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Wikipedia

Tom Hooper

Thomas George Hooper (born 5 October 1972)[1] is a British-Australian[n 1] film director. Known for his work in film and television he has received numerous accolades including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Primetime Emmy Award and three Golden Globe Awards.[4]

Tom Hooper
Hooper at the 2010 Toronto Film Festival
Born
Thomas George Hooper

(1972-10-05) 5 October 1972 (age 51)
London, England
Citizenship
  • British
  • Australian
Alma materUniversity College, Oxford
Occupations
  • Director
  • producer
  • screenwriter
Years active1992–present
Parents
AwardsFull list

Hooper began making short films as a teenager and had his first professional short, Painted Faces, broadcast on Channel 4 in 1992. At Oxford University, he directed plays and television commercials. After graduating, he directed episodes of Quayside, Byker Grove, EastEnders, and Cold Feet on British television. In the 2000s, Hooper directed the major BBC costume dramas Love in a Cold Climate (2001) and Daniel Deronda (2002), as well as the 2003 revival of ITV's Prime Suspect series. He gained acclaim for directing the HBO projects Elizabeth I (2005), Longford (2006), and John Adams (2008), the former of which earned him the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Limited Series or Movie.

Hooper made his feature film debut with the British drama Red Dust (2004) followed by the sports drama The Damned United (2009). He directed the historical drama The King's Speech (2010) which earned him the Academy Award for Best Director. He followed up with the musical epic Les Misérables (2012), and the romantic drama The Danish Girl (2015), the later of which was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best British Film. He directed the 2019 live-action adaptation of the musical Cats, for which he won three Golden Raspberry Awards for Worst Director, Worst Picture, and Worst Screenplay. That same year he directed two episodes of the HBO fantasy series His Dark Materials (2019).

Early life and education edit

Tom Hooper was born on 5 October 1972 in London, England, the son of Meredith Jean (Rooney) and Richard Hooper.[1][5] Meredith is an Australian author and academic and Richard is an English media businessman. Hooper was educated at Highgate School and Westminster School.[6] His initial interest in drama was triggered by his English and drama teacher at Highgate, former Royal Shakespeare Company actor Roger Mortimer, who produced an annual school play.[7]

At the age of 12, Hooper read a book entitled How to Make Film and Television and decided he wanted to become a director.[6][7] For the next year Hooper researched filmmaking from publications such as On Camera by Harris Watts.[7] Aged 13, he made his first film, entitled Runaway Dog, using a clockwork 16mm Bolex camera his uncle had given to him.[6] Hooper said: "The clockwork would run out after thirty seconds, so the maximum shot length was thirty seconds. I could only afford a hundred feet of Kodachrome reversal film, which cost about twenty-five [pounds], and you had to send off for two weeks to be processed. I could only make silent movies, because sound was too expensive and complicated."[8] He slowed down the frame rate of the camera so he could maximise what little film stock he had.[7] Hooper classified the short, about a dog which kept running away from its owner, as a comedy, and filmed it on location in Oxfordshire.[9]

When Hooper was 14, his film Bomber Jacket came runner-up in a BBC younger filmmakers' competition.[8] The short starred Hooper's brother as a boy who discovers a bomber jacket and a photograph hidden in a cupboard and learns his grandfather died in World War II.[2] Another of Hooper's short films, entitled Countryside, depicts a nuclear holocaust.[n 2][8]

Hooper finished school aged 16, then wrote the script for his first professional short film, entitled Painted Faces. He spent the next two years raising capital for the short by courting advertisement directors, whose financial dominance during the late 1980s was noticed by Hooper. Director Paul Weiland invested in the short, which provided Hooper with the equipment he needed. After two years of financing and production, Painted Faces was completed. Hooper wrote, produced, directed and edited it.[7] It was sold to Channel 4 and broadcast on the channel's First Frame strand in 1992, had a screening at the 35th London Film Festival and had a limited theatrical release.[6][7]

After taking a gap year to finance Painted Faces, Hooper read English at University College, Oxford.[6][11] He joined the Oxford University Dramatic Society, where he directed Kate Beckinsale in A View from the Bridge and Emily Mortimer in The Trial. Hooper also had his first paid directing work, earning £200 for a corporate Christmas video, and he directed his first television advertisements, including one for Sonic the Hedgehog 3 featuring Right Said Fred.[7][12] He continues to direct advertisements alongside television and film projects. In 1996 he joined the commercial production company John S. Clarke Productions and in 2001 he signed with Infinity Productions.[13][14][n 3] Hooper has also directed commercials including an ad for Jaguar with Tom Hiddleston, Ben Kingsley, and Mark Strong, which aired during Super Bowl XLV. His commercial work is produced through international production company SMUGGLER.[18]

Career edit

1997–2003: BBC and ITV productions edit

After graduating from Oxford, Hooper directed further television commercials, intending to break into the film industry the same way Ridley Scott, Tony Scott and Hugh Hudson did.[6][19] He was introduced by his father to the television producer Matthew Robinson, who mentored Hooper and gave him his first television directing work.[6][7] For Robinson, Hooper directed episodes of the short-lived Tyne Tees Television soap opera Quayside in 1997, four episodes of the Children's BBC television series Byker Grove in the same year, and his first episodes of the BBC One soap opera EastEnders in 1998.[6][20]

Hooper directed several EastEnders episodes between 1998 and 2000, two of which were hour-long specials that represented the soap when it won the British Academy Television Award for Best Soap Opera in 2000 and 2001;[6] the first was the episode in which Carol Jackson (Lindsey Coulson) learns her daughter Bianca (Patsy Palmer) had an affair with her fiancé Dan Sullivan (Craig Fairbrass). The Jackson episode marked the beginning of a week of episodes that led to Palmer's departure from the soap, and Robinson had hired Hooper to direct the key episodes of that storyline.[21] Hooper worked 10-hour days on EastEnders, and learned to direct with speed.[12] He was influenced in his early career by the cinematic style of American TV series such as ER, NYPD Blue and Homicide: Life on the Street and tried to work that style into his EastEnders episodes; one scene featuring Grant Mitchell (Ross Kemp) involved a crane shot, which Hooper believes made him infamous among the EastEnders production crew.[22]

In 1999, Hooper directed two episodes of Granada Television's comedy-drama television series Cold Feet, which marked his move to bigger-budget productions.[23] There was initially concern at Granada that Hooper might be an unsuitable director for the series given his background in drama.[6]

In 2001, Hooper directed his first of two costume dramas for the BBC; Love in a Cold Climate was based on Nancy Mitford's novels The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate. Hooper, the writer Deborah Moggach, and the producer Kate Harwood researched the period details of the production by interviewing Nancy's sister Deborah.[24] In 2002, Hooper directed Daniel Deronda, adapted from George Eliot's novel. The Guardian's Mark Lawson said of Hooper's two costume dramas, "he brought verve and intelligence to television's most conservative form".[25]

Hooper returned to Granada the next year to direct the revival of Prime Suspect, entitled The Last Witness. The two-part serial was the first Prime Suspect instalment to be made since 1995, when star Helen Mirren quit. Hooper initially declined to direct the production because he believed the series was tired. Granada's head of drama Andy Harries introduced Hooper to Mirren, who persuaded him to take the job by promising that he could make the serial his own way.[6][23] The two-part serial was broadcast on the ITV network in November 2003. Hooper's direction received praise from Andrew Billen in the New Statesman: "Tom Hooper proved an outstanding director, imposing a bleak, overlit hyper-realism on the search for a killer in a hospital, isolating Mirren in rows of empty chairs and playing on the eyewitness/optical visual metaphors."[26] The serial was also broadcast on PBS in the United States. Hooper received nominations for the British Academy Television Award for Best Drama Serial and the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie or Dramatic Special for his work on Prime Suspect.[27][28]

2004–2008: Film debut and HBO works edit

 
Hooper at the 2010 Hamptons International Film Festival

Hooper made his debut as a feature film director with the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission drama Red Dust (2004), which stars Hilary Swank, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Jamie Bartlett. The film was not widely seen, which Hooper attributed to media coverage of torture during the Iraq War: "When I started making it you could watch the movie with a wonderful sense of 'we'd never do it in our own country…they're the horrible people but it's not us.' By the time the film came out (there were) these revelations that the Americans were torturing, the British were torturing. The film became a lot more uncomfortable for the very audiences it was designed to target. I have learned that sadly the theatrical audience does not run to see films that are openly issue-led."[23] The premiere of the film in the United Kingdom came on BBC Two in 2005, making it eligible for the BAFTA Television Awards; it was nominated in the Best Single Drama category at the 2006 ceremony.[29]

