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Roland Joffé

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Roland Joffé
Joffé in 2012
Born (1945-11-17) 17 November 1945 (age 79)
London, England
Occupation(s)Film director, producer, screenwriter
Years active1960–present
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1974; div. 1980)​
ChildrenRowan Joffé
Nathalie Lunghi

Roland Joffé (/ˈdʒɒfeɪ/;[1] born 17 November 1945) is an English director and producer of film and television, known for the Academy Award-nominated films The Killing Fields and The Mission. He began his career in television, his early credits including episodes of Coronation Street and an adaptation of The Stars Look Down for Granada. He gained a reputation for hard-hitting political stories with the series Bill Brand and factual dramas for Play for Today.

Education

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Joffé was educated at two independent schools: the Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle in London, and Carmel College in Wallingford, Oxfordshire, which was Europe's only Jewish boarding school, until it closed in 1997. He completed his formal education at the University of Manchester.

Career

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Television

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After university, Joffé joined Granada Television as a trainee director in 1973, where he directed episodes of Coronation Street,[2][3] Sam,[3] The Stars Look Down,[3] Crown Court,[3] Bill Brand,[3] and Headmaster.[3]

In 1977, producer Tony Garnett was commissioned by the BBC to direct the play The Spongers within BBCs Play for Today series. He informed the BBC drama department that he wanted to hire Roland Joffé as director, but was told that Joffé did not possess BBC clearance and was regarded a "security risk" (see: "Christmas tree" list).[4] The reason was that Joffé had attended some Workers' Revolutionary Party meetings in the early 1970s,[5] although he never became a party member. He explained around 1988: "I was very interested in politics at that time. But I was interested in what all the political parties were doing, not just the WRP, and I was never actively involved."[6] Only after Garnett threatened he would "go public", was the veto on Joffé's appointment withdrawn.[6] The Spongers won the prestigious Prix Italia award.

Joffé also directed an episode in BBC's Second City Firsts in 1977[3] and later directed two more plays for Play for Today: The Legion Hall Bombing (1979) and United Kingdom (1981).[3] In 1979, he directed the TV play No, Mama, No by Verity Bargate for the ITV Playhouse series,[3] and in 1980 he made a version of 17th century dramatist John Ford's play 'Tis Pity She's a Whore as a TV film for the BBC.[3]

Film

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Roland Joffé's first two feature films (The Killing Fields, 1984, and The Mission, 1986) each garnered him an Academy Award nomination for Best Director. Joffé worked closely with producer David Puttnam on each film. The Killing Fields detailed the friendship of two men, an American journalist for The New York Times, and his translator, a prisoner of the Khmer Rouge in Communist Cambodia. It won three Academy Awards (for Best Supporting Actor, Best Cinematography, and Best Film Editing) and was nominated for four more (including Best Picture and Best Director). The Mission was a story of conflict between Jesuit missionaries in South America, who were trying to convert the Guaraní Indians, and the Portuguese and Spanish colonisers, who wanted to enslave the natives. In an interview with Thomas Bird, Joffé says of The Mission, "The Indians are innocent. The film is about what happens in the world... what that innocence brings out in us. You would sit in a cinema in New York, or in Tokyo, or Paris, and for that point of time you would be joined with your companions on this planet. You would come out with a real sense of a network.".[7] The film won the Palme d'Or and Technical Grand Jury Prize at the 1986 Cannes Film Festival. It achieved six Academy Awards nominations—including for Best Picture, Best Director, and Ennio Morricone's acclaimed Best Original Score—and won one, for Best Cinematography.

In 1993, he produced and partially directed a big budget adaptation of the video game Super Mario Bros.. The film struggled to make back its budget. His 1995 adaptation of The Scarlet Letter was a critical and financial disaster, and his 2007 horror film Captivity drew controversy with its advertising billboards, widely regarded as exploitative and misogynistic. He received Razzie Nominations for Worst Director for The Scarlet Letter and Captivity.

His 2011 release, There Be Dragons, garnered press attention as it dealt with the Catholic organisation Opus Dei.[8][9] A movie about faith and forgiveness, There Be Dragons is a project that Joffé says has a message he's proud to say on film. In an interview with CBN.com, he stated, "I have a very deep emotional investment in this film. I feel that I really want to stand behind what it says to us as human beings."[10]

In 2013 Joffé directed the Anglo-Indian historical epic romance time travel adventure film, The Lovers.

Personal life

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Roland Joffé by Jacob Epstein, c. 1949

Joffé is of Jewish descent but has described himself as a "wobbly agnostic".[11] He is not related to the French film director Arthur Joffé.[citation needed]

Around 1950, Roland's father Mark Joffe[12][13][14] began a relationship with the daughter of Jacob Epstein and Kathleen Garman, Esther Garman, who helped raise Roland.[15][16][17] After Esther's suicide in 1954, Roland lived with her parents.[18] Portraits of Roland as a child by Jacob Epstein and Esther's brother Theodore Garman are part of the Garman Ryan Collection at The New Art Gallery Walsall.[19][20]

From 1974 to 1980, Joffé was married to actress Jane Lapotaire; they have a son, screenwriter and director Rowan Joffé (b. 1973). Later, he and actress Cherie Lunghi were in a longterm relationship;[21][22] they have a daughter, actor Nathalie Lunghi (b. 1986).

