Iain Softley
About
Biography
Filmography
Family & Companions
Biography
London-born Iain Softley managed to parlay his early love of music and painting into a career as a feature film director. Directing and designing theater productions as a student at Queen's College, Cambridge, made him realize his vision lent itself more to film, and he turned to the small screen, working first for a documentary unit of Granada TV. Softley then joined the BBC and created 30 "auteur documentaries" for television before becoming a successful director of music videos. While still at the BBC, he started looking for a rites-of-passage story to make into a feature film and came upon photographs of ex-Beatle Stuart Sutcliffe, who quit to become a visual artist in Germany before the band became famous. Those pictures became the inspiration for his debut "Backbeat" (1992). That film opened the door for his first US movie "Hackers" (1995), about teens wreaking havoc in cyberspace.
Softley truly broke out with Hossein Amini's adaptation of the Henry James story "The Wings of the Dove" (1997). His strong pop-culture links caused him to initially shy away from the psychologically complex work of James as "user-unfriendly for adaptation," but he became intrigued by analogies between the plot and the conventions of film noir stories, learning with interest that hard-boiled detective writer Dashiell Hammett had named James among his favorite authors. The fact that the film's denouement takes place in Venice, a city he had visited and painted as a student, clinched the deal for him. As he became immersed in it, Softley recognized "The Wings of the Dove" as a rites-of-passage story too, its love triangle similar to the one at the core of "Backbeat," and ended up directing the handsome costume drama with surprising feeling and empathy.
Four years after "The Wings of the Dove," Softley ventured into science fiction fantasy with "K-PAX" (2001), a well-intentioned, but ultimately saccharine tale about a mental patient (Kevin Spacey) claiming to be an extraterrestrial from the utopian planet of K-PAX. His psychiatrist (Jeff Bridges) tries to cure him of the apparent psychosis, but soon begins doubting his diagnosis and science in general. Though promising deep insight into human nature through its alien protagonist, "K-PAX" left audiences wanting. Another four years passed before Softley released another movie. The versatile director switched gears to helm a supernatural thriller, "The Skeleton Key" (2005), starring Kate Hudson, Gena Rowlands and John Hurt. In the murky bayous of New Orleans, a young hospice worker (Hudson) finds work as the caretaker of the owner of an isolated plantation rumored to be steeped in the mystical forces of voodoo and black magic. But the forces of evil trapped behind an attic door are unleashed, forcing the hospice worker and her patient to flee for their lives.
Filmography
Director (Feature Film)
Writer (Feature Film)
Producer (Feature Film)
Cast (Special)
Life Events
1993
Feature debut, "Backbeat"; also credited for screenplay
1995
Directed first US-produced film "Hackers" (also executive producer)
1997
Breakthrough feature "The Wings of the Dove"; based on the 1902 novel of the same name by Henry James
2001
Directed Kevin Spacey in the sci-fi feature, "K-Pax"
2005
Helmed the supernatural thriller, "Skeleton Key" with Kate Hudson, Gena Rowlands and John Hurt
2009
Directed the fantasy film "Inkheart," which is based on the book of the same name
Companions
