James McTeigue

James McTeigue is an Australian film director. Born in Tauranga, New Zealand, he grew up in Collaroy Plateau, a suburb on the Northern Beaches of Sydney. McTeigue is of part New Zealand Maori lineage. McTeigue attended Cromer High School, in Cromer, a northern beach suburb of Sydney. He completed tertiary study in film at Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga Campus.

He has been assistant director on many films, including the "Matrix" trilogy and "", but he is most famous for his 2006 directorial debut, "V for Vendetta".

Career

He first became involved in the film industry in the late 1980s, acting as production runner or production assistant in a number of small Australian films. In 1991 his role became assistant director, being the third assistant director in another Australian film, titled "The Girl Who Came Late".

In 1994 he was the second assistant director in "Country Life", a film adaptation based on Michael Blakemore's National Theatre production of "Uncle Vanya", which had a much wider audience than his previous affairs. He also acted again as second assistant director in a small Australian television film.

It was however, later in the year of 1994 the McTeigue broke into mainstream Hollywood, being the second assistant director for "No Escape", and the big budget "Street Fighter". In 1996, McTeigue again assumed the role of second assistant director, with an American television film and a small Australian film being completed that year.

In 1997 he was the second assistant director for WWII film, "Paradise Road", as well as "The Well", that year he also became first assistant director for a television series, "Big Sky". The following year he was the second assistant director for the American sci-fi film, "Dark City" as well as Australian film, "The Sugar Factory".

It was the following year, 1999, that McTeigue really came to prominence. McTeigue was apparently going to act as second assistant director for "The Matrix" film, that is, until the first assistant director, a friend of McTeigue who told him about the project had to drop out, which saw The Wachowski Brothers make McTeigue first assistant. The film was released in 1999 and became a huge success.

The following year he followed he acted as first assistant director on the massively popular Australian film, "Looking for Alibrandi". He was also involved in "The Monkey's Mask" that year, again as first assistant director.

In 2002 McTeigue worked with George Lucas, as he became the first assistant director for "". The following year he was also the first assistant director for both Matrix sequels, "The Matrix Reloaded" and "The Matrix Revolutions".

In 2006 McTeigue made his directorial debut, directing the Wachowski brothers' produced film, "V for Vendetta". After spending so much time on "The Matrix" film series, the brothers gave the opportunity to McTeigue to direct, first showing him a copy of "Vendetta" graphic novel during post-production of "The Matrix Revolutions". McTeigue has been highly praised since the film's release in March 2006.

He is currently in talks to direct Osiris Release [http://www.ifmagazine.com/new.asp?article=4503] and is slated to direct the adaptation of Richard K. Morgan's Altered Carbon [http://www.filmjerk.com/news/article.php?id_new=521] in 2009.

External links

*imdb name|id=0574625|name=James McTeigue
* [http://www.movieweb.com/news/05/11505.php Interview with McTeigue and Joel Silver]