Benjamin Wheatley (born 7 May 1972) is an English

filmmaker Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, castin ...

and

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

. Beginning his career in

advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...

, Wheatley first gained recognition and acclaim for his commercials and short films, before transitioning into feature films and television programmes. He is best known for his work in the

thriller Thriller may refer to: * Thriller (genre), a broad genre of literature, film and television ** Thriller film, a film genre under the general thriller genre Comics * ''Thriller'' (DC Comics), a comic book series published 1983–84 by DC Comics i ...

and horror genres, with his films frequently incorporating heavy elements of

black comedy Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to disc ...

and

satire Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming o ...

. His best-known works include the psychological horror films ''

Kill List ''Kill List'' is a 2011 British psychological horror crime film directed by Ben Wheatley, co-written and co-edited with Amy Jump, and starring Neil Maskell, MyAnna Buring and Michael Smiley. When a British soldier returns home from Kyiv, he ...

'' and '' A Field in England'', the J. G. Ballard adaptation '' High-Rise,'' and the action comedy '' Free Fire.'' Wheatley has received numerous accolades for his work, including an

Evening Standard British Film Award The Evening Standard British Film Awards were established in 1973 by London's ''Evening Standard'' newspaper. The Standard Awards is the only ceremony "dedicated to British and Irish talent," judged by a panel of "top UK critics." Each ceremony ...

, five British Independent Film Award nominations, and numerous awards and honours from film festivals including

South by Southwest South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, ...

, Karlovy Vary International, Mar del Plata International, Raindance, Toronto International, and

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films ...

Personal life

Wheatley was born in Billericay,

Essex Essex () is a Ceremonial counties of England, county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the Riv ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. He went to

Haverstock School Haverstock School (formerly Haverstock Comprehensive School), is a coeducational secondary school and sixth form located on Haverstock Hill in Haverstock, London, England. It is opposite Chalk Farm Underground station, and bounded by Prince of W ...

in North London and it was here during the sixth form that he met

Amy Jump Amy Jump (born 1972) is a British screenwriter and editor, best known for films including ''Kill List'', '' A Field in England'', and ''High-Rise''. She and her husband, director Ben Wheatley, have been described as 'one of the most formidable ...

, who is now his wife and co-founder of the "Mr and Mrs Wheatley" blog. The couple have a son and live in

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

Career

Initially a short film maker and animator, Wheatley moved his work to the internet, and was a regular contributor to the b3ta message board. His clip "''cunning stunt''" which shows his friend Rob Hill jumping over a car has had over 10 million views. The hundred or so short animations and games found on the "Mr and Mrs Wheatley" site were noticed by large media companies and Wheatley's work expanded into mainstream media. In 2006, Wheatley won a "Lion" award at Cannes advertising festival for directing the AMBX viral, with The Viral Factory. In July 2006 he directed live-action sections of the TV series ''

Modern Toss ''Modern Toss'' is a British comic by Jon Link and Mick Bunnage. Renowned for their scurrilous humour and highly stylised animation, it was created in 2004, initially as a website publishing single panel jokes and then as series of irregularly ...

'', ("i live ere", "Alan", "Drive by abuser", "Customer services", "Accident and emergency", "Citizens advice", "Illegal alphabet"), which was aired on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

. Wheatley has also written and created clips for

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream a ...

's ''

Time Trumpet ''Time Trumpet'' is a six-episode satirical television comedy series which aired on BBC Two in August 2006. The series was written by Armando Iannucci, Roger Drew and Will Smith in a similar manner to Iannucci's earlier one-off programmes, '' 20 ...

'' and has appeared in and directed sketches for

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes targeting 16 to 34-year-olds, covering all genres including animation, comedy, cur ...

's ''Comedy Shuffle''. Between 2007 and 2009 Wheatley directed series 2 of ''Modern Toss'' and ''

Ideal Ideal may refer to: Philosophy * Ideal (ethics), values that one actively pursues as goals * Platonic ideal, a philosophical idea of trueness of form, associated with Plato Mathematics * Ideal (ring theory), special subsets of a ring considered ...

'' series 5 and 6. In 2008, Wheatley co-created and directed the sketch series ''

The Wrong Door ''The Wrong Door'' is a comedy sketch show, that first aired on BBC Three on 28 August 2008. The programme is the first comedy show in which the majority of the sketches include CGI elements. As such, it was produced under the working title of ...

'' for

. In May 2009 he directed the feature film '' Down Terrace'' in eight days; it won the Next Wave prize at

Fantastic Fest Fantastic Fest is an annual film festival in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 2005 by Tim League of Alamo Drafthouse, Harry Knowles of Ain't It Cool News, Paul Alvarado-Dykstra, and Tim McCanlies, writer of ''The Iron Giant'' and ''Secondhand ...

in Austin and Best UK Feature at Raindance in London. In 2010 Wheatley completed his second feature, ''

'' for

Warp X Warp X is a British film production company, sister to Warp Films based in Sheffield, UK with further offices in Nottingham and London. The company was founded in 2005 and produces feature films. Company Warp X was founded in 2005 and produces f ...