In 2005, Hooper was asked by Helen Mirren to direct the Company Pictures/HBO Films two-part serial Elizabeth I, in which she was starring.[30] The serial won Hooper his first Emmy Award, for Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie or Dramatic Special.[6] In January 2006, Hooper commenced filming the Granada/HBO television film Longford. The film dramatises the failed efforts of Lord Longford (played by Jim Broadbent) to secure the release from prison of Moors murderer Myra Hindley (played by Samantha Morton). The film was broadcast on Channel 4 in October 2006. Seb Morton-Clark for the Financial Times called Longford one of the most accomplished television dramas of 2006, and praised the writer and director: "Morgan and director Tom Hooper wove a seamless narrative about obsession – and not just that of the misguided philanthropist for the incarcerated Hindley or even that that existed between the sadistic lovers themselves. More significantly, by using chunks of original television footage, they painted a stark picture of the zealotry of a vengeful nation and its press over the supposed embodiment of evil."[31] Hooper's continued successes led him to be ranked at number four in the Directors category of Broadcast magazine's annual Hot 100.[32] The following year he was nominated for the British Academy Television Craft Award for Best Director for Longford.[33]

Elizabeth I and Longford led directly to Hooper being selected by Tom Hanks to direct the epic miniseries John Adams for Playtone and HBO. Hooper had been working on a biographical film with Joan Didion about Katharine Graham, publisher of The Washington Post, since 2006 when he was asked by Hanks to helm the programme.[34][n 4] The miniseries, starring Paul Giamatti as John Adams, was based on David McCullough's Adams biography and was Hooper's first wholly American production.[36] He worked on the miniseries for a total of 16 months; principal photography lasted 110 days on locations in the United States, France, England and Hungary and he controlled a $100 million budget.[37] The Boston Globe's Matthew Gilbert complimented Hooper's style of direction in the first two episodes "Join or Die" and "Independence":

Director Tom Hooper lets his actors shine, as he did so marvelously in Helen Mirren's Elizabeth I and the child-killer drama Longford, but he complements them, too, with this kind of immediate point of view. And when he does give us panoramic shots from afar – of the Adams farm in Braintree, for example – they're askew, to keep us out of the classroom mode. At the end of episode 2 [...] Hooper showcases all his directorial strength with one bold choice. When the long-fretting Congress finally decides to break with Britain, he refrains from using any visual or aural tweaks. Upon the announcement, "The resolution carries," the scene remains perfectly silent for one long moment. The terror of responsibility hangs heavily in the room, while a victorious soundtrack surely would have chased it away.[38]

John Adams received 23 Emmy Award nominations, including another Outstanding Direction nomination for Hooper, and won 13, the highest number for any nominee in a single year.[39] He was also nominated for the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement.[40] At the beginning of 2009, he was profiled for The Observer's film Hotlist.[41]

2009–2010: Independent feature films edit

 
Hooper directing The King's Speech on location in 2010

The wake of John Adams' Emmy wins brought offers to Hooper from studios to direct spy and comic book films, which he declined.[42] In November 2007, he signed on to direct The Damned United, reuniting him with Peter Morgan and Andy Harries. The film was an adaptation of David Peace's novel The Damned Utd, a fictional version of the 44 turbulent days English football manager Brian Clough spent as manager of Leeds United. It was originally developed by Stephen Frears for Michael Sheen to play Clough. Frears quit the project after he was unable to translate the book to film.[43] Hooper received a copy of the script while shooting John Adams in Hungary and noticed a similarity between the "egotistical, flawed, brilliant" Adams and the "egotistical, flawed, brilliant" Clough.[44] He was not put off by joining the project later, as Morgan's script was in only its first draft.[23] During pre-production, Hooper engaged in meticulous research, particularly on the locations and the football grounds of the era. He cast Timothy Spall as Clough's assistant Peter Taylor, Colm Meaney as Don Revie and Jim Broadbent as Derby County chairman Sam Longson.[45] During editing, it was decided to make the tone of the film lighter to attract audiences and to appease the real people depicted in the film. The Damned United was released in 2009.[44][46]

Work on Hooper's next film, The King's Speech, began in the same year. Hooper explained: "It was a stage play, and my mother who's Australian was invited to a fringe [theatre] reading in London because she's part of the Australian community. The play's about the relationship between King George the Sixth and his Australian speech therapist. She came back and said 'you've got to read this play,' and I read it and it was brilliant ...".[23] Hooper cast Colin Firth as George VI and Geoffrey Rush as Lionel Logue and spent three weeks with the actors reading the script and rehearsing.[47] Principal photography took place on location around the UK from November 2009 to January 2010.[48] During editing, Hooper continued to consult with Firth and Rush by sending them cuts of the film and listening to their feedback.[47]

 
Hooper with Colin Firth in January 2011

Hooper completed the final cut of the film at the end of August 2010 and presented it a few days later at the Telluride Film Festival.[49] The film won the People's Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival and Hooper won the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures.[50][51] In February 2011, he was presented with the Academy Award for Best Director, though lost the BAFTA Award for Best Direction to David Fincher.[52][53] In comparing the two films, Variety's Adam Dawtrey wrote, "Hooper's 2009 film The Damned United did not register among awards selectors, but King's Speech is a much more personal project. His Anglo-Australian parentage reflects the culture clash at the heart of the movie, and it pays off with beautifully crafted, crowd-pleasing drama."[54]

2011–present: Studio films edit

Following the success of The King's Speech during the awards season, Hooper joined the 15-person board of governors at the British Film Institute, was invited to join the directors branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and was ranked at number 19 in The Times' British Film Power 100.[55][56][57] In March 2009, Hooper met with Nelson Mandela in preparation for directing a film adaptation of Mandela's autobiography Long Walk to Freedom.[44][58] By 2012, however, he had left the project.[59][60]

He was offered the chance to direct Iron Man 3 for Marvel Studios but declined and instead signed on to direct Les Misérables for Working Title Films, which he had first heard about while discussing a different project with screenwriter William Nicholson in 2010. Hooper had not seen the musical, so watched a performance of it in London's West End.[61][62] Adapted from the musical, the film starred Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried, Helena Bonham Carter, Sacha Baron Cohen, and Eddie Redmayne. As the film required the actors to sing and dance, they were auditioned in front of Hooper, producers and composers.[62] The role of Fantine was hugely contested; Hooper said, "It was like half a dozen of the biggest female movie stars on the planet wanted to play the role".[63]

 
Hooper directing the second unit of Les Misérables on location in Winchester, April 2012

Hooper investigated filming the feature in 3D, and performed some camera tests before deciding to film it with traditional 2D methods. He stated "[...] I slightly worry with 3D that some people will physically struggle with it. If you have a certain type of eyesight, it can be more demanding than watching a normal movie."[64] Unlike other musical films, Les Misérables features the actors singing live on camera, rather than miming to backing vocals. Hooper told Los Angeles Times that he thought there was a "slightly strange falseness" when he saw musical films where the actors sang to recordings. The actors wore wireless earpieces on set so they could sing to accompanying piano music. Hooper believed this method allowed the actors to have emotional control over their songs: "When Annie [Hathaway, who plays Fantine] is singing 'I Dreamed a Dream', if she needs to take a tenth of a second to have a thought before she sings it, or to have an emotion before she sings a line, she can take it."[65]Les Miserables was released in North America on 25 December 2012, and received eight Academy Award nominations including Best Picture.[66]

Hooper's fifth feature film, The Danish Girl, was released in late 2015. It loosely tells the story of Lili Elbe, one of the first people to undergo sex reassignment surgery, and wife Gerda Wegener. It stars Eddie Redmayne and Alicia Vikander, both of whom received Academy Award nominations. Critics were generally positive about the film.[67]

In May 2016, it was announced that he would direct an adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's stage musical, Cats, which is in turn, based on T. S. Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats.[68] Filming commenced in November 2018 and the film, which stars Jennifer Hudson, Ian McKellen, Judi Dench, James Corden, Idris Elba and Taylor Swift, was released on 20 December 2019[69][70] but was a critical and commercial failure. Hooper co-produced the original song "Beautiful Ghosts" with Lloyd Webber and Greg Wells, written by Swift and Lloyd Webber.[71]

