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John Boorman is a Actor, Director, Scriptwriter and Producer British born on 18 january 1933 at Shepperton (United-kingdom)

John Boorman

John Boorman
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Nationality United-kingdom
Birth 18 january 1933 (91 years) at Shepperton (United-kingdom)

John Boorman (born 18 January 1933) is an English filmmaker who is a longtime resident of Ireland and is best known for his feature films such as Point Blank, Deliverance, Zardoz, Excalibur, The Emerald Forest, Hope and Glory, The General and The Tailor of Panama.

Biography

Jeunesse
John Boorman reçoit une partie de son éducation chez les Jésuites.

Sa jeunesse est marquée par les bombardements de la Seconde Guerre mondiale, épreuve qu'il évoquera plus tard dans son film Hope and Glory (La Guerre à sept ans), le plus autobiographique de toute sa filmographie.

À dix-huit ans, il devient critique de cinéma dans des revues spécialisées et participe à des émissions radiophoniques sur le même thème. En 1955, il est monteur pour une chaîne de télévision privée, puis réalise des documentaires pour la Southern Television. Il signe une série de portraits documentaires pour la dont BBC, Citizen 63 et The Newcomers.


Carrière

Son premier long métrage, Catch us if you can (Sauve qui peut), date de 1965. Le succès de ce film lui permet de partir aux États-Unis où il met en scène deux films assez violents. D'abord Le Point de non-retour (Point Blank), adaptation d'un roman de Donald Westlake mettant en vedette Lee Marvin, puis Duel dans le Pacifique, un drame de guerre qui ne met en scène que deux personnages, un soldat américain et un japonais, interprétés par Lee Marvin et Toshiro Mifune. Ces deux films valent à Boorman une notoriété internationale.

Revenu en Grande-Bretagne, il réalise la comédie dramatique Leo the last, une parabole sociale dont Marcello Mastroianni est la vedette et pour lequel Boorman reçoit le Prix de la mise en scène à Cannes en 1970. De retour aux États-Unis, il dirige un de ses films les plus célèbres Délivrance, autre parabole dans laquelle on voit le « mythe du retour à la nature confronté à de dures réalités » (Robert-Claude Bérubé). Le film raconte l'histoire d'un groupe de copains qui entreprennent la descente en canot d'une rivière traversant une contrée sauvage. Grand succès critique et commercial à sa sortie, Délivrance contribue à consolider la carrière de ses deux acteurs principaux, Jon Voight et Burt Reynolds.

Boorman aborde ensuite la science-fiction avec Zardoz, variation futuriste sur le thème du Magicien d'Oz dont Boorman est également scénariste. Ces films confirment sa réputation de grand réalisateur, développant un cinéma personnel, violent et pessimiste qui, du fantastique à la science-fiction en passant par le réalisme, dépeint un monde sans dieu où l'homme, condamné à errer, est sans cesse confronté au mal.

Boorman est moins chanceux avec son œuvre suivante, L'Exorciste 2 : l'hérétique. Suite du film de William Friedkin, qui avait été un triomphe commercial, L'Exorciste 2 bénéficie d'un budget imposant pour l'époque, mais la critique est pauvre et le succès limité.

Il faut attendre quatre ans, en 1981, avant que Boorman ne propose un nouveau film, Excalibur, relecture de la légende du roi Arthur et des Chevaliers de la Table ronde. Le film est entièrement tourné en Irlande et met en vedette des acteurs plus ou moins connus (Liam Neeson, Nigel Terry, Nicol Williamson). Relativement bien accueilli lors de sa sortie, Excalibur voit sa réputation encore grandir au fil du temps et est aujourd'hui considéré comme un film important du début des années 1980.

À peu près à la même époque, Boorman, qui avait été son propre producteur à plusieurs reprises, produit les films de deux cinéastes débutants : Angel de l'irlandais Neil Jordan et Nemo du français Arnaud Sélignac.

C'est dans la jungle brésilienne que Boorman tourne son film suivant La Forêt d'émeraude, dont la vedette est son fils, Charley, alors âgé de 18 ans. La Forêt d'émeraude relate une histoire vraie survenue au début des années 1980 et fait partie d'une série de films tournés dans la jungle équatoriale au cours des années 1985 - 1991 et auxquels on peut rattacher La Mission de Roland Joffe, Medicine Man de John McTiernan et En liberté dans les champs du seigneur de Hector Babenco.

