Christopher Hampton | |
|---|---|
 Hampton in 2025 | |
| Born | Christopher James Hampton (1946-01-26)26 January 1946 (age 79) |
| Occupation(s) | Playwright, screenwriter, translator |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
| Awards | Full list |
Sir Christopher James HamptonCBE FRSL (born 26 January 1946) is a British playwright, screenwriter, and translator. He is best known for his playLes Liaisons Dangereuses based on thenovel of the same name and thefilm adaptation. He has thrice received nominations for theAcademy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay: forDangerous Liaisons (1988),Atonement (2007) andThe Father (2020); winning for the former and latter.[1][2][3]
Hampton is also known for his work in the theatre includingLes Liaisons Dangereuses, andThe Philanthropist. He also translated the playsThe Seagull (2008),God of Carnage (2009),The Father (2016), andThe Height of the Storm (2019). He also wrote, withDon Black, the book and lyrics for the musicalSunset Boulevard (1994), for which they receivedTony Awards forBest Book of a Musical andBest Original Score.[4]
Hampton was born inFaial,Azores, to British parents Dorothy Patience (née Herrington) and Bernard Patrick Hampton, a marine telecommunications engineer forCable & Wireless.[5][6] His father's job led the family to settle inAden, Yemen, and Cairo andAlexandria inEgypt, and later inHong Kong andZanzibar. During theSuez Crisis in 1956, the family had to flee Egypt under cover of darkness, leaving their possessions behind.
After a prep school atReigate inSurrey, Hampton attended the independent boarding schoolLancing College near the village ofLancing inWest Sussex at the age of 13. There he won house colours for boxing and distinguished himself as a sergeant in theCombined Cadet Force (CCF). Among his contemporaries at Lancing wasDavid Hare, later also a dramatist; poetHarry Guest was a teacher.
From 1964, Hampton read German and French atNew College, Oxford, as a Sacher Scholar. He graduated with a starred First Class Degree in 1968.[7][8]
Hampton became involved in the theatre while atOxford University. TheOxford University Dramatic Society (OUDS) performed his original playWhen Did You Last See My Mother?, about adolescent homosexuality. He drew from his own experiences at Lancing.[5] Hampton sent the work to the play agentPeggy Ramsay, who interestedWilliam Gaskill in it.[5] The play was performed at theRoyal Court Theatre in London, and soon transferred to theComedy Theatre; in 1966, Hampton was the youngest writer in the modern era to have a play performed in theWest End.[5] Hampton's work on screenplays for the cinema also began around this time. He adapted this play forRichard Attenborough andBryan Forbes, but a film version was never made.[9]
From 1968 to 1970, Hampton worked as the Resident Dramatist at the Royal Court Theatre, and also as the company's literary manager.[5] He continued to write plays:Total Eclipse, about the French poets and loversArthur Rimbaud andPaul Verlaine, was first performed in 1967 and at the Royal Court in 1968, but it was not well received at the time.[10]The Philanthropist (1970) is set in an English university town and was influenced byMolière'sThe Misanthrope. The Royal Court delayed a staging for two years because of an uncertainty over its prospects, but their production was one of the Royal Court's more successful works up to that point.[5] The production transferred to the Mayfair Theatre in London'sWest End and ran for nearly four years, winning theEvening Standard Theatre Award for Best Comedy. It reachedBroadway in New York City in 1971.[5][9]
His agent told him after this success: "You've got a choice: you can write the same play over and over for the next 30 years" or, alternatively, "you can decide to do something completely different every time".[11] He told her that he was writing a play about the "extermination of the Brazilian Indians in the 1960s".[11]Savages, set during the period of themilitary government and derived from an article "Genocide in Brazil" byNorman Lewis, was first performed in 1973.[5] His first produced film adaptation, ofIbsen'sA Doll's House (1973), was directed byPatrick Garland, and starsAnthony Hopkins andClaire Bloom.[9]
He was elected aFellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1976.[12]
A sojourn in Hollywood led to an unproduced film adaptation ofMarlowe's playEdward II and the original script forCarrington. This period also inspired his playTales from Hollywood (1982). This is a somewhat fictionalised account of exiled European writers living in the United States during the Second World War. (The lead character is based onÖdön von Horváth, who died in Paris in 1938).[13] The play also explores the different philosophies of Horwath and the German playwrightBertolt Brecht (who lived in the United States in the 1940s). Hampton toldThe Guardian criticMichael Billington in 2007: "I lean towards the liberal writer, Horvath, rather than the revolutionary Brecht. I suppose I'm working out some internal conflict".[10] The play was commissioned by theCenter Theatre Group in Los Angeles; the Group first performed it in 1982.[14] The play has been adapted in different versions for British and Polish television.[14]
