John Crowley (director)

For other people named John Crowley, see John Crowley (disambiguation).

John Crowley (born 19 August 1969) is an Irish theatre and film director.^[1] He is best known for the films Brooklyn (2015) and his debut feature, Intermission (2003), for which he won an Irish Film and Television Award for Best Director. He is a brother of the designer Bob Crowley.

John Crowley
John Crowley at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival
Born	(1969-08-19) 19 August 1969 (age 56) Cork, Ireland
Occupation	Director
Spouse	Fiona Weir

Life and career

Early years and education

Crowley earned a BA in English and Philosophy (1990) and an MA in Philosophy from University College Cork.^[2]

Career

Crowley became involved in theatre as a student, seeing it as a stepping stone to directing film. He began directing plays in Dublin in the early 1990s, reached London's West End by 1996 and eventually become an associate director at the Donmar Warehouse. In 2000, he directed Come and Go as part of the Beckett on Film series and made his feature debut Intermission (2003), a comedy drama set in Dublin, starring Colin Farrell, Cillian Murphy and Kelly Macdonald, based on a screenplay by playwright Mark O'Rowe.^[3]

In May 2005, Crowley, along with Danny Boyle, launched the UK Film Council Development Fund's "25 Words or Less: Director’s Cut" scheme to develop a feature film project, stating that he wanted particularly to "create a contemporary 'rebirth' or transformation story about a man or woman who begins as someone that spreads coldness."^[4]

In 2007, Crowley reteamed with O'Rowe for the thought-provoking BAFTA-winning drama Boy A, about a young man's return to civilian life after imprisonment for a brutal childhood killing, which was made for British television but was released theatrically in the US the following year.^[3] It won him the Best Director (Fiction) award at the 2008 British Academy Television Craft Awards.^[5]

Additionally, Crowley was Tony nominated for the hugely successful London and Broadway runs of Martin McDonagh's play The Pillowman in 2003 and 2005. He directed Neve Campbell and Cillian Murphy in the West End production of Love Song in 2006-7, and in 2007 filmed a television version of Harold Pinter's Celebration starring Michael Gambon, Stephen Rea and Colin Firth.^[3] In 2009 he directed the film Is Anybody There?, set in 1980s seaside Britain, written by Peter Harness and starring Michael Caine as a grumpy ex-magician. In 2010, Crowley teamed once again with McDonagh for A Behanding in Spokane on Broadway.

In July 2016, it was announced that Crowley will direct the screen adaptation of Donna Tartt's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Goldfinch for Warner Bros. and RatPac Entertainment, starring Ansel Elgort, Oakes Fegley, Aneurin Barnard and Finn Wolfhard.^[6]

In 2017 it was announced that he would be directing a film adaption of Bernard MacLaverty's Midwinter Break.^[7]

Works

Theatre

• A Very expensive Poison (2019) The Old Vic - written by Lucy Prebble.
• The Present (2016) on Broadway – Anton Chekhov's Platonov adaptation by Andrew Upton. Starring Cate Blanchett, Richard Roxburgh, Toby Schmitz, Jacqueline McKenzie.^[8]
• The Playboy of the Western World (2011) – The Old Vic. Starring Ruth Negga, Niamh Cusack and Robert Sheehan.
• A Behanding in Spokane (2010) on Broadway.
• A Steady Rain (2009) on Broadway. Starring Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig
• Love Song (2006–07) – Written by John Kolvenbach. New Ambassadors Theatre (West End), London. This production, which was the UK premiere, starred Neve Campbell & Cillian Murphy.
• The Pillowman (2005) – International tour.
• The Pillowman (2003–04) – Royal National Theatre.
• On An Average Day (2002) – the Comedy Theatre (West End), London. It starred Woody Harrelson & Kyle MacLachlan.
• Tales from Hollywood (2001) – Donmar Warehouse, London.
• Juno and the Paycock (2000) – Gramercy Theatre, New York.
• The Turn of the Screw (2000) – Welsh National Opera.
• Juno and the Paycock (1999) – Donmar Warehouse, London.
• Macbeth (1999) – UK tour.
• Into the Woods (1998–99) – Donmar Warehouse, London.
• How I Learned to Drive (1998) at the Donmar Warehouse, London (UK premiere).
• An Irish Trilogy, aka Shadows (1998–99) – Royal Shakespeare Company.
• The Maids (1997) – UK tour.
• Fair Ladies at a Game of Poem Cards (1996) – Royal National Theatre.
• Double Helix (1996) – Dublin Theatre Festival/ Peacock Theatre, Dublin.
• Six Characters in Search of an Author (1995) – Abbey Theatre, Dublin.
• The Crucible (1995) – Abbey Theatre, Dublin.
• True Lines (1994) – Dublin Theatre Festival/ Bush Theatre, London
• One for the Road (1994) – Gate Theatre, Dublin.
• The Master Builder (1993–94) – Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh/ Riverside Studios, London. Co-directed with Brian Cox.
• The Match Seller Girl – Theatre Project Tokyo, Japan.
• Asylum! Asylum! – Peacock Theatre, Dublin.
• John Hughdy-Tom John – Druid Theatre Company.
• Phaedra – Gate Theatre, Dublin.