Puis Boorman revient en Angleterre pour y tourner un film largement autobiographique, La Guerre à sept ans, dans laquelle il évoque son enfance à Londres alors que se déroulait la Seconde guerre mondiale. Le film bénéficie d'un budget confortable mais, malgré une critique globalement positive, il ne rencontre qu'un succès moyen.


Festivals

Boorman est président du jury du 42eFestival international du film de Thessalonique, en 2001. Le jury est notamment composé de Paweł Pawlikowski, Nuri Bilge Ceylan et Yannis Kokkos.

Membre du jury de la 48e Mostra de Venise (1991), il en est président en 2004 (61e Mostra). Son jury comporte notamment Scarlett Johansson, Spike Lee et Helen Mirren.

En 2009, il préside le jury de la section Cinéfondation et courts métrages du 62e Festival de Cannes, composé notamment de l'actrice chinoise Zhang Ziyi et du Français Bertrand Bonello.

En 2012, il préside le jury du 12e Festival international du film de Marrakech, composé notamment de James Gray, Lambert Wilson, Marie-Josée Croze ou encore Gemma Arterton.


Vie privée
John Boorman a sept enfants, dont Charley Boorman, acteur et aventurier, Katrine et Telsche Boorman (décédée en 1996), scénaristes et actrices anglaises.

Best films

Excalibur (1981)
(Director)
The Emerald Forest (1985)
(Director)
Hope and Glory (1987)
(Director)

Usually with

Source : Wikidata

Filmography of John Boorman (26 films)

Display filmography as list

Actor

Me and Me Dad
Directed by Katrine Boorman
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Documentary
Actors John Boorman, Katrine Boorman, Charley Boorman, Telsche Boorman
Roles Self
Rating68% 3.4313653.4313653.4313653.4313653.431365
Katrine Boorman, l’une des quatre enfants issus du premier mariage de John Boorman avec la costumière allemande Christel Kruse, retrouve apparemment son père après la séparation de celui-ci avec sa seconde épouse. Katrine interroge John Boorman sur ses souvenirs de cinéma, sa conception du métier et sur sa vie familiale. Le tournage s’étant effectué durant plusieurs années, le cinéaste apparaît sous différents jours, tantôt sérieux et docte, puis drôle et taquin, et enfin émouvant lorsqu’il se remémore sa relation avec Telsche, « sa fille préférée » disparue. Katrine, les jumeaux Charley et Daisy, chacun vient témoigner, soit à propos de ses prestations dans les films du père ou de ses rapports personnels. Christel Kruse-Boorman apporte sa contribution en louant notamment « l’intelligence » de Lee Marvin, acteur du Point de non-retour qui expédia par la fenêtre le premier (mauvais) scénario du film pour donner carte blanche à John Boorman. Katrine a filmé le cinéaste à Londres ainsi que sans sa propriété irlandaise, puis à Paris où père et fille fleurissent la tombe de Telsche au cimetière de Montmartre.
No Subtitles Necessary: Laszlo & Vilmos, 1h44
Origin USA
Genres Documentary
Themes Documentary films about business, Documentary films about the visual arts, Documentary films about the film industry, Documentaire sur une personnalité
Actors Dennis Hopper, Peter Bogdanovich, Sharon Stone, John Boorman, Karen Black, Sandra Bullock
Roles Self
Rating77% 3.861183.861183.861183.861183.86118
This documentary traces the careers of cinematographers László Kovács and Vilmos Zsigmond. These lifelong friends are Hungarian expatriates who had been studying cinematography in Hungary and defected following the 1956 Soviet invasion. Coincidentally, they also photographed many of the tumultuous events during the invasion.
