Reginald Stephen Traviss (born 12 February 1977) is an English film director and writer. He came to public attention in the UK in 2006 with the theatrical release of his debut feature film ''
Joy Division
Joy Division were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Salford in 1976. The group consisted of vocalist, guitarist and lyricist Ian Curtis, guitarist and keyboardist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris (musici ...
'' which starred
Ed Stoppard
Edmund Stoppard (born 16 September 1974) is an English actor. He is the son of playwright Tom Stoppard and doctor Miriam, Lady Hogg. his credits include ' (2002), ''Joy Division'' (2006), '' Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire'' (2006) ...
,
Bernard Hill
Bernard Hill (17 December 1944 – 5 May 2024) was an English actor. He was known for his versatile roles in both television and film, and his career spanned over fifty years.
Hill first gained prominence as the troubled hard man Yosser Hughes ...
,
Tom Schilling
Tom Schilling (born 10 February 1982) is a German film and television actor.
Life and acting career
Schilling grew up in the formerly East German borough of Berlin Mitte. He was discovered at the age of 12 by stage director Thomas Heise, an ...
,
Bernadette Heerwagen and
Ricci Harnett. He followed up his World War Two drama with ''
Psychosis
In psychopathology, psychosis is a condition in which a person is unable to distinguish, in their experience of life, between what is and is not real. Examples of psychotic symptoms are delusions, hallucinations, and disorganized or inco ...
'' (2010), a psychological thriller that starred
Charisma Carpenter
Charisma Carpenter (born July 23, 1970) is an American actress. She played Cordelia Chase in the supernatural drama series ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' (1997–1999) and its spin-off series ''Angel'' (1999–2004). She also starred as Kyra i ...
,
Ricci Harnett and
Justin Hawkins
Justin David Hawkins (born 17 March 1975) is an English musician, Internet personality, singer, and songwriter best known as the founder, lead singer, and lead guitarist of The Darkness, of which his younger brother Dan is also a member. He is ...
. Traviss directed ''
Screwed'', a prison drama based on the 2008 book ''
Screwed: The Truth About Life as a Prison Officer'', by a former prison guard writing under the pseudonym Ronnie Thompson. The film, released theatrically in the UK in June 2011, starred
Noel Clarke
Noel Anthony Clarke (born 6 December 1975) is an English actor, writer, director and producer. Rising to prominence for playing Mickey Smith in ''Doctor Who'' (2005–2006, 2008, 2010), he received critical acclaim for writing, directing, and ...
,
James D'Arcy
James D'Arcy (born Simon Richard D'Arcy; 24 August 1975) is an English actor and film director. He is known for his portrayals of Howard Stark's butler, Edwin Jarvis, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe television series '' Agent Carter'' and th ...
,
Frank Harper
Frank Harper is an English actor and film producer. He is best known for his "hard man" roles, such as Billy Bright in ''The Football Factory (film), The Football Factory'' (2004) and Dog in ''Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels'' (1998).
Care ...
and
Kate Magowan
Katie Victoria "Kate" Magowan (born 1 June 1975) is an English actress and producer. Her film and television roles include Yvette in ''24 Hour Party People'' (2002), Sonya in '' It's All Gone Pete Tong'' (2004), Princess Una in '' Stardust'' (20 ...
.
Early career
Traviss was born in London, England. He began making short films in the late 1990s. His first production, in 1996, was sponsored in part by ''
The Prince's Trust
The King's Trust (formerly the Prince's Trust) is a United Kingdom-based charity founded in 1976 by Charles III, King Charles III (then Prince of Wales) to help vulnerable young people get their lives on track. It supports 11-to-30-year-olds w ...
''. In 2000 he started work as an Idents and Promos director for the BBC's ''
BBC Choice
BBC Choice was a British digital television channel which was owned by the BBC and was launched on 23 September 1998. It was the first United Kingdom, British TV channel to broadcast exclusively in Digital television, digital format, as well as t ...
'' TV station, then in February 2003 he co-founded feature film production company ''Kingsway Films''.
