Bill Forsyth

Born in Scotland, he is a director, an actor and a writer. Aged 17, he answered an advertisement for a « Lad required for film company » and spent the next eight years making short documentary films.From 1977, he wrote the scripts for Gregory’s Girl and That Sinking Feeling in the hope of breaking into feature films. The BFI Production Board rejected Gregory’s Girl three times. That Sinking Feeling was eventually made in 1979 with amateur actors from the Glasgow Youth Theatre. Gregory’s Girl was Forsyth’s breakthrough film. Forsyth’s reputation seemed to be secured by the success of his next venture, Local Hero, a first collaboration with producer David Puttnam. His first American film, shot in Canada and produced by Puttnam during his brief tenure as head of Columbia Pictures, was Housekeeping, a faithful and affectionate adaptation of Marilynne Robinson’s acclaimed first novel; then went Breaking In and Being Human. Forsyth returned to Britain.