Guy Ritchie

Guy Stuart Ritchie 

10 September 1968

An English director, producer and screenwriter. Ritchie, who is dyslexic, was expelled from Stanbridge Earls School at the age of 15. He also attended Sibford School. Ritchie directed a 20-minute short film in 1995 entitled "The Hard Case". In 1998, Ritchie and his dad contacted their friend Peter Morton, of the Hard Rock Cafe chain, wondering if he had any potential investors for a debut film, Morton knew his nephew Matthew Vaughn had been studying film production in Los Angeles. 

As director, producer, writer

• The Hard Case (1995)
• Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)
• Snatch (2000)
• The Hire: Star (2001)
• Mean Machine (2001)
• Swept Away (2002)
• Revolver (2005)
• RocknRolla (2008)
• Sherlock Holmes (2009)
• Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011)
• The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015)
• King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017)

Quotations

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I'm not under too much of an illusion of how smart or un-smart I am because filmmaking ultimately is about teamwork.

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You get a different kick out of all aspects of filmmaking.

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The best thing to do is find one person in your life and try to love them unconditionally. If you've accomplished that, you've accomplished a lot.

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We're quite volatile as individuals, but that doesn't work exponentially when we are together. Relationships are about eating humble pie.

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It's not easy to strap yourself down to a desk and bash on a keyboard when you know you can direct lots of films, because directing films is fun and interactive and gregarious. Writing isn't.

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The English countryside is the most staggeringly beautiful place. I can't spend as much time there as I like, but I like everything about it.

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If somebody has a better idea than me, I'll take it if it surpasses what we have on the page because at the end of the day, it's me that takes the credit anyway!

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I like death. I'm a big fan of it.

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I got into film-making because I was interested in making entertaining movies, which I felt there was a lack of.

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I love fatherhood. I could bang on about kids forever.

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In fact, 95% of the people in my films have been nothing less than a pleasure to work with.

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The idea is that that there is no such thing as an external enemy.

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What I liked about American movies when I was a kid was that they're sort of larger than life and I think I'm still suffering from that reaction.

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I got too fed up with films that didn't make you think. I liked the idea of one that you'd have to be dancing around with. I like my mind to be engaged when I watch a film.

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My principal job is to make interesting and entertaining films, and I'm not proud of which format or which particular technique I use. I just wanted the film to look good.

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They're all based on factual characters. Well, a good amount of them. That's why I was attracted to this genre anyways, because these characters are so large and cartoonish, they're like caricatures, I just felt that there had to be a film made about them.

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We always have a take that's 'one for fun', so once you've got what you need, you can do what you like. Something does occasionally pop out of that tree. I'm always open to ideas.

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Other than the fact that I like a country house, I can't think of anything I'd want to spend my money on.

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I think there's a natural system in your own head about how much violence the scene warrants. It's not an intellectual process, it's an instinctive process.

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