Lynne Ramsay | |
|---|---|
 Ramsay atADIFF 2018 | |
| Born | (1969-12-05)5 December 1969 (age 55)[1] |
| Nationality | Scottish |
| Alma mater | Napier College National Film and Television School |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 1995–present |
| Children | 1 |
Lynne Ramsay (born 5 December 1969) is aScottish film director, writer, producer, and cinematographer, best known for the feature filmsRatcatcher (1999),Morvern Callar (2002),We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011), andYou Were Never Really Here (2017).
Her works are marked by a fascination with children and young people and the recurring themes of grief, guilt, death, and its aftermath. They have little dialogue and explicit story exposition, and instead use images, vivid details, music, andsound design to create their worlds.
Ramsay was born on 5 December 1969 inGlasgow.[1][2] Her parents introduced her to movies at an early age through the work ofBette Davis,Nicolas Roeg,Alfred Hitchcock, andMichael Curtiz. She also credits the 1939 filmThe Wizard of Oz as an early inspiration.[3]
Ramsay had an early passion forphotography.[3] She studied fine art and photography atNapier College, Edinburgh. In class she watched Maya Deren's filmMeshes of the Afternoon and later cites it as a turning point in her career, inspiring her to apply to film school on a whim and encouraging her turn towards filmmaking.[3]
In 1995, she graduated from theNational Film and Television School inBeaconsfield,England, where she specialised incinematography anddirection.[2][4]
In 1996 Ramsay completed her debut short filmSmall Deaths as her graduating film at the UK'sNational Film and Television School. It is a series of three vignettes of children grappling with familial realities and the repercussions of their actions. Ramsay is the writer, director and cinematographer for this film.[5] It won the 1996Cannes Film FestivalShort Film Prix du Jury.[6] Later that same year Ramsay finishedKill the Day, her second short film. It captures a day in the life of a heroin addict recently released from jail, and tackles the theme of memory.[5]
Gasman (1998), also written and directed by Ramsay, is about a brother and sister who attend a Christmas party with their father, and encounter two other children who are strangely familiar with him. This won her another Prix du Jury that year[7] as well as aScottish BAFTA for Best Short Film.
Ramsay's short films impressedRuth McCance ofBBC Scotland, who approached Ramsay to write atreatment for a feature film. This movie turned into Ramsay's debut featureRatcatcher which released in 1999 and was funded byBBC Scotland andPathé. The film was entirely made by first-time filmmakers, as Ramsay enlisted the help of her film school colleagues.[3]Ratcatcher is set in Maryhill, Glasgow during thebinmen's strike of the 1970s and follows James (William Eadie), the child of a struggling working-class family.The film received great critical success and while an arthouse hit, didn't reach a wider audience. It was screened at the1999 Cannes Film Festival[8] and opened theEdinburgh International Film Festival, winning her the BAFTA Award for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer.[9]
Morvern Callar (2002) is based on Alan Warner's existential 1995novel of the same name. The film follows a young girl (Samantha Morton) adrift in Europe following the suicide of her boyfriend, which she doesn't report to the police. The movie has been described as a portrait of subversive grief and dissociation.[10] The movie's soundtrack included acts likeCan,Aphex Twin,Boards of Canada,Broadcast andThe Mamas & the Papas.[11]
In 2001, it was announced Ramsay was slated to direct the adaptation ofAlice SeboldsThe Lovely Bones, which she had read in a manuscript form prior to its publication. Her script told the story of the murder of a girl from her father's perspective.[4]Shortly after the book turned into a global bestseller resulting in more pressure. Ramsay has said in interviews "People started to call it ‘The Lovely Money,’ they were getting greedy around it. And I could feel the vibes. It became like the Holy Bible, I kept handing in drafts and I thought they were good, but it was like ‘But that’s not exactly like the book, the book’s going to be a success.’ That was the mistake they made with the project."[12] ThenFilm4, which had signed her onto the project, was massively downsized and the head of the company ultimately replaced Ramsay withPeter Jackson in 2004, when Jackson was fresh offThe Lord Of The Rings saga. Ramsay has described dealing with Hollywood as a "David and Goliath situation".[4]
The loss ofThe Lovely Bones hurt Ramsay's self-confidence for a while, and the following year was made even more difficult for Ramsay, as both her father and her close friend, Liana Dognini, died. Dognini had been Ramsay's co-writer onMorvern Callar and the unrealizedThe Lovely Bones script.[4]
