John Deery is a British award-winning film and television drama director.
Early life
Deery was born in
Birkenhead, Merseyside
Birkenhead (; cy, Penbedw) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England; historically, it was part of Cheshire until 1974. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the south bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liverpoo ...
, across the river Mersey from
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
. Like many other directors, he started out as an actor, training at The Drama Studio, London. In between acting jobs he was a runner on commercials with some of the UK's top commercial directors. He then became a third and first assistant director before going to the
National Film & Television School
The National Film and Television School (NFTS) is a film, television and games school established in 1971 and based at Beaconsfield Studios in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England. It is featured in the 2021 ranking by ''The Hollywood Repor ...
's Short Course Unit for Directors in 1996.
Career
Political film
One of Deery's other passions in life is politics. He worked extensively with the film and commercials director,
Hugh Hudson
Hugh Hudson (born 25 August 1936) is an English film director. He was among a generation of British directors who would begin their career making documentaries and television commercials before going on to have success in films. He directed the ...
, during the
Labour Party General Election campaign of 1992. After graduating from the NFTS in 1996, Deery was commissioned by
Peter Mandelson
Peter Benjamin Mandelson, Baron Mandelson (born 21 October 1953) is a British Labour Party politician who served as First Secretary of State from 2009 to 2010. He was President of the Board of Trade in 1998 and from 2008 to 2010. He is the ...
to write and direct a film for Labour called ''The Road to the Manifesto'' which launched Labour's
1997 General Election campaign. The film was a success, not only for its political message, but also for its
theme song
Theme music is a musical composition that is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at so ...
, "Things Can Only Get Better", which went on to become Labour's Election anthem. Since then Deery has made many other films for the Labour Party as well as several films for
trade unions
A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and Employee ben ...
in the UK.
Conspiracy of Silence
Coming from an Irish-Catholic background, Deery believed that enforced celibacy was a 'time bomb waiting to go off' in the Catholic Church and began researching his first feature film, ''
Conspiracy of Silence'', which he wrote and directed. Cast includes: Academy Award-winner
Brenda Fricker
Brenda Fricker (born 17 February 1945) is an Irish actress, whose career has spanned six decades on stage and screen. She has appeared in more than 30 films and television roles. In 1990, she became the first Irish actress to win an Academy Awar ...
,
Hugh Bonneville
Hugh Richard Bonneville Williams (born 10 November 1963) is an English actor. He is best known for portraying Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham, in the ITV historical drama series ''Downton Abbey''. His performance on the show earned him a nom ...
,
Chris O'Dowd
Christopher O'Dowd (born 9 October 1979) is an Irish actor and comedian. He received wide attention as Roy Trenneman, one of the lead characters in the Channel 4 comedy '' The IT Crowd'', which ran for four series between 2006 and 2010. He has ...
,
John Lynch,
Jonathan Forbes
Jonathan Forbes (born 4 December 1976 in Dublin) is an Irish actor.
Early life
Forbes was born in Dublin, Ireland on 4 December 1976. He attended Gonzaga College where he was in the same class as fellow actor Andrew Scott, before studying En ...
,
Jason Barry
Jason Barry (born 14 December 1972) is an Irish actor best known for his portrayal of Tommy Ryan in the 1997 film '' Titanic''. He also starred in '' The Still Life'' for which he won numerous awards.
Early life
Jason Barry was born in Artane ...
,
Sean McGinley
Sean, also spelled Seán or Séan in Irish English, is a male given name of Irish origin. It comes from the Irish versions of the Biblical Hebrew name ''Yohanan'' (), Seán (anglicized as ''Shaun/ Shawn/ Shon'') and Séan (Ulster variant; angli ...
,
Fintan McKeown
Fintan McKeown is an Irish actor best known for his guest appearances on '' Star Trek: Voyager'', '' Merlin'', and '' Game of Thrones'', and for his supporting roles in the films '' Immortal Beloved'' (1994) and ''Waking Ned Devine'' (1998).
Si ...
,
Jim Norton and
Hugh Quarshie
Hugh Anthony Quarshie (born 22 December 1954) is a Ghanaian-born British actor. Some of his best-known roles include his appearances in the films '' Highlander'' (1986), '' The Church'' (1989), '' Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace'' ...
.
The movie won many international awards including the U.S.
National Board of Review
The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures is a non-profit organization of New York City area film enthusiasts. Its awards, which are announced in early December, are considered an early harbinger of the film awards season that culminat ...
of Motion Pictures' Freedom of Expression Award in 2004, which it shared with Michael Moore's ''
Fahrenheit 9/11
''Fahrenheit 9/11'' is a 2004 American documentary film directed, written by, and starring filmmaker, director, political commentator and activist Michael Moore. The film takes a liberal, critical look at the presidency of George W. Bush, the w ...
'' and Mel Gibson's ''
The Passion of the Christ
''The Passion of the Christ'' is a 2004 American epic biblical drama film produced, directed and co-written by Mel Gibson and starring Jim Caviezel as Jesus of Nazareth, Maia Morgenstern as Mary, mother of Jesus, and Monica Bellucci as Mary M ...