Films
From 2003 to 2005 Traviss worked on his directorial debut for the big screen Joy Division, a fictionalised biopic which he wrote with Rosemary Mason, based on real life events set in the last months of World War II and the early years of the Cold War.
The film was co-produced by German production company ''Dreamtool Entertainment'' and Traviss' company ''Kingsway Films'' on a budget of $6,000,000. The film starred an ensemble of German, British and Hungarian actors including the rising European stars
Tom Schilling
Tom Schilling (born 10 February 1982) is a German film and television actor.
Life and acting career
Schilling grew up in the formerly East German borough of Berlin Mitte. He was discovered at the age of 12 by stage director Thomas Heise, an ...
and
Bernadette Heerwagen, British actor
Ed Stoppard
Edmund Stoppard (born 16 September 1974) is an English actor. He is the son of playwright Tom Stoppard and doctor Miriam, Lady Hogg. his credits include ' (2002), ''Joy Division'' (2006), '' Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire'' (2006) ...
, television actress and pop singer
Michelle Gayle
Michelle Patricia Gayle (born 2 February 1971) is a British singer, songwriter, actress and writer. Gayle had success as a Contemporary R&B, soul and R&B singer in the 1990s, having achieved seven top 40 single (music), singles in the UK Single ...
, alongside veteran big screen performers
Bernard Hill
Bernard Hill (17 December 1944 – 5 May 2024) was an English actor. He was known for his versatile roles in both television and film, and his career spanned over fifty years.
Hill first gained prominence as the troubled hard man Yosser Hughes ...
and
Suzanne von Borsody
Suzanne von Borsody (; born 23 September 1957) is a German actress.
She comes from a prominent theatre family, being the daughter of actress Rosemarie Fendel and actor Hans von Borsody. Her grandfather, Eduard von Borsody, was a famous directo ...
and was filmed in London, Canada, Hungary, Germany and Slovakia. The story was influenced by the bestselling books ''
Berlin: The Downfall 1945'' by
Antony Beevor
Sir Antony James Beevor, (born 14 December 1946) is a British military historian. He has published several popular historical works, mainly on the Second World War, the Spanish Civil War, and most recently the Russian Revolution and Civil War. ...
and ''Armageddon'' by
Max Hastings
Sir Max Hugh Macdonald Hastings (; born 28 December 1945) is a British journalist and military historian, who has worked as a foreign correspondent for the BBC, editor-in-chief of ''The Daily Telegraph'', and editor of the ''Evening Standard''. ...
. ''Joy Division'' was received at the
Copenhagen International Film Festival
Copenhagen International Film Festival (CIFF) was a film festival held annually in Copenhagen, Denmark, from 2003 to 2008. The main prize, the Golden Swan, was awarded for Best Film, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Script and Best C ...
in September 2006 and was released in theatres in the UK, Germany, New Zealand and Australia from 2006 to late 2007. The film received good reviews by critics
and Film Review magazine in 2007 named Traviss as ''one of the UK's most promising new filmmakers''. The film also attracted the attention of wider review and debate within the cultural press.
In 2008 to 2009 Traviss worked on his second film Psychosis, a psychological-thriller and homage in the style of cult British chillers
Hammer House of Horror
''Hammer House of Horror'' is a British horror anthology television series produced in Britain in 1980. Created by Hammer Films in association with Cinema Arts International and ITC Entertainment, it consists of 13 hour-long episodes, origin ...
and
Tales of the Unexpected.
The story was a reworking of the segment ''Dreamhouse'' from the
Michael Armstrong film ''Screamtime'', and starred
Charisma Carpenter
Charisma Carpenter (born July 23, 1970) is an American actress. She played Cordelia Chase in the supernatural drama series ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' (1997–1999) and its spin-off series ''Angel'' (1999–2004). She also starred as Kyra i ...
in the lead role, supported by
Ricci Harnett,
Paul Sculfor
Paul Sculfor (born 1 February 1971) is a British male model as well as a TV and film actor.
