Nicolas Roeg

Nicolas Roeg (born August 15, 1928, London, England—died November 23, 2018) was an English filmmaker known for his striking visual style and uncompromising, often controversial, narrative choices.

Roeg had an unconventional start as a filmmaker. He did not attend university, but in 1947 he apprenticed as a film editor at a small film studio, often making tea for others. In the 1950s and ’60s he operated a camera on several films, including Tarzan’s Greatest Adventure (1959) and The Trials of Oscar Wilde (1960). He did second unit photography work on the acclaimed 1962 film Lawrence of Arabia and was the cinematographer for such films as A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966) and Fahrenheit 451 (1966).

All these experiences gave him insight into moviemaking and helped shape him as a director. By the time Roeg made his directorial debut, he had been in the film industry for more than two decades. His first film, Performance (1970), codirected with Donald Cammell, was a psychedelic drama starring Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones as a former pop superstar who is drawn into the criminal underworld of 1960s London when he takes in a gangster on the run.

Roeg made his solo directorial debut with Walkabout (1971), which was filmed in the Australian Outback and told the tale of two abandoned schoolchildren and the teenage Aboriginal person who guides them through the wilderness. Roeg also performed cinematography duties on Walkabout, which is renowned for its stunning colour-saturated visuals. Roeg went on to direct many other films, including the erotic psychological thriller Don’t Look Now (1973), which starred Julie Christie and was based on a short story by Daphne du Maurier; the science-fiction film The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976), featuring an otherworldly David Bowie; Bad Timing (1980), starring Art Garfunkel; and The Witches (1990), based on Roald Dahl’s popular children’s book of the same name. Bad Timing also starred Theresa Russell, whom Roeg married in 1982 (they later divorced) and directed again in several films, including Eureka (1983), Insignificance (1985), and Track 29 (1988).