Roland Joffé | |
|---|---|
 Joffé in 2012 | |
| Born | (1945-11-17)17 November 1945 (age 80) London, England |
| Education | Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle Carmel College, Oxfordshire |
| Alma mater | University of Manchester |
| Occupations | Film director, producer, screenwriter |
| Years active | 1960–present |
| Spouse | |
| Children | Rowan Joffé Nathalie Lunghi |
Roland Joffé (/ˈdʒɒfeɪ/;[1] born 17 November 1945) is an English film and televisiondirector,producer andscreenwriter. He is known for directing the critically-acclaimed filmsThe Killing Fields (1984) andThe Mission (1986), both of which earned himAcademy Award nominations forBest Director, and the latter winning thePalme d'Or at the1986 Cannes Film Festival.
Joffé began his career in television, his early credits including episodes ofCoronation Street and anadaptation ofThe Stars Look Down forGranada. He gained a reputation for hard-hitting political stories with the seriesBill Brand and factual dramas forPlay for Today. In the late 1980s, he co-founded the production company Lightmotive withBen Myron.
Joffé was born inLondon to a family of French and Jewish origin. Around 1950, Roland's father Mark Joffé[2][3][4] began a relationship with the daughter ofJacob Epstein andKathleen Garman,Esther Garman, who helped raise Roland.[5][6][7] After Esther's suicide in 1954, Roland lived with her parents.[8] Portraits of Roland as a child by Jacob Epstein and Esther's brotherTheodore Garman are part of theGarman Ryan Collection atThe New Art Gallery Walsall.[9][10]
Joffé was educated at two independent schools: theLycée Français Charles de Gaulle in London, andCarmel College inWallingford, Oxfordshire, which was Europe's onlyJewishboarding school, until it closed in 1997. He completed his formal education at theUniversity of Manchester.
After university, Joffé joined Granada Television as a trainee director in 1973, where he directed episodes ofCoronation Street,[11][12]Sam,[12]The Stars Look Down,[12]Crown Court,[12]Bill Brand,[12] andHeadmaster.[12]
In 1977, producerTony Garnett was commissioned by theBBC to direct the playThe Spongers within BBCsPlay for Today series. He informed the BBC drama department that he wanted to hire Roland Joffé as director, but was told that Joffé did not possess BBC clearance and was regarded a "security risk" (see:"Christmas tree" list).[13] The reason was that Joffé had attended someWorkers' Revolutionary Party meetings in the early 1970s,[14] although he never became a party member. He explained around 1988: "I was very interested in politics at that time. But I was interested in what all the political parties were doing, not just the WRP, and I was never actively involved."[15] Only after Garnett threatened he would "go public", was the veto on Joffé's appointment withdrawn.[15]The Spongers won the prestigiousPrix Italia award.
Joffé also directed an episode in BBC'sSecond City Firsts in 1977[12] and later directed two more plays forPlay for Today:The Legion Hall Bombing (1979) andUnited Kingdom (1981).[12] In 1979, he directed the TV playNo, Mama, No byVerity Bargate for theITV Playhouse series,[12] and in 1980 he made a version of 17th century dramatistJohn Ford's play'Tis Pity She's a Whore as a TV film for the BBC.[12]
Roland Joffé's first two feature films (The Killing Fields, 1984, andThe Mission, 1986) each garnered him anAcademy Award nomination forBest Director. Joffé worked closely with producerDavid Puttnam on each film.The Killing Fields detailed the friendship of two men, an American journalist forThe New York Times, and his translator, a prisoner of theKhmer Rouge in Communist Cambodia. It won three Academy Awards (for Best Supporting Actor, Best Cinematography, and Best Film Editing) and was nominated for four more (including Best Picture and Best Director).The Mission was a story of conflict betweenJesuit missionaries in South America, who were trying to convert theGuaraní Indians, and the Portuguese and Spanishcolonisers, who wanted to enslave the natives. In an interview with Thomas Bird, Joffé says ofThe Mission, "The Indians are innocent. The film is about what happens in the world... what that innocence brings out in us. You would sit in a cinema in New York, or in Tokyo, or Paris, and for that point of time you would be joined with your companions on this planet. You would come out with a real sense of a network.".[16] The film won the Palme d'Or and Technical Grand Jury Prize at the 1986 Cannes Film Festival. It achieved six Academy Awards nominations—including for Best Picture, Best Director, andEnnio Morricone's acclaimed Best Original Score—and won one, for Best Cinematography.
