Malcolm Venville
Malcolm Frank Venville [1] is a British photographer and film director.
Venville was the child of deaf parents. He was, in the words of his uncle, "caught in some no-man's land between the deaf world and the hearing world."[2] Venville atteneded Solihull College (1981–83) and Polytechnic of Central London (1983–86), graduating with honors with a BA in film, video, and photographic arts.[1]
Breaking out with a campaign for Wrangler in 1991, he became an acclaimed and sought-after advertising and fashion photographer.[2] In 1992, he began directing commercials, starting with an advertisement for Audi.[3]
Venville published two books of photography. Layers (2003) is a collection of Venville's advertising, celebrity, fashion, and personal photography.[2]Lucha Loco (2006) is a collection of over a hundred portraits of lucha libre wrestlers taken on a 2005 trip to Mexico.[4]
His short film career began with Silent Film (1997), an 11 minute film documenting the romance of his deaf parents.[5] He also directed a pair of short documentaries about actresses in small memorable roles: Remembering Sister Ruth (1997), about actress Kathleen Byron, who played the disturbed nun Sister Ruth in Black Narcissus (1947),[6] and the 15 minute Remembering Miss Torso (2004), about actress Georgine Darcy, who played the voluptuous neighbor Miss Torso in Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window (1954).[7]
Venville's feature film debut was 44 Inch Chest (2009), a gangster film starring Ray Winstone, John Hurt, Tom Wilkinson and Ian McShane. It reunited the writers and some of the cast of an earlier British gangster film, Sexy Beast (2000).[8] He also directed Henry's Crime (2010), a romantic comedy starring Keanu Reeves, James Caan, and Vera Farmiga.
References
- ^ a b "Malcolm Frank Venville." People of Today. Debrett's Ltd., 2009. Gale Biography In Context. Web. 19 July 2011.
- ^ a b c Ross, Peter (July 6, 2003). "The naked and the deaf;You may not have heard of the photographer Malcolm Venville , but you will have seen his adverts.His upbringing by profoundly deaf parents has given him a visual talent, which he plans to use in a new career as a director. But is Britain ready for a film entirely in sign language?". Sunday Herald. p. 14.
- ^ Burney, Jan (October 3, 1994). "MALCOLM 'EGGS' JUST LIKE THE NYNEX YELLOW PAGES PRINT CAMPAIGN HE SHOT, BRITISH PHOTOGRAPHER/DIRECTOR MALCOLM VENVILLE IS OFFERING 'MORE SOLUTIONS' AND 'MORE STUFF'-ON BOTH SIDES OF THE ATLANTIC. AND DON'T MISS HIS MUGSHOTS COMMERCIAL, A STUDY IN COMIC OVAKILL". Creativity. p. 24.
- ^ http://www.luchaloco.com/about.htm
- ^ Crace, John (June 3, 1998). "Disability: Golden silence; Being brought up by deaf parents did not hinder Malcolm Venville. Instead, it opened his eyes to a whole new world of vivid images.". The Guardian. p. 6.
- ^ "Venville's killer nun tribute". Creative Review. November 3, 1997. p. 19.
- ^ Bearn, Emily (June 13, 2004). "View from the room Georgine Darcy played the dancer living opposite Jimmy Stewart in Rear Window. Then the curtains fell on her career. Now Malcolm Venville, a lifelong Hitchcock fan, has made her the focus of a documentary. Emily Bearn meets 'Miss Torso'". Sunday Telegraph.
- ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/features/44_inch_chest_interview
