Mike Newell - Biography

Versatile film craftsman Mike Newell alternated between London and Hollywood, from film to TV, before securing his reputation as a leading British filmmaker in the early 1990s. He learned his craft as a production trainee at Granada Television after graduating in English from Cambridge and went on to direct numerous plays for TV including "Ready When You Are Mr. McGill" (1976), a comedy about a TV extra who panics when given two lines to speak. Newell made his feature debut stateside with "The Awakening" (1980), a moth-eaten mummy flick adapted from a Bram Stoker novel and starring the redoubtable Charlton Heston. Newell's critical fortunes improved with the acclaimed "Dance With a Stranger" (1985). Starring Miranda Richardson and Rupert Everett, "Stranger" was a powerful and finely observed account of the life and death of Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be sentenced to death in England. Newell's next film, "The Good Father" (1986), a Brit TV-movie released theatrically in the USA, though dramatically uneven, allowed Anthony Hopkins to shine as an embittered, bereft parent.

Newell enjoyed a critical and commercial triumph with the multi-Oscar-nominated "Enchanted April" (1991), a romantic comedy remake also starring Miranda Richardson, and followed up with "Into the West" (1993), a charming children's adventure set in Ireland. The surprising success of his "Four Weddings and a Funeral" (1994), which starred Hugh Grant and Andie MacDowell, shocked even Newell, who had no confidence in his rough version at all until a test audience began laughing almost immediately during the first screening. His American TV debut had come directing the NBC movie "Man in the Iron Mask" (1977), and he helmed the ambitious two-part TV-movies "Blood Feud" (syndicated, 1983) and "Common Ground" (CBS, 1990). The former dramatized the conflict between Jimmy Hoffa and Robert Kennedy while the latter was a powerful docudrama about the court-ordered desegregation of Boston schools in the 1970s.

Just when it seemed he was settling into the light romantic genre, Newell reinvented himself with his entry into 'Mob' pictures, "Donnie Brasco" (1997). As much a father-son story as a Mafia movie, the film delivered outstanding, uncharacteristic performances from stars Johnny Depp and Al Pacino. Depp, known for his wide-eyed innocence, displayed unexpected physicality and menace as undercover agent Joseph D. Pistone, and Pacino, who has spent much of his career well over-the-top, chose understatement instead, weighing in with considerable pathos as Lefty, the small-time but kind-hearted Mafioso who takes Pistone/Brasco under his wing. Like Pistone, Newell had infiltrated a gang (with the help of a location scout) to steep himself in the rhythms of mob language. His homework paid off, and the success of "Donnie Brasco" established his credentials as a director of big-budget American movies.