Edward Berger has had a wonderful year. Patrick Melrose, the five-part series he directed, won five Emmy nominations, including Best Director and Best Limited Series. On the back of that, he was chosen to direct the psychological thriller, Rio, written by Peaky Binders creator, Steven Knight, and starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Benedict Cumberbatch. He has recently completed the feature film, All My Loving, which he wrote and directed. It is slated for a Spring 2019 release. And he has just been signed by Sweetshop for commercial and long-form projects globally.
Edward Berger
Patrick Melrose was called “a brilliant portrayal of addiction” by The Guardian reviewer, Sam Wollaston, and “dark, funny and never less than impressive,” by the Sydney Morning Herald’s Karl Quinn. “We were always talking about this as being the most ambitious of film-making in television, which is to make television as rich and diverse, as visually-alluring, enthralling and novel and entertaining as you possibly can on the small screen,” he stated in a web interview in June. Patrick Melrose is based on a series of novels by Edward St. Aubyn, found by Benedict Cumberbatch some years ago. It follows the life of Melrose from the early 1980s to the early 21st century as he battles addictions to alcohol and drugs, suicidal thoughts and a tattered family. Melrose is played by Cumberbatch. His co-stars include Jennifer Jason Leigh, Hugo Weaving, Jessica Raine, Holliday Grainger and Blythe Danner.
https://youtu.be/UJ-KKSiah6U
Berger also directed the two-hour premiere of this year’s AMC series, The Terror. Set in 1848 to chronicle a Royal Naval expedition to the treacherous Northwest Passage, the series was an incredible technical undertaking.
The Channel 4 series, Deutschland ’83, directed by Berger, received remarkable reviews and won an International Emmy for Best Drama.
The feature film, Jack, directed by Berger premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival, won Best Director and Best Picture at the German Director’s Guild Awards, and won a Silver German Academy Award for Best Picture.
Berger wrote and directed his first feature, Gomez, in 1997 and in 2012 he won the prestigious German Grimme Award for his film, A Good Summer.
At the 2017 Berlin International Film Festival, he was named one of Ten Europeans to Watch by Variety Magazine.
Berger also directed the satirical Die Limo campaign for Granini, starring German TV personalities, Joko Winterscheidt and Klaas Heufer-Umlauf.
Edward Pontifex, managing director and executive producer of Sweetshop Australia, commented, “Edward is a very exciting signing for us in Australia and he’s the kind of director that we think agencies and clients will be very keen to work with. He’s worked with some incredible talent, including some of the best character actors in cinema and TV. His skills make him immediately relevant for commercials and a truly exciting proposition.”
Berger added, “As I love to dive into different aspects of filmmaking on every new project I embark on, I am hugely excited to broaden my mind with commercial work and I’m humbled by the endless possibilities Sweetshop’s global network will offer me.”
Watch Edward’s recent work here. To work with Berger, contact Edward Pontifex.
