Steve McQueen is a British director, artist, actor, producer and screenwriter. Winner of the Oscars, Golden Globes and BAFTA, winner of prestigious film festivals in Venice and Cannes. He is known for collaborating with Irish actor Michael Fassbender. Full namesake of the famous actor Steve McQueen, stars of the films "The Great Escape" and "The Magnificent Seven."
Childhood and youth
Steve McQueen was born on October 9, 1969 in London. Full name is Stephen Rodney McQueen. The ancestors of the director moved to the UK from Trinidad and Grenada. While studying at school, he was assigned to a special class created for children "the most suitable for manual labor, future plumbers, locksmiths, and so on." In an interview, he called it the first encounter with racism in his life.
Also in childhood, McQueen suffered from dyslexia and amblyopia. He was a talented soccer player, played for the school team. After graduating from high school, he studied at several colleges in London, also studied at the New York School of the Arts Tish, but later stated that he did not like too obsolete and conservative teaching methods.
Artist career
In the early nineties, Steve McQueen became interested in video, began to create short films, often shot on film in black and white colors. These paintings often did not have a plot in the classical sense of the word, rather they were an example of abstract art. Often touched on themes of sexuality and racism in his works.
McQueen's shorts were on display in galleries. Often, Steve himself acted as an actor. For his work received the prestigious Turner Prize. In 2006, he visited Iraq, was even appointed an official military artist, and then created a series of postage stamps with portraits of British soldiers killed in the war.
The beginning of the career of a director
In 2008, the Cannes Film Festival hosted the premiere of Steve McQueen's debut feature film, Hunger. As a result of the review, the picture received the Golden Camera Award for the best debut, and the director became the first British in the history of the award.
The historical drama told about the hunger strike of Irish prisoners in the eighties, the main role was played by Michael Fassbender. For the role, he seriously lost weight. The picture was distinguished by its naturalistic style, the film’s dialogue between the main character and the priest, shot without a single assembly gluing, was also a hallmark of the film.
The film was well received by critics, and McQueen became one of the most promising directors in the world. The second full-length project director, the drama "Shame", was released in 2011. The main role was again played by Michael Fassbender, who played a man suffering from sexual addiction. After the premiere of the film at the Venice Film Festival, the Irishman received the prize for "best actor".
“Shame” was included in many lists of best films for the year, but was ignored by the Oscar. This was largely due to overly explicit sex scenes, the picture even received an NC-17 rating in American box office, which is often awarded to pornographic films.
"12 years of slavery"
The third film in the career of Steve McQueen (director) was the historical drama "12 Years of Slavery." The script is based on the memoirs of Solomon Northop. The main roles in the film were played by Civitel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, Brad Pitt and Lupita Niongo.
At the end of the year, the film was included in many lists of the best films. Also, the drama was considered the main favorite of the Academy Award. As a result, the film received several awards, including a statuette for "Best Film of the Year." The award was presented to several producers of the picture, including McQueen himself and Brad Pitt. However, in the nomination "best director" Steve lost to Mexican Alfonso Cuaron.
Widows
After the success of “12 Years of Slavery,” the director for a long time could not decide on a new project, there were rumors that he was shooting a biopic of musician Paul Robson, but a few years later it was announced that the crime scene drama “Widows” would become the next picture in the filmography of Steve McQueen .
The script was written by McQueen and writer Gillian Flynn, also known by David Fincher’s thriller script “Disappeared,” based on the 1983 British mini-series. The main roles were played by Viola Davis, Liam Neeson and Colin Farrell. The film premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in the fall of 2018, critics took the picture positively, and called it one of the favorites of the award season.
Other jobs
After winning the “12 Years of Slavery” at the Oscars, Steve McQueen made a deal with HBO to create a mini-series about the life of young African-Americans in New York. However, after filming a pilot episode, the channel decided to abandon the production of the project.
It was later announced that McQueen would be developing another project for the BBC channel. He also acted as the director of the video for the song Kanye West's All Day. In the near future, a documentary film about the legendary rapper Tupac Shakur is scheduled to be released, directed by McQueen.
Personal life
Steve McQueen is married to Dutch critic Bianke Stigter, but the date of their wedding is unknown. The couple has two children, son Dexter and daughter Alex, the family lives in two houses, having residences in London and Amsterdam.
McQueen received several highest state awards, is the Commander of the Order of the British Empire, this honor he was awarded for his contribution to the development of visual art. In his own words, he used to be an ardent football fan, supported the Tottenham Hotspur club, but later abandoned this hobby, as this too influenced his mood.