The name of David Yates is familiar to many modern viewers thanks to the films about the wizard Harry Potter. It was participation in this famous franchise that made him famous, allowing him to make box office films. Moreover, it became known that David Yates will work on new paintings by the writer JK Rowling. This article will tell about the biography of the sought-after director and his creative path.
Early childhood and education
The future world famous director was born in Lancashire, UK. His parents died when he was a child, so young David Yates, whose films will become world famous in the future, was forced to move to the village of Rainhill. As the director himself recalls, his interest in cinema arose in his early childhood. Shortly before his death, his mother gave him an amateur video camera with which he shot his first films. They usually depicted friends and close relatives of the teenager. Already in his school years, he definitely decided that he would become a director, inspired by Steven Spielberg's film"Jaws".
After graduating from high school, David Yates goes to college, where he studies sociology and English literature. And then he enters the University of Essex, getting an education in the desired speci alty. While studying here in 1988, he made his first short film, "When I was a Girl", with a military theme. The short film was shown at several major festivals and even won the Grand Prix in San Francisco. Sudden success allows him to become a student at the National Film and Television School, where he is almost immediately noticed by the staff of the British television company BBC.
The beginning of a career and the first work
With the support of the BBC in 1991, a new short film "Lemons and Oranges" is released, which is considered his first serious professional work. In 1994-1995, David Yates directed several episodes of the series "Purely English Murder", but they did not bring him success or new offers. Most of the time he was engaged in the creation of his own short films. His first feature film, The Tichborne Pretender, was not released until 1998.
In 2000 he returned to television, where he filmed the series "The Roads We Take" (2001). He was subsequently awarded the prestigious BAFTA for his work on this project. A year later, his short film "The Somali Runaways" repeats the success, receiving the Grand Prix in the category "Best Short Film".film". Having achieved such success, the director attracted attention, and the producers began to involve him in larger projects.
Road to Glory
The director's first major work was the mini-series "The Great Game". David Yates, whose photo is presented in our article, attracted many British celebrities to this project. Starring John Simm, James McAvoy, Kelly Macdonald, Bill Niley. The series received good reviews from film critics, received several major awards, and was also loved by viewers. Hollywood producers for some time even discussed the possible release of a feature film based on his motives. The director's next project was the film "Here Comes the Guests", which starred the famous Hugh Laurie. Yates also worked on Sex Traffic (2004) and Cafe Girl (2005), which were well received by the public.
Harry Potter Movies
David Yates, whose filmography includes more than 35 works, owes the success of the Harry Potter films. In 2005, after a series of successful projects, he was on the list of possible candidates for the director's chair in the future fifth film in the franchise. Thanks to the recommendations of famous actors with whom Yates has worked in the past, he was able to get this job. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was released in 2007. The audience and critics appreciated the director's work, but some of them were dissatisfied with the large number of cut scenes from the book.
The high box office of the film (about 1 billion dollars worldwide) allowed the director to continue working on the next film adaptations of books. In 2009, the sixth part of the Half-Blood Prince franchise was released, which even received an Oscar nomination. The following novel "Deathly Hallows" was decided to be divided into two parts. David Yates was entrusted to shoot each of them. Thus, he became the only director to film more than two books in the franchise. The films were released in 2010 and in 2011, collecting a huge box office.
Modern period
The huge popularity of the Harry Potter films allowed Yates to take on big-budget projects. However, after completing work on the last part of the Deathly Hallows, he returned to television, where he directed the pilot episode of the TV series Tyrant. It was well received by the audience, so the creators extended it for several seasons, which were produced by David Yates. "Karate Kid 2" was also supposed to be the director's next film, but he turned down the studio's offer.
In 2015, it was announced that the director would be working on the film "Tarzan. Legend", which starred Alexander Skarsgård and Margot Robbie.
New collaboration with JK Rowling
In 2014, JK Rowling, the creator of the Harry Potter books, announced that she was going to release several more films dedicated to the magical universe. This time the action of the plot is transferred to the 20s.years of the XX century, and the main character will be Newt Scamander - the author of a book about magical creatures.
In 2015, 3 films were announced, each directed by David Yates. The first part, called "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them", was released at the end of 2016. After its success, the producers increased the number of films to 5. It is planned that all of them will be directed by Yates.