. The film received critical acclaim and won Michael Smiley a British Independent Film Award for Best Supporting Actor. The movie holds a 76% rating on Rotten Tomatoes with a critic consensus describing the film as "an expertly executed slow-burn crime thriller that thrives on tension before morphing into visceral horror." Wheatley's third film was the black comedy ''

Sightseers ''Sightseers'' is a 2012 British black comedy film directed by Ben Wheatley and written by and starring Alice Lowe and Steve Oram, with additional material written by co-editor Amy Jump. It is produced by Edgar Wright and Nira Park, among ot ...

'', released in the UK in November 2012. It was written by its stars,

Alice Lowe Alice Eva Lowe (born 3 April 1977)England & Wales births 1837 – 2006 is an English actress, writer, and comedian. She is best known for her roles as Dr. Haynes in '' Black Mirror: Bandersnatch'' and Madeleine Wool/Liz Asher in '' Garth Maren ...

and

Steve Oram Stephen John Oram is an English actor, comedian, writer, and filmmaker. He is known for his role in the 2012 film ''Sightseers'', which he also co-wrote. Life and career Oram was born in Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, England. He started as a ...

, with additional material by Amy Jump, and was chosen for the

Directors' Fortnight The Directors' Fortnight (french: Quinzaine des Réalisateurs) is an independent selection of the Cannes Film Festival. It was started in 1969 by the French Directors Guild after the events of May 1968 resulted in cancellation of the Cannes festi ...

section of the

2012 Cannes Film Festival The 65th Cannes Film Festival was held from 16 to 27 May 2012. Italian film director Nanni Moretti was the President of the Jury for the main competition and British actor Tim Roth was the President of the Jury for the Un Certain Regard sectio ...

. Wheatley's fourth film, '' A Field in England'' was financed through the

Film4 Film4 is a British free-to-air television network owned by Channel Four Television Corporation launched on 1 November 1998, devoted to broadcasting films. While its standard-definition channel is available on Freeview and Freesat platforms ...

talent and ideas hub, Film4.0. It was followed in 2016 by ''High Rise'', an adaptation of the J. G. Ballard novel of the same name. He has also directed advertisements for Blink Productions and Moxie. A sci-fi TV series, ''Silk Road'', written and directed by Wheatley, has been announced. It is said to be "in the vein of the

Patrick McGoohan Patrick Joseph McGoohan (; March 19, 1928 – January 13, 2009) was an Irish-American actor, director, screenwriter, and producer of film and television. Born in the United States to Irish emigrant parents, he was raised in Ireland and Engl ...

TV series ''

The Prisoner ''The Prisoner'' is a 1967 British television series about an unnamed British intelligence agent who is abducted and imprisoned in a mysterious coastal village, where his captors designate him as Number Six and try to find out why he abruptl ...

''," and will be screened on HBO. In 2014, Wheatley directed the first two episodes of the eighth series of ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the ...

'', a show he has been a fan of since childhood. Wheatley wrote and directed '' Free Fire'' starring an ensemble cast including

Cillian Murphy Cillian Murphy (; born 25 May 1976) is an Irish actor. Originally the lead singer, guitarist, and lyricist of the rock band The Sons of Mr. Green Genes, he turned down a record deal in the late 1990s and began acting on stage and in short an ...

, Brie Larson, Armie Hammer and Sharlto Copley. His film ''

Happy New Year, Colin Burstead ''Happy New Year, Colin Burstead'' is a 2018 British comedy-drama film written and directed by Ben Wheatley and featuring Neil Maskell as the title character, with Hayley Squires, Sam Riley, Doon Mackichan, Joe Cole, and Charles Dance also starr ...

'' was made for the BBC 2018 Christmas schedule and remains available to watch on

iPlayer BBC iPlayer (stylised as iPLAYER or BBC iPLAYER) is a video on demand service from the BBC. The service is available on a wide range of devices, including mobile phones and tablets, personal computers and smart televisions. iPlayer services del ...

. In November 2018, Wheatley was set to direct an adaptation of Daphne du Maurier's gothic romance novel ''

Rebecca Rebecca, ; Syriac: , ) from the Hebrew (lit., 'connection'), from Semitic root , 'to tie, couple or join', 'to secure', or 'to snare') () appears in the Hebrew Bible as the wife of Isaac and the mother of Jacob and Esau. According to biblical ...

,'' a

Working Title Films Working Title Films is a British film studio that produces motion pictures and television programs and is a subsidiary of Universal Pictures, a division of NBCUniversal, which is itself a division of Comcast. The company was founded by Tim Be ...

production. Released on

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...

in October 2020, the film stars Lily James, Armie Hammer, and

Kristin Scott Thomas Dame Kristin Ann Scott Thomas (born 24 May 1960) is a British actress who also holds French citizenship. A five-time BAFTA Award and Olivier Award nominee, she won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for '' Four Weddings ...

