‘Hanna’ Director Joe Wright: ‘I’m Very Much a British Filmmaker’

Joe Wright

British director Joe Wright, best known for highbrow period dramas, says he has no plans to become a Hollywood fixture even though his new just released action thriller Hanna smacks of mainstream appeal.

The filmmaker says: “I lived in L.A. for a year and a few months — and that was quite enough for me.”

Wright’s credits include Pride and Prejudice and Atonement, both critically lauded pictures. “I do consider myself to be very much a British filmmaker and hope to remain so,” he says.

But he knows it’s impossible to ignore the studio system: “I think you can’t avoid Hollywood if you make films in the English language, but at the same time I’d like to balance it.”

Hanna, starring Saoirse Ronan and Cate Blanchett has been receiving some excellent reviews. When Variety, one of America’s top entertainment industry papers, describes your film as “an exuberantly crafted chase thriller that pulses with energy,” Wright may find the big studios come calling with action film offers that might be very hard to refuse.

Tom Brook‘s reports on cinema can be seen every Tuesday and Thursday morning on BBC America.