Paul Greengrass facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Paul Greengrass CBE
Greengrass at the Bourne Ultimatum premiere in Hollywood, 2007
Born	(1955-08-13) 13 August 1955 (age 69) Cheam, Surrey, England
Alma mater	Queens' College, Cambridge
Occupation	Film director screenwriter producer
Years active	1978–present
Board member of	Directors UK (president)

Paul Greengrass (born August 13, 1955) is an English film director, film producer, screenwriter, and former journalist. He is known for making exciting action films and dramas that often feel like real-life documentaries.

One of his early films, Bloody Sunday (2002), won a top award called the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival. He also directed three movies in the popular Bourne series: The Bourne Supremacy (2004), The Bourne Ultimatum (2007), and Jason Bourne (2016).

Greengrass directed United 93 (2006), a film about the September 11 attacks. For this movie, he won the BAFTA Award for Best Director and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Director. Other films he directed include Green Zone (2010) and Captain Phillips (2013). In 2004, he helped write and produce Omagh, which won a British Academy Television Award.

In 2007, Greengrass helped start Directors UK, an organization for British filmmakers. He was its first president until 2014. He has been recognized as one of the most influential people in British culture and received a special award from the British Film Institute in 2017.

Early Life

Paul Greengrass was born on August 13, 1955, in Cheam, Surrey, England. His mother was a teacher, and his father worked as a river pilot and sailor. His brother, Mark Greengrass, is a well-known historian.

Paul went to Westcourt Primary School, Gravesend Grammar School, and Sevenoaks School. He later studied English literature at Queens' College, Cambridge.

Career

Journalism Work

Greengrass started his career in the 1980s as a director for the ITV news program World in Action. This show focused on important current events.

Around the same time, he co-wrote a famous book called Spycatcher (1987) with Peter Wright, a former assistant director of MI5 (the British security service). The book shared secret information, and the British government tried to stop its publication, but they were not successful.

Film Directing

Greengrass later moved into making drama films, often based on real events. He directed TV movies like The One That Got Away, which was about a British soldier's experiences during the Gulf War. He also directed The Fix, based on a betting scandal in 1964.

His 1998 film The Theory of Flight starred famous actors Kenneth Branagh and Helena Bonham Carter.

Films About Real Events

Greengrass directed The Murder of Stephen Lawrence (1999). This film told the story of Stephen Lawrence, a young Black British man whose murder was not properly investigated by the police. The film showed how his mother's efforts led to questions about institutional racism within the police force.

His next film, Bloody Sunday (2002), showed the 1972 Bloody Sunday massacre in a style that felt very much like a documentary. This film won a top award at the 2002 Berlin Film Festival.

In 2004, Greengrass co-wrote the TV film Omagh with Guy Hibbert. This movie was based on the Omagh bombing of 1998. It was praised by critics and won a British Academy Television Award. Greengrass worked on this film as a writer and producer, but not as the director, because he was busy with another movie, The Bourne Supremacy.

The Bourne Series

Because of his work on Bloody Sunday, Greengrass was chosen to direct The Bourne Supremacy in 2004. This was the second film in the Bourne series. The movie starred Matt Damon as Jason Bourne, a man who has lost his memory but realizes he was once a top spy. The film was a big success and helped make Greengrass well-known.

In 2007, Greengrass returned to the Bourne series to direct The Bourne Ultimatum. This film was even more successful than the previous ones. He was nominated for a BAFTA Best Director award for this movie.

He directed the fifth Bourne film, Jason Bourne, which was released in 2016, with Matt Damon starring again.

Other Major Films

In 2006, Greengrass directed United 93, a film based on the hijacking of United Airlines Flight 93 on September 11, 2001. The film was highly praised for its realistic, documentary-like style. Greengrass won the BAFTA award for Best Director and was nominated for an Oscar for his directing.

Greengrass's film Green Zone (2010) starred Matt Damon. It was about a U.S. military team searching for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq after the war.

Captain Phillips (2013) was another film directed by Greengrass, based on the true story of the Maersk Alabama hijacking in 2009. It starred Tom Hanks as Captain Phillips.

In 2017, Greengrass filmed 22 July, a drama based on the 2011 Norway attacks and their aftermath. This film was released on Netflix in 2018.

In 2019, Greengrass directed News of the World, which again starred Tom Hanks. This film was released in 2020.

Future Projects

Paul Greengrass has several new projects planned. In 2022, it was announced he would write and direct a medieval action film called The Hood, about the English Peasants' Revolt in 1381. He is also set to write and direct a film based on the Stephen King novel Fairy Tale. In 2023, he was announced as the writer and director for a film adaptation of the novel Drowning: The Rescue of Flight 1421. In 2024, he will direct the thriller The Lost Bus, about the 2018 California wildfires, starring Matthew McConaughey and America Ferrera.

In 2022, he was honored with the title of Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his contributions to the arts.

Personal Life

Paul Greengrass is married to Joanna Kaye, who is a talent agent. They have three children together, and he has two more children from an earlier marriage.

He is a fan of the Crystal Palace football team.

Filmography

Film

Television

TV movies

Documentary series

Awards and Nominations

Paul Greengrass has won and been nominated for many awards for his films. Here are some of the main ones:

Images for kids

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  Greengrass (left) with Tom Hanks, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe at the Tokyo International Film Festival

See also

In Spanish: Paul Greengrass para niños