''. Deery was also nominated for Best Film Director at the
Irish Film Awards
Irish may refer to:
Common meanings
* Someone or something of, from, or related to:
** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe
***Éire, Irish language name for the isle
** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
in 2003. The screenplay was developed at the
Sundance Screenwriters' Lab
Sundance Institute is a non-profit organization founded by Robert Redford committed to the growth of independent artists. The institute is driven by its programs that discover and support independent filmmakers, theatre artists and composers fr ...
in Utah and won the
Hartley-Merrill International Screenwriting Award presented to Deery at the
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...
in 2001.
The film was invited to be shown at many
film festival
A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more cinemas or screening venues, usually in a single city or region. Increasingly, film festivals show some films outdoors. Films may be of recent date and, depending upon ...
s in 2003 to be in Competition and/or Official Selection including: Taormina, Italy (first public screening, June 2003),
Moscow International Film Festival
The Moscow International Film Festival (russian: Моско́вский междунаро́дный кинофестива́ль, translit. ''Moskóvskiy myezhdunaródniy kinofyestivál''; abbreviated as MIFF) is the film festival first h ...
, Opening Night film at the Galway Film Festival, Ireland, Montreal Film Festival, Hamburg Film Festival, Warsaw Film Festival where it won a Special Jury Award,
Dinard Festival of British Cinema
Dinard (; br, Dinarzh, ; Gallo: ''Dinard'') is a commune in the Ille-et-Vilaine department, Brittany, northwestern France.
Dinard is on the Côte d'Émeraude of Brittany. Its beaches and mild climate make it a holiday destination, and this ...
, France, and the American Film Institute (AFI) Festival in Los Angeles. It received an art house release in the United States but, so far, has not been released in the UK.
The film was screened in September 2010, two days before
Pope Benedict XV
Pope Benedict XV (Latin: ''Benedictus XV''; it, Benedetto XV), born Giacomo Paolo Giovanni Battista della Chiesa, name=, group= (; 21 November 185422 January 1922), was head of the Catholic Church from 1914 until his death in January 1922. His ...
's visit to the UK, at the Odeon West End in London's Leicester Square, where it formed the backdrop to a public debate about priestly celibacy in the Roman Catholic Church. Speakers included the Bishop of Nottingham, comedian Frank Skinner and Baroness Helena Kennedy QC.
''
Conspiracy of Silence'' was re-launched at the
Berlin International Film Festival
The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festi ...
in February 2014 by a new US boutique sales company, Angel Grace Films, headed by Michael Fister.
Television
Since Conspiracy of Silence, Deery has also directed several big dramas for television including
''If I Had You'', a 2-hour single film for
ITV1
ITV1 (formerly known as ITV) is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the British media company ITV plc. It provides the Channel 3 public broadcast service across all of the United Kingdom except for t ...
, starring
Sarah Parish
Sarah Parish (born 7 June 1968) is an English actress. She is known for her work on television series including: ''The Pillars of the Earth'', ''Peak Practice'', ''Hearts and Bones'', ''Cutting It'', ''Doctor Who'', ''Mistresses'', ''Merlin'', ' ...
and
Paul McGann
Paul John McGann (; born 14 November 1959) is an English actor. He came to prominence for portraying Percy Toplis in the television serial ''The Monocled Mutineer'' (1986), then starred in the dark comedy ''Withnail and I'' (1987), which was a ...
which was screened in 2006. He also directed two 90-minute specials of the hit UK comedy/drama series,
Fat Friends
''Fat Friends'' (also known as ''Kay Mellor’s Fat Friends'') is a British drama that aired on ITV from 12 October 2000 to 24 March 2005, consisting of 25 episodes over four series. Set in Leeds, the series explores the lives of several slimmi ...
starring
James Corden
James Kimberley Corden (born 22 August 1978) is an English television host, actor, comedian, and singer. In the United Kingdom, he is best known for co-writing and starring in the critically acclaimed BBC sitcom ''Gavin & Stacey''. In the Un ...
,
Ruth Jones
Ruth Alexandra Elisabeth Jones (born 22 September 1966) is a Welsh actress, comedian, writer and producer. She co-wrote and co-starred in the award-winning BBC sitcom ''Gavin & Stacey'' (2007–2010, 2019).
Jones has also appeared in various ...
and
Alison Steadman
Alison Steadman (born 26 August 1946) is an English actress. She received the 1991 National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress for the Mike Leigh film '' Life Is Sweet'' and the 1993 Olivier Award for Best Actress for her role as Ma ...
.
Underground Ernie
Alongside his film and television drama career, Deery founded Joella Productions in 2002, an animation production company which created
Underground Ernie
''Underground Ernie'' is a 2006 British educational computer animated children's television series produced by Joella Productions for the BBC on both CBeebies and BBC Two, and sold internationally by BBC Worldwide. It is set in ''International ...
. Underground Ernie is a children's CGI animation series, based around a fictional underground railway service called 'International Station which is run by station supervisor, Ernie, played by
Gary Linekar. It aired on BBC Cbeebies and BBC Two in the UK between June 2006 and December 2009 and achieved some of the highest viewing figures for the channel.
Future projects
Deery has developed a film slate for his own production company Joejack Entertainment.
Filmography
Awards and nominations
References
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Deery, John
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)
English film directors
People from Birkenhead
Alumni of the National Film and Television School