Mark Herman | |
|---|---|
| Born | Mark Herman 1954 (age 70–71) |
| Other names | Mark Black Black Amber and Black Amber & Black M. Henry Herman M Henry Herman |
| Occupation(s) | Film producer, film director, screenwriter |
| Years active | 1987–2009 |
Mark Herman (born 1954) is a British film director and screenwriter, best known for writing and directing the 1996 filmBrassed Off and the 2008 filmThe Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. Film critic Paul Wells offers this assessment of Herman's work in the 2019 bookDirectors in British and Irish Cinema: "Herman has attracted little critical attention but his preoccupation with the underdog and personal and social injustice makes him a pertinent commentator on the decline of the English working class and its strategies for survival."[1]
Herman was born inBridlington,East Riding of Yorkshire,England.[2][3] His father worked as a bacon importer.[2] He was educated atWoodleigh School, North Yorkshire and thereafter atSedbergh School andBridlington Grammar School, Bridlington. He worked for his father's bacon importing business until his mid-20s.[2]
He was late entering the film industry, first studying art at theRegional College of Art and Design inKingston upon Hull aged 25, then going on to studygraphic design atLeeds Polytechnic for 3 years.[4] At the end of the first year he had to choose between illustration, printmaking, graphics or film for the final 2 years. He applied to theillustration,printmaking, andgraphics parts of the course, however he wasn't accepted into any of them, so had no choice but to pickfilm. It was there in the film part of his graphic design degree, that he started doing animation.[4]
He then progressed to theNational Film and Television School.[2][4] At NFTS he recognised the superior talents of people like his neighbouring classmateNick Park, and other classmates likeTony Collingwood, so decided to move away fromanimation and towardslive-action instead.[4][5] Nick Park was makingA Grand Day Out at the time.[3][4][6]
Herman made his live-action directorial debut with his NFTS graduation film,See You At Wembley, Frankie Walsh (1986), which he also wrote.[7] It won the Foreign Student Film award at theStudent Film Awards.[8] He spent the next few years writing for theBBC, and for theITV seriesThe 10%ers.[2][9] In 1989, he made a short film,Unusual Ground Floor Conversion, which played in cinemas beforeMel Smith’sThe Tall Guy.[10]
Herman’s first feature-length project wasBlame It on the Bellboy (1992), made for theHollywood Pictures unit ofDisney, a comedy of mistaken identity starringDudley Moore,Bryan Brown,Patsy Kensit,Richard Griffiths, andBronson Pinchot. It failed at the box office, and with most critics.[2] However,Janet Maslin in theNew York Times called it “effervescent fun. Mark Herman, a film school graduate who both wrote and directed this comedy, has concocted a witty mistaken-identity plot and done an able job of keeping it in motion.”[11]
Next, Herman wrote and directed the critically acclaimedBrassed Off (1996), following the members of acollierybrass band, still struggling to survive a decade after theminers' strike. The film won the Peter Sellers Award for Comedy at theEvening Standard British Film Awards in 1997, as well as the Best Screenplay award from theWriters Guild of Great Britain; it also won theCésar for Best Foreign Film in 1998.[12] It has become a classic, ranked at #85 in theBritish Film Institute’s 1999 list of 100 best British films of the 20th century.[13] A stage adaptation by Paul Allen was first performed inSheffield in 1998, and has been revived frequently since then.[14]
InLittle Voice (1998), adapted by Herman fromJim Cartwright's playThe Rise and Fall of Little Voice,Jane Horrocks reprises the title role of a harried young woman whose only escape lies in the memory of her father and in imitating the singers he admired. The film also starredMichael Caine,Brenda Blethyn (who was nominated for anAcademy Award for Best Supporting Actress),[15]Jim Broadbent, andEwan McGregor.Derek Elley inVariety calledLittle Voice “a small picture with a big heart” and cited Herman’s “smooth direction.”[16]
