Ben Wheatley

Career

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 ("i live ere", "Alan", "Drive by abuser", "Customer services", "Accident and emergency", "Citizens advice", "Illegal alphabet"), which was aired on Channel 4. Wheatley has also written and created clips for BBC Two's Time Trumpet, and has appeared in and directed sketches for BBC Three's Comedy Shuffle. Between 2007 and 2009 Wheatley directed series two of Modern Toss and Ideal series five and six. In 2008, Wheatley co-created and directed the sketch series The Wrong Door for BBC Three.

In May 2009, he directed the feature film Down Terrace in eight days; it won the Next Wave prize at Fantastic Fest in Austin and Best UK Feature at Raindance in London. In 2010 Wheatley completed his second feature, Kill List for Warp X. 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, released in the UK in November 2012. It was written by its stars, Alice Lowe and Steve Oram, with additional material by Amy Jump, and was chosen for the Directors' Fortnight section of the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. Wheatley's fourth film, A Field in England was financed through the Film4 talent and ideas hub, Film4.0. It was followed in 2015 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.

Wheatley wrote and directed Free Fire (2016), starring an ensemble cast including Cillian Murphy, Brie Larson, Armie Hammer and Sharlto Copley. His film Happy New Year, Colin Burstead was made for the BBC 2018 Christmas schedule, and remains available to watch on iPlayer.

In November 2018 Wheatley was hired to direct an adaptation of Daphne du Maurier's gothic romance novel Rebecca, a Working Title Films production. Released on Netflix in October 2020 the film stars Lily James, Armie Hammer, and Kristin Scott Thomas. It received mixed reviews, with a score of 46 on review aggregator site Metacritic.

In autumn 2019 Wheatley was announced as the director of the sequel for Tomb Raider, based on the popular video-game franchise of the same name and starring Academy Award-winning actress Alicia Vikander as Lara Croft, with Amy Jump 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. In January 2021 Wheatley was replaced by Lovecraft Country creator Misha Green, and the script was rewritten.

In November 2020, it was announced that Wheatley had wrapped production on In the Earth, a pandemic-set horror film starring Joel Fry, Ellora Torchia, Hayley Squires and Reece Shearsmith. Neon 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's eponymous series of novels. Alten confirmed the sequel would be an adaptation of the second book of the series, The Trench.

Personal life

Wheatley was born in Billericay, Essex, England. He went to Haverstock School in North London.

Filmography

Feature film

Executive producer

• Down Terrace (2009)
• The Duke of Burgundy (2014)
• ABCs of Death 2 (2014)
• Aaaaaaaah! (2015)
• Tank 432 (2015)
• The Greasy Strangler (2016)
• The Ghoul (2016)
• LostDogFilm (2016)
• In Fabric (2018)
• In The Earth (2021)
• Klokkenluider (2022)

Short film

Television

Music videos

• "Formaldehyde" by Editors (2013)
• "Mork n Mindy" by Sleaford Mods (2020)

Awards and nominations

References

References

1. Ben Child. (29 August 2013). "Ben Wheatley to direct adaptation of JG Ballard's High-Rise". [[The Guardian]].
2. [http://homepage.ntlworld.com/mr.wheatley/ambx.html AMBX] {{webarchive. link. (28 April 2007)
3. [http://www.timetrumpet.co.uk/credits.htm ''Time Trumpet''] {{webarchive. link. (3 March 2016)
4. [https://archive.today/20130130153149/http://www.nowtoronto.com/movies/story.cfm?content=17778/ Now Toronto 'Q&A']
5. [https://www.deadline.com/2010/05/film4-compiling-%E2%80%98the-kill-list%E2%80%99/ Film4 Compiling ‘The Kill List’] {{webarchive. link. (9 May 2010)
6. (13 September 2012). "Devil Worshippers Beware! You May Be Part of The Kill List". [[Dread Central]].
7. "'Kill List' – in Cinemas Across the UK Now!".
8. "Kill List".
9. Leffler, Rebecca. (24 April 2012). "Cannes 2012: Michel Gondry's 'The We & The I' to Open Director's Fortnight". [[The Hollywood Reporter]].
10. "2012 Selection". [[Directors' Fortnight]].
11. (8 September 2018). "Ben Wheatley's 'Happy New Year, Colin Burstead' Set for BBC Two Christmas Slot in UK After London Film Fest Debut".
12. Kroll, Justin. (2018-11-14). "Lily James, Armie Hammer to Star in Daphne du Maurier Adaptation 'Rebecca'". Variety.
13. (9 May 2019). "Kristin Scott Thomas Joins Ben Wheatley's 'Rebecca' Adaptation for Netflix".
14. "Rebecca (2020) Reviews - Metacritic".
15. (9 April 2019). "Ben Wheatley Directing Tomb Raider 2 with Alicia Vikander | Movies | Empire".
16. (28 October 2020). "Tomb Raider 2 Has Been Delayed Indefinitely | Movies | Empire".
17. Mike Fleming Jr. (January 25, 2021). "MGM Sets 'Lovecraft Country's Misha Green To Write/Direct Next 'Tomb Raider' With Alicia Vikander Reprising As Lara Croft".
18. (6 November 2020). "Ben Wheatley Directs 'In the Earth' Horror Pic for Neon | Hollywood Reporter".
19. (25 October 2020). "Ben Wheatley Directing the Meg 2 | Movies | Empire".
20. Kit, Borys. (October 23, 2020). "'The Meg 2' Finds Its Director With 'Rebecca' Filmmaker Ben Wheatley (Exclusive)".
21. "Steve Alten's September Newsletter".