Peter MacDonald (born 20 June 1939^[1]) is an Englishfilm director,cinematographer, and producer fromLondon,England. A prolificsecond unit director, MacDonald has worked on various Hollywood blockbusters includingGuardians of the Galaxy,The Bourne Ultimatum,Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, andThe Empire Strikes Back.

Starting his career in the camera department, MacDonald subsequently spent 10 years ascamera operator for cinematographerGeoffrey Unsworth, working on films includingSuperman,The Return of the Pink Panther,Murder on the Orient Express andCabaret. After Unsworth's death in 1978, MacDonald increasingly worked as a second unit director, and as a cinematographer himself.

MacDonald's debut as director,Rambo III, came about at extremely short notice. "I started it withoutany preparation", he explained in an interview, "becauseRussell Mulcahy [Rambo III's original director] left after two weeks, so I came into it totally ill-prepared – I was directing thesecond unit on the film. Literally the day before I left America to startRambo III I'd finished photographing a film,Shag, in America; came to Israel, thinking I was going to do a second unit which I could slowly get into, and within a week or two I was directing one of the most expensive films ever made."^[2] MacDonald has since directed other productions includingThe NeverEnding Story III,Legionnaire and the television mini-seriesThe Monkey King (also known asThe Lost Empire). In 2016, MacDonald was hired to direct reshoots during post-production onRogue One: A Star Wars Story.

MacDonald currently works most frequently as a second unit director.^[3] He has said about this role, "The most important thing about any second unit is that you can't tell the difference between the second unit and the first unit. It must have the stamp of the first unit, both in photography and the style of direction. That's why, when I do second unit, I always photographand direct, so you try and copy what the first unit does as much as possible. You mustn't be on an ego trip and try and do your own style, because your material has to cut into theirs and it mustn't jar, it must fit in exactly so no-one can tell the difference."^[2] MacDonald has directed second unit on such films asX-Men Origins: Wolverine,The Bourne Ultimatum,Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,Batman (1989),Cry Freedom, andTango & Cash.

• Peter MacDonald atIMDb

• 1939 births
• Living people
• English cinematographers
• Film directors from London
• Action film directors
• Camera operators

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