Martin Campbell
☼ Born on 24 December 1943, in Hastings, New Zealand
Biography
Martin Campbell knows how to entertain an audience when he steps behind the camera. When he directed The Mask of Zorro (1998), the movie earned Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations and launched the international careers of Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones. Next, when he helmed Vertical Limit (2000), the film was well received by the critics and earned over $200 million in worldwide box-office sales. In addition, Campbell is credited with rejuvenating the James Bond franchise when he directed GoldenEye (1995), Pierce Brosnan's first outing as the famed British spy, which went on to gross more than $350 million. He also directed Daniel Craig's debut Bond feature as well, Casino Royale (2006).
Born in New Zealand, Campbell moved to London where he began his career as a cameraman. He went on to produce the controversial British feature Scum (1979), as well as Black Joy (1977), which was selected for competition at the Cannes Film Festival. Campbell made his directorial debut on the British police action series The Professionals (1977) and continued with the popular BBC series Shoestring (1979) and Thames TV's Minder (1979)
Considered one of the U.K.'s top directors by the mid-'80s, he directed the highly praised British telefilm, Reilly: Ace of Spies (1983). For his work on Edge of Darkness (1985), a five-hour BBC miniseries about nuclear contamination in England that depicted murder and high-ranking corruption, he won six BAFTA awards.
Campbell's first Hollywood movie was Cri
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minal Law (1998) and he went on to direct Defenseless (1991) and No Escape (1994). Some of his American credits include directing HBO's Cast a Deadly Spell (1991) and two episodes of NBC's Homicide: Life on the Street (1993), among others. He also directed the epic romance Beyond Borders (2003) starring Angelina Jolie and Clive Owen.
In the role of director
2011 (20/08/2020)
An isolated film editor is tormented by his mysterious neighbour in 2011. The Tenant from 2011 (Émile Schneider) is a young film editor currently working on a feature film The Burning Flesh for independent director Hugo (Hugolin Chevrette). However, the tenant begins to fall into his anxieties through recurring nightmares and the actions of his […]
Green Lantern (20/06/2011)
Two days late, but better than never. With Marvel comics getting most of the attention during the last few year, we finally see a new DC comics movie for a character not named Batman or Superman. I am not a big comics reader, so I was only ever had a mild knowledge of the Green Lantern. […]
Edge of Darkness (31/01/2010)
One thing I can definitely say about this film is that it was nice to see Mel Gibson in front of the camera again. It it wasn’t for the novelty of his involvement, I would have considered this film to be a very average thriller. However, everything that happens in this film is pure joy […]