British director Michael Apted died at age 79.
The filmmaker and documentary filmmaker was known for films such as Gorillas in the Mist and Coal Miner’s Daughter, as well as for his long series of documentaries Up.
His death was confirmed by his agency to the Hollywood Reporter. No additional details are known.
Apted’s career started in the 1960s on the small screen and, in 1964, he participated in the Seven Up! as part of current affairs, show World in Action. He helped director Paul Almond to interview 14 seven-year-old children and continued to revisit them independently every seven years throughout their lives. The most recent, 63 Up, was released in 2019 and the director referred to it as “the most important thing I’ve ever done”. The series as a whole won the Peabody Award in 2012.
“The series was an attempt to take a long-term view of English society,” Apted said in an interview last year. “The class system needed a kick in the back.”
In promoting the most recent edition, Apted expressed the desire to continue seven years from now, saying that he would continue as long as he “could breathe and speak”.
In the 1970s, Apted made his film debut, directing World War II drama The Triple Echo, starring Oliver Reed and Glenda Jackson. But he saw his first big hit in cinema in 1980 with Coal Miner’s Daughter, a biopic by Loretta Lynn starring Sissy Spacek. She was nominated for seven Oscars, winning one for Spacek as best actress.
Apted directed Sigourney Weaver in Gorillas in the Mist, a film that also received five Oscar nominations; Nell, who received an Oscar nomination from Jodie Foster; Kate Winslet’s drama, Enigma; the Jennifer Lopez Enough thriller and, more recently, the action movie Unlocked, starring Noomi Rapace.
“What I like about women in the center of the movies is that I think a female character brings a lot of emotion to a story, whatever it is,” he said in a 2017 interview. “Whether it’s a woman with gorillas or a music singer country, a woman’s emotional life – at least on the surface – is more dramatic than a man’s. ”
He also directed the James Bond adventure The World is Not Enough and the fantasy sequel The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.
Apted was remembered by his peers on Twitter, including Paul Feig, director of Bridesmaids.
“Very, very sad to hear about the passing of Michael Apted,” Feig I wrote. “He was always so kind to me and I was a huge admirer of his work.”
Gale Anne Hurd, producer of Aliens and The Terminator, tweeted: “Another legendary filmmaker is gone… a brilliant documentary filmmaker and a wonderful colleague. Do yourself a favor and take a look at his incredible filmography. “
Apted leaves his wife, Paige Simpson, sons Jim and John, and daughter Lily Mellis.