Jeremy Thomas the beloved Oscar-winning UK producer who won the best picture Oscar for The Last Emperor, has died. He was 77.
Thomas, a former chairman of the British Film Institute, passed away peacefully at his country home in Oxfordshire late on Friday (September 11), surrounded by family and loved ones.
He began his career in the cutting rooms working on Ken Loach’s Family Life and Perry Henzell The Harder They Come and at the age of 27 made the first of more than 40 films in his career. His credits include Sexy Beast and Naked Lunch.
The rousing success of Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Last Emperor, which won nine Academy Awards in 1988, propelled Thomas to the pinnacle of industry renown.
Thomas enjoyed a 17-year collaboration with the Italian director that resulted in five features, and there were other notable long-lasting working relationships with the likes of Nicolas Roeg, David Cronenberg, Jerzy Skolimowski, Matteo Garrone, and Takeshi Miike.
Based in London throughout his career, Thomas worked with directors from all over the world and in 2006 he received an Outstanding European Achievement in World Cinema award from the European Film Academy. Thomas founded HanWay Films in 1998.
His latest collaboration was with Miike on Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo, which premieres at TIFF on Monday.
More to follow…
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