Guy Ritchie
Guy Stuart Ritchie (born 10 September 1968)[1][2] is an English film director, producer and screenwriter. His work includes British gangster films, and the Sherlock Holmes films starring Robert Downey Jr.
Guy Ritchie
- Film director
- producer
- screenwriter
- businessman
1995–present
-
Jacqui Ainsley(m. 2015)
5
Ritchie left school at the age of 15, and worked in entry-level jobs in the film industry before going on to direct television commercials. In 1995, he directed a short film, The Hard Case, followed by the crime comedy Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998), his feature-length directorial debut. He gained recognition with his second film, Snatch (2000), which found critical and commercial success. Following Snatch, Ritchie directed Swept Away (2002), a critically panned box-office bomb starring Madonna, to whom Ritchie was married between 2000 and 2008. He went on to direct Revolver (2005) and RocknRolla (2008), which were less successful and received mixed reviews. In 2009 and 2011, he directed the box-office hits Sherlock Holmes and its sequel, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. The former was nominated for Academy Awards in Best Original Score and Best Art Direction.
His other directed films include The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015), based on the 1960s television series, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017),[3] and Aladdin (2019), Disney's live-action adaptation of their 1992 animated film, which grossed over $1 billion worldwide, becoming one of the highest-grossing films in 2019 and the highest-grossing film of Ritchie's career. In 2019, he returned to crime comedy with The Gentlemen (2019), which was mostly well received and a commercial success. He subsequently reteamed with Jason Statham on the action films Wrath of Man (2021) and Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre (2023). His second film of 2023, The Covenant, received generally positive reviews.[4]
Life and career[edit]
1968–1997: Early life and career beginnings[edit]
Ritchie was born in Hatfield, Hertfordshire,[2] the second of two children of Amber (née Parkinson) and Captain John Vivian Ritchie (b. 1928), former Seaforth Highlanders officer and advertising executive. He has an elder sister, Tabitha, and a half-brother, Kevin, who was born to Amber Parkinson and placed for adoption.[5]
Both of Ritchie's parents remarried. His father's second marriage was to Shireen Ritchie, Baroness Ritchie of Brompton, a former model and later Conservative politician and life peer.[6] Between 1973 and 1980, Ritchie's mother was married to Sir Michael Leighton, 11th Baronet of Loton Park.[7] As a divorcée, she is styled as Amber, Lady Leighton.[8]
Ritchie is dyslexic, and attended Windlesham House School in West Sussex and Stanbridge Earls School in Hampshire. He was expelled from school at the age of 15.[2] He has claimed that drug use was the reason for expulsion, although Ritchie's father said he was "cutting class and entertaining a girl in his room".[9]
1998–2002: Breakthrough[edit]
After working on a short film, The Hard Case (1995), in 1998, Ritchie met Matthew Vaughn, godson of Peter Morton, co-founder of the Hard Rock Cafe chain. Vaughn had been working in Los Angeles and expressed interest in producing Ritchie's directorial debut, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998). It took 15 months to secure financial backing.[10][11] Trudie Styler served as an executive producer—she said "I've always liked bad-boy movies".[12]
Filmmaking[edit]
Influences and style[edit]
Ritchie has cited Quentin Tarantino and Sergio Leone as influences on his work. However, he has stated "just about every film — any good film — that's ever been made has had an influence on me. But then how much of it, I have no idea".[94] He has complimented several films including The Long Good Friday (1980), The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966), Seven Samurai (1954) and Once Upon a Time in the West (1968).[94] When asked about the influence of criminals Ronald and Reginald Kray, Ritchie states "It's inevitable ... everything, more or less, of the old-school villainy related back to the Krays at some point. And the Krays were a lot worse than everyone thinks they are. ... And I know what those boys were doing was a hundred times worse than what everyone thought was going on. So it's inevitable that anything that is genuine, and old, and British will somehow have something to do with the Krays".[94]
Ritchie's films often incorporate memorable and "colourful" characters, for instance, Irish boxer Mickey O'Neil in Snatch, and crime boss "Hatchet" Harry in Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels. In his crime films, there is also fragmented dialogue, with many characters behaving menacingly and using cockney slang.[95][96] The portrayal of the British class system has also been explored.[97] Costume designer for The Gentlemen, Michael Wilkinson, said "Each character has an iconic, memorable look — a little larger than life".[95]
Fast-paced and energetic action scenes serve as cinematic choices, as well as placing his characters in combat or violent situations.[98] Ritchie has used fast-cutting and slow motion to build momentum in the story, and to create a high-impact viewing experience, respectively. He is also known to use interweaving stories and a non-linear narrative such as a circular plot in his films; this is found in the case of Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels, Sherlock Holmes and Snatch [96][99]
Ritchie has said this on his creative process:
Ritchie has worked multiple times with Vinnie Jones, Jason Statham, Jason Flemyng, Alan Ford, Geoff Bell, Mark Strong, Jude Law, Eddie Marsan, Jared Harris, Charlie Hunnam, Josh Hartnett, Hugh Grant, Jake Gyllenhaal, Eiza González, Henry Golding, Cary Elwes, and Henry Cavill.