After making his name with a BAFTA Award-winning stint working on the long-running British documentary series
World in Action in the '80s, Greengrass brought his passion for real-life political events to his historically based feature-film debut
Resurrection, about a disillusioned British soldier in the Falklands War. Although he wouldn't helm another feature until the 1998 dramedy
The Theory of Flight, Greengrass spent the interim years writing and directing TV docudramas in his homeland. His international breakthrough came with the 2002 film
Bloody Sunday, which chillingly recreated the infamous January 30, 1972, massacre of Irish civil-rights protestors by British troops. Using natural light and a shaky handheld camera, Greengrass imbued the film with disturbing realism and was rewarded with myriad kudos, including the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival. His success led to his first Hollywood movie, the 2004 spy sequel
The Bourne Supremacy. Although it may have seemed like an unlikely project for the director, Greengrass was able to indulge his long-standing fascination with espionage (he had coauthored the controversial 1985 book
Spycatcher with former British Secret Service Assistant Director Peter Wright), while bringing his signature gritty style to the action franchise. Two years later, Greengrass tackled a particularly sensitive project: a real-time account of doomed flight
United 93, one of the planes hijacked on September 11, 2001. Although some questioned whether it was too soon to address the tragedy, most critics hailed Greengrass' film as a raw, heartrending masterpiece, devoid of exploitation, cynicism or sentimentality. Come Oscar time, he was honored with his first best-director nomination.
Paul Greengrass Fast Facts:
- Made movies in high school using a Super 8 camera.
- Because of the sensitive information contained in his 1985 book Spycatcher, it was banned from release by the British government until 1988.
- Won Best Director at the British Independent Film Awards and the Irish Film and Television Awards for the 2002 fact-based drama Bloody Sunday.
- Paul Greengrass Awards:
- 2006 Oscar: Best Achievement in Directing - Nominee
- College:
- University of Cambridge, Queens' College, Cambridge, England
