Jim Sheridan

Jim Sheridan is an acclaimed film director and a master storyteller. Born in Dublin, Ireland in 1949, Sheridan moved to America in 1982... more..

Biography

Jim Sheridan is an acclaimed film director and a master storyteller. Born in Dublin, Ireland in 1949, Sheridan moved to America in 1982 and began his career directing and writing plays for the stage, most notably 1983’s "Spike in the First World War." He graduated from New York University’s Film School in 1981, and his first production for the silver screen was the acclaimed "My Left Foot" in 1989. Based on a true story, the film starred Daniel Day-Lewis as Christy Brown, a gifted writer and painter crippled by cerebral palsy. Day-Lewis and costar Brenda Fricker both won Academy Awards for their performances.

Though wide acclaim for "My Left Foot" made Jim Sheridan a Hollywood favorite, he chose to continue to make films in Ireland. His follow-up, 1990’s "The Field" starring Richard Harris, was another success. In 1993, he released "In the Name of the Father," also starring Day-Lewis, which was a fictionalized re-telling of the case of the Guilford Four, the group wrongly accused and imprisoned for an IRA bombing. Other notable films include "The Boxer," "In America" (which earned Jim Sheridan an Oscar nomation), and 2005’s "Get Rich or Die Tryin’" with rap star 50 Cent. Sheridan also recently finished "Brothers" (2009), based on a Danish film by Susanne Bier. The film stars well-known actors Jake Gyllenhaal, Natalie Portman and Tobey Maguire, and tells the story of a man whose brother is missing in Afghanistan, leaving him to look after his brother's family. Also in talks is a drama about Irish crime in Hell's Kitchen, where Sheridan himself lived.

Jim Sheridan Q & A

Which do you enjoy most, writing or directing? Or are they not mutually exclusive?
Writing. Because it's easier. You can do it on your own time. You can work three years on one script and not have to worry about directing it. When you're directing you're on a train you can't get off.

Is it easier to direct from a screenplay which you wrote? Or is it easier to direct based on a screenplay from which you are a bit distanced?
You can't be distanced from your script. In the old studio system they used to dictate the movie to secretaries who would type it up. You were seeing the movie in front of your eyes and not distanced by the mechanics of typing. Too much typing is bad for screenplays.

What do you consider your big break? Why?
When I met the Irish director Pat 'O Connor on a plane and he told me that Daniel Day-Lewis had an Irish passport. That lead to getting Daniel in "My Left Foot."

As a director, what type of character do you most enjoy creating and working with?
A character who doesn't know what they feel, so you can discover where they are going.

What do you think is the most common error directors and screenwriters make when adapting previously made films (especially when remaking European films in Hollywood)?
I don't think there's any hard and fast rule. Hollywood loves to hate themselves, so there's that automatic reaction that we're ruining European movies.

Do you find you are more creative on a tight budget or an inflated one?
A tight budget can be very good for a movie in terms of thinking differently. But too tight a budget becomes unrealistic.

Who has been most influential to you in your filmmaking career? A family member? A colleague? Why?
Probably Daniel Day-Lewis, because of his focus and intensity and his constant search for the truth.

Plot or character? Which one provides more inspiration for you? Which generally drives your scripts and work?
A movie is only working when the characters aren't doing what you think you want them to. It's when they are discovering it as they are going. You have to be careful with your characters and nurture them. I've learned it's a lot harder to write good characters than it is to write good plot. Most writers can be good at plot because it is like a puzzle they can arrange in their head.

When choosing screenplays other than your own to direct, what common elements do you find in others' screenplays that make them so appealing to work with?
I can't speak to exactly what it is, but it's definitely the family dynamic that interests me.

Have you ever experienced writer's block? How do you get past it?
Unfortunately not. Nor speaker's block. But I should. Sometimes I should shut up..

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