Paul Greengrass: A Career Study

From British TV documentarian to prolific Hollywood filmmaker, Greengrass' career so excellently demonstrates the importance of finding your own voice and aesthetic when storytelling

Greengrass and Matt Damon on location in 'The Bourne Supremacy' (CREDIT: Universal Pictures)

by Jack Linsdell

Paul Greengrass has been one of my favourite filmmakers in the industry for many years. Along with (offhand) Steven Spielberg, Clint Eastwood, Christopher McQuarrie and Tom McCarthy, Greengrass is responsible for teaching me everything I know about being a filmmaker, and most importantly, storytelling - and how to do it well. Each of the above names has achieved great success (at least eventually) from doing things the "right" and often unconventional way when it comes to telling good stories and entertaining audiences. And, perhaps for Greengrass, this is truest of all. Before we dive in it's worth noting that I've focussed on Greengrass' film career from it's origins in the mid-90s. His early childhood, rise through Granada Television and journalism routes are a massive part of his identity as a filmmaker, but for time purposes I've focussed only on his films. So, let's dive into his incredible career right now...

Paul Greengrass' earliest films are not (in his opinion) anything worth spending time watching. I would disagree, there's certainly some gems in there, however he had yet to find his voice and style as a filmmaker, which is why he probably doesn't think highly of them. Sure, they may not be of great quality (compared to his later work) but they're an integral part of his development and journey as a filmmaker. His children call his 1998 romantic comedy The Theory of Flight (starring Kenneth Branagh and Helena Bonham Carter) "the theory of shite". But, his first feature, Resurrected, an emotive drama set during the Falklands War, is one of those top quality "old feeling" movies that still plays really well. It also introduced the world to actor David Thewlis of Harry Potter and Wonder Woman fame. After mild success on TV with The Murder of Stephen Lawrence, it was only when we came into a new century that Greengrass found his rhythm as a filmmaker. 

In 2002, Greengrass wrote and directed Bloody Sunday, a harrowing and frankly brutal (but realistic) depiction of the 1972 shootings in Ireland. Premiering to critical acclaim and red hot festival buzz, the film had notable implications to both Greengrass' career and the lead actors in it. It made James Nessbitt a household name (at least within the UK), not to mention putting Tim Piggot-Smith on the map and introducing the world to Gerard McSorely (who would collaborate with Greengrass again on Omagh). For Greengrass, the film established his trademark speciality of the "based on true events" drama, in which his documentary-based filmmaking style created frenetic, tense, traumatic and extremely emotional, political examinations of defining terrorism-related events. 

When Hollywood heavyweight producer Frank Marshall (known for his work with Spielberg on Indiana Jones amongst other movies) stumbled across Bloody Sunday, he immediately set up a meeting with Greengrass. The subject of the meeting? Well...the sequel to the commercial hit The Bourne Identity. In fact, Greengrass' Bloody Sunday had made such an impression on Marshall and star Matt Damon that he was instantly offered the job helming what would become The Bourne Supremacy. That frenetic and explosive "on the run" action-thriller was so pioneering in it's quick-cut editing and roaming, earthy cinematography, that it redefined the whole action genre. James Bond would copycat the style with Daniel Craig's Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace not to mention numerous action franchises like Taken and various Jason Statham vehicles amongst others following suite too. Anyway, the blowout success of The Bourne Supremacy took Greengrass from unknown name to one of the hottest filmmakers in Hollywood. 

With the world at his feet, Greengrass easily managed to secure financing for his 9/11 drama-come-passion-project United 93. This terrific and highly moving terrorism drama was a slightly more mainstream and big-budget Bloody Sunday, something that he would repeat with Captain Phillips and 22 July years later too. Written, directed and produced by Greengrass, and starring no one famous (at the time at least), United 93 is a fascinating and very tense examination of American (and Western) foreign policy towards the Middle East, and the ramifications of our naive and ill-prepared system to deal with terrorism. Set onboard the ill-fated flight 93 as it was hijacked by terrorists, the film cuts between the passengers as they try to overpower the terrorists and the lackadaisical response from the American military on the ground. With over $76 million worldwide (on a $15 million budget), topping most of 2006's top ten film lists and landing Greengrass an Oscar nomination and a BAFTA win for Best Director, United 93 was a massive success. It's well worth checking out. 

Greengrass' return to the Bourne franchise the following year to close out the trilogy brought him more universal acclaim and awards nominations. The Bourne Ultimatum is widely regarded as one of the most defining action movies of the 2000s, with the iconic train station action set piece winning particular praise for its groundbreaking use of live CCTV footage from Waterloo Station (where the scene was shot) as part of the scene. With $444 million worldwide, Ultimatum was the highest grossing Bourne flick to date, and it was the first time in decades that a rival action franchise has come anywhere near the gross of the latest Bond flick (Quantum of Solace got $586 million in 2008). It's an excellent action film, one that allowed Greengrass to combine his gritty, politically on-the-edge approach with a blockbuster budget and star-studded cast. And, it's found a home on British cable ever since. 

