Nigel Simpkiss, whose credentials include being lead director on BBC’s Emmy Award®-winning motor vehicle series Top Gear, has signed with BRW Group for commercial representation, meaning he will be handled in the U.S. by BRW USA, and the rest of the world (except North America) by London-based Independent. Simpkiss joins BRW from Streetlight Films which repped him in the U.S. and U.K.
The director’s body of work spans music videos, documentaries and commercials, with such notable credits as the documentary Richard Hammond Meet Evel Knievel, and spots for the likes of Aston Martin, Nokia, Land Rover, Subaru, Polaris and Jaguar.
Born just outside the industrial hub of Birmingham, England, Simpkiss briefly studied social work at the University of Bristol before stumbling upon the Fine Arts Department and discovering his passion for photography. His love for all things cinema brought him to London, where he eventually landed his big break at Channel 4, working as a runner at editorial house Component Editing. He quickly climbed the ranks to become editor, working on many well-regarded documentaries produced by Channel 4. With the resurgence of music videos, Simpkiss soon found himself doing a great deal of freelance editing on such top music videos as Primal Scream’s “Loaded,” eventually segueing into directing music video segments himself. After spending a few years freelance directing music videos and music documentaries, he began filming cars, serving as a director for numerous high-profile car shows.
Hearing through the grapevine that BBC’s Top Gear–which had been dropped by the U.K. network–was being revived and in need of a fresh new take, Simpkiss employed his extensive skills in both automotive and documentary filmmaking, as well as his desire to make the show more cinematic, to land a job as a series director. Through his Top Gear acclaim, where he continues to direct today, Simpkiss was chosen to helm commercials for many of the U.K.’s top automakers.
Though highly experienced in automotive directing, his passion lies in his documentary film roots. Simpkiss said, “I would like to move in the direction of making more documentary-style commercials where people express their passion about what they do.”
Simpkiss recently directed the BAFTA-nominated South America Special documentary, where he led the production through a Bolivian rainforest under the debilitating effects of high altitude and the terrifying sheer drops of the infamous Death Road.
Simpkiss currently resides north of London.
George Clooney Revisits Edward R. Murrow In Broadway Version Of “Good Night, and Good Luck”
George Clooney made waves in July when he called on Joe Biden to drop out of the presidential race, citing diminished capacity. For Clooney, there wasn't a choice to stay silent.
"I was raised to tell the truth and telling the truth means telling it when it's not comfortable," the actor-director and big Democratic booster tells The Associated Press. "I did what I was raised and taught to do. That's it."
There was inevitable backlash — just as there was back when he was branded a traitor for speaking out against the invasion of Iraq — but Clooney took the hits.
"Telling the truth to power or taking chances like that —we've seen it over our history," he says. "We've been here and survived these things and we will survive it."
Clooney's truth-to-power stance takes another step this spring as he makes his Broadway debut, telling the story of legendary reporter Edward R. Murrow in an adaptation of his 2005 film "Good Night, and Good Luck." Performances starts March 12.
Murrow, who died in 1965, is considered one of the architects of U.S. broadcast news and perhaps his greatest moment was opposing Sen. Joe McCarthy, who cynically created paranoia of a communist threat in the 1950s.
"This is a story about who we are at our best, when we hold our own feet to the fire, when we check and balance ourselves," says Clooney. "What's scary about now and the difference between Murrow's time is that we've now decided that truth is negotiable."
Movie versus play
In the movie version — which Clooney co-wrote with Grant Heslov — the role of Murrow went to David Strathairn and Clooney played CBS executive Fred Friendly; this time, Clooney takes up the mantle of Murrow. When he and Heslov did a reading... Read More