Joffé is a board member of the nonprofit organization Operation USA. He was the official patron of the 2011 Cambodia Volleyball World Cup held from 23 to 29 July at the National Olympic Stadium Phnom Penh.[23] Roland Joffé lives on the island of Malta and is an active member of the team organising the Valletta Film Festival.

Filmography

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Film

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Year Title Director Writer Producer
1984 The Killing Fields Yes
1986 The Mission Yes
1989 Fat Man and Little Boy Yes Yes
1992 City of Joy Yes
1993 Super Mario Bros. Yes
1995 The Scarlet Letter Yes Yes
1998 Goodbye Lover Yes
2000 Vatel Yes Yes
2007 Captivity Yes
2008 You and I Yes
2011 There Be Dragons Yes Yes Yes
2013 The Lovers Yes Yes
2017 The Forgiven Yes Yes Yes

Television

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Year Title Notes
1973–1974 Coronation Street 4 episodes
1974–1975 Sam 4 episodes
1975 The Stars Look Down 6 episodes
1976 Crown Court 4 episodes
Bill Brand 5 episodes
1977 Headmaster 3 episodes
Second City Firsts 1 episode
1978 The Spongers
Play for Today Episode: "The Legion Hall Bombing"
1979 No, Mama, No
1980 'Tis Pity She's a Whore
1981 Play for Today Episode: "United Kingdom"
2002 Undressed 1 episode
2015 Texas Rising 5 episodes
2017 Sun Records 8 episodes

Accolades

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Award Year Nominated work Category Result
Prix Italia 1978 The Spongers[24]
Academy Awards 1985 The Killing Fields Best Director Nominated
1987 The Mission Nominated
Golden Globe Awards 1985 The Killing Fields Best Director Nominated
1987 The Mission Nominated
Cannes Film Festival 1986 The Mission Palme d'Or Won
Technical Grand Prize Won
British Academy of Film and Television Arts 1985 The Killing Fields Best Direction Nominated
1987 The Mission Nominated
Best Film Nominated
Berlin International Film Festival 1990 Fat Man and Little Boy Golden Bear Nominated
Golden Raspberry Awards 1996 The Scarlet Letter Worst Picture Nominated
Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-off or Sequel Won
Worst Director Nominated
2008 Captivity Nominated

References

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  1. ^ "Roland Joffé and David Puttnam interview for The Killing Fields (1984)"
  2. ^ The Independent, 5 October 2007: Roland Joffé: Why the director is a victim of his own success Retrieved 2013-03-06
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j IMDb: Roland Joffé Filmography Retrieved 2013-03-06
  4. ^ Mark Hollingsworth and Richard Norton-Taylior Blacklist: The Inside Story of Political Vetting, London: Hogarth Press, 1988, p.97-99. The relevant extract from this book is here.
  5. ^ At that time, the WRP was known as the Socialist Labour League, but Hollingsworth and Norton-Taylor use the later form.
  6. ^ a b Blacklist, p.98
  7. ^ Bird, Thomas. "Roland Joffé " Archived 14 September 2012 at the Wayback Machine, BOMB Magazine Winter, 1987. Retrieved 2012-11-26.
  8. ^ Roland Joffé's new film Mission: to uncover secrets of the Opus Dei The Guardian. 8 June 2009
  9. ^ Bringing a Saint’s Life to the Screen The New York Times. 22 August 2009
  10. ^ Director Roland Joffé Explains "There Be Dragons", CBN.com.
  11. ^ Roland Joffé Interview to the National Catholic Register
  12. ^ The Independent, 5 October 2007: Roland Joffé: Why the director is a victim of his own success
  13. ^ June Rose, Daemons and Angels: A Life of Jacob Epstein , London: Constable, 2002, p.244,258
  14. ^ Mark Joffe by Jacob Epstein, 1952 Watford Museum
  15. ^ Esther Garman biography The New Art Gallery Walsall
  16. ^ Photograph of Esther Garman cutting Roland Joffe's birthday cake, c1951 Garman Ryan Collection, The New Art Gallery Walsall
  17. ^ Photograph of Jacob Epstein, Kathleen Garman, Mark Joffe and Esther Garman at Open-Air Sculpture Exhibition, 1948 Garman Ryan Collection, The New Art Gallery Walsall
  18. ^ "Epstein Final". Issuu. 21 June 2013. Retrieved 20 June 2021.
  19. ^ Roland Joffe by Theodore Garman, 1949-1951 Garman Ryan Collection, The New Art Gallery Walsall
  20. ^ Roland Joffe by Jacob Epstein Garman Ryan Collection, The New Art Gallery Walsall
  21. ^ "Roland Joffé". Findmypast.co.uk.
  22. ^ "Strictly Come Dancing's Cherie Lunghi had sham marriage". Daily Mirror. 11 October 2008. Retrieved 19 November 2008.
  23. ^ "Roland Joffé Announced as Patron of World Cup". Volleyball World Cup. 16 June 2011. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 12 July 2011.
  24. ^ Prix Italia, Winners 1949 – 2010, RAI Archived 22 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine
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