Master Classes

Length:  1992, 35 mm, Colour, 112 mins

Written:  Neil Jordan

Producer:  Stephen Woolley

Cinematography :  Ian Wilson

Editor:  Kant Pan

Cast:  Forest Whitaker, Miranda Richardson, Stephen Rea, Adrian Dunbar

Director's Biography:  Stephen Woolley has spent a lifetime steeped in movies and filmmaking. His career began in 1976 at the Screen on the Green cinema in London in the summer of 1976 at the Screen on the Green cinema in London where he tore tickets, sold ice cream, projected films and helped manage the cinema. After working with The Other Cinema he programmed and subsequently owned his own cinema, The Scala, which won acclaim for its diverse, original and alternative programming. In 1982, Woolley launched Palace Video in partnership with Nik Powell, releasing titles such as `Eraserhead' and `Mephisto'. Establishing a theatrical arm a year later, Palace acquired, and distributed some 250 independent and European movies from `The Evil Dead' to `When Harry Met Sally'. During this period Woolley's producing career flourished, with a diverse range of critically acclaimed and successful films including the controversial `Absolute Beginners' starring David Bowie, Ray Davies, Patsy Kensit and James Fox, and Golden Globe nominated dance comedy `Shag' starring Bridget Fonda. `Scandal' starring Joanne Whalley-Kilmer, John Hurt and Bridget Fonda attracted phenomenal critical acclaim and box office success on both sides of the Atlantic. Other Palace productions included `The Big Man' starring Liam Neeson and Joanne Whalley-Kilmer; `A Rage in Harlem' with Forest Whitaker and Danny Glover and `The Pope Must Die' starring Robbie Coltrane. Woolley also acted as Executive Producer on director Richard Stanley’s first and second features ‘Hardware’ and ‘Devil Dust’, as well as ‘Waterland’ starring Jeremy Irons, and Terence Davies’ ‘The Neon Bible’. `Breakfast on Pluto', starring Cillian Murphy and Liam Neeson, has continued Woolley's long-term partnership with director Neil Jordan which began with `The Company of Wolves' in 1983. His other collaborations with Jordan include `The Miracle', `The Butcher Boy', `The Good Thief', the Oscar-nominated `The End of The Affair', `Michael Collins', `Interview With The Vampire', and Oscar-winning `The Crying Game', for which in 1992 Woolley was awarded Producer of The Year by the Producer’s Guild of America. Woolley also produced Jordan's Oscar nominated `Mona Lisa' which won numerous international awards. Stephen has over twenty executive producer credits which include `The Hollow Reed', `Fever Pitch', `Purely Belter' and `Little Voice' starring Sir Michael Caine and Jane Horrocks. Woolley was until recently Chairman on the BAFTA film committee on which he served for ten years and was instrumental in ushering in a new era of modernisation and success at the British Academy. He is also a member of the American Academy. In 2005 Woolley made his directorial debut with ‘Stoned’. His upcoming projects as producer include ‘And When Did You Last See Your Father?’ directed by Anand Tucker and “How To Lose Friends and Alienate People” which will star Simon Pegg, directed by Robert Weide.