In 2023, he co-supervised a new digital remix and remaster of Les Misérables in Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos, in collaboration with producer Cameron Mackintosh, music producer Lee McCutcheon, music director Stephen Metcalfe and sound mixer Andy Nelson. This version of the film was released theatrically in Dolby Cinema on 14 February 2024 in the United Kingdom and 23 February 2024 in North America to celebrate the stage musical's upcoming 40th anniversary in 2025.[72]

In February 2024, Hooper revealed that some upcoming projects with him set to direct are in the works, following a five-year hiatus from the medium caused by the critical and financial failure of Cats and spending time directing commercials for clients such as Vodafone, McDonald's, Santander and Vanish, saying "I'm certainly quite close on a couple of things ... I've been busy. I'm very happy to get back behind the camera."[73]

Directorial style edit

 
Hooper adopted a style of framing actors at the extreme edge of a scene in both The Damned United (top) and The King's Speech (bottom)

Hooper uses camera styles "that encode the DNA of the storytelling in some way" and will reuse and develop filming styles in successive productions.[74] Hooper identifies research as being key to his process of directing period dramas such as John Adams to make the scenes authentic.[3] For The Damned United, Hooper and director of photography Ben Smithard researched the look of the late 1960s and early 1970s through football photography books.[75] Hooper has also been influenced by cinematographer Larry Smith, who worked with Stanley Kubrick and advised Hooper of techniques used by Kubrick.[76] Hooper and Smith have worked together on Cold Feet, Love in a Cold Climate, Prime Suspect, Red Dust and Elizabeth I.

Hooper also uses uncommon framing techniques to emphasise story; in John Adams, he wanted to imply American independence seemed unlikely during the Revolutionary War, so he used "a very rough camera style—almost all hand held, wide lenses close to the actors, lots of movement, many cameras shooting at once so there was often not a settled master "point of view", and lots of unmatching dutch tilts so the horizon lines of the frame were often being thrown off."[74] The America-set scenes were contrasted by the scenes set in France, in which more traditional filming techniques were employed to evoke a feel of entrenched values.[74] Similarly, in The Damned United, Hooper began to experiment with using wide-angle lenses and putting actors in the extreme edges of the frame. He was influenced by the unusual framing from social photography of the 1970s, and he and Ben Smithard decided to adopt the framing style while scouting locations.[75] Hooper used the same style in The King's Speech, particularly in the scene where Bertie and Logue meet in Logue's consulting room; Colin Firth is framed to the extreme left of the picture, leaving most of the shot dominated by the rough wall behind Firth.[74][77]

 
Hooper frequently uses dutch tilts in his work, notably in John Adams (top) and Les Misérables (bottom)

Another frequently used technique is Hooper's tendency to use a variety of focal length camera lenses to distort the resulting picture.[78] In The Damned United he used a 10mm lens, notably in the scene where Clough stays inside during the Derby–Leeds match. Hooper operated the camera in this scene himself.[75] In The King's Speech, Hooper used "typically 14mm, 18mm, 21mm, 25mm and 27mm" lenses and put the camera close to the actors' faces.[78] Hooper said the use of this method in the first consulting room scene served to "suggest the awkwardness and tension of Logue and Bertie's first meeting".[74]

Cats VFX accusations edit

Following the release of Cats, reports came from the film's visual effects departments of Hooper's "hurtful", "horrible", "disrespectful" and "demeaning attitude" towards them and their work.[79] The VFX team reportedly were forced to work upwards of 90 hour working weeks, with some employees staying at the offices for two to three days at a time just to finish the film. One member of the VFX team said Hooper's treatment "was pure, almost slavery for us",[80] with six months to complete the trailer, and only four months to complete the film. Hooper supposedly had no inclination as to the process of visual effects, thus the VFX department could not show Hooper the step-by-step process of what he wanted, such as animatics, unless it was already rendered. He reportedly would send emails to individual VFX artists on the film to denigrate their work. Hooper would also insult them during conference meetings, calling the work "garbage".[81] Neither Hooper nor Universal have commented on the accusations.

Filmography edit

Film edit

Year Title Director Producer Writer Distribution
2004 Red Dust Yes No No BBC Films
2009 The Damned United Yes No No Sony Pictures Classics
2010 The King's Speech Yes No No The Weinstein Company
2012 Les Misérables Yes No No Universal Pictures
2015 The Danish Girl Yes Yes No Focus Features
2019 Cats Yes Yes Yes Universal Pictures

Television edit

Year Title Network Notes
1997 Quayside ITV Tyne Tees
Byker Grove BBC One 4 episodes
1998–00 EastEnders 6 episodes
1999 Cold Feet ITV 2 episodes
2001 Love in a Cold Climate BBC1 Miniseries
2002 Daniel Deronda Miniseries
2003 Prime Suspect 6: The Last Witness ITV Miniseries
2005 Elizabeth I HBO Miniseries
2006 Longford Television film
2008 John Adams Miniseries
2019 His Dark Materials BBC Studios/HBO 2 episodes;
Also executive producer

Awards and nominations edit

 
Hooper with Kathryn Bigelow, who won the previous year's Oscar for Best Director
Year Title Academy Awards BAFTA Awards Golden Globe Awards
Nominations Wins Nominations Wins Nominations Wins
2010 The King's Speech 12 4 14 7 7 1
2012 Les Misérables 8 3 9 4 4 3
2015 The Danish Girl 4 1 5 3
2019 Cats 1
Total 24 8 28 11 15 4

Directed Academy Award performances

Hooper has directed multiple Academy Award-nominated performances, three of which have won.

See also edit

Notes edit

  1. ^ Hooper was born and raised in England and is the son of an English father and an Australian mother. He holds dual citizenship of the United Kingdom and Australia.[2] Hooper self-identified in 2010 as "half-Australian and half-English and living in London".[3]
  2. ^ The order of Hooper's early short films differs according to various sources; Fendelman (2011)[9] states that Bomber Jacket was his second short, and Simmons (2011)[8] states it was his third. Hooper is himself confused about the order in his audio commentary for The King's Speech DVD.[10]
  3. ^ Notable advertising campaigns directed by Hooper include 2006's Rooftop Tennis for Sony Ericsson's mobile phone range,[6][15] and Dive, a spot for the 2011 Captain Morgan rum campaign To Life, Love and Loot. [16][17]
  4. ^ Hooper was subsequently replaced by Robert Benton on the Graham project.[35]