Background
Between the ages of eight and ten, Sculfor studied gymnastics, and when he was 10, he joined the Dagenham Boxing Club. He had one competit ...
and rock singer
Justin Hawkins
Justin David Hawkins (born 17 March 1975) is an English musician, Internet personality, singer, and songwriter best known as the founder, lead singer, and lead guitarist of The Darkness, of which his younger brother Dan is also a member. He is ...
.
The film premiered in 2010 at the 'Home of Cult British Horror' Prince Charles Cinema in Leicester Square, London. In 2010 Traviss directed Screwed, the film adaptation of Ronnie Thompson's bestselling Prison Officer's memoir ''
Screwed: The Truth About Life as a Prison Officer'', by
Headline Publishing about an ex-British soldier who returns from Iraq to take job in one of England's toughest jails only to find that the Officers are more corrupt than the convicts.
''Screwed'' was released in theatres across the UK in June 2011 and starred acclaimed actors
Noel Clarke
Noel Anthony Clarke (born 6 December 1975) is an English actor, writer, director and producer. Rising to prominence for playing Mickey Smith in ''Doctor Who'' (2005–2006, 2008, 2010), he received critical acclaim for writing, directing, and ...
and
James D'Arcy
James D'Arcy (born Simon Richard D'Arcy; 24 August 1975) is an English actor and film director. He is known for his portrayals of Howard Stark's butler, Edwin Jarvis, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe television series '' Agent Carter'' and th ...
alongside tough guy actors
Frank Harper
Frank Harper is an English actor and film producer. He is best known for his "hard man" roles, such as Billy Bright in ''The Football Factory (film), The Football Factory'' (2004) and Dog in ''Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels'' (1998).
Care ...
and
Jamie Foreman
Jamie Foreman (born 25 May 1958) is an English actor best known for his roles as Duke in ''Layer Cake'' (2004) and Bill Sikes in Roman Polanski
Raymond Roman Thierry Polański (; born 18 August 1933) is a Polish and French filmmaker and a ...
In the Summer of 2015, a documentary film about Traviss' late former girlfriend
Amy Winehouse
Amy Jade Winehouse (14 September 1983 – 23 July 2011) was an English singer, songwriter, musician, and businesswoman. With over 30 million records sold worldwide, she was known for her deep, expressive contralto vocals and her eclectic mix ...
entitled ''
Amy'' was released. Winehouse's family and Traviss publicly disapproved of the film, saying that it was "downright inaccurate" and contained "basic untruths". Traviss and Winehouse's father Mitch had asked the film crew to edit the film, as it portrays Winehouse's father as the main villain and contains nothing about Traviss when he had completed 6 hours of interviews with the film crew. However, the editors behind the movie declined their request.
Personal life
Between 2008 and 2010, Traviss was in a relationship with ''
Suicide Girls
SuicideGirls is an online community website that revolves around pin-up photography models known as the Suicide Girls.
The website was founded in 2001 by Selena Mooney ("Missy Suicide") and Sean Suhl ("Spooky").
Most of the site is accessible ...
'' burlesque dancer Raven Isis Holt, who featured in his 2010 film ''Psychosis''.
Traviss was in a relationship with singer
Amy Winehouse
Amy Jade Winehouse (14 September 1983 – 23 July 2011) was an English singer, songwriter, musician, and businesswoman. With over 30 million records sold worldwide, she was known for her deep, expressive contralto vocals and her eclectic mix ...
from early 2010 until her death on 23 July 2011.
According to media reports and a biography written by Winehouse's father, Traviss and Winehouse had planned to marry and intended to have children.
Filmography
Feature films
Short films
References
External links
*
Reg Traviss In The Spotlight (2 June 2011)*
ttp://staticmass.net/interviews/psychosis-behind-the-scenes-with-director-reg-traviss/ Patrick Samuel / Static Mass interview Reg Traviss (20 Sept 2010) Showreel Magazine / July–Aug 2006 / interview Reg Traviss in July 2006Future Movies interview with Reg Traviss*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Traviss, Reg
1977 births
Living people
English film directors
English screenwriters
English male screenwriters
People acquitted of rape
Place of birth missing (living people)