ANDY MORAHAN – Director
Andy spent his formative years at Pinewood Studios and around the West End, literally studying at the knee of his father, film, TV and stage director Christopher Morahan (‘Jewel in the Crown’/’Clockwise’). He graduated from St Martin’s College and was at the centre of the music video revolution in the late 80’s, through the 90’s and into the new millennium.
Many awards and international recognition followed, including the MTV Award For Best Director for George Michael’s Father Figure and Best Video for Guns N’ Roses’ November Rain.
Initially working with artists like The Tom Tom Club, Donald Fagen, Kim Wilde, The Pet Shop Boys and Wham!, Andy went on to acclaimed collaborations with a ‘who’s who’ of the rock and pop world: George Michael, Guns N’ Roses, Aerosmith, Michael Jackson, Van Halen, Bon Jovi, Elton John, Paul McCartney, Billy Joel, Tears for Fears, AC/DC… and many, many more. He was twice Grammy nominated for Long Form videos – ‘Cyndi Lauper – Live in Paris’ and ‘Michael Jackson – Live in Bucharest’.
Andy’s feature debut was ‘Highlander III’, starring Christopher Lambert, Mario van Peebles and Deborah Unger. It took more than $60m at the box office worldwide. This was followed by HBO’s ‘Murder In Mind’ starring Nigel Hawthorne, Mary Louise Parker and Jimmy Smitts. The film was entered and short-listed at the Sundance Film Festival followed by an ‘art-house’ theatrical release.
Andy then teamed up with producer Laura Gregory at Great Guns, where he directed the groundbreaking Guess Jeans ‘Cheat’ commercial. Featuring performances from Juliette Lewis and Harry Dean Stanton, the stylish and innovative piece won over 80 advertising awards worldwide, including five D&ADs, six Clios and a couple of Silver Lions at the Cannes Advertising Festival.
This was the platform that launched Andy’s commercials career, where his client list now includes Ford, Carling, Lynx, Bacardi, Barclays, Vodafone, VW, Canon, GHD and many others. More recently he was recruited by Toyota for their ‘Prius’ campaign, featuring Leonardo Di Caprio. Andy was also the first director to use Eva Mendez, Catherine Zeta Jones and Sienna Miller in commercials before their illustrious film careers.
2009 saw Andy direct the third in the hugely popular ‘Goal’ series, featuring Kuno Becker, JJ Field and Leo Gregory. Almost simultaneously came the theatrical release of ‘George Michael – Live In London’ The hugely popular concert movie was shot at Earl’s Court at the end of Michael’s 25 Live world tour, and was still on the worldwide cinema circuit over a year after its initial release.
Meanwhile, his video for Biffy Clyro’s ‘Captain’ won Best Video at both the NME and Kerrang! 2010 awards, bringing Andy’s promo successes bang up to date with a new generation of artists. At the same time, Andy was the subject of a VH1/Sky Arts documentary series ‘Video Killed the Radio Star’ on his stella career in music videos.
2011 saw Andy’s career reach a new peak, with his groundbreaking 3D concert movie for JLS, ‘JLS: Eyes Wide Open’ going straight into the UK box office at number 4. Filmed at London’s O2 Arena, The Guardian claimed that the “visual extravaganza… not only shows the guys in full concert mode, but also captures some extraordinary moments backstage…”
To round off 2013, Andy has just shot 2 commercials back-to-back for Virgin online Casino in LA and Las Vegas.
A highlight in 2014 was Andy shooting a Pepsi branded short film/promo for the ‘Beats of the Beautiful Game’ featuring the music of the artist Santigold called ‘Breaking Down the Doors’, which on relaese immediately went viral with over 2 million You Tube hits in a couple of weeks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DV8TSSiZa2E
Additionally Andy’s career hit a new high in November 2014 when asked by Sir Bob Geldof to shoot/direct the new ‘Band Aid 30’ video. Featuring a host of iconic stars including Bono, Christ Martin and One Direction amongst others, it was filmed and edited in just 36hrs and has been received with great critical acclaim not to mention helping Band Aid to raise a record amount of money to help combat the Ebola virus already.