References edit

  1. ^ a b Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England & Wales, 1916–2005. 5d: 2485.
  2. ^ a b Gritten, David (24 December 2010). "King who came from nowhere". The Daily Telegraph (Telegraph Media Group): p. 20. Retrieved 2 March 2011.
  3. ^ a b Thompson, Anne (22 November 2010). "Oscar Watch Q &A: Tom Hooper Talks Long Road to King’s Speech". Thompson on Hollywood. Retrieved 6 July 2011 (archived by WebCite on 6 July 2011).
  4. ^ "2011 | Oscars.org | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences". www.oscars.org.
  5. ^ "Hooper, Meredith (Jean) 1939- | Encyclopedia.com". www.encyclopedia.com.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Brown, Maggie (16 October 2006). "Prime candidate". The Guardian (Guardian News & Media): p. 6 (MediaGuardian supplement). Retrieved 25 January 2008.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h Hulse, Tim (6 April 2011). "What I've Learned: Tom Hooper". babusinesslife.com (Business Life). Retrieved 16 July 2011 (archived by WebCite on 20 August 2011).
  8. ^ a b c d Simmons, Alan (24 January 2011). "Tom Hooper On Done In 60 Seconds, The King’s Speech And James Bond". FilmShaft. Retrieved 24 January 2011 (archived by WebCite on 24 January 2011).
  9. ^ a b Fendelman, Adam (24 January 2011). "Interview: 'The King's Speech' Director Tom Hooper on Colin Firth's Masterful Stutter". HollywoodChicago.com. Retrieved 25 January 2011 (archived by WebCite on 25 January 2011).
  10. ^ Hooper, Tom. (2011). Audio commentary for "The King's Speech". [DVD]. Alliance Films (UK). Event occurs at 1:51:00.
  11. ^ Harlow, John (16 March 2008). "Briton Tom Hooper in charge of the TV war of independence". The Sunday Times (Times Newspapers): p. 1 (Business section). Retrieved 14 December 2010.
  12. ^ a b Burrell, Ian (26 February 2009). "Tackling Old Big 'Ead". The Independent (Independent News & Media): p. 14. Retrieved 10 October 2010.
  13. ^ Staff (3 May 1996). "John S. Clarke productions signs 23-year-old Hooper and doubles its directors". Campaign (Haymarket Business Publications): p. 41.
  14. ^ Darby, Ian (18 May 2001). "Mark Stothert quits John S Clarke to run Infinity Productions". Campaign (Haymarket Media). Retrieved 18 June 2011.
  15. ^ Oatts, Joanne (5 July 2006). "Tennis stars in roof-top rally for Sony Ericsson launch". brandrepublic.com (Haymarket Media). Retrieved 18 June 2011 (archived by WebCite on 18 June 2011).
  16. ^ Smugglersite (2011). "Examples of Tom Hoopers work". Smuggler site .
  17. ^ Goundry, Nick (27 May 2011). "King’s Speech’s Tom Hooper films Captain Morgan pirate ads on location in Spain". thelocationguide. Retrieved 18 June 2011 (archived by WebCite on 18 June 2011).
  18. ^ Walker, Michael (28 January 2014). "Super Bowl: Jaguar Previews Ad Featuring Ben Kingsley, Tom Hiddleston, Mark Strong (Video)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
  19. ^ Johnson, Richard (21 June 2009). "In cash-strapped times British film-makers refuse to take a back seat. They're used to making a drama out of a crisis". The Sunday Times (Times Newspapers): pp. 50–52. Retrieved 26 June 2011.
  20. ^ "". British Film Institute. Retrieved 1 January 2010.
  21. ^ Ellie (30 March 2010). "Spotlight: Matthew Robinson (Part 1)". Walford Web. Retrieved 3 October 2010 (archived by WebCite on 3 January 2011).
  22. ^ Hooper, Tom. Radio interview with Sarah Montague. Today. BBC Radio 4. 13 March 2009. Event occurs at 00:03:10–00:05:56. Retrieved 10 October 2010.
  23. ^ a b c d e Halper, Jenny (24 September 2009). "AWFJ Women On Film – Tom Hooper On "The Damned United" – Jenny Halper interviews". Alliance of Women Film Journalists. Retrieved 24 September 2010 (archived by WebCite on 3 January 2011).
  24. ^ Moggach, Deborah (20 June 2000). "Playing bit parts in my own dramas". The Times (Times Newspapers): p. 9 (Times2 supplement).
  25. ^ Lawson, Mark (8 February 2003). "Getting real". The Guardian (Guardian News & Media): p. 21 (Weekend supplement).
  26. ^ Billen, Andrew (15/30 December 2003). "The ratings war". New Statesman: p. 104.
  27. ^ "Television nominations 2003". British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Retrieved 3 October 2010 (archived by WebCite on 3 January 2011).
  28. ^ "Outstanding Director For A Miniseries, Movie Or A Dramatic Special". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved 28 February 2011 (archived by WebCite on 3 January 2011).
  29. ^ "Television nominations 2005". British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Retrieved 3 October 2010 (archived by WebCite on 3 January 2011).
  30. ^ Mirren, Helen (2007) In the Frame: My Life in Words and Pictures. Weidenfeld & Nicolson: p. 218. ISBN 0-297-85197-7.
  31. ^ Morton-Clark, Seb (28 October 2006). "Marooned on planet mediocre". Financial Times (The Financial Times): p. 13.
  32. ^ Adams, Vernon (24 November 2006). "Hot 100 – directors". Broadcast (Emap Media).[page needed]
  33. ^ "Craft Winners in 2007". British Academy of Film and Television Arts. 27 September 2007. Retrieved 3 October 2010 (archived by WebCite on 3 January 2011).
  34. ^ Argetsinger, Amy; Roxanne Roberts (10 March 2008). "Graham Biopic Back on Track". The Washington Post (The Washington Post Company): p. C3. Retrieved 10 October 2010.
  35. ^ Newhall, Marissa (15 November 2008). "Names & Faces: HBO's Press Run for Linney". The Washington Post (The Washington Post Company): p. C03. Retrieved 16 July 2011.
  36. ^ Hooper, Tom. Television interview with Greg Dyke". The Culture Show: Series 5, Episode 22. BBC Two. 3 February 2009. Event occurs at 01:54. Retrieved 10 October 2010 (archived by WebCite on 9 February 2011).
  37. ^ Mitchell, Wendy (25 July 2008). "Profile:UK director Tom Hooper". ScreenDaily.com (Emap Media). Retrieved on  4 December 2010.
  38. ^ Gilbert, Matthew (14 March 2008). "Truly historic". Boston Globe (Globe Newspaper Company): p. D1. Retrieved 10 October 2010.
  39. ^ Hooper, Tom (29 September 2008). "Somewhere, John Adams is smiling". The Guardian (Guardian News & Media): p. 11 (MediaGuardian supplement). Retrieved 10 October 2010.
  40. ^ Gans, Andrew (31 January 2009). "Directors Guild of America Awards Presented 31 Jan. in Los Angeles". Playbill.com (Playbill, Inc). Retrieved 5 October 2010 (archived by WebCite on 3 January 2011).
  41. ^ Solomons, Jason (4 January 2009). "'My films seem to be about men's struggle with failure'". The Observer (Guardian News & Media): p. 7 (Observer Review supplement). Retrieved 16 October 2010.
  42. ^ Jurgensen, John (19 November 2010). "A Director on the Verge: Tom Hooper". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 19 November 2010.
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External links edit

  • Tom Hooper at IMDb
  • Hooper's Academy Award for Best Director acceptance speech (video)