In 1993, he produced and partially directed a big budget adaptation of the video gameSuper Mario Bros.. The film struggled to make back its budget. His1995 adaptation ofThe Scarlet Letter was a critical and financial disaster, and his 2007 horror filmCaptivity drew controversy with its advertising billboards, widely regarded as exploitative and misogynistic[according to whom?]. He received Razzie Nominations for Worst Director forThe Scarlet Letter andCaptivity.
His 2011 release,There Be Dragons, garnered press attention as it dealt with the Catholic organisationOpus Dei.[17][18] A movie about faith and forgiveness,There Be Dragons is a project that Joffé says has a message he's proud to say on film. In an interview with CBN.com, he stated, "I have a very deep emotional investment in this film. I feel that I really want to stand behind what it says to us as human beings."[19]
In 2013 Joffé directed the internationally co-produced historicalepicromancetime traveladventure film,The Lovers.
From 1974 to 1980, Joffé was married to actressJane Lapotaire; they have a son, screenwriter and directorRowan Joffé (b. 1973). Later, he and actressCherie Lunghi were in a longterm relationship;[20][21] they have a daughter, actorNathalie Lunghi (b. 1986).
Joffé is a board member of the nonprofit organizationOperation USA. He was the official patron of the 2011Cambodia Volleyball World Cup held from 23 to 29 July at theNational Olympic Stadium inPhnom Penh.[22] Roland Joffé lives inMalta and is an active member of the team organising the Valletta Film Festival.
Religiously, Joffé has described himself as a "wobbly agnostic".[23]
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Producer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 | The Killing Fields | Yes | No | No |
| 1986 | The Mission | Yes | No | No |
| 1989 | Fat Man and Little Boy | Yes | Yes | No |
| 1992 | City of Joy | Yes | No | No |
| 1993 | Super Mario Bros. | No | No | Yes |
| 1995 | The Scarlet Letter | Yes | No | Yes |
| 1998 | Goodbye Lover | Yes | No | No |
| 2000 | Vatel | Yes | No | Yes |
| Waterproof | No | No | Yes | |
| 2007 | Captivity | Yes | No | No |
| 2008 | You and I | Yes | No | No |
| 2011 | There Be Dragons | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 2013 | The Lovers | Yes | Yes | No |
| 2017 | The Forgiven | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| TBA | November 1963 | Yes | No | No |
Executive producer
| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1973–74 | Coronation Street | 4 episodes |
| 1974–75 | Sam | 4 episodes |
| 1975 | The Stars Look Down | 6 episodes |
| 1976 | Crown Court | 4 episodes |
| Bill Brand | 5 episodes | |
| 1977 | Headmaster | 3 episodes |
| Second City Firsts | 1 episode | |
| 1978 | The Spongers | |
| Play for Today | Episode: "The Legion Hall Bombing" | |
| 1979 | No, Mama, No | |
| 1980 | 'Tis Pity She's a Whore | |
| 1981 | Play for Today | Episode: "United Kingdom" |
| 2002 | Undressed | 1 episode |
| 2015 | Texas Rising | 5 episodes |
| 2017 | Sun Records | 8 episodes |
| 2019 | A Lover Scorned | Television film |
| 2026 | The Gray House | 8 episodes[24] |
| Award | Year | Category | Nominated work | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prix Italia | 1978 | The Spongers[25] | ||
| Academy Awards | 1985 | Best Director | The Killing Fields | Nominated |
| 1987 | The Mission | Nominated | ||
| Golden Globe Awards | 1985 | Best Director | The Killing Fields | Nominated |
| 1987 | The Mission | Nominated | ||
| Cannes Film Festival | 1986 | Palme d'Or | The Mission | Won |
| Technical Grand Prize | Won | |||
| British Academy of Film and Television Arts | 1985 | Best Direction | The Killing Fields | Nominated |
| 1987 | The Mission | Nominated | ||
| Best Film | Nominated | |||
| Berlin International Film Festival | 1990 | Golden Bear | Fat Man and Little Boy | Nominated |
| Golden Raspberry Awards | 1996 | Worst Picture | The Scarlet Letter | Nominated |
| Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-off or Sequel | Won | |||
| Worst Director | Nominated | |||
| 2008 | Captivity | Nominated |