2015/16 UPDATE has seen Andy expand his ‘live’ repertoire to include directing 7 ‘live satellite broadcasts’ from the Coliseum in London for the English National Opera into over 400 cinema screens in the UK, Ireland and Europe. These kicked off with Benjamin Britten’s ‘Peter Grimes’ and Terry Gilliam’s extravagant production of ‘Benvenuto Cellini’, which had rave reviews. The following year was followed by La Traviata and then the Mike Leigh directed ‘Pirates of Penzance’, which broke the UK Box office record for an Opera into cinemas to date and has also been snapped up by Sky Arts. The ENO 2015/16 season rounded off with productions of ‘Carmen’ in July, ‘Barber of Seville’ in October and ‘The Mikado’ in December.
http://slippedisc.com/2015/05/just-in-pirates-steal-cinema-record-for-live-opera/
Also here is link to some excerpts from Andy’s ENO Opera cinema relays:
https://vimeo.com/manage/albums/5195774
2018/19 Andy directed his own co-penned movie ‘Boogie Man’ about a 18yr old British Indian teenager who is obsessed with ‘Saturday Night Fever’ and Disco Music. Having kicked off with 2 Awards at the UK Asian Film Festival and also ‘Best Film’ at CIFF (Cardiff) in 2018 it went on to either win or feature in over 70 global Film Festivals and became one of the most successful films on that circuit. It was then released in 2019 and is now available on all the digital platforms including Amazon Prime, Sky Movies and Virgin Media player amongst others.
See link to the film’s promo teaser:
https://vimeo.com/2698800732023
Andy is currently in development on a varied slate of other Film/TV and Musical projects:
- ‘Exit’ – A classic ‘heist movie’ co-written by Andy and Brad Mirman, it will be Produced by Guy Collins, Michael Ryan and Fred Hedman at GFM Films. Set to shoot in 2024 with Andy directing.
- ‘Salvator – The Killing Road’ – A TV drama series created with Shaun Leavy and Foster Marks, this is a story based on the illegal Ivory trade and primarily set in the ‘killing fields’ of Africa but extending to the Asian sub-continent and China. It is an action-style thriller motivated by conservation. It is being developed by I-Generation Studios with Ed Glauser, Michael Shyjka and Maddy Hopson Exec. Producing. Neil Biswas (Lucky Man) is writing and showrunning. Sizzle Reel: https://vimeo.com/434398984
- ‘Showtime’ – A dystopian movie set in the future where music and dance has been suppressed and banned as culturally indulgent and the fight-back is forced underground to regroup before rising up to challenge the authorities. Based on an idea and Music video (‘Show Me’) from Aston Merrygold (JLS), it is being co-written and developed by Andy and Jay Wheddon: Sizzle reel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMlTG1wICbw
- ‘Toilers of the Sea’ – A film based on the Victor Hugo novel Les Travailleurs de la Mer’, this is a seafaring adventure about the single-handed rescue of a shipwrecked boat that was deemed impossible to salvage. Co-written by Andy it is set to shoot in Guernsey and Malta later in 24 with Joy Mellins, Dave Shanks Ray Davies Producing. Sizzle Reel: https://vimeo.com/403645715
- ‘Ruth’ – A Musical film and stage show written by Caroline Slocock and John Cameron (‘Les Miserables’). It is being work-shopped at the moment and due to be staged and filmed in 2023/24. Sizzle trailer: https://vimeo.com/619687703 Password: Ruthless55
- ‘The Gunpowder Plot’ – Co-written with Foster Marks. In development.
- ‘Dai of the Dead’ – A Zombie comedy thriller set in Wales with an ear-splitting heavy-metal soundtrack from Benji Webbe and Skindred. Written by Richard Williams and to be directed by Andy in 2024.
To see more of Andy’s work follow these link to his websites:
Or just enjoy his ‘Director’s Montage’: https://vimeo.com/152415614