonagh (2017)
Roma – Nicolás Celis , Alfonso Cuarón , and Gabriela Rodríguez (2018)
1917 – Pippa Harris , Callum McDougall, Sam Mendes , and Jayne-Ann Tenggren (2019)
2020s
Nomadland – Mollye Asher, Dan Janvey, Frances McDormand , Peter Spears , and Chloé Zhao (2020)
The Power of the Dog – Jane Campion , Iain Canning , Roger Frappier , Tanya Seghatchian , and Emile Sherman (2021)
All Quiet on the Western Front – Malte Grunert (2022)
Oppenheimer – Christopher Nolan , Charles Roven , and Emma Thomas (2023)
Excellence in Film Excellence in Directing Worldwide Contribution to Entertainment British Artist of the Year Excellence in Comedy Excellence in Television Humanitarian Award Retired Awards
International National Academics Artists People Other