Directed by Paul McGuigan: Biography and Movies

He had two main dreams in life: to score for the Scottish "Celtic" in the European Cup final and take one of the James Bond films. From the first, he had only a fanly devotion to his favorite football club, and from the second he did not refuse until now - director Paul McGuigan was one of the contenders for the production of Casino Royale with Daniel Craig. The film was shot by another, but in the arsenal of McGuigan there are no less impressive works, including 4 series from the super popular series "Sherlock".

The Lost Pastor

McGuigan was born in September 1963, in the town of Bellshill in the Scottish region of North Lanarkshire, 15 km southeast of Glasgow. His father owned a small pub, and the family was truly Catholic. For a long time, Paul seriously considered the priest's path as his future, and only a serious speech defect became the main obstacle in this way. The stammering that the future director Paul McGuigan suffered in his youth forced him to seek another vocation, but did not stop his love of communication. It is his ability to establish personal contact with all members of the crew: from the stars to the driver - Paul calls the main pledge of his success in the profession of the director.

After graduating from high school, he enters the College of Construction and Printing in Glasgow, where he seriously studies the technical side of photography. He opens his own photo studio and soon becomes a well-known master, including working for advertising agencies. The first experiments in the cinema were also related to advertising. His videos differed especially high-quality video and a fascinating story. In the mid-90's he became a tele-documentary. As director Paul McGuigan shoots several documentaries for Channel 4 BBC.

Without special kinobrazovaniya

In 1998, he received a proposal to screen several of Irwin Welsh's stories, combining them into one film, "The Acid House." Remembering his first day on the set as a director of a feature film, McGuigan said that his "innocence" in the sense of the film school served him well: his work is now also distinguished by the true freshness of the look and genuine originality.

After the release of the next film, "Gangster No. 1," director Paul McGuigan received the nickname "British Scorsese" in cinematic circles. First, this analogy was voiced by an outstanding actor Malcolm McDowell, who played one of the main roles in the film. Many were depressed by the amount of violence in this film, but criticism noted him for his outstanding visual style and special manner of narration.

Breakthrough in Hollywood

Since the beginning of the two-thousandth stage begins in the film career of McGuigan, related to his work in the United States. First come the "Day of Reckoning" (2003) and the thriller "Obsession" - a film released in 2004. In them the director hones his ability to create stories full of mysticism and subtle imagery, the action of which can occur in the distant past and in the future.

The film "Lucky Number Slevin" (2006) made McGuigan a real star. This is a picture of a true master, in which an amazing atmosphere is created, where events unfold on an unpredictable and non-trivial subject. The participation of the stars of the first magnitude - Josh Harnett, Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman - made the film a hit among critics and spectators.

Signed work for the director was a picture of 2009 "The Fifth Dimension." Subsequently, the director said that his decision to give up moving to Los Angeles and stay in Scotland may have deprived him of several tempting projects that would make his career even brighter. On the other hand, one of the most significant works could pass by - a series that in a short time was truly cultic.

Sherlock (2010)

The immortal plots of Arthur Conan Doyle have an infinite number of adaptations. The adventures of the brilliant detective Sherlock Holmes and his friend and biographer John Watson found a completely new interpretation in the television series "Sherlock". Paul McGuigan in collaboration with the authors of the series asked this story surprisingly unexpected and modern sounding, taking off in 2010 2 episodes of the first season - "Study in pink tones" and "The Great Game", and in 2012 two more series - "Scandal in Belgravia" And "The Hound of the Baskervilles."

The series was awarded numerous awards of film and television criticism and huge popularity among viewers around the world. Among other things, McGuigan recalls the amazingly creative and friendly atmosphere that reigned on the set. Many actors of the series became for him real friends and participants of his future projects.

Films and serials, director and producer

It is always interesting to understand the nature of the creative manner of the director. Much speaks about her selection of those films of other masters, which he considers to be his own examples. In the case of McGuigan, the list of his 5 favorite films looks amazing. For him, as a master of intense and dynamic thrillers, it is understandable that he had a cult Hitchcock (Window to the Court) and the dramatic Requiem for a Dream by Darren Aronofsky, but the presence in him of the fantastic comedy of 1951, "The Man in a White Suit," a family musical Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968) and especially the subtle, full psychological and visual nuances of Wang Kar-Wai's "Love Mood" make McGuigan's movie more versatile for analysis.

The last big project for the big screen was Viktor Frankenstein (2015), another widely-filmed famous story. As Paul McGuigan once said, films with a large budget, large-scale in design and effects, become a rare event not only in his practice, but the importance of working on TV projects is only growing. As a director, he made several series of projects "Monroe" (2011-2012), "Life as a show" (2012-2013), "Scandal" (2012), "Insidious maids" (2013), "Family" (2016). In the last two cases, he also acts as a producer.

McGuigan's life is filled with family (the last child, the daughter of Silver Rey, was born on March 11, 2016), work on current projects and the design of future.