On February 10 local time, British director Hugh Hudson (Hugh Hudson), who was well-known for directing films such as "Chariots of Fire" and "Prince of Tarzan", died suddenly at Charing Cross Road Hospital in London at the age of 86.

Hugh Hudson was born on August 25, 1936 and is a native of London. He came from a wealthy family, and he went to prestigious schools all the way. He also continued the tradition of three generations of his ancestors and became a well-known alumnus of Eton College. However, throughout his life, he has always expressed his dislike for this experience, and he has a strong aversion to the deep-rooted class differences and birth prejudices in British society.

Hugh Hudson

In his twenties, Hudson co-founded an independent film company specializing in television documentaries and commercials. In 1968, brothers Ridley Scott and Tony Scott founded the RSA advertising agency, and Alan Parker, Hugh Hudson and Hugh Johnson (Hugh Johnson) were also of similar age. Joined in and shot a lot of commercials together. In the future, the Scott brothers, Parker and Hudson all became outstanding directors, and Johnson became a photographer, serving as the director of photography for films such as "Devil Soldier" and "Interstellar Legend 2".

Looking back on this experience, Alan Parker, who passed away in 2020, once recalled that in Britain in the 1960s, the film industry had not yet emerged from the shadow of "World War II". To be able to become a normal channel for film directors, so I had no choice but to shoot TV commercials in a swarm, but also honed my skills and laid a solid foundation. Now, with the death of Hugh Hudson, only the 85-year-old Ridley Scott and the 81-year-old Adrian Lyne (Adrian Lyne) are still alive in this group of British directors who made commercials. .

In this way, Hudson's advertising career lasted for several years, and he has filmed more than 1,500 TV commercials. He also won the Golden Lion Award at the Cannes Advertising Festival in France many times for his commercials for Levi's jeans and other products. It wasn't until 1978 when Hudson was 42 years old that he had his first chance to shoot a feature film.

Hudson first served as the group director of "Midnight Express" under Alan Parker, who had realized his dream one step earlier. Fortunately, it didn't take long for an opportunity to appear in front of him. "Midnight Express" producer David Puttnam (David Puttnam) accidentally read the inspirational story of Eric Liddell's participation in the 1924 Olympic track and field competition, and decided to put it on the screen. Putnam is also an advertising man, and has known Hudson for many years, coupled with the pleasant experience of cooperating with "Midnight Express", so he made a decision to let Hudson, who had never made a feature film before, take on the burden of director. This work is the famous "Fire Express".

Hudson and soundtrack master Vangelis (right)

During the filming of "Chariots of Fire", Hudson insisted that he must find a newcomer in the film industry to play the leading role. It was also he who thought of inviting composer Vangelis, who had collaborated with many TV commercials before, to make the soundtrack. As far as the final result is concerned, these two decisions of his have received perfect results.

Hudson (left) and Ben Cross on the set of Chariots of Fire

At the end of March 1981, "Chariots of Fire" began to be screened in the UK, which quickly triggered a movie-watching boom, and finally became the UK box office champion in 1981. At the Oscars in the following year, "Chariots of Fire", which was nominated for seven items, won four awards for best picture, screenplay, costume and soundtrack in one fell swoop. ", but for a first-time feature film director, this was already a great success-he lost to Warren Beatty again at the Directors Guild of America Awards that year, and in At the British Academy Film Awards, he lost to Louis Malle for "Atlantic City."

The blockbuster Hudson soon received an invitation from Hollywood. At that time, "Prince of Tarzan", which Warner Bros. had been projecting for many years, was looking for someone to take over because of the withdrawal of the original director Robert Towne. The novel "Tarzan of the Apes" was published in the distant 1914. Due to its popularity with readers, not only dozens of sequels have been published successively, but also since 1918, the series of movies have been filmed one after another, which can be called Hollywood. One of the most valued ace IPs. In 1974, Warner re-bought the copyright of the novel and found Robert Towne, the ace screenwriter who wrote "Chinatown", to adapt it. Tang En admired his script very much and decided to direct it himself. Unfortunately, during this period, his directorial debut "Personal Best" (Personal Best) received poor response and poor box office, and was forced by Warner to withdraw from the "Prince of Tarzan" project .

Like "Chariots of Fire", Hudson still insists on using newcomers to take the lead. So the little-known Christopher Lambert got the chance to star in "Prince Tarzan". According to Hudson, that's because Lambert is severely short-sighted, but the foggy feeling when looking at things instead gave him the sense of mystery needed to play Tarzan. In the end, "Prince of Tarzan" was well-received and popular, which made Hudson full of confidence and boldly took over the director contract of the new film "Revolution".

The cast of "Revolution" is Golden Crown Films from London. As an independent film company, Golden Crown participated in the establishment of "Chariots of Fire", and also participated in major productions such as "The Biography of Gandhi" and "The Killing Fields". At that time, it had become the most powerful production company in the British film industry. However, the American Civil War theme like "Revolution" is obviously beyond the capabilities of Golden Crown Films and Hudson. The cost of the film was greatly overrun, and after a hasty release, the North American box office was only about 300,000 US dollars, which caused the Golden Crown Film Company to lose nearly 10 million pounds in one fell swoop, and its vitality was greatly damaged.

That year, the American Film Golden Raspberry Award, which was aimed at ridicule, also gave Hudson a nomination for the worst director of the year. Fortunately, the director of "Rocky 4" Stallone was at the bottom, which did not make Hudson "successful" It is an indisputable fact that his career as a director has gone downhill.

After that, Hudson's two consecutive works "Lost Angel" and "April Day in England" both followed the independent film route. Now it seems that these two works have their own merits, but at that time, due to market and distribution factors, they did not arouse much response. "Sleepwalking in Africa", which was released in 2000, once again became a box office poison. The production cost of more than 50 million US dollars was only exchanged for a global box office of 15 million US dollars, which caused the producer Sony Pictures to complain.

Hudson (right) and Al Pacino on the set of "Revolution"

After that, Hudson once began to direct stage plays and operas. However, his movie dreams still seem to be fulfilled, and the media occasionally broke news about which epic masterpiece he was planning, but most of them ended in vain. In 2008, Hudson, who was not convinced, re-edited "Revolution", found the leading actor Al Pacino, and spent five days re-dubbing the narration, hoping to make the original fragmented story line smoother . After the director's cut version of "Revolution" was re-released on DVD, the media's evaluation of it did improve. Philip French, the chief film critic of the British "Observer" at the time, even called it "a profound, poetic and innovative film masterpiece". to be sure.

Hudson at the premiere of "Altamira" in 2016

In 2016, after 16 years, Hudson made a new film "Altamira". The film, starring Antonio Banderas, is about the discovery of the rock paintings in the Altamira cave, a national treasure in Spain, and became Hudson's last directorial work during his lifetime.

In 1999, the British Film Institute (BFI) selected the top 100 British films in film history, and "Chariots of Fire" ranked 19th. At the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympic Games, "Mr. Bean" Rowan Atkinson cooperated with the London Symphony Orchestra to reinterpret the theme melody of "Chariots of Fire". This classic movement composed by Vangelis , who passed away last year, was also used as the theme song at the athlete awards ceremony, resounding again and again in the London arena.