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John Crowley (director)

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John Crowley
John Crowley at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival
Born (1969-08-19) 19 August 1969 (age 55)
Cork, Ireland
OccupationFilm director
SpouseFiona Weir

John Crowley (born 19 August 1969) is an Irish film and theatre director.[1] He is best known for the films Brooklyn (2015) and his debut feature, Intermission (2003), for which he won an Irish Film and Television Award for Best Director. He is a brother of the designer Bob Crowley.

Education

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Crowley earned a BA in English and Philosophy (1990) and an MA in Philosophy from University College Cork.[2]

Career

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Crowley became involved in theatre as a student, seeing it as a stepping stone to directing film. He began directing plays in Dublin in the early 1990s, reached London's West End by 1996 and eventually become an associate director at the Donmar Warehouse. In 2000, he directed Come and Go as part of the Beckett on Film series and made his feature debut Intermission (2003), a comedy drama set in Dublin, starring Colin Farrell, Cillian Murphy and Kelly Macdonald, based on a screenplay by playwright Mark O'Rowe.[3]

In May 2005, Crowley, along with Danny Boyle, launched the UK Film Council Development Fund's "25 Words or Less: Director’s Cut" scheme to develop a feature film project, stating that he wanted particularly to "create a contemporary 'rebirth' or transformation story about a man or woman who begins as someone that spreads coldness."[4]

In 2007, Crowley reteamed with O'Rowe for the thought-provoking BAFTA-winning drama Boy A, about a young man's return to civilian life after imprisonment for a brutal childhood killing, which was made for British television but was released theatrically in the US the following year.[3] It won him the Best Director (Fiction) award at the 2008 British Academy Television Craft Awards.[5]

Additionally, Crowley was Tony nominated for the hugely successful London and Broadway runs of Martin McDonagh's play The Pillowman in 2003 and 2005. He directed Neve Campbell and Cillian Murphy in the West End production of Love Song in 2006-7, and in 2007 filmed a television version of Harold Pinter's Celebration starring Michael Gambon, Stephen Rea and Colin Firth.[3] In 2009 he directed the film Is Anybody There?, set in 1980s seaside Britain, written by Peter Harness and starring Michael Caine as a grumpy ex-magician. In 2010, Crowley teamed once again with McDonagh for A Behanding in Spokane on Broadway.

In July 2016, it was announced that Crowley will direct the screen adaptation of Donna Tartt's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Goldfinch for Warner Bros. and RatPac Entertainment, starring Ansel Elgort, Oakes Fegley, Aneurin Barnard and Finn Wolfhard.[6]

In 2017 it was announced that he would be directing a film adaption of Bernard MacLaverty's Midwinter Break.[7]

Theatre

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Filmography

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Film

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Television

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Year Title Notes
2007 Celebration Televised play
2015 True Detective Episodes: "Other Lives" and "Omega Station"
2021 Modern Love Episode: "In the waiting room of estranged spouses"
2022 Life After Life Miniseries;
Also executive producer
2023 Black Mirror Episode: "Beyond the Sea"

Recurring collaborators

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Work
Actor
2003 2007 2008 2013 2015 2019 2024
Intermission
Jane Brennan Yes No No No Yes No No
Denis Conway Yes No No No Yes No No
Andrew Garfield No Yes No No No No Yes
Anne-Marie Duff No No Yes Yes No No No
Jim Broadbent No No No Yes Yes No No

Awards and nominations

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Year Award Category Title Result
2003 IFTA Film & Drama Awards[9] Best Film Director Intermission Won
Galway Film Fleadh[10] Best First Feature Film Won
First Feature Film Won
2004 British Independent Film Awards[11] The Douglas Hickox Award (Best Debut Director) Won
Galway Film Fleadh Best First Feature Won
2006 Golden Rooster Awards Best International Director Won
2008 British Academy Television Awards Best Single Drama Boy A Nominated
British Academy Television Craft Awards Best Director: Fiction Won
Banff World Media Festival Best Made for TV Movie Nominated
Berlin International Film Festival Prize of the Ecumenical Jury Won
Dinard British Film Festival Golden Hitchcock Won
Silver Hitchcock Won
Film by the Sea Youth Jury Award Won
Irish Film & Television Awards Best Film Director Nominated
2010 Bodil Awards Best Non-American Film Nominated
CinEuphoria Awards Top Ten of the Year - International Competition Won
2015 Denver Film Festival Narrative Feature Brooklyn Won
Detroit Film Critics Society Best Director Nominated
Dublin Film Critics' Circle Best Director Nominated
IndieWire Critics Poll Best Director Nominated
Mill Valley Film Festival World Cinema Nominated
San Diego Film Critics Society Awards Best Director Nominated
San Francisco Film Critics Circle Awards Best Director Nominated
Twin Cities Film Fest Feature Film Won
Vancouver International Film Festival People's Choice Won
Virginia Film Festival Narrative Feature Won
2016 British Academy Film Awards Outstanding British Film Won
Irish Film & Television Awards Best Film Director Nominated
2017 Kinema Junpo Best Foreign Language Film Nominated
Best Foreign Language Film (Readers' Choice) Nominated

References

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  1. ^ Michael Dwyer (2 May 2009). "A director with a lot on his mind". Irishtimes.com. Retrieved 16 February 2016.
  2. ^ "Biographies - Irish Film & TV Research Online - Trinity College Dublin". Tcd.ie. 27 November 2006. Archived from the original on 28 November 2017. Retrieved 16 February 2016.
  3. ^ a b c "John Crowley, Is Anybody There?". Filmmaker Magazine. Retrieved 16 February 2016.
  4. ^ "John Crowley Teams With Danny Boyle for New Script Initiative | The Irish Film & Television Network". Iftn.ie. Retrieved 16 February 2016.
  5. ^ "BAFTA Craft Awards 2008". British Academy of Film and Television Arts.
  6. ^ "John Crowley eyed to Direct Adaptation of The Goldfinch". Variety. 20 July 2016. Retrieved 21 July 2016.
  7. ^ Tartaglione, Nancy (4 September 2017). "John Crowley To Direct 'Midwinter Break' For Film4, Shoebox – Venice". Deadline. Retrieved 23 November 2017.
  8. ^ The Present Broadway Official Website http://www.thepresentbroadway.com/?
  9. ^ "THE IRISH FILM AND TELEVISION AWARDS 2004". Archived from the original on 1 August 2012. Retrieved 9 September 2009.
  10. ^ "galway film fleadh 2003". Archived from the original on 11 June 2009. Retrieved 9 September 2009.
  11. ^ "Intermission - John Crowley - 2004 The Douglas Hickox Award". Archived from the original on 9 August 2011. Retrieved 9 September 2009.
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