Biography for
Paul Greengrass More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

13 August 1955, Cheam, Surrey, England, UK

Height

6' (1.83 m)

Mini Biography

Paul Greengrass started his filmmaking career with a super 8 camera he found in his art room in secondary school. Those short movies were animation horror films he made using old dolls, artist dummies, and the general art room clutter.

After studying in Cambridge University he got into Granada Television School and spent the first ten years of his career roving global hot spots for the hard-hitting documentary series, World in Action. By this time he became very interested in the Northern Ireland conflict.

In 1989, he directed his first fiction movie, "Resurrected", that won an award in Berlin. He continued his career as a fiction filmmaker with a serial of TV movies dealing with social and political issues: Open Fire (a police scandal about a policeman accused of murder), The One that got away (about a military operation during the first Gulf War).

His documentary style became more dynamic and intense with each movie. In 2002, Bloody Sunday achieved international acclamation and won the first prize in the Berlin Festival. After that he has continued his career in the United States with "The Bourne Supremacy" starring Matt Damon.

IMDb Mini Biography By: enrique bocanegra enrique_bocanegra@hotmail.com

Trade Mark

Usage of the handheld camera to provoke realism

Tells stories based on real-life events

Trivia

Co-author of the infamous book "Spycatcher" which was banned by the British government in the mid 80s for revealing insights into how the British Secret Service (MI5) operated.

Was set to direct the doomed movie adaptation of the comic book mini-series, The Watchmen, after previous directors Terry Gilliam back in the 80's, Darren Aronofsky, and briefly David Hayter, all left the project.

Brother Mark Greengrass is a leading professor in history, specializing in early modern French history.

One of 115 people invited to join AMPAS in 2007.

Was the ghost writer of the memoir Spycatcher for Peter Wright in 1988.

2007 - Ranked #28 on EW's The 50 Smartest People in Hollywood.

Ranked #56 on the 2008 Telegraph's list "the 100 most powerful people in British culture".

Is a Crystal Palace FC supporter.

Cited as one of the models for fictional TV reporter Damien Day in TV series Drop the Dead Donkey.

Personal Quotes

"A festival of puerile self-importance, intense paranoia, fiddled expenses and brilliant creativity." On his time with British current-affairs TV-programme 'World in Action'.

By the time I'd done Bloody Sunday I felt I reached the end of a chapter. I could feel it. I wanted to try something new, something different. Then, to my amazement, Bloody Sunday won lots of theatrical prizes, the audience award at Sundance, and then, to my even greater amazement, I had the opportunity to make a film in Hollywood. I mean, you wouldn't think, looking at my films, oh, there's a guy who's going to make films in Hollywood.

[on his decision to turn down an offer to direct a fourth Jason Bourne movie] I just felt that I'd done it. There's nothing unnatural about that. To make a film is eighteen months of your life. It's seven days a week. It's twenty hours a day. There were just too many other things that I was interested in. I felt that I had a wonderful, wonderful time. I loved it and I want it to continue and I hope that it does.

[on being asked how he developed his distinctive hand-held camera style] "To be perfectly honest, i couldn't afford tripods."