Tom Priestley, the son of British playwright and novelist J.B. Priestley who established his own show business career as an Oscar-nominated film editor on such major projects as John Boorman’s Deliverance (1972), Blake Edwards’ The Return of the Pink Panther (1975) and Roman Polanski‘s Tess (1979), died December 25. He was 91.
His death was only later announced by the J.B. Priestley Society.
“It with the utmost sadness we announce the death of out President Tom Priestley,” the J.B. Priestley Society said in a statement. “Tom who was J. B. Priestley’s only son became one of this country’s finest film editors. Perhaps his most famous film was Deliverance for which he was Oscar Nominated. He was a most charming man.”
Born Tom Holland Priestley on April 22, 1932, in London, he was educated at Bryanston School and King’s College, Cambridge, before beginning his professional career at Shepperton Studios in various capacities,...
His death was only later announced by the J.B. Priestley Society.
“It with the utmost sadness we announce the death of out President Tom Priestley,” the J.B. Priestley Society said in a statement. “Tom who was J. B. Priestley’s only son became one of this country’s finest film editors. Perhaps his most famous film was Deliverance for which he was Oscar Nominated. He was a most charming man.”
Born Tom Holland Priestley on April 22, 1932, in London, he was educated at Bryanston School and King’s College, Cambridge, before beginning his professional career at Shepperton Studios in various capacities,...
- 2/19/2024
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
In 1973, producer Irwin Winkler attended the New York Film Festival and decided to check out a new film by a talented young director. Winkler liked what he saw in Martin Scorsese‘s “Mean Streets,” and he was flattered by the fact that Scorsese paid tribute to one of Winkler’s early films by featuring a poster for “Point Blank” at a key moment. “Somebody arranged for Marty and I to have coffee, and we just hit it off,” Winkler told IndieWire. Thus began a producer-director partnership that would yield some of the greatest movies ever made, including “Raging Bull,” “Goodfellas,” and “Silence.”
Winkler would be a legend in the business based on just the movies he made with Scorsese, but they’re the tip of the iceberg. “You look at his credits and it’s astonishing, even if you know him and even if your own films are among them,...
Winkler would be a legend in the business based on just the movies he made with Scorsese, but they’re the tip of the iceberg. “You look at his credits and it’s astonishing, even if you know him and even if your own films are among them,...
- 12/4/2023
- by Jim Hemphill
- Indiewire
John Boorman: "the relationship between memory and imagination is very mysterious.” Photo: Richard Mowe
John Boorman, the British director who made some of cinema’s most seminal films (Point Blank, Deliverance, Excalibur, Leo the Last) has returned to the fray at 82 with Queen And Country, an autobiographical companion piece to his Oscar winning Hope And Glory.
Richard Mowe: How close is the film to your memories of the time and did you almost become an accidental film-maker?
John Boorman: Very close. All the incidents in the film occurred to me and all the characters were people I knew and met at the time. When I came out of the Army I got a job as a trainee film editor. I thought I could be very happy being a film editor for the rest of my life. But then I moved to Southern Television, and there, as a director-editor,...
John Boorman, the British director who made some of cinema’s most seminal films (Point Blank, Deliverance, Excalibur, Leo the Last) has returned to the fray at 82 with Queen And Country, an autobiographical companion piece to his Oscar winning Hope And Glory.
Richard Mowe: How close is the film to your memories of the time and did you almost become an accidental film-maker?
John Boorman: Very close. All the incidents in the film occurred to me and all the characters were people I knew and met at the time. When I came out of the Army I got a job as a trainee film editor. I thought I could be very happy being a film editor for the rest of my life. But then I moved to Southern Television, and there, as a director-editor,...
