Tom Hooper
Tom Hooper
Thomas George "Tom" Hooper is a British film and television director of English and Australian background. Hooper began making short films as a teenager, and had his first professional short, Painted Faces, broadcast on Channel 4 in 1992. At Oxford University Hooper directed plays and television commercials. After graduating, he directed episodes of Quayside, Byker Grove, EastEnders and Cold Feet...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionDirector
Date of Birth1 October 1972
mother kings reading
Well, I'm half Australian, half English and I live in London. That is the only reason I came upon this story. My Australian mother, Meredith Hooper, was invited in late 2007 by some Australian friends to make up a token Australian audience in a tiny fringe theater play reading of an unproduced, unrehearsed play called 'The King's Speech.
uplifting new-york kings
I think I would say 'The King's Speech' is surprisingly funny, in fact the audiences in London, Toronto, LA, New York commented there's more laughter in this film than in most comedies, while it is also a moving tear-jerker with an uplifting ending.
kings fighting historical
In 'The King's Speech,' patriotism is utterly contained within a historical moment, the third of September, 1939, where the aggressor is clear, the fight is clear, it hasn't become complicated over time.
affected dad growing learn lost
When I was growing up my mother would say, 'Your dad may have to learn about being a father because he lost his own and that would have affected him'.
anyone learned listen lose therapy wants
What I learned about stammering was that, when as a young child you lose the confidence of anyone who wants to listen to you, you lose confidence in your voice and the right to speech. And a lot of the therapy was saying, 'You have a right to be heard.'
afford directing hardest life unlike variety work year
The hardest part of directing is the choosing. Unlike an actor who can do a variety of work, it is a year of your life, you can't afford to get it wrong.
background lenses quite shoot tend
If you look at classic Hollywood films, they tend to shoot close-ups on quite long lenses and the background it out of focus. You know, it's just a mush.
failure films men seem
My films seem to be about men's struggle with failure.
great work
The more and more I work with really great actors, the more it's about opening yourself up to what they bring.
composing great
My two great loves when I'm shooting are working with great actors and composing images.
afraid against dad defensive five helpful kids needed nice shock
My dad said, 'The thing that I was told that was really helpful was that I mustn't be afraid of the things I was afraid of when I was five years old'. The shock of his childhood had put him in this defensive crouch against the world, and he needed to know that he had a nice wife and kids and it wasn't the same any more.
family parents sitting taught work
I come from the kind of family where work is work; my parents always taught me that it's better to be doing something than sitting around doing nothing.
clearly divide films human incredibly tap
Some films clearly seem to divide people. And I do think there's something incredibly exciting about the commonality of us as human beings, which some films are lucky enough to tap into.
What's fascinating about the Australians is they have this quality that they are impervious to majesty. They're not awed.