James McTeigue | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1967-12-29)29 December 1967 (age 57) Sydney,New South Wales, Australia |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Occupation | Film director |
James McTeigue (born 29 December 1967) is an Australian film and television director. He has been anassistant director on many films, includingDark City (1998), theMatrix trilogy (1999–2003) andStar Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002), and made his directorial debut with the 2005 filmV for Vendetta to critical acclaim. SinceVendetta he hascollaborated with the Wachowskis an additional four times as director onThe Invasion (albeit uncredited),Ninja Assassin andSense8, and as producer ofThe Matrix Resurrections.
He first became involved in the film industry in the late 1980s, acting as production runner or production assistant in a number of small Australian films. In 1991, his role becameassistant director, being the third assistant director in another Australian film,The Girl Who Came Late.
In 1994, he was the second assistant director inCountry Life, a film adaptation based on Michael Blakemore's National Theatre production ofUncle Vanya, which had a much wider audience than his previous affairs. He also acted again as second assistant director in a small Australian television film.
McTeigue broke into mainstream Hollywood in 1994 as the second assistant director forNo Escape and the big budget filmStreet Fighter. In 1996, McTeigue again acted as second assistant director on an American television film and a small Australian film being completed that year.
In 1997, he was the second assistant director for the WWII filmParadise Road as well asThe Well, that year he also worked as first assistant director for the television seriesBig Sky. The following year he was the second assistant director for the American science-fiction filmDark City as well as the Australian filmThe Sugar Factory.
In 1999, McTeigue was intended to act as second assistant director forThe Matrix film until the first assistant director, a friend of McTeigue who told him about the project, had to drop out andThe Wachowskis made McTeigue first assistant director. The film was released in 1999 and became a huge success.
The following year he acted as first assistant director on the popular Australian filmLooking for Alibrandi, as well asThe Monkey's Mask.
In 2000, McTeigue worked withGeorge Lucas and became the first assistant director forStar Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones, which was released in 2002. Following this, he was also the first assistant director for bothMatrix sequelsThe Matrix Reloaded andThe Matrix Revolutions.
In 2005, McTeigue made his directorial debut withV for Vendetta, written and produced by the Wachowskis. After spending so much time onThe Matrix film series, they gave the opportunity to McTeigue to direct, first showing him a copy of theVendetta graphic novel during post-production ofThe Matrix Revolutions.[1]
Warner Bros. expressed dissatisfaction with the wayOliver Hirschbiegel'sThe Invasion shaped up and brought in McTeigue for an additional 17 days of filming based on rewrites by the Wachowskis. The film was released in 2007, with the involvement of McTeigue and the Wachowskis being uncredited.[2]
In 2008, he didsecond unit directing work on the Wachowskis'Speed Racer.[3]
McTeigue directedNinja Assassin, produced by the Wachowskis, which was released in 2009.[4] The same year he was said to be directing a reboot of theSuperman film series, a rumour that he neither confirmed nor denied, but Warner Bros. ultimately gave the job of rebootingSuperman toZack Snyder.[5]
In 2012, he directed the thrillerThe Raven, a fictionalized account of the last days of Edgar Allan Poe's life, in which the poet and author pursues a serial killer, whose murders mirror those in Poe's stories.
He partnered again with the Wachowskis to direct the Mexico City, Mumbai and parts of the Reykjavik units on their Netflix science fiction dramaSense8, which debuted in 2015.[6][7] McTeigue also directed two episodes.[8] Over the years, McTeigue has been linked as director of the filmsOsiris Release,[9]Richard K. Morgan'sAltered Carbon,[10]Message from The King,[11]Bloodsport[12] andAlien Sleeper Cell,[13] but as of May 2016, none of them have moved forward.
In 2021, McTeigue continued his ongoing creative collaboration withLana Wachowski as one of the producers ofThe Matrix Resurrections.[14]
Film
Short film
TV series
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