James Loach (born 6 June 1969) is a British film director.

Early life

Jim Loach was born in London to

Ken Loach Kenneth Charles Loach (born 17 June 1936) is a British film director and screenwriter. His socially critical directing style and socialist ideals are evident in his film treatment of social issues such as poverty ('' Poor Cow'', 1967), homelessn ...

and Lesley Ashton in June 1969, one of five children. He studied

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. ...

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

Career

Loach intended to pursue a career in

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the " news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (p ...

. He joined the BBC where he worked as a researcher for

Sue Lawley Susan Lawley (born 14 July 1946) is a retired English television and radio broadcaster. Her main broadcasting background involved television news and current affairs. From 1988–2006, Lawley was the presenter of '' Desert Island Discs'' on BBC ...

and

Anne Robinson Anne Josephine Robinson (born 26 September 1944) is an English television presenter and journalist. She was the host of BBC game show '' The Weakest Link'' (2000–2017). She presented the Channel 4 game show ''Countdown'' from June 2021 to Jul ...

. He turned to directing in 1996 while working on the

Granada TV ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire but only on weekdays as ABC Weekend Television was its ...

current affairs Current affairs may refer to: News * ''Current Affairs'' (magazine) a bimonthly magazine of culture and politics. * Current affairs (news format): a genre of broadcast journalism * Current Affairs, former name for Behind the News Politics * An ...

programme ''

World in Action ''World in Action'' was a British investigative current affairs programme made by Granada Television for ITV from 7 January 1963 until 7 December 1998. Its campaigning journalism frequently had a major impact on events of the day. Its product ...

''. He went on to direct several episodes of ''

Coronation Street ''Coronation Street'' is an English soap opera created by Granada Television and shown on ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres around a cobbled, terraced street in Weatherfield, a fictional town based on inner-city Salford. Orig ...

'' in 2000, and subsequently directed episodes of '' Bad Girls'', '' Waterloo Road'', '' Shameless'' and '' Hotel Babylon''. His first feature film '' Oranges and Sunshine'' was released on 1 April 2011. The film starred

Emily Watson Emily Margaret Watson (born 14 January 1967) is an English actress. She began her career on stage and joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1992. In 2002, she starred in productions of '' Twelfth Night'' and ''Uncle Vanya'' at the Donmar W ...

Margaret Humphreys Margaret Humphreys, (born 1944) is a British social worker and author from Nottingham, England. She worked for Nottinghamshire County Council operating around Radford, Nottingham and Hyson Green in child protection and adoption services. In 19 ...

, the social worker who exposed the scandal of child migration. It co-starred

Hugo Weaving Hugo Wallace Weaving (born 4 April 1960) is an English actor. Born in Colonial Nigeria to English parents, he has resided in Australia for the entirety of his career. He is the recipient of six Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts ...

and

David Wenham David Wenham (born 21 September 1965) is an Australian actor who has appeared in film, television and theatre. He is known for his roles as Faramir in ''The Lord of the Rings'' film trilogy, Friar Carl in '' Van Helsing'', Dilios in '' 300'' ...

. In 2012, Loach directed ''Life of Crime'', a thriller written by Declan Croghan. It centred on a young police officer's obsession with the killer of a young girl.

Hayley Atwell Hayley Elizabeth Atwell (born 5 April 1982) is a British and American actress. Born and raised in London, Atwell studied acting at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and made her stage debut in a 2005 production of James Kerr's translation ...

played the lead part, supported by Richard Coyle and Con O'Neill. It transmitted on ITV to positive reviews in May 2013. In June 2015, Loach started production on his second film, '' Measure of a Man''. Based on the coming-of-age novel ''

One Fat Summer ''One Fat Summer'' is a teen drama novel written by American author Robert Lipsyte, published in 1977. In 2018, the novel was adapted into a motion picture titled '' Measure of a Man'', starring Blake Cooper, Donald Sutherland, Luke Wilson and ...

'' by Robert Lipsyte, the screenplay was written by David Scearce. The cast included Donald Sutherland, Judy Greer,

Luke Wilson Luke Cunningham Wilson (born September 21, 1971) is an American actor known for his roles in films such as ''Bottle Rocket'' (1996), '' Rushmore'' (1998), ''My Dog Skip'' (2000), '' Legally Blonde'' (2001), ''The Royal Tenenbaums'' (2001), ''Id ...

and Blake Cooper. The film was released nationwide in the United States on 11 May 2018 and sharply divided critics. Michael O'Sullivan from ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...

'' gave the film a 3.5 out of 4 stars and said, "''Measure of a Man'' is a funny, wise movie about bullying that speaks to kids and grown-ups alike". Richard Roeper at ''

The Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...

'' gave it a 3.5 out of 4 stars and said, "It's a sweet and knowing and lovely and funny story, but occasionally the spell of warm nostalgia is broken by painful moments of family heartbreak and cruel bullying". 0By contrast, Mick LaSalle at the ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. The pa ...

'' gave a critical review, describing it as a film of "gestures and feints". 2 The film received its European premiere at the

Rome Film Festival International Rome Film Fest is a film festival that takes place in Rome during the month of October. The name in Italian is Festa del Cinema di Roma. Sections The Rome Film Festival official program is divided into several sections: Cinema d'O ...

in October 2018. In 2019, Loach directed '' Save Me Too'', the sequel to '' Save Me'', written by and starring

Lennie James Lennie Michael James (born 11 October 1965) is a British actor, screenwriter, and playwright. His work includes playing Morgan Jones in the television series, '' The Walking Dead'' and in its spin-off, '' Fear the Walking Dead'', and starring ...

. The cast also featured

Stephen Graham Stephen Joseph Graham (born 3 August 1973) is a British actor. He is best known for playing Andrew "Combo" Gascoigne in the film '' This Is England'' (2006) and its television sequels ''This Is England '86'' (2010), '' This Is England '88'' ...

, Suranne Jones, Lesley Manville, Jason Flemyng,

Kerry Godliman Kerry Anna Godliman (born November 1973) is an English actor and comedian best known for her roles in ''Derek'', '' Bad Move'' and '' After Life''. Early life Godliman was born in Perivale, West London, and trained at Rose Bruford College in ...

and Susan Lynch. The series transmitted to very positive reviews in April 2020 in the UK on

Sky Atlantic Sky Atlantic is a British pay television channel owned by Sky Group Limited broadcast in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The channel is primarily dedicated to imported programmes from the United States, and holds the domestic rights to HB ...

, and later on

Peacock (streaming service) Peacock is an American over-the-top video streaming service owned and operated by the Television and Streaming division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Named after the NBC logo, the service launched on July 15, 2020. The service pri ...

, a division of

NBCUniversal NBCUniversal Media, LLC is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate corporation owned by Comcast and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, United States. NBCUniversal is primar ...

, in the United States, and Loach went on to win a BAFTA for Best Drama Series in 2021. Work on a second as-yet-untitled New Zealand-set film collaboration with Rona Munro is reportedly under way.

Filmography

References

External links

Jim Loach's profile
at Curtis Brown Literary and Talent Agency * {{DEFAULTSORT:Loach, Jim Living people 1969 births Alumni of University College London English television directors English film directors