In 2010, Damon renunited with Greengrass on the politically-controversial action-thriller Green Zone. This was a fictionalised (although like all of his films, very much grounded in real world politics and people) telling of the hunt for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq in 2003. It shares much of the same sensibilities with the Bourne franchise, both with it's "American government is corrupt" conspiracy examinations and of course it's "on the run" chaotic aesthetic. It's a very good piece of sophisticated popcorn entertainment, with tense, taught and terrifically staged action set pieces and an solid supporting cast including Greg Kinnear, Jason Issacs and Amy Ryan. Although the only film in Greengrass' career not to "break even" with only $94 million on a $100 million budget, it didn't explicitly "loose" money either. And, Greengrass reshot the third act action finale to make it bigger in scale and more of a finish so to speak, which added $20 million to the budget, but the film's quality is far better for it though. Green Zone is still very much overlooked by people today and seen as the black mark in Greengrass' career. However, it deserves far more credit than it gets and I hold it in high regard. 

His next movie was going to be the Chris Hemsworth-led racing drama Rush...but then he heard that Ron Howard was making a film about Captain Richard Phillips with Tom Hanks. Greengrass for one couldn't miss a chance to work with Hanks, and also he felt a closer connection to Phillip's story as his Dad was in the merchant navy than the men behind Rush. Thus, Greengrass' Rush became Ron Howard's Rush and Captain Phillips became "a Paul Greengrass film". No disrespect to Howard but Captain Phillips would have been far from the masterpiece it became under Greengrass. With critical acclaim, decent box office ($218 million on a $55 million budget) and a bunch of awards success (including a win for newcomer Barkhad Abdi who won Best Supporting Actor), it's fair to say Captain Phillips is a very highly regarded movie. But, beyond all those conventional markers of success, the filmmaking and craftsmanship behind Captain Phillips by Greengrass makes the film one of the finest examples of how to make a good film. From asking screenwriter Billy Ray to rewrite the script to set it predominately out at sea (the original script was mainly set on land following Phillips and his family living normal life, I.e. far less tense), to separating the actors playing the pirates from those playing the ship's crew until they meet for the first time in the hijacking scene, Greengrass' artistic choices on Phillips were nothing short of masterful. It's perhaps his best film yet, with an excellent performance from Hanks, a killer score by Henry Jackman and a budget that goes a long way (just look at the amount of real ships they use). 

Three years later, Greengrass returned to the world of Bourne with 2016's Jason Bourne. Matt Damon returned as the titular character (their fifth collaboration in total) along with Julia Stiles as Nicky Parsons. A killer cast esembled too including Alicia Vikander, Tommy Lee Jones, Vincent Cassel and Riz Ahmed and Scott Shepherd, and the film delivered on big-scale action including a sublime fifteen minute set piece set in Athens around a riot. Critics and fans didn't hold it to the regard they did the trilogy but audiences liked it just as much ($415 million worldwide) and so did I. Look, the trilogy answered the how, what, where, when and who questions regarding Bourne's previous existence as a CIA assassin. However, we didn't know "why" he'd joined the programme in the first place. This film successfully ties up all loose ends with Bourne's character and also (because of the ten year gap between this and Ultimatum) allowed Greengrass to comment on the modern world of social media, global surveillance and internet safety all of which had changed and/or developed since the last film had been made. It's a very engaging and entertaining action flick and a worthy instalment in the franchise. 

2018 saw Greengrass return to his "based on true terrorism events" drama with his examination of the Breivik shootings in Norway with 22 July. This also saw his first run in with streaming when Netflix brought and funded the movie, as Greengrass wanted a younger, more widespread audience to watch it - and considering most young people don't go to the cinemas anymore that was crucial. It's a typical Greengrass drama - harrowing, emotional, tense and very human, and without any "big names" feels like he went back to his routes of making politically real world documentary-type movies. His screenplay also finds a surprisingly unique coming-of-age story angle to the domestic drama section of the film, and demonstrated how atune he is to poignant character-driven drama. If you have Netflix (hahaha) then you should most defiently watch this. 

Up next, he's reuniting with Tom Hanks on the western drama News of the World due to be released in December of this year/January of 2021 across the world in cinemas (fingers crossed). I'm most looking forward to this one if only because it takes him into a new genre (the western), whilst touching on his journalism routes (the film is about someone who travelled from town to town delivering news back in the past centuries) and reuniting him with Captain Phillips star Hanks. We also received word recently that ITV are making a TV series called Stephen which will act as the sequel to Greengrass' acclaimed 1999 TV movie The Murder of Stephen Lawrence. Although his involvement is only as an executive producer, it's yet more testament to the legacy that even his older, "pre-Hollywood" films are still finding audiences and being held on high regard. 

Overall, Greengrass' career shows us above all else the importance of finding your own voice and aesthetic as a fIlmmaker. Sure, his commercial and awards success, and work with Hollywood heavyweights like Matt Damon and Tom Hanks has made him one of the most known and acclaimed British film directors of recent years. But, to me his pioneering craft, expert storytelling skills and sensibilties make him one of the best storytellers to ever walk the earth. His movies are well-crafted but also escapist entertaining too. Greengrass is a true talent and his amazing success story is testament to his sheer genius.