Chris & Don: A Love Story, 1h30
Origin USA
Genres Documentary, Romance
Themes Films about writers, Films about sexuality, LGBT-related films, Documentaire sur l'homosexualité, Documentaire sur une personnalité, LGBT-related films, LGBT-related film
Actors John Boorman, Leslie Caron, Liza Minnelli, Michael York, Gloria Stuart, Christopher Murray
Rating77% 3.879953.879953.879953.879953.87995
Chris & Don tells the story of a romance that began on the beaches of Santa Monica in the 1950s, when Christopher Isherwood at age 48 met Don Bachardy who then was eighteen years old. Isherwood, an established author with works such as The Berlin Stories, which helped inspire much of Cabaret, helped Bachardy discover and develop his affinity for drawing and painting as he became a renowned portrait painter during the second half of the 20th century to the present. The documentary includes insight from friends, including Liza Minnelli and John Boorman, who tell of the countless struggles the two faced as one of the first openly gay couples in Hollywood. Despite the age difference, the couple endured until Isherwood succumbed to prostate cancer in 1986.
I Dreamt I Woke Up, 50minutes
Directed by John Boorman
Genres Documentary
Actors John Boorman, John Hurt, Janet McTeer, Charley Boorman
Roles Himself
Rating71% 3.594123.594123.594123.594123.59412
Hope and Glory, 1h53
Directed by John Boorman, Lasse Hallström
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, War, Comedy, Historical
Themes Films about children, Pregnancy films, Transport films, Aviation films, Musical films, Political films
Actors Sarah Miles, David Hayman, Sammi Davis, Derrick O'Connor, Susan Wooldridge, Ian Bannen
Roles Narrator (voice)
Rating72% 3.646443.646443.646443.646443.64644
Beginning just before the start of the Second World War, the film tells the story of the Rowan family: Bill, his sisters Sue and Dawn, and his parents Grace and Clive, living in a suburb of London. After the war starts, Clive joins the army, leaving Grace alone to watch over the children.
Zardoz
Zardoz (1974)
, 1h47
Directed by John Boorman
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Science fiction, Thriller, Fantasy, Action
Themes Post-apocalyptic films, Films about religion, Films set in the future, Political films, Dystopian films, Children's films, Disaster films
Actors Sean Connery, Charlotte Rampling, Sara Kestelman, John Boorman, John Alderton, Bosco Hogan
Roles Farming Brutal Shot by Zed (uncredited)
Rating58% 2.9013352.9013352.9013352.9013352.901335
In a future post-apocalypse Earth in the year 2293, the human population is divided into the immortal "Eternals" and mortal "Brutals". The Brutals live in a wasteland, growing food for the Eternals, who live apart in "the Vortex", leading a luxurious but aimless existence on the grounds of a country estate. The connection between the two groups is through Brutal Exterminators, who kill and terrorize other "Brutals" at the orders of a huge flying stone head called Zardoz, which supplies them with weapons in exchange for the food they collect. Zed (Connery), a Brutal Exterminator, hides aboard Zardoz during one trip, temporarily "killing" its Eternal operator-creator Arthur Frayn (Niall Buggy).