After a long hiatus Ramsay returned in 2011 withWe Need to Talk About Kevin. The film, based onLionel Shriver'snovel, is about a mother (Tilda Swinton) dealing with the aftermath of a school massacre committed by her own son (Ezra Miller). It is again directed by Ramsay and this time co-written with her then-husband Rory Kinnear.[4] Ramsay recalls working together withJonny Greenwood for the soundtrack of the movie as an especially exciting part of the process.[13]
Kevin premiered at the2011 Cannes Film Festival in competition for thePalme d'Or to positive reviews, with specific acclaim for Swinton's performance, as well as Ramsay's direction and screenplay.Chicago Sun-Times criticRoger Ebert raved it as a "masterful film," and Kenneth Turan ofLos Angeles Times spoke of it as "a disturbing tale told with uncompromising emotionality and great skill by filmmaker Lynne Ramsay."[14][15] Ramsay received nominations for theBAFTA Award for Best Direction andOutstanding British Film,AACTA Award for Best Direction, andBIFA Award for Best Director, winning for the lattermost.[16][17][18]
Starting in 2011, Ramsay was sharing plans to direct a modern science-fiction adaptation ofHerman Melville'sMoby Dick calledMobius. The film was to be set in space, and deal with themes ofpsychology andclaustrophobia. Ramsay explained, "So we're creating a whole new world, and a new alien. [It's] a very psychological piece, mainly taking place in the ship, a bit likeDas Boot, so it's quite claustrophobic. It's another monster movie, cos the monster's Ahab." She secured funding for the project in 2012,[19] but as of 2023 the film was still a future project.[20]
The short filmSwimmer (2012), was co-commissioned byBBC Films,Film4 and theLondon Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. It won aBAFTA Award for Best Short Film at the66th British Academy Film Awards in 2013.[21]
In 2012, Ramsay was slated to directJane Got a Gun, a movie about the farmer wife of an outlaw husband, who, after his gang turns on him, must defend herself with the help of an old lover.Natalie Portman signed on to star and produce the film.[22] In March 2013, Ramsay abruptly left the project due to creative differences with producers and funders, including over the latter's demand for a happy ending.[23][2] She was replaced byGavin O'Connor.[24] ActorJude Law also left the production shortly after.[25] In November 2013 news broke that the production company behind the movie was suing Ramsay for $750,000, claiming that she had not fulfilled her contractual obligations. The lawsuit also stated that Ramsay "was repeatedly under the influence of alcohol, was abusive to members of the cast and crew and was generally disruptive."[26] Ramsay denied the allegations in a statement made shortly after. A year after parting ways, the lawsuit was resolved out of court.[27] The public aspect of the dispute caused significant backlash against Ramsay. At the same time her marriage with Rory Kinnear came to an end. During the fallout she went toSantorini where she worked on the script that would become her next film,You Were Never Really Here. She ended up staying in Santorini for four years and in that time got pregnant with and gave birth to her daughter inAthens.[2][28]
In April 2013, she was selected as a member of the main competition jury at the2013 Cannes Film Festival.[29] In 2015, she was named as a member of the jury for the main competition at the2015 Venice Film Festival.[30]
You Were Never Really Here, an adaptation ofJonathan Ames's novella of the same name, premiered to wide critical acclaim at the70th Cannes Film Festival in 2017, where it received a standing ovation, and Ramsay won theBest Screenplay award. The film, starringJoaquin Phoenix as Joe, a war veteran and hitman saving young girls from sex trafficking, was picked up byAmazon Studios.[31] It follows a "shattered [...] narrative structure" in trying to capture the effects of PTSD on the mind. The movie also marks the second collaboration withJonny Greenwood.[32] She later said she "found her soulmate in making movies" in Phoenix.[33]
FollowingYou Were Never Really Here, Ramsay hoped to next make theCivil War filmCall Black Horse starringCasey Affleck, which entered the early stages of development.[34]
In 2018, she revealed she had started writing a script that she describes as an "epic environmentalhorror".[35] In November 2020, it was announced Ramsay would be filming an adaptation ofStephen King's 1999 novelThe Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon. The movie is co-written by Christy Hall, who co-created the Netflix seriesI Am Not Okay With This, and produced by Christine Romero andRoy Lee ofVertigo Entertainment among others.[36]
Brigitte, a short documentary onBrigitte Lacombe, was released in 2019 after being commissioned as part ofMiu Miu'sWomen's Tales series. The movie sees both women, who usually prefer being behind the camera, shooting each other.[28]