. It received mixed reviews, with a score of 46 on review aggregator site

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

. In the fall of 2019, Wheatley was announced as the director of the

sequel A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...

for ''

Tomb Raider ''Tomb Raider'', also known as ''Lara Croft: Tomb Raider'' from 2001 to 2008, is a media franchise that originated with an action-adventure video game series created by British gaming company Core Design. Formerly owned by Eidos Interactive, ...

'', based on the popular video-game franchise of the same name and starring

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

-winning actress

Alicia Vikander Alicia Amanda Vikander (, ; born 3 October 1988) is a Swedish actress. She is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award and a Critics' Choice Movie Award, as well as receiving nominations for ...

Lara Croft Lara Croft is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the video game franchise ''Tomb Raider''. She is presented as a highly intelligent and athletic British archaeologist who ventures into ancient tombs and hazardous ruins around t ...

, with

to pen the script. However, in October 2020 it was announced that the film's March 2021 release had been delayed indefinitely amid a series of production issues related to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. In January 2021, Wheatley was replaced by ''

Lovecraft Country Lovecraft Country is a term coined for the New England setting used by H. P. Lovecraft in many of his weird fiction stories, which combines real and fictitious locations. This setting has since been elaborated on by other writers working in the ...

'' creator

Misha Green Misha Green (born September 22, 1984, in Sacramento, California) is an American screenwriter, director, and producer. She is best known as the showrunner of the supernatural series ''Lovecraft Country'' on HBO and creator and executive producer of ...

, and the script was rewritten. As of July 2022, the film is in production. In November 2020, it was announced that Wheatley had wrapped production on '' In the Earth'', a

pandemic A pandemic () is an epidemic of an infectious disease that has spread across a large region, for instance multiple continents or worldwide, affecting a substantial number of individuals. A widespread endemic disease with a stable number of in ...

-set horror film starring Joel Fry, Ellora Torchia,

Hayley Squires Hayley Squires (born 16 April 1988) is an English actress and playwright, best known for her work in the Ken Loach film ''I, Daniel Blake''. Squires has also appeared in ''Call the Midwife'' (2012), ''Southcliffe'' (2013), ''Complicit'' (2013), ...

and Reece Shearsmith.

Neon Neon is a chemical element with the symbol Ne and atomic number 10. It is a noble gas. Neon is a colorless, odorless, inert monatomic gas under standard conditions, with about two-thirds the density of air. It was discovered (along with krypt ...

released the film in the U.S. in 2021. In October 2020, it was announced that Wheatley would take over the sequel to the science-fiction horror film '' The Meg'', starring Jason Statham and Li Bingbing, based on

Steve Alten Steven Robert Alten (born August 21, 1959, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American science-fiction author. He is best known for his ''Meg'' series of novels set around the fictitious survival of the megalodon, a giant, prehistoric shark. ...

's eponymous series of novels. Alten confirmed the sequel film will be an adaptation of the second book of the series, '' The Trench''.

Filmography

Film

Executive Producer only * ''

The Duke of Burgundy ''The Duke of Burgundy'' is a 2014 British erotic romance drama film written and directed by Peter Strickland, and starring Sidse Babett Knudsen as Cynthia and Chiara D'Anna as Evelyn. The film was screened at various film festivals, includin ...

'' (2014) * '' ABCs of Death 2'' (2014) * ''

Aaaaaaaah! ''Aaaaaaaah!'' is a 2015 British horror comedy film written and directed by Steve Oram. The film contains no dialogue, with the cast communicating entirely in animalistic grunts. It premiered in August 2015 at London FrightFest Film Festival. I ...

'' (2015) * ''

Tank 432 ''Tank 432'' (originally ''Belly of the Bulldog'') is a 2015 British psychological horror film written and directed by Nick Gillespie. Gillespie had previously collaborated with Ben Wheatley, who executive produced. Rupert Evans, Deirdre Mullin ...

'' (2015) * '' The Greasy Strangler'' (2016) * ''The Ghoul'' (2016) * '' In Fabric'' (2018)

Television

Music videos

* "

Formaldehyde Formaldehyde ( , ) ( systematic name methanal) is a naturally occurring organic compound with the formula and structure . The pure compound is a pungent, colourless gas that polymerises spontaneously into paraformaldehyde (refer to section ...

" by Editors (2013) * " Mork n Mindy" by

Sleaford Mods Sleaford Mods are an English post-punk music duo, formed in 2007 in Nottingham. The band features vocalist Jason Williamson and, since 2012, musician Andrew Fearn. They are known for their abrasive, minimalist musical style and embittered explo ...

(2020)

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wheatley, Ben 1972 births Living people People from Billericay English animators British animated film directors English television directors People from Brighton English film editors English film directors English screenwriters English male screenwriters English music video directors English-language film directors