A message on movie info website IMDB.COM reads “Who is you David Yates?”
wolfer1985 may have phrased it unconventionally, but it’s a good question. Say the name “David Yates” to the man on the street and you’ll get scant recognition. The 43-year old director from Merseyside has worked doggedly since graduating from the National Film and Television School some 15 years ago, mainly on quality tv dramas and a few low-budget features, but despite winning acclaim amongst his peers he’s attracted little public interest.
But this year Yates will enter the Hollywood stratosphere, bringing his own peculiar brand of intelligent, abrasive filmmaking to the highest echelons of the blockbuster industry. What’s more, he’s smuggled some of his trademark political commentary right under Warner Brothers’ nose and into one of the most profitable brands movieland has ever tapped.
Read between the lines of Yates’ Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix – rumoured to be the best Potter adaptation yet – and you’ll discover much more than saccharine kids fodder. The film’s wider themes tackle irresponsible government, political accountability, propaganda and repression.
After signing off the final cut, Yates says he’s happy. Against the odds, he’s made a studio film that’s somehow true to the politicized storytelling he’s gravitated towards in the past: the award-winning State of Play (about a corrupt British MP, media ethics and the oil industry), Channel 4′s BAFTA-winning mini-series Sex Traffic, and Richard Curtis’ The Girl in the Café (which tried admirably to make the G8 summit into rom-com material and, thanks to Yates, almost succeeded).
What HP5 shares with the rest of Yates’ work is a ballsy determination to use film as a medium for political comment, provocation and even advocacy. What’s different is that Harry Potter had a £75 million budget and was the biggest undertaking of Yates’ life. See him work his magic from July 13th in cinemas worldwide.
[...] the second film directed by the brilliant, inimitable David Yates; the second-to-last of the entire series (they’re getting scarier); and the one where we find [...]
David Yates need to work with you pal
[...] David Yates directed the six part thriller for the BBC back in 2003, from a script by the legendary Paul Abbott, the writer of Cracker, Shameless and Clocking Off. Abbott’s dark, acerbic style, informed by his own troubled upbringing, makes him one of our best writers. The dialogue in the original State of Play crackles and spits, whether taking place at a bus stop or inside the Houses of Parliament. The story – which involves a politician, his dead lover, a journalist and some very dodgy blackmailing in the corridors of power – is enacted by the classiest British actors, including John Simm, David Morrissey, Bill Nighy, Philip Glenister, a young James McAvoy and Kelly Macdonald. [...]
Thank you for the intriguing read! Alright playtime is over and back to school work.
It’s hard to find educated folks on this subject, however you sound like you recognize what you’re talking about! Thanks