Hampton won theAcademy Award forBest Adapted Screenplay for his screen adaptation of his playDangerous Liaisons (1988), directed byStephen Frears and starringGlenn Close,John Malkovich, andMichelle Pfeiffer.[1] He worked onCarrington (1995) for 18 years, writing multiple drafts. The play explores the relationship between painterDora Carrington and authorLytton Strachey.[9] Hampton went on to direct the feature filmCarrington, starringEmma Thompson andJonathan Pryce.[15]
He was appointedCommander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the1999 Birthday Honours for services to literature.[16]
Hampton both wrote and directedImagining Argentina (2003), his adaptation ofthe 1987 novel byLawrence Thornton. It explores society during the military dictatorship ofLeopoldo Galtieri, when the government conducted aDirty War against opponents, killing many in "forced disappearances". It starredAntonio Banderas and Emma Thompson. According to Hampton, this period of Argentinian history had not inspired a dramatic work before. "I decided to do something which it would be difficult to finance at a time when, for once, I was bombarded with offers.[7] In 2007, Hampton was nominated for a second Academy Award for his screenplay andadaptation ofIan McEwan's novelAtonement, directed byJoe Wright and starringJames McAvoy,Keira Knightley, andSaoirse Ronan.[2]
Since the 1990s, Hampton has created the English translations of the works of French dramatistsYasmina Reza andFlorian Zeller. Reza'sArt ran for eight years in the West End, and was also produced in the United States.[9] Hampton translated Reza'sGod of Carnage, which was the third-longest running Broadway play in the 2000s, playing 24 premieres and 452 regular performances.God of Carnage garnered six Tony nominations and three wins in 2009.[17]God of Carnage actorsJames Gandolfini andMarcia Gay Harden, joinedPhilip Glass,Phillip Noyce and a host of other artists in a short documentary celebrating their Tony Award success and Mr. Hampton's 50 published plays and screenplays.[18]
Hampton's translation into English ofMichael Kunze andSylvester Levay's Austrian musicalRebecca, based onDaphne du Maurier'snovel of the same name, was supposed to premiere on Broadway in 2012, directed byFrancesca Zambello andMichael Blakemore. The production did not open, with the producers,Ben Sprecher and Louise Forlenza, relinquishing the rights.[19][20]
In 2012, Hampton joined forces withTiana Alexandra-Silliphant to form Hampton Silliphant Management & Productions, which presented the playAppomattox at theGuthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota.[21] The play concerns itself with historic events in the United States, 100 years apart in time: the historic meetings between Generals Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee, as well as Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass in 1865, and the later machinations of Lyndon Johnson, J. Edgar Hoover and Martin Luther King – which ultimately led to the passing of theVoting Rights Act of 1965.Appomattox was also performed as an opera withPhilip Glass atThe Kennedy Center in 2015.[22]
In 2020, Hampton served as screenwriter and executive producer forThe Singapore Grip, an international TV mini-series exploring the Japanese invasion of Singapore during WWII.[23] Adapted from the novel by J.G. Ferrell, the story portrays the intrigues and ultimate upheaval of British colonialism at the time of the Fall of Singapore.[24]
The same year, Hampton co-wroteThe Father, starring Anthony Hopkins andOlivia Colman, with Florian Zeller (based on Zeller's 2012 playLe Père), who directed the film in his feature directorial debut. The film received critical acclaim, and both Hampton and Zeller won aBAFTA and anAcademy Award forBest Adapted Screenplay and received aGolden Globe nomination, while the film was nominated in the Best Picture categories.[3][25][26]
Hampton wasknighted in the2020 New Year Honours for services to drama.[27]
In March and April 2021, it was announced that Hampton and Zeller will co-write the adaptation ofThe Son (which serves as Zeller's and Hampton's follow-up toThe Father) with Zeller directing, andHugh Jackman andLaura Dern attached to star in the film.[28][29][30]The Son had its world premiere at the79th Venice International Film Festival on 7 September 2022, and was released in the United States on 11 November 2022, bySony Pictures Classics.