- 6/5/2015
- by Richard Mowe
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
If the movies of Irish filmmaker John Boorman have a common theme, it's their shared interest in the restorative value of violence. That central theme, of finding rebirth from the ashes of destruction, isn't easy to swallow, but it's at the heart of many of Boorman's most notable films, including Point Blank, Deliverance, Hell in the Pacific, and even Exorcist II: The Heretic. Boorman was honored at MoMA recently with special screenings of two of his most radical films: Leo the Last, a comic allegory about class warfare starring Marcello Mastroianni; and Excalibur, Boorman's spectacular reimagining of the Arthurian legend. Vulture talked to Boorman about his science-fiction film Zardoz, young Christopher Walken, and Lord of the Rings.Of the two movies you're presenting at MoMA, Leo the Last is unfortunately the lesser-known. It's striking in that it's like several of your other films in its concern with destructive rejuvenation. It's also a comedy!
- 11/26/2014
- by Simon Abrams
- Vulture
John Boorman's career is littered with misfires, maybe the price we pay for the huge artistic risks he takes. In between the early triumphs of Point Blank (1967) and Hell in the Pacific (1968) and his masterwork Deliverance (1972) lies Leo the Last, which gets very little love and not even the kind of scornful attention accorded to catastrophes like Zardoz (1974) and Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977).
Maybe this is because bad drama has kitsch value, whereas bad comedy nobody can stand, and Leo the Last appears, at times, to be attempting humor, a surprising choice for Boorman whose very humorlessness can seem a strength in his successful films and a weakness in his failures. There's something heroic about the fact that it apparently never occurred to Boorman that a man having sex wearing full plate armor (Excalibur), Sean Connery in thigh boots, bandoliers and nappy (Zardoz) and Linda Blair doing a musical...
Maybe this is because bad drama has kitsch value, whereas bad comedy nobody can stand, and Leo the Last appears, at times, to be attempting humor, a surprising choice for Boorman whose very humorlessness can seem a strength in his successful films and a weakness in his failures. There's something heroic about the fact that it apparently never occurred to Boorman that a man having sex wearing full plate armor (Excalibur), Sean Connery in thigh boots, bandoliers and nappy (Zardoz) and Linda Blair doing a musical...
- 11/20/2014
- by David Cairns
- MUBI
It's been 27 years since John Boorman shot Hope and Glory, his Oscar-nominated 1987 film about life on the British homefront during World War II. Queen and Country, which screens in Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight on May 20, moves the semi-autobiographical story forward to the Korean War, and brings back David Hayman from the original film, as well as a slew of other British talents (including David Thewlis and Richard E. Grant). The legendary filmmaker, 81, spoke with THR about topics ranging from his first trip to Cannes (in 1970, for Leo the Last) to the acting idiosyncracies of some of
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- 5/21/2014
- by Stuart Kemp
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
What's it like to go Cannes as a family? Director Katrine Boorman explains the highs and lows of being there with her father John
I first went to Cannes in 1970 when my dad, John Boorman, had a film playing in competition. It was Leo the Last, about a deposed Italian prince living in London, and I remember holding hands with my sister and its star Marcello Mastroianni as we ran along the beach being chased by paparazzi. Dad won best director. I was so excited.
Eleven years later, he was back with Excalibur 11 years later, based on the King Arthur legend. I spent so long waving to the crowd and having my photo taken, I didn't notice everyone else had gone into the cinema. Dad grabbed my arm, only for the door to be closed in our faces. He turned to me with a look of fury. Eventually, we were spotted by an official,...
I first went to Cannes in 1970 when my dad, John Boorman, had a film playing in competition. It was Leo the Last, about a deposed Italian prince living in London, and I remember holding hands with my sister and its star Marcello Mastroianni as we ran along the beach being chased by paparazzi. Dad won best director. I was so excited.
Eleven years later, he was back with Excalibur 11 years later, based on the King Arthur legend. I spent so long waving to the crowd and having my photo taken, I didn't notice everyone else had gone into the cinema. Dad grabbed my arm, only for the door to be closed in our faces. He turned to me with a look of fury. Eventually, we were spotted by an official,...
- 5/24/2012
- The Guardian - Film News
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