At the Valencia International Film Festival in 2021 Ramsay revealed that she was working on another movie with Joaquin Phoenix calledPolaris. It was additionally revealed that it would also co-starRooney Mara.[37] In a 2024 interview Ramsay described the movie as "Rosemary’s Baby in the Arctic".[38]
In May 2022, Ramsay announced that she was working on a film adaptation ofMargaret Atwood'sStone Mattress. The film, which is set to starJulianne Moore,Sandra Oh andKyle Chandler,[39] has been picked up by Amazon Studios. Ramsay says about the movie "regarding the overturning of Roe v Wade in America this story [...] feels more important than ever." The movie is set in the Arctic and Greenland.[40]
In November 2022, it was announced that Ramsay would be directing an adaptation ofAriana Harwicz’s novelDie, My Love, which will be produced byMartin Scorsese andJennifer Lawrence throughExcellent Cadaver. Lawrence will additionally star as a woman who is driven to insanity by her marriage and childbirth.[41][42] Ramsay said that Lawrence sent her a copy of the book, which is aboutpostpartum depression andbipolar disorder, noting that the film itself would be funny, and that the movie would "probably" be her next film after the2023 Hollywood strikes.[20] The first draft of the screenplay was written by Irish playwrightEnda Walsh.[43] In July 2024,Robert Pattinson entered talks to join the film.[44] In August 2024, cinematographerSeamus McGarvey spoke about reuniting with Ramsay on the film, including citingRepulsion (1965) andRosemary's Baby (1968) as influences for the film.[45] Later that month,LaKeith Stanfield,Sissy Spacek, andNick Nolte joined the cast, during which the project began filming inCalgary.[46][47][48]
In 2024, Variety reported that Ramsay was writing yet another script with Townend, titledHierarchies. No additional information about the scope of the project was released.[39]
Ramsay was previously[2] married to Rory Stewart Kinnear, a writer and musician.[4] Her niece, Lynne Ramsay Jr., has starred in multiple roles of her early short films.[49]
Ramsay has one daughter. In an interview withThe Guardian Ramsay shared thatWe Need To Talk About Kevin starsTilda Swinton andJohn C. Reilly are the godparents of the child.[2]
In 1999, before the release ofRatcatcher, she citedNan Goldin,Richard Billingham,Terrence Malick,Andrei Tarkovsky andJohn Cassavetes as her creative mentors. In that same interview she spoke aboutRobert Bresson's bookNotes on the Cinematographer as "a little bible [...] in film school".[50] Ramsay has also notedRainer Werner Fassbinder'sFear Eats the Soul,David Lynch'sBlue Velvet andIngmar Bergman'sThe Virgin Spring as deeply moving movie-going experiences.[51]
Ramsays films explore themes of death, rebirth, childhood, loss of innocence, guilt and memory.[52] Many of her movies also deal with grief and its aftermath.[51]
Los Angeles Times columnist Mark Olsen considered Ramsay "one of the leading lights of young British cinema", describing her additionally as "among the most celebrated British filmmakers of her generation."[53]The Harvard Film Archive describes Ramsay as "an uncompromising filmmaker fascinated by the tremendous power of cinema to appeal directly to the senses and awaken new depths in our audio-visual imagination. Immersive and at times almost overwhelming, Ramsay's films abound with uncommon imagery arresting for its remarkable use of texture, composition, color, music and sound."[54]British film critic Jonathan Romney, wrote on the topic ofWe Need to Talk About Kevin, "Ramsay thinks not in concepts but in images. She doesn't make intellectual films, but ones that are close to music, taking visuals to the point of abstraction."[55]
In 2007, Ramsay was rated number 12 inGuardian Unlimited's list of the world's 40 best directors working at the time.[56]
Feature films
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Producer | Ref(s). |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Ratcatcher | Yes | Yes | No | [57] |
| 2002 | Morvern Callar | Yes | Yes | No | [10] |
| 2011 | We Need to Talk About Kevin | Yes | Yes | Executive | [58] |
| 2017 | You Were Never Really Here | Yes | Yes | Yes | [32] |
| TBA | Die, My Love | Yes | Yes | No | [59] |
Short films
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Producer | DoP | Notes | Ref(s). |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Small Deaths | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | [5] | |
| 1997 | Kill the Day | Yes | Yes | No | No | [5] | |
| 1998 | Gasman | Yes | Yes | No | No | [5] | |
| 2012 | Swimmer | Yes | No | Executive | No | [60] | |
| 2019 | Brigitte | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Documentary | [28] |
On 8 October 2013, Ramsay was awarded an honorary doctorate by theUniversity of Edinburgh for her contribution to British film.[61]
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