| Year | English title | Writer | Director | Producer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1973 | A Doll's House | Yes | No | No | Adaptation of theHenrik Ibsen play |
| 1977 | Able's Will | Yes | No | No | Directed byStephen Frears for theBBC |
| 1979 | Tales from the Vienna Woods | Yes | No | No | Directed byMaximilian Schell |
| 1981 | The History Man | Yes | No | No | Adaptation of theMalcolm Bradbury novel for theBBC |
| 1983 | The Honorary Consul | Yes | No | No | Adaptation of theGraham Greene novel |
| 1986 | The Wolf at the Door | Yes | No | No | |
| 1986 | Hotel du Lac | Yes | No | No | Adaptation of the novel byAnita Brookner |
| 1986 | The Good Father | Yes | No | No | Adaptation of the novel byPeter Prince |
| 1986 | Arriving Tuesday | No | No | Yes | |
| 1988 | Dangerous Liaisons | Yes | No | Yes | Adapted from his own play of the same name; directed byStephen Frears |
| 1989 | The Ginger Tree | Yes | No | No | Adaptation of theOswald Wynd novel for theBBC |
| 1992 | Tales from Hollywood | Yes | No | No | Adaptation of his play for theBBC |
| 1995 | Carrington | Yes | Yes | No | Directorial debut |
| 1995 | Total Eclipse | Yes | No | No | Directed byAgnieszka Holland) |
| 1996 | Mary Reilly | Yes | No | No | Adapted from theValerie Martin novel aboutDr. Jekyll's housemaid |
| 1996 | The Secret Agent | Yes | Yes | No | Adapted from theJoseph Conrad novel |
| 2002 | The Quiet American | Yes | No | No | Adaptation of theGraham Greene novel |
| 2003 | Imagining Argentina | Yes | Yes | No | |
| 2007 | Atonement | Yes | No | No | Adaptation of theIan McEwan novel |
| 2009 | Chéri | Yes | No | No | |
| 2011 | A Dangerous Method | Yes | No | No | Adapted from theJohn Kerr novel; Directed byDavid Cronenberg. |
| 2013 | The Thirteenth Tale | Yes | No | No | Adapted from theDiane Setterfield's novel |
| 2013 | Adoration | Yes | No | No | Adapted fromDoris Lessing'snovella |
| 2016 | Ali and Nino | Yes | No | No | Adapted fromKurban Said's novelAli and Nino |
| 2020 | The Father | Yes | No | No | Adapted from the Florian Zeller play |
| 2020 | The Singapore Grip | Yes | No | No | Adapted from the J.G. Farrell's 1978 novel |
| 2022 | The Son | Yes | No | No | Adapted from the Florian Zeller play |
| Organizations | Year | Category | Work | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Academy Awards | 1988 | Best Adapted Screenplay | Dangerous Liaisons | Won | [33] |
| 2007 | Atonement | Nominated | [34] | ||
| 2020 | The Father | Won | [35] | ||
| BAFTA Awards | 1989 | Best Adapted Screenplay | Dangerous Liaisons | Won | [36] |
| 1995 | Best British Film | Carrington | Nominated | [37] | |
| 2007 | Best British Film | Atonement | Nominated | [37] | |
| Best Adapted Screenplay | Nominated | [37] | |||
| 2020 | Best British Film | The Father | Nominated | [37] | |
| Best Adapted Screenplay | Won | [37] | |||
| Cannes Film Festival | 1995 | Palme d'Or | Carrington | Nominated | [38] |
| Jury Special Prize | Won | ||||
| Critics' Choice Awards | 2020 | Best Adapted Screenplay | The Father | Nominated | [39] |
| Golden Globe Awards | 2007 | Best Screenplay – Motion Picture | Atonement | Nominated | [40] |
| 2020 | The Father | Nominated | [40] | ||
| Tony Awards | 1995 | Best Book of a Musical | Sunset Blvd. | Won | [41] |
| Best Original Score | Won | ||||
| Writers Guild of America Awards | 1988 | Best Adapted Screenplay | Dangerous Liaisons | Won | |
| Venice International Film Festival | 2003 | Golden Lion | Imagining Argentina | Nominated |