Film

• Come and Go (2000) (Short film)
• Intermission (2003)
• Boy A (2007)
• Is Anybody There? (2009)
• Closed Circuit (2013)
• Brooklyn (2015)
• The Goldfinch (2019)
• We Live in Time (2024)

Television

Year	Title	Notes
2007	Celebration	Televised play
2015	True Detective	Episodes: "Other Lives" and "Omega Station"
2021	Modern Love	Episode: "In the waiting room of estranged spouses"
2022	Life After Life	Miniseries, Also executive producer
2023	Black Mirror	Episode: "Beyond the Sea"

Recurring collaborators

Work Actor	2003	2007	2008	2013	2015	2019	2024
	Intermission	Boy A	Is Anybody There?	Closed Circuit	Brooklyn	The Goldfinch	We Live in Time
Jane Brennan	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No	No
Denis Conway	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No	No
Andrew Garfield	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	Yes
Anne-Marie Duff	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
Jim Broadbent	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	No

Accolades

Year	Award	Category	Title	Result
2003	IFTA Film & Drama Awards[9]	Best Film Director	Intermission	Won
	Galway Film Fleadh[10]	Best First Feature Film		Won
		First Feature Film		Won
2004	British Independent Film Awards[11]	The Douglas Hickox Award (Best Debut Director)		Won
	Galway Film Fleadh	Best First Feature		Won
2006	Golden Rooster Awards	Best International Director		Won
2008	British Academy Television Awards	Best Single Drama	Boy A	Nominated
	British Academy Television Craft Awards	Best Director: Fiction		Won
	Banff World Media Festival	Best Made for TV Movie		Nominated
	Berlin International Film Festival	Prize of the Ecumenical Jury		Won
	Dinard British Film Festival	Golden Hitchcock		Won
		Silver Hitchcock		Won
	Film by the Sea	Youth Jury Award		Won
	Irish Film & Television Awards	Best Film Director		Nominated
2010	Bodil Awards	Best Non-American Film		Nominated
	CinEuphoria Awards	Top Ten of the Year - International Competition		Won
2015	Denver Film Festival	Narrative Feature	Brooklyn	Won
	Detroit Film Critics Society	Best Director		Nominated
	Dublin Film Critics' Circle	Best Director		Nominated
	IndieWire Critics Poll	Best Director		Nominated
	Mill Valley Film Festival	World Cinema		Nominated
	San Diego Film Critics Society Awards	Best Director		Nominated
	San Francisco Film Critics Circle Awards	Best Director		Nominated
	Twin Cities Film Fest	Feature Film		Won
	Vancouver International Film Festival	People's Choice		Won
	Virginia Film Festival	Narrative Feature		Won
2016	British Academy Film Awards	Outstanding British Film		Won
	Irish Film & Television Awards	Best Film Director		Nominated
2017	Kinema Junpo	Best Foreign Language Film		Nominated
		Best Foreign Language Film (Readers' Choice)		Nominated