Purely Belter (2000), adapted by Herman fromJonathan Tulloch's novelThe Season Ticket, is the story of two teenage boys trying to get together enough money for a couple ofNewcastle United F.C. season tickets. Herman cast two unknown boys in the lead roles, and their performances were praised by critics, while the film was largely ignored. As Michael Thomson wrote in hisBBC review, “Indeed Chris Beattie and Greg McLane, both newcomers, are wonderfully unforced and amusing as the two lads, but they would have benefited from characters which were fuller in a film that was richer.”[17]
Herman’s 2003 filmHope Springs was his first film since his debut to be made for a major Hollywood studio (Touchstone Pictures). Herman adapted the screenplay from the novelNew Cardiff byCharles Webb, author ofThe Graduate. The film starredColin Firth,Heather Graham, andMinnie Driver, in a story about a British artist who relocates to small-townVermont to get over a failed relationship. Reviews were mixed, with Mark Adams inThe Hollywood Reporter writing that “somehow it can't make the leap from an enjoyable light film to a movie to remember,” while Neil Smith on the BBC called it “a date movie that's well worth making a date with.”[18]
His most recent work is theHolocaust dramaThe Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, which Herman adapted from the2006 novel of the same name byJohn Boyne. It was produced byDavid Heyman, and starredAsa Butterfield,David Thewlis,Vera Farmiga,Sheila Hancock, andRupert Friend.[19] The film divided critics strongly, withTy Burr inThe Boston Globe writing, “Because its gaze is so level and so unyielding, it stands as one of the better dramatic films made on this subject,” while John Anderson inThe Washington Post called it “yet another attempt to revisit a sorrowful event in history that should never be forgotten or used for entertainment.”[20] Herman reflected in 2024 that “the challenge there was to tell a story that might pull kids in to want to learn more about the Holocaust. But by making the story accessible to kids, about kids, it had to be unrealistic, a fable even, and therefore upset quite a lot of people. But I didn’t mind how many people it upset, if it encouraged one single kid to learn more, it was worth it.”[21]
Herman is a fellow of Film and Television Production atYork St John University,York, England, and has received Honorary Doctorates fromthe University of Hull andLeeds Beckett University.
Herman was a schoolfriend of musicianHenry Priestman, who like Herman is aHull City A.F.C. fan.[22]
In February 1983 Priestman as "Harry Amber" and Herman as "Mark Black," together as "Amber and Black," along with the Hull City players themselves, released the song "The Tigers are Back."[22] It was made to raise funds to help pay the players wages, as the effects of Hull City's previous seasons money struggles were still visible.[22] Herman reworded the song "Out of Luck" by Priestman's previous bandYachts, to get the lyrics.[22] The record sleeves and records themselves contained the made up record label logo "Don Records" in tribute to Hull City's then chairman Don Robinson, and the made up issue number "COL001" in tribute to their then managerColin Appleton.[22]
In June 1983, Herman filmed Hull City's end-of-season tour of Florida, where the players and staff visitedWalt Disney World, and played theTampa Bay Rowdies who were managed byRodney Marsh, in the return leg of theArrow Air Anglo-American Cup.[22] It was directed and edited by Herman, with Priestman composing the music. Herman released the documentary online in 2016 with the titleA Kick in the Grass.[23]
Herman co-wrote lyrics for the songs "Ideal World," "Hooverville," and "Sad Songs" forHenry Priestman's bandThe Christians on their first album,The Christians (1987), alongside Priestman himself.[4] Priestman had done a football themed song for Herman's filmSee You at Wembley, Frankie Walsh, and Herman had done the lyrics for it, however the lyrics didn't fit the song, so they were scrapped. However they tweaked the lyrics, which were eventually used for "Ideal World" instead.[4]
On 1 January 2008, midway through Hull City'sPremier League promotion season, "Amber & Black" released the song "The City's on Fire" onMyspace.[24][25] It was their first Hull City song since 1983.[24] It was later re-released just before2014 FA Cup final between Hull City andArsenal F.C.[22][26]