hooper, confused, with, hopper, other, people, named, disambiguation, thomas, george, hooper, born, october, 1972, british, australian, film, director, known, work, film, television, received, numerous, accolades, including, academy, award, bafta, award, prime. Not to be confused with Tom Hopper For other people named Tom Hooper see Tom Hooper disambiguation Thomas George Hooper born 5 October 1972 1 is a British Australian n 1 film director Known for his work in film and television he has received numerous accolades including an Academy Award a BAFTA Award a Primetime Emmy Award and three Golden Globe Awards 4 Tom HooperHooper at the 2010 Toronto Film FestivalBornThomas George Hooper 1972 10 05 5 October 1972 age 51 London EnglandCitizenshipBritishAustralianAlma materUniversity College OxfordOccupationsDirectorproducerscreenwriterYears active1992 presentParentsRichard Hooper Meredith HooperAwardsFull list Hooper began making short films as a teenager and had his first professional short Painted Faces broadcast on Channel 4 in 1992 At Oxford University he directed plays and television commercials After graduating he directed episodes of Quayside Byker Grove EastEnders and Cold Feet on British television In the 2000s Hooper directed the major BBC costume dramas Love in a Cold Climate 2001 and Daniel Deronda 2002 as well as the 2003 revival of ITV s Prime Suspect series He gained acclaim for directing the HBO projects Elizabeth I 2005 Longford 2006 and John Adams 2008 the former of which earned him the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Limited Series or Movie Hooper made his feature film debut with the British drama Red Dust 2004 followed by the sports drama The Damned United 2009 He directed the historical drama The King s Speech 2010 which earned him the Academy Award for Best Director He followed up with the musical epic Les Miserables 2012 and the romantic drama The Danish Girl 2015 the later of which was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best British Film He directed the 2019 live action adaptation of the musical Cats for which he won three Golden Raspberry Awards for Worst Director Worst Picture and Worst Screenplay That same year he directed two episodes of the HBO fantasy series His Dark Materials 2019 Contents 1 Early life and education 2 Career 2 1 1997 2003 BBC and ITV productions 2 2 2004 2008 Film debut and HBO works 2 3 2009 2010 Independent feature films 2 4 2011 present Studio films 3 Directorial style 3 1 Cats VFX accusations 4 Filmography 4 1 Film 4 2 Television 5 Awards and nominations 6 See also 7 Notes 8 References 9 External linksEarly life and education editTom Hooper was born on 5 October 1972 in London England the son of Meredith Jean Rooney and Richard Hooper 1 5 Meredith is an Australian author and academic and Richard is an English media businessman Hooper was educated at Highgate School and Westminster School 6 His initial interest in drama was triggered by his English and drama teacher at Highgate former Royal Shakespeare Company actor Roger Mortimer who produced an annual school play 7 At the age of 12 Hooper read a book entitled How to Make Film and Television and decided he wanted to become a director 6 7 For the next year Hooper researched filmmaking from publications such as On Camera by Harris Watts 7 Aged 13 he made his first film entitled Runaway Dog using a clockwork 16mm Bolex camera his uncle had given to him 6 Hooper said The clockwork would run out after thirty seconds so the maximum shot length was thirty seconds I could only afford a hundred feet of Kodachrome reversal film which cost about twenty five pounds and you had to send off for two weeks to be processed I could only make silent movies because sound was too expensive and complicated 8 He slowed down the frame rate of the camera so he could maximise what little film stock he had 7 Hooper classified the short about a dog which kept running away from its owner as a comedy and filmed it on location in Oxfordshire 9 When Hooper was 14 his film Bomber Jacket came runner up in a BBC younger filmmakers competition 8 The short starred Hooper s brother as a boy who discovers a bomber jacket and a photograph hidden in a cupboard and learns his grandfather died in World War II 2 Another of Hooper s short films entitled Countryside depicts a nuclear holocaust n 2 8 Hooper finished school aged 16 then wrote the script for his first professional short film entitled Painted Faces He spent the next two years raising capital for the short by courting advertisement directors whose financial dominance during the late 1980s was noticed by Hooper Director Paul Weiland invested in the short which provided Hooper with the equipment he needed After two years of financing and production Painted Faces was completed Hooper wrote produced directed and edited it 7 It was sold to Channel 4 and broadcast on the channel s First Frame strand in 1992 had a screening at the 35th London Film Festival and had a limited theatrical release 6 7 After taking a gap year to finance Painted Faces Hooper read English at University College Oxford 6 11 He joined the Oxford University Dramatic Society where he directed Kate Beckinsale in A View from the Bridge and Emily Mortimer in The Trial Hooper also had his first paid directing work earning 200 for a corporate Christmas video and he directed his first television advertisements including one for Sonic the Hedgehog 3 featuring Right Said Fred 7 12 He continues to direct advertisements alongside television and film projects In 1996 he joined the commercial production company John S Clarke Productions and in 2001 he signed with Infinity Productions 13 14 n 3 Hooper has also directed commercials including an ad for Jaguar with Tom Hiddleston Ben Kingsley and Mark Strong which aired during Super Bowl XLV His commercial work is produced through international production company SMUGGLER 18 Career edit1997 2003 BBC and ITV productions edit After graduating from Oxford Hooper directed further television commercials intending to break into the film industry the same way Ridley Scott Tony Scott and Hugh Hudson did 6 19 He was introduced by his father to the television producer Matthew Robinson who mentored Hooper and gave him his first television directing work 6 7 For Robinson Hooper directed episodes of the short lived Tyne Tees Television soap opera Quayside in 1997 four episodes of the Children s BBC television series Byker Grove in the same year and his first episodes of the BBC One soap opera EastEnders in 1998 6 20 Hooper directed several EastEnders episodes between 1998 and 2000 two of which were hour long specials that represented the soap when it won the British Academy Television Award for Best Soap Opera in 2000 and 2001 6 the first was the episode in which Carol Jackson Lindsey Coulson learns her daughter Bianca Patsy Palmer had an affair with her fiance Dan Sullivan Craig Fairbrass The Jackson episode marked the beginning of a week of episodes that led to Palmer s departure from the soap and Robinson had hired Hooper to direct the key episodes of that storyline 21 Hooper worked 10 hour days on EastEnders and learned to direct with speed 12 He was influenced in his early career by the cinematic style of American TV series such as ER NYPD Blue and Homicide Life on the Street and tried to work that style into his EastEnders episodes one scene featuring Grant Mitchell Ross Kemp involved a crane shot which Hooper believes made him infamous among the EastEnders production crew 22 In 1999 Hooper directed two episodes of Granada Television s comedy drama television series Cold Feet which marked his move to bigger budget productions 23 There was initially concern at Granada that Hooper might be an unsuitable director for the series given his background in drama 6 In 2001 Hooper directed his first of two costume dramas for the BBC Love in a Cold Climate was based on Nancy Mitford s novels The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate Hooper the writer Deborah Moggach and the producer Kate Harwood researched the period details of the production by interviewing Nancy s sister Deborah 24 In 2002 Hooper directed Daniel Deronda adapted from George Eliot s novel The Guardian s Mark Lawson said of Hooper s two costume dramas he brought verve and intelligence to television s most conservative form 25 Hooper returned to Granada the next year to direct the revival of Prime Suspect entitled The Last Witness The two part serial was the first Prime Suspect instalment to be made since 1995 when star Helen Mirren quit Hooper initially declined to direct the production because he believed the series was tired Granada s head of drama Andy Harries introduced Hooper to Mirren who persuaded him to take the job by promising that he could make the serial his own way 6 23 The two part serial was broadcast on the ITV network in November 2003 Hooper s direction received praise from Andrew Billen in the New Statesman Tom Hooper proved an outstanding director imposing a bleak overlit hyper realism on the search for a killer in a hospital isolating Mirren in rows of empty chairs and playing on the eyewitness optical visual metaphors 26 The serial was also broadcast on PBS in the United States Hooper received nominations for the British Academy Television Award for Best Drama Serial and the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries Movie or Dramatic Special for his work on Prime Suspect 27 28 2004 2008 Film debut and HBO works edit nbsp Hooper at the 2010 Hamptons International Film Festival Hooper made his debut as a feature film director with the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission drama Red Dust 2004 which stars Hilary Swank Chiwetel Ejiofor and Jamie Bartlett The film was not widely seen