Director

Queen & Country, 1h54
Directed by John Boorman
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama
Actors Caleb Landry Jones, David Thewlis, Callum Turner, Tamsin Egerton, Vanessa Kirby, Richard E. Grant
Rating61% 3.0957953.0957953.0957953.0957953.095795
The film follows John Boorman's alter ego Bill Rohan ten years after the events of Hope and Glory, as he performs basic training for the Korean War.
The Tiger's Tail, 1h47
Directed by John Boorman
Genres Drama, Thriller, Comedy, Crime
Actors Brendan Gleeson, Kim Cattrall, Sinéad Cusack, Seán McGinley, Ciarán Hinds, Angeline Ball
Rating58% 2.901292.901292.901292.901292.90129
Liam O'Leary (Gleeson) is a successful real estate developer in Dublin. He lives in a magnificent house with his unhappy wife (Cattrall) and rebellious son. One day, his pleasant life takes a dramatic downturn. The city council turns down his request to build a stadium, toward which he has taken out cripplingly large bank loans, and a doppelgänger, with his identical body and facial features, begins appearing around town, ordering suits and automobiles on Liam's credit account and behaving in a scandalous manner. Liam desperately attempts to pull his life out of its tailspin, but he must return to his dirtpoor roots and the old friends he has long abandoned to find the answers.
In My Country, 1h45
Directed by John Boorman
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, Documentary, Romance
Themes Films set in Africa, Films about racism
Actors Samuel L. Jackson, Juliette Binoche, Brendan Gleeson, Langley Kirkwood, Charley Boorman, Garrick Hagon
Rating60% 3.0016053.0016053.0016053.0016053.001605
The movie deals with the story of Afrikaner poet Anna Malan (Binoche) and an American journalist, Langston Whitfield (Jackson), sent to South Africa to report about the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings.
The Tailor of Panama, 1h49
Directed by John Boorman
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Thriller, Comedy, Comedy-drama
Themes Spy films
Actors Pierce Brosnan, Geoffrey Rush, Jamie Lee Curtis, Leonor Varela, Brendan Gleeson, Catherine McCormack
Rating60% 3.049573.049573.049573.049573.04957
Andy Osnard is an MI6 spy reassigned to Panama after having an affair in Madrid with the foreign minister’s mistress. His superior warns him of the corruption present in Panama, but Osnard views that as an opportunity. Consulting a list of British citizens residing in Panama, he meets Harry Pendel, the tailor to many of Panama's elite, including the President. Pendel, a gifted storyteller, passes himself off as being formerly of Savile Row, but is in fact an ex-con who used to run scams with his late uncle Benny. Pendel's wife Louisa, the assistant to the administrator of the Panama Canal Authority, is unaware of his criminal record. While Harry is a superb tailor, he is a bad businessman; his tailor shop is constantly in debt, and he owes $50,000 of Louisa's money to the bank for a farming business that failed.
The General, 2h4
Directed by John Boorman
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, Thriller, Action, Historical, Crime
Themes Mafia films, Films about religion, Films about terrorism, Political films, Conflit nord-irlandais, Heist films, Gangster films, Escroquerie
Actors Brendan Gleeson, Adrian Dunbar, Seán McGinley, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Angeline Ball, Jon Voight
Rating71% 3.596243.596243.596243.596243.59624
After selling stolen paintings to the UVF Cahill realizes he has made a dangerous mistake. When the PIRA hear of this, they order his assassination, which is carried out on 18 August 1994.
Two Nudes Bathing, 35minutes
Directed by John Boorman
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, Comedy
Actors John Hurt, Charley Boorman, Angeline Ball
Rating76% 3.8140753.8140753.8140753.8140753.814075
Un tableau anonyme appartenant à l'École de Fontainebleau est exposé au Louvre. La pose mystérieuse de deux femmes assises dans une baignoire, l'une tenant le téton de l'autre entre le pouce et l'index, a laissé tous les experts perplexes. Comment cela est-il possible ?
Beyond Rangoon, 1h40
Directed by John Boorman
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Thriller
Themes Political films
Actors Patricia Arquette, Frances McDormand, Spalding Gray, Adelle "Bonnie" Lutz, Tiara Jacquelina, Victor Slezak
Rating65% 3.250133.250133.250133.250133.25013
Andy Bowman persuades her sister Laura to go on a trip to Burma after Laura’s husband and son are killed in a home invasion and Laura had gone into a deep depression. One night, unable to sleep because of nightmares, Laura leaves her hotel in Rangoon and gets caught up in an anti-government protest. She is very impressed by the bravery of Aung San Suu Kyi. When her tour group leaves the country, Laura cannot leave with them as her passport was stolen the previous night. While staying behind waiting for her new passport, she meets U Aung Ko, who acts as an unofficial tour guide and drives an ancient Chevy. He takes Laura out into the countryside to a Buddhist monastery. The car develops problems, but fortunately they are able to coast to the house of some of Ko’s friends and former students. Laura learns that Ko used to be a college professor, who was banned from teaching for supporting anti-government activity led by his former student Min Han. She has a breakdown and tells Ko what happened to her family. The next morning they learn that the 8888 uprising began the previous day. Ko takes Laura to a station to get train back to Rangoon. She sneaks on board, but the soldiers start beating Ko and when Min Han intervenes, Han is shot and killed. Laura gets Ko into the car and they leave, pursued by the soldiers, but Ko is shot and wounded. They end up crashing into the Irrawaddy river, but get away from the soldiers. They get on a raft taking bamboo to Rangoon. Laura, who is a doctor operates on Ko to remove the bullet. The next day the raft stops at a village. Laura goes to find drugs to treat Ko. She reluctantly accepts a pistol from one of the crew. At a clinic Laura finds the drugs she needs, but has to shoot a soldier to keep from being raped. When they arrive in Rangoon, the city is in the throes of a full-scale revolt. When Laura attempts to get into the US embassy the military tries to arrest her for helping Ko. The student demonstrators rescue her and Ko. After they witness soldiers killing civilians they get put on a truck heading for the border. Near the border the group has to abandon their truck and make run through the jungle. They meet up with a group of Karen rebels. Laura has a dream where her son Danny tells her she has to let him go. Ko urges Laura to do so, telling her, "All things pass, Laura. They are shadows as we are shadows. Briefly walking the earth, and soon gone.". The next day, Laura and her group of refugees make a harrowing river crossing into Thailand under mortar fire and reach a refugee camp. Having found a new purpose in life Laura begins helping at the camp’s hospital.