Tony Maylam

Tony Maylam (1943) is an English-born filmmaker for cinema and television.

Biography

Trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, he began his career as an actor and then television presenter for ZDF Bermuda (The Tony Maylam Show) and the UK’s ITV (Sportsweek), before concentrating solely on filmmaking. Always interested in sport, he began his cinematic career in 1972 with the film Cup Glory, a feature length theatrical film with Richard Attenborough on the 100 years of the FA Cup. A number of films for television followed, which he wrote and directed, including Graham, on Graham Hill with Paul Newman (which was one of the highest rated documentaries shown on British television in the 1970s) and A Fast Drive in the Country with James Coburn. This led to White Rock, again featuring James Coburn, with a bestselling soundtrack by Rick Wakeman, which played in British cinemas for over six months and garnered wide international sales and recognition, including BAFTA.

Another Tony Maylam film which received an extensive cinema release in 1976 was Genesis in Concert, featuring Phil Collins, which, like White Rock, was shot in anamorphic Panavision. This led to Tony Maylam’s first fictional feature film, an adaption of the classic novel, The Riddle of the Sands, starring Simon MacCorkindale, Michael York and Jenny Agutter, which he wrote and directed.

Bob and Harvey Weinstein then bought White Rock and Genesis for release in the United States and released it under the combined title of Sensasia (Harvey at the time was a major rock promoter based in Buffalo, New York). This led to Harvey and Bob’s first venture as full movie producers, a cult horror film, The Burning, which Maylam directed and which was also the first film for Jason Alexander, Fisher Stevens and Holly Hunter. Whilst in the United States, Maylam also directed a movie for ABC television, The Sins of Dorian Gray, a 1983 made-for-TV adaptation of Oscar Wilde's novel The Picture of Dorian Gray that starred Anthony Perkins.

Tony Maylam also wrote and directed Hero, featuring Diego Maradona, the Official Film of the FIFA World Cup, which received wide acclaim during its international cinema release (including Argentina, where it was one of the biggest box-office successes of 1987).

Back in the UK, Maylam made the critically acclaimed feature-length film for the BBC, Across the Lake, starring Anthony Hopkins, which was one of the highest-rated dramas on British television throughout the 1980s.

Besides a substantial amount of commercial work for companies like Coca-Cola, Goodyear and Shell, in 1992 Maylam made a science fiction thriller, Split Second, starring Rutger Hauer, which was widely shown internationally, including the biggest print-release of any independent British film in the US. In 2001, he wrote and directed the movie thriller, Phoenix Blue, and in 2008, wrote and directed a thriller shot in Italy and London, Journal of a Contract Killer, which won Best Film and Best Actress in New York.

Tony Maylam has also recently written and directed ten major documentaries for Speed/Fox TV under the title, Victory by Design. This award-winning series is continuing its run.

He married French politician Joëlle Garriaud, nowadays a French Senator, in 1985.

Partial filmography

Director

• Cup Glory (1972)
• Genesis in concert (1976)
• White Rock (1977)
• The Riddle of the Sands (1979)
• The Burning (1981)
• The Sins of Dorian Gray (1983 - TV)
• Across the Lake (1988 - TV)
• Split Second (1992)
• Phoenix Blue (2001)
• Victory by Design (10 one-hour TV series - 2003-2008)
• Journal of a contract killer (2008)

Screenplays

• Cup Glory (1972 - co-screenplay)
• White Rock (1977)
• The Riddle of the Sands (1979 - co-screenplay)
• The Burning (1981 - co-story)
• Phoenix Blue (2001)
• Victory by Design (10 one-hour TV series - 2003-2008)
• Journal of a contract killer (2008)