Film producer Jeremy Thomas dies in the United Kingdom
Film producer Jeremy Thomas, known for his work on the films “The Last Emperor,” Sexy Beast and High-Rise, has died in the United Kingdom at the age of 77. A representative for Thomas said that he died peacefully on Friday at his country home in Oxfordshire, surrounded by family and loved ones.
As The Guardian reports, Thomas began producing feature films in the early 1970s. He collaborated with directors Nicolas Roeg, David Cronenberg and Bernardo Bertolucci.
The success of “The Last Emperor”
One of Thomas’s first major successes was Bertolucci’s “The Last Emperor.” The film, which the producer had to finance himself, won nine Academy Awards, including for Best Picture.
Thomas later chaired the British Film Institute and received a BAFTA award for outstanding contribution to British cinema. He was born in 1949 into a family closely connected with the film industry: his father, Ralph Thomas, was a director, while his uncle, Gerald Thomas, directed all 30 films in the Carry On series.
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Jeremy Thomas began his career as an assistant editor, working on The Harder They Come and Ken Loach’s Family Life. He received his first producer credit for 1976’s Mad Dog Morgan, in which Dennis Hopper played a 19th-century Australian criminal.
Collaboration with directors
Among the producer’s other works were Nicolas Roeg’s Bad Timing, Insignificance and Eureka; Jerzy Skolimowski’s The Shout; Nagisa Oshima’s Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence; Bertolucci’s The Sheltering Sky and Little Buddha; as well as Cronenberg’s Naked Lunch.
Thomas suggested that Cronenberg adapt James Graham Ballard’s Crash. The film caused considerable controversy, and local authorities banned it in several areas of the United Kingdom. The producer later worked on Jonathan Glazer’s Sexy Beast, David Mackenzie’s Young Adam, Terry Gilliam’s Tideland, Jim Jarmusch’s Only Lovers Left Alive, Ben Wheatley’s High-Rise, as well as Matteo Garrone’s Tale of Tales and Dogman.
In 2019, Mark Cousins made a documentary about Thomas, travelling with him by car from the United Kingdom to the Cannes Film Festival for the screening of Garrone’s Pinocchio. The film was shown at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival. Thomas also directed All the Little Animals, starring Christian Bale, which was released in 1999. His final film, Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo, directed by Takashi Miike, premieres on Monday at the Toronto Film Festival.