which Hooper attributed to media coverage of torture during the Iraq War When I started making it you could watch the movie with a wonderful sense of we d never do it in our own country they re the horrible people but it s not us By the time the film came out there were these revelations that the Americans were torturing the British were torturing The film became a lot more uncomfortable for the very audiences it was designed to target I have learned that sadly the theatrical audience does not run to see films that are openly issue led 23 The premiere of the film in the United Kingdom came on BBC Two in 2005 making it eligible for the BAFTA Television Awards it was nominated in the Best Single Drama category at the 2006 ceremony 29 In 2005 Hooper was asked by Helen Mirren to direct the Company Pictures HBO Films two part serial Elizabeth I in which she was starring 30 The serial won Hooper his first Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries Movie or Dramatic Special 6 In January 2006 Hooper commenced filming the Granada HBO television film Longford The film dramatises the failed efforts of Lord Longford played by Jim Broadbent to secure the release from prison of Moors murderer Myra Hindley played by Samantha Morton The film was broadcast on Channel 4 in October 2006 Seb Morton Clark for the Financial Times called Longford one of the most accomplished television dramas of 2006 and praised the writer and director Morgan and director Tom Hooper wove a seamless narrative about obsession and not just that of the misguided philanthropist for the incarcerated Hindley or even that that existed between the sadistic lovers themselves More significantly by using chunks of original television footage they painted a stark picture of the zealotry of a vengeful nation and its press over the supposed embodiment of evil 31 Hooper s continued successes led him to be ranked at number four in the Directors category of Broadcast magazine s annual Hot 100 32 The following year he was nominated for the British Academy Television Craft Award for Best Director for Longford 33 Elizabeth I and Longford led directly to Hooper being selected by Tom Hanks to direct the epic miniseries John Adams for Playtone and HBO Hooper had been working on a biographical film with Joan Didion about Katharine Graham publisher of The Washington Post since 2006 when he was asked by Hanks to helm the programme 34 n 4 The miniseries starring Paul Giamatti as John Adams was based on David McCullough s Adams biography and was Hooper s first wholly American production 36 He worked on the miniseries for a total of 16 months principal photography lasted 110 days on locations in the United States France England and Hungary and he controlled a 100 million budget 37 The Boston Globe s Matthew Gilbert complimented Hooper s style of direction in the first two episodes Join or Die and Independence Director Tom Hooper lets his actors shine as he did so marvelously in Helen Mirren s Elizabeth I and the child killer drama Longford but he complements them too with this kind of immediate point of view And when he does give us panoramic shots from afar of the Adams farm in Braintree for example they re askew to keep us out of the classroom mode At the end of episode 2 Hooper showcases all his directorial strength with one bold choice When the long fretting Congress finally decides to break with Britain he refrains from using any visual or aural tweaks Upon the announcement The resolution carries the scene remains perfectly silent for one long moment The terror of responsibility hangs heavily in the room while a victorious soundtrack surely would have chased it away 38 John Adams received 23 Emmy Award nominations including another Outstanding Direction nomination for Hooper and won 13 the highest number for any nominee in a single year 39 He was also nominated for the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement 40 At the beginning of 2009 he was profiled for The Observer s film Hotlist 41 2009 2010 Independent feature films edit nbsp Hooper directing The King s Speech on location in 2010 The wake of John Adams Emmy wins brought offers to Hooper from studios to direct spy and comic book films which he declined 42 In November 2007 he signed on to direct The Damned United reuniting him with Peter Morgan and Andy Harries The film was an adaptation of David Peace s novel The Damned Utd a fictional version of the 44 turbulent days English football manager Brian Clough spent as manager of Leeds United It was originally developed by Stephen Frears for Michael Sheen to play Clough Frears quit the project after he was unable to translate the book to film 43 Hooper received a copy of the script while shooting John Adams in Hungary and noticed a similarity between the egotistical flawed brilliant Adams and the egotistical flawed brilliant Clough 44 He was not put off by joining the project later as Morgan s script was in only its first draft 23 During pre production Hooper engaged in meticulous research particularly on the locations and the football grounds of the era He cast Timothy Spall as Clough s assistant Peter Taylor Colm Meaney as Don Revie and Jim Broadbent as Derby County chairman Sam Longson 45 During editing it was decided to make the tone of the film lighter to attract audiences and to appease the real people depicted in the film The Damned United was released in 2009 44 46 Work on Hooper s next film The King s Speech began in the same year Hooper explained It was a stage play and my mother who s Australian was invited to a fringe theatre reading in London because she s part of the Australian community The play s about the relationship between King George the Sixth and his Australian speech therapist She came back and said you ve got to read this play and I read it and it was brilliant 23 Hooper cast Colin Firth as George VI and Geoffrey Rush as Lionel Logue and spent three weeks with the actors reading the script and rehearsing 47 Principal photography took place on location around the UK from November 2009 to January 2010 48 During editing Hooper continued to consult with Firth and Rush by sending them cuts of the film and listening to their feedback 47 nbsp Hooper with Colin Firth in January 2011 Hooper completed the final cut of the film at the end of August 2010 and presented it a few days later at the Telluride Film Festival 49 The film won the People s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival and Hooper won the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures 50 51 In February 2011 he was presented with the Academy Award for Best Director though lost the BAFTA Award for Best Direction to David Fincher 52 53 In comparing the two films Variety s Adam Dawtrey wrote Hooper s 2009 film The Damned United did not register among awards selectors but King s Speech is a much more personal project His Anglo Australian parentage reflects the culture clash at the heart of the movie and it pays off with beautifully crafted crowd pleasing drama 54 2011 present Studio films edit Following the success of The King s Speech during the awards season Hooper joined the 15 person board of governors at the British Film Institute was invited to join the directors branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and was ranked at number 19 in The Times British Film Power 100 55 56 57 In March 2009 Hooper met with Nelson Mandela in preparation for directing a film adaptation of Mandela s autobiography Long Walk to Freedom 44 58 By 2012 however he had left the project 59 60 He was offered the chance to direct Iron Man 3 for Marvel Studios but declined and instead signed on to direct Les Miserables for Working Title Films which he had first heard about while discussing a different project with screenwriter William Nicholson in 2010 Hooper had not seen the musical so watched a performance of it in London s West End 61 62 Adapted from the musical the film starred Hugh Jackman Russell Crowe Anne Hathaway Amanda Seyfried Helena Bonham Carter Sacha Baron Cohen and Eddie Redmayne As the film required the actors to sing and dance they were auditioned in front of Hooper producers and composers 62 The role of Fantine was hugely contested Hooper said It was like half a dozen of the biggest female movie stars on the planet wanted to play the role 63 nbsp Hooper directing the second unit of Les Miserables on location in Winchester April 2012 Hooper investigated filming the feature in 3D and performed some camera tests before deciding to film it with traditional 2D methods He stated I slightly worry with 3D that some people will physically struggle with it If you have a certain type of eyesight it can be more demanding than watching a normal movie 64 Unlike other musical films Les Miserables features the actors singing live on camera rather than miming to backing vocals Hooper told Los Angeles Times that he thought there was a slightly strange falseness when he saw musical films where the actors sang to recordings The actors wore wireless earpieces on set so they could sing to accompanying piano music Hooper believed this method allowed the actors to have emotional control over their songs When Annie Hathaway who plays Fantine is singing I Dreamed a Dream if she needs to take a tenth of a second to have a thought before she sings it or to have an emotion before she sings a line she can take it 65 Les Miserables was released in North America on 25 December 2012 and received eight Academy Award nominations including Best Picture 66 Hooper s fifth feature film The Danish Girl was released in late 2015 It loosely tells the story of Lili Elbe one of the first people to undergo sex reassignment surgery and wife Gerda Wegener It stars Eddie Redmayne and Alicia Vikander both of whom received