One of Britain's most acclaimed directors, John Boorman is known for making films resplendent with great visual flair and taut narrative. Boorman is also known as one of the commercial mainstream's more independently-minded directors; his high-risk approach to filmmaking has insured that his films are as economically unpredictable as they are unique. Boorman himself has been quoted as saying "Filmmaking is the process of turning money into light and then back into money again," an epigram whose simplicity has in many ways defined the ups and downs of his career.

A native of London, where he was born January 18, 1933, Boorman attended a Jesuit school and held down a series of non-descript jobs before he started writing film reviews and working as an editor for the BBC. By 1962, he was the head of the Bristol BBC documentary unit. Three years later, he directed his first fictional film, the whimsical, loosely structured Having a Wild Weekend, which starred the Dave Clark Five. Rather than resembling just another Hard Day's Night rip-off, the film was distinctive and original enough to earn Boorman recognition as an innovative stylist by a number of prestigious publications.

Following more work for the BBC, Boorman made his Hollywood directing debut in 1967 with Point Blank. Starring…  » Read more