He had two main dreams in life: to score for the Scottish Celtic in the European Cup final and to shoot one of the James Bond films. From the first he had only fan-devoted devotion to his favorite football club, and he still has not refused the second one - director Paul McGuigan was one of the contenders for the production of Casino Royale with Daniel Craig. The film was shot by another, but in the arsenal of McGuigan there are no less impressive works, including 4 episodes from the super popular series “Sherlock”.
Failed pastor
McGuigan was born in September 1963, in the town of Bellshill in the Scottish region of North Lanarkshire, 15 km southeast of Glasgow. His father owned a small pub, and the family was truly Catholic. Paul for a long time seriously considered the path of the priest as his future, and only a serious speech impediment became the main obstacle in this way. Stuttering, which future director Paul McGuigan suffered in his youth, forced him to look for another vocation, but did not interfere with his love of communication. It is his ability to establish personal contact with all members of the film crew: from stars to the driver - Paul calls the main key to his success in the profession of director.
After graduating from high school, he enters the College of Construction and Printing in Glasgow, where he seriously studies the technical side of photography. He opens his own photo studio and soon becomes a well-known master, being engaged in including work for advertising agencies. The first experiments in the cinema were also associated with advertising. His videos featured particularly high-quality visuals and a fascinating story. In the mid-90s, he became a television documentary. As director, Paul McGuigan makes several documentaries for Channel 4 BBC.
No special film education
In 1998, he received a proposal to film several of the stories of Irwin Welch, combining them into one film, Acid House. Remembering his first day on the set as a director of a feature film, McGuigan said that his “innocence” in the sense of a film school did a good job: his work is still distinguished by a true freshness of look and genuine originality.
After the release of the next film, “Gangster No. 1,” director Paul McGuigan earned the nickname “British Scorsese” in film circles. The first one to be voiced was the outstanding actor Malcolm McDowell, who played one of the main roles in the film. Many were saddened by the amount of violence in this film, but critics noted him for his outstanding visual style and special manner of narration.
Breakthrough to Hollywood
From the beginning of the 2000s, the stage begins in the film career of McGuigan associated with his work in the United States. First come out “Day of Reckoning” (2003) and the thriller “Obsession” - a film released in 2004. In them, the director hones his ability to create stories full of mysticism and sophisticated imagery, the action of which can occur in the distant past, and in the future.
The film “The Lucky Number of Slevin” (2006) made McGuigan a real star. This is a picture of a real master, in which an amazing atmosphere is created, where events unfold on an unpredictable and non-trivial plot. The participation of stars of the first magnitude - Josh Harnett, Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman - made the film a hit among critics and viewers.
The picture of 2009 “The Fifth Dimension” became a landmark work for the director. Subsequently, the director said that his decision to refuse to move to Los Angeles and remain living in Scotland may have deprived him of several attractive projects that would make his career even brighter. On the other hand, one of the most iconic works could pass by - the series, which in a short time became truly cult.
Sherlock (2010)
The immortal plots of Arthur Conan Doyle have countless adaptations. The adventures of the brilliant detective Sherlock Holmes and his friend and biographer John Watson found a completely new interpretation in the television series Sherlock. Paul McGuigan, in collaboration with the authors of the series, gave this story a surprisingly unexpected and modern sound, removing in 2010 2 episodes of the first season - Etude in Pink and The Big Game, and in 2012 two more episodes - The Scandal in Belgravia and The Hound of the Baskervilles.
The series was awarded numerous film and television criticism awards and huge popularity among viewers around the world. Among other things, McGuigan recalls the surprisingly creative and friendly atmosphere that prevailed on the set. Many actors in the series became for him real friends and participants in his future projects.
Films and TV shows, director and producer
It is always interesting to understand the nature of the director’s creative manner. The choice of those films of other masters that he considers to be his samples speaks a lot about her. In the case of McGuigan, the list of his 5 favorite films looks amazing. For him, as a master of tense and dynamic thrillers, the presence of the cult Hitchcock (“Window to the Courtyard”) and the dramatic “Requiem for a Dream” by Darren Aronofsky, but the presence of the fantastic comedy of 1951 “A Man in a White Costume”, a family musical Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968) and especially the subtle, full of psychological and visual nuances of Wong Kar-Wai's “Loving Mood” make the McGuigan movie more versatile for analysis.
The last time a major project for the big screen was “Victor Frankenstein” (2015) - another famous film repeatedly filmed. As Paul McGuigan once said, large-budget films, large-scale in design and effects, are becoming a rare event not only in his practice, but the importance of working on television projects is only growing. As a director, he shot several series of projects “Monroe” (2011-2012), “Life as a Show” (2012-2013), “Scandal” (2012), “Artful Maids” (2013), “Family” (2016). In the last two cases, he also acts as a producer.
McGuigan’s life is filled with family (the last child, the daughter of Silver Rey, was born on March 11, 2016), working on current projects and future plans.