Academy Award nominations Critics were generally positive about the film 67 In May 2016 it was announced that he would direct an adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber s stage musical Cats which is in turn based on T S Eliot s Old Possum s Book of Practical Cats 68 Filming commenced in November 2018 and the film which stars Jennifer Hudson Ian McKellen Judi Dench James Corden Idris Elba and Taylor Swift was released on 20 December 2019 69 70 but was a critical and commercial failure Hooper co produced the original song Beautiful Ghosts with Lloyd Webber and Greg Wells written by Swift and Lloyd Webber 71 In 2023 he co supervised a new digital remix and remaster of Les Miserables in Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos in collaboration with producer Cameron Mackintosh music producer Lee McCutcheon music director Stephen Metcalfe and sound mixer Andy Nelson This version of the film was released theatrically in Dolby Cinema on 14 February 2024 in the United Kingdom and 23 February 2024 in North America to celebrate the stage musical s upcoming 40th anniversary in 2025 72 In February 2024 Hooper revealed that some upcoming projects with him set to direct are in the works following a five year hiatus from the medium caused by the critical and financial failure of Cats and spending time directing commercials for clients such as Vodafone McDonald s Santander and Vanish saying I m certainly quite close on a couple of things I ve been busy I m very happy to get back behind the camera 73 Directorial style edit nbsp Hooper adopted a style of framing actors at the extreme edge of a scene in both The Damned United top and The King s Speech bottom Hooper uses camera styles that encode the DNA of the storytelling in some way and will reuse and develop filming styles in successive productions 74 Hooper identifies research as being key to his process of directing period dramas such as John Adams to make the scenes authentic 3 For The Damned United Hooper and director of photography Ben Smithard researched the look of the late 1960s and early 1970s through football photography books 75 Hooper has also been influenced by cinematographer Larry Smith who worked with Stanley Kubrick and advised Hooper of techniques used by Kubrick 76 Hooper and Smith have worked together on Cold Feet Love in a Cold Climate Prime Suspect Red Dust and Elizabeth I Hooper also uses uncommon framing techniques to emphasise story in John Adams he wanted to imply American independence seemed unlikely during the Revolutionary War so he used a very rough camera style almost all hand held wide lenses close to the actors lots of movement many cameras shooting at once so there was often not a settled master point of view and lots of unmatching dutch tilts so the horizon lines of the frame were often being thrown off 74 The America set scenes were contrasted by the scenes set in France in which more traditional filming techniques were employed to evoke a feel of entrenched values 74 Similarly in The Damned United Hooper began to experiment with using wide angle lenses and putting actors in the extreme edges of the frame He was influenced by the unusual framing from social photography of the 1970s and he and Ben Smithard decided to adopt the framing style while scouting locations 75 Hooper used the same style in The King s Speech particularly in the scene where Bertie and Logue meet in Logue s consulting room Colin Firth is framed to the extreme left of the picture leaving most of the shot dominated by the rough wall behind Firth 74 77 nbsp Hooper frequently uses dutch tilts in his work notably in John Adams top and Les Miserables bottom Another frequently used technique is Hooper s tendency to use a variety of focal length camera lenses to distort the resulting picture 78 In The Damned United he used a 10mm lens notably in the scene where Clough stays inside during the Derby Leeds match Hooper operated the camera in this scene himself 75 In The King s Speech Hooper used typically 14mm 18mm 21mm 25mm and 27mm lenses and put the camera close to the actors faces 78 Hooper said the use of this method in the first consulting room scene served to suggest the awkwardness and tension of Logue and Bertie s first meeting 74 Cats VFX accusations edit Following the release of Cats reports came from the film s visual effects departments of Hooper s hurtful horrible disrespectful and demeaning attitude towards them and their work 79 The VFX team reportedly were forced to work upwards of 90 hour working weeks with some employees staying at the offices for two to three days at a time just to finish the film One member of the VFX team said Hooper s treatment was pure almost slavery for us 80 with six months to complete the trailer and only four months to complete the film Hooper supposedly had no inclination as to the process of visual effects thus the VFX department could not show Hooper the step by step process of what he wanted such as animatics unless it was already rendered He reportedly would send emails to individual VFX artists on the film to denigrate their work Hooper would also insult them during conference meetings calling the work garbage 81 Neither Hooper nor Universal have commented on the accusations Filmography editFilm edit Year Title Director Producer Writer Distribution 2004 Red Dust Yes No No BBC Films 2009 The Damned United Yes No No Sony Pictures Classics 2010 The King s Speech Yes No No The Weinstein Company 2012 Les Miserables Yes No No Universal Pictures 2015 The Danish Girl Yes Yes No Focus Features 2019 Cats Yes Yes Yes Universal Pictures Television edit Year Title Network Notes 1997 Quayside ITV Tyne Tees Byker Grove BBC One 4 episodes 1998 00 EastEnders 6 episodes 1999 Cold Feet ITV 2 episodes 2001 Love in a Cold Climate BBC1 Miniseries 2002 Daniel Deronda Miniseries 2003 Prime Suspect 6 The Last Witness ITV Miniseries 2005 Elizabeth I HBO Miniseries 2006 Longford Television film 2008 John Adams Miniseries 2019 His Dark Materials BBC Studios HBO 2 episodes Also executive producerAwards and nominations edit nbsp Hooper with Kathryn Bigelow who won the previous year s Oscar for Best Director Main article List of awards and nominations received by Tom Hooper Year Title Academy Awards BAFTA Awards Golden Globe Awards Nominations Wins Nominations Wins Nominations Wins 2010 The King s Speech 12 4 14 7 7 1 2012 Les Miserables 8 3 9 4 4 3 2015 The Danish Girl 4 1 5 3 2019 Cats 1 Total 24 8 28 11 15 4 Directed Academy Award performancesHooper has directed multiple Academy Award nominated performances three of which have won Year Performer Film Result Academy Award for Best Actor 2010 Colin Firth The King s Speech Won 2012 Hugh Jackman Les Miserables Nominated 2015 Eddie Redmayne The Danish Girl Nominated Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor 2010 Geoffrey Rush The King s Speech Nominated Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress 2010 Helena Bonham Carter The King s Speech Nominated 2012 Anne Hathaway Les Miserables Won 2015 Alicia Vikander The Danish Girl WonSee also editList of directorial debuts List of EastEnders crew members List of English Academy Award nominees and winners List of University of Oxford peopleNotes edit Hooper was born and raised in England and is the son of an English father and an Australian mother He holds dual citizenship of the United Kingdom and Australia 2 Hooper self identified in 2010 as half Australian and half English and living in London 3 The order of Hooper s early short films differs according to various sources Fendelman 2011 9 states that Bomber Jacket was his second short and Simmons 2011 8 states it was his third Hooper is himself confused about the order in his audio commentary for The King s Speech DVD 10 Notable advertising campaigns directed by Hooper include 2006 s Rooftop Tennis for Sony Ericsson s mobile phone range 6 15 and Dive a spot for the 2011 Captain Morgan rum campaign To Life Love and Loot 16 17 Hooper was subsequently replaced by Robert Benton on the Graham project 35 References edit a b Births Marriages amp Deaths Index of England amp Wales 1916 2005 5d 2485 a b Gritten David 24 December 2010 King who came from nowhere The Daily Telegraph Telegraph Media Group p 20 Retrieved 2 March 2011 a b Thompson Anne 22 November 2010 Oscar Watch Q amp A Tom Hooper Talks Long Road to King s Speech Thompson on Hollywood Retrieved 6 July 2011 archived by WebCite on 6 July 2011 2011 Oscars org Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences www oscars org Hooper Meredith Jean 1939 Encyclopedia com www encyclopedia com a b c d e f g h i j k l m Brown Maggie 16 October 2006 Prime candidate The Guardian Guardian News amp Media p 6 MediaGuardian supplement Retrieved 25 January 2008 a b c d e f g h Hulse Tim 6 April 2011 What I ve Learned Tom Hooper babusinesslife com Business Life Retrieved 16 July 2011 archived by WebCite on 20 August 2011 a b c d Simmons Alan 24 January 2011 Tom Hooper On Done In 60 Seconds The King s Speech And James Bond FilmShaft Retrieved 24 January 2011 archived by WebCite on 24 January 2011 a b Fendelman Adam 24 January 2011 Interview The King s Speech Director Tom Hooper on Colin Firth s Masterful Stutter HollywoodChicago com Retrieved 25 January 2011 archived by WebCite on 25 January 2011 Hooper Tom 2011 Audio commentary for The King s Speech DVD Alliance Films UK Event occurs at 1 51 00 Harlow John 16 March 2008 Briton Tom Hooper in charge of the TV war of independence The Sunday Times Times Newspapers p 1 Business section Retrieved 14 December 2010 a b Burrell Ian 26 February 2009 Tackling Old Big Ead The Independent Independent News amp Media p 14 Retrieved 10 October 2010 Staff 3 May 1996 John S Clarke productions signs 23 year old Hooper and doubles its directors Campaign Haymarket Business Publications p 41 Darby Ian 18 May 2001 Mark Stothert quits John S Clarke to run Infinity Productions Campaign Haymarket Media Retrieved 18 June 2011 Oatts Joanne 5 July 2006 Tennis stars in roof top rally for Sony Ericsson launch brandrepublic com Haymarket Media Retrieved 18 June 2011 archived by WebCite on 18 June 2011 Smugglersite 2011 Examples of Tom Hoopers work Smuggler site Goundry Nick 27 May 2011 King s Speech s Tom Hooper films Captain Morgan pirate ads on location in Spain thelocationguide Retrieved 18 June 2011 archived by WebCite on 18 June 2011 Walker Michael 28 January 2014 Super Bowl Jaguar Previews Ad Featuring Ben Kingsley Tom Hiddleston Mark Strong Video The Hollywood Reporter Retrieved 1 June 2021 Johnson Richard 21 June 2009 In cash strapped times British film makers refuse to take a back seat They re used to making a drama out of a crisis The Sunday Times Times Newspapers pp 50 52 Retrieved 26 June 2011 Tom Hooper filmography British Film Institute Retrieved 1 January 2010 Ellie 30 March 2010 Spotlight Matthew Robinson Part 1 Walford Web Retrieved 3 October 2010 archived by WebCite on 3 January 2011 Hooper Tom Radio interview with Sarah Montague Today BBC Radio 4 13 March 2009 Event occurs at 00 03 10 00 05 56 Retrieved 10 October 2010 a b c d e Halper Jenny 24 September 2009 AWFJ Women On Film Tom Hooper On The Damned United Jenny Halper interviews Alliance of Women Film Journalists Retrieved 24 September 2010 archived by WebCite on 3 January 2011 Moggach Deborah 20 June 2000 Playing bit parts in my own dramas The Times Times Newspapers p 9 Times2 supplement Lawson Mark 8 February 2003 Getting real The Guardian Guardian News amp Media p 21 Weekend supplement Billen Andrew 15 30 December 2003 The ratings war New Statesman p 104 Television nominations 2003 British Academy of Film and Television Arts Retrieved 3 October 2010 archived by WebCite on 3 January 2011 Outstanding Director For A Miniseries Movie Or A Dramatic Special Academy of Television Arts amp Sciences Retrieved 28 February 2011 archived by WebCite on 3 January 2011 Television nominations 2005 British Academy of Film and Television Arts Retrieved 3 October 2010 archived by WebCite on 3 January 2011 Mirren Helen 2007 In the Frame My Life in Words and Pictures Weidenfeld amp Nicolson p 218 ISBN 0 297 85197 7 Morton Clark Seb 28 October 2006 Marooned on planet mediocre Financial Times The Financial Times p 13 Adams Vernon 24 November 2006 Hot 100 directors Broadcast Emap Media page needed Craft Winners in 2007 British Academy of Film and Television Arts 27 September 2007 Retrieved 3 October 2010 archived by WebCite on 3 January 2011 Argetsinger Amy Roxanne Roberts 10 March 2008 Graham Biopic Back on Track The Washington Post The Washington Post Company p C3 Retrieved 10 October 2010 Newhall Marissa 15 November 2008 Names amp Faces HBO s Press Run for Linney The Washington Post The Washington Post Company p C03 Retrieved 16 July 2011 Hooper Tom Television interview with Greg Dyke The Culture Show Series 5 Episode 22 BBC Two 3 February 2009 Event occurs at 01 54 Retrieved 10 October 2010 archived by WebCite on 9 February 2011 Mitchell Wendy 25 July 2008 Profile UK director Tom Hooper ScreenDaily com Emap Media Retrieved on 4 December 2010 Gilbert Matthew 14 March 2008 Truly historic Boston Globe Globe Newspaper Company p D1 Retrieved 10 October 2010 Hooper Tom 29 September 2008 Somewhere John Adams is smiling The Guardian Guardian News amp Media p 11 MediaGuardian supplement Retrieved 10 October 2010 Gans Andrew 31 January 2009 Directors Guild of America Awards Presented 31 Jan in Los Angeles Playbill com Playbill Inc Retrieved 5 October 2010 archived by WebCite on 3 January 2011 Solomons Jason 4 January 2009 My films seem to be about men s struggle with failure The Observer Guardian News amp Media p 7 Observer Review supplement Retrieved 16 October 2010 Jurgensen John 19 November 2010 A Director on the Verge Tom Hooper The Wall Street Journal Retrieved 19 November 2010 Solomons Jason 11 November 2007 Trailer Trash Not Match of the Day The Observer Guardian News amp Media p 15 Observer Review supplement Retrieved 7 October 2010 a b c Hooper Tom Television interview with Stephen Sackur Hardtalk BBC News 24 26 March 2009 Baker Andrew 4 March 2009 The Damned United Interview with director Tom Hooper Telegraph co uk Telegraph Media Group Retrieved 3 October 2010 archived by WebCite on 3 January 2011 Hooper Tom Andy Harries Michael Sheen 2009 Audio commentary for The Damned United DVD Sony Pictures Home Entertainment a b Kung Michelle 6 November 2010 AFI Fest Honors The King s Speech Collaborators Colin Firth Geoffrey Rush and Tom Hooper Speakeasy WSJ com Retrieved 7 November 2010 archived by WebCite on 3 January 2011 The King s Speech Screenbase Emap Retrieved 4 October 2010 archived by WebCite on 3 January 2011 Hoyle Ben 9 September 2010 Story of the King who was lost for words is an Oscar favourite The Times Times Newspapers p 23 Firth movie lands Toronto Film Festival prize BBC News website 20 September 2010 Retrieved 5 October 2010 archived by WebCite on 3 January 2011 McNary Dave 29 January 2011 The King s Speech tops DGA Awards Variety com Reed Business Information Retrieved 30 January 2011 archived by WebCite on 30 January 2011 Winners and Nominees for the 83rd Academy Awards Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Retrieved 11 June 2011 archived by WebCite on 11 June 2011 2011 Film Awards Winners British Academy of Film and Television Arts 13 February 2011 Retrieved 13 February 2011 Dawtrey Adam 28 November 2010 BIFA contenders a study in diversity Variety com Reed Business Information Retrieved 28 November 2010 archived by WebCite on 3 January 2011 Mitchell Wendy 18 May 2011 Tom Hooper joins BFI board ScreenDaily com Emap Media Retrieved 18 June 2011 archived by WebCite on 18 June 2011 Kilday Gregg 17 June 2011 Academy Invites 178 Artists and Execs as New Members The Hollywood Reporter Prometheus Global Media Retrieved 18 June 2011 archived by WebCite on 18 June 2011 Maher Kevin 11 February 2012 The British Film Power 100 The Times Times Newspapers p 4 Saturday Review supplement Mandela s autobiography Long Walk to Freedom to be adapted into film Xinhua News Agency 13 March 2009 Retrieved 13 March 2009 archived by WebCite on 3 January 2011 Lyus Jon 3 January 2011 Interview The King s Speech Director Tom Hooper Talks Awards The Beauty of Silence and Directing Bond HeyUGuys Retrieved 3 January 2011 archived by WebCite on 3 January 2011 Wiseman Andreas 9 March 2012 Chadwick Harris circle Mandela biopic Long Walk to Freedom ScreenDaily com Emap Retrieved 11 March 2012 archived by WebCite on 11 March 2012 Zeitchik Steven Nicole Sperling 23 February 2011 Tom Hooper could direct Les Miserables musical could have directed Iron Man 3 24 Frames Tribune Company Retrieved 28 June 2011 archived by WebCite on 28 June 2011 a b Freer Ian January 2013 Hugo Cabaret Empire Bauer Media pp 120 125 Vena Jocelyn 28 August 2012 Anne Hathaway Is Breathtaking In Les Miserables Director Gushes MTV News Retrieved 19 November 2012 archived by WebCite on 28 November 2012 Masters Tim 5 December 2011 Tom Hooper rejects 3D for Les Miserables movie BBC News website Retrieved 17 December 2011 archived by WebCite on 17 December 2011 Gettell Oliver 4 November 2012 Holiday Movie Sneaks The Singing Power of the passion Director Tom Hooper s Les Miserables taps the heat of live performances Los Angeles Times Tribune Company p D12 Les Miserables 2012 Box Office Mojo Retrieved 15 April 2012 The Danish Girl Rotten Tomatoes Retrieved 27 February 2016 Les Miserables director Tom Hooper to bring Cats to the big screen Entertainment Weekly 5 May 2016 Retrieved 6 May 2016 Jennifer Hudson Taylor Swift James Corden amp Ian McKellen Line Up For Cats Movie Miaow Deadline Hollywood 20 July 2018 Retrieved 15 September 2018 D Alessandro Anthony 31 August 2018 Cats Will Pounce During Christmas 2019 Frame Wicked Moves Deadline Retrieved 15 September 2018 Beautiful Ghosts From the Motion Picture Cats by Taylor Swift Tidal Retrieved 2 December 2019 Les Miserables Returns to Theaters for One Week With Dolby Cinemas Exclusive Collider https variety com 2024 film global tom hooper les miserables returning to filmmaking 1235908512 a b c d e Hooper Tom 21 January 2011 The King s Speech director Tom Hooper answers your questions live guardian co uk Guardian News amp Media Retrieved 6 July 2011 archived by WebCite on 6 July 2011 a b c Hope Jones Mark November 2009 Kicked Off the Pitch American Cinematographer American Society of Cinematographers 90 11 pp 58 65 Tapley Kristopher 6 September 2010 Interview Colin Firth Geoffrey Rush and Tom Hooper InContention com Retrieved 6 July 2011 archived by WebCite on 6 July 2011 O Connell Seann 22 December 2010 Tom Hooper The King s Speech For Your Consideration HollywoodNews com Hollywood Movie News Retrieved 6 July 2011 archived by WebCite on 6 July 2011 a b Oppenheimer Jean December 2010 Production Slate A Future King Finds His Voice American Cinematographer American Society of Cinematographers 91 12 pp 18 22 Cats director Tom Hooper accused of hurtful and demeaning treatment of special effects artists on flop film Independent co uk 7 April 2020 Cats director Tom Hooper made production almost slavery for VFX crew NME 7 April 2020 Bradley Laura 7 April 2020 Editing the Buttholes Out of Cats Was a Total Nightmare The Daily Beast External links edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tom Hooper Tom Hooper at IMDb Hooper s Academy Award for Best Director acceptance speech video Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Tom Hooper amp oldid 1215714025, 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