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Dexter Fletcher

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dexter Fletcher
Fletcher in 2019
Born (1966-01-31) 31 January 1966 (age 58)
Enfield, Greater London, England
Occupations
  • Film director
  • actor
Years active1976–present
Spouse
​
(m. 1997)​

Dexter Fletcher (born 31 January 1966) is an English film director and actor. He has appeared in Guy Ritchie's Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, as well as in television shows such as the comedy drama Hotel Babylon and the HBO series Band of Brothers and, earlier in his career, starred as Spike Thomson in the comedy drama Press Gang. His earliest acting role was playing Baby Face in the 1976 film Bugsy Malone.

Fletcher made his directorial debut with Wild Bill (2011), and also directed Sunshine on Leith (2013) and Eddie the Eagle (2015). He replaced Bryan Singer as director of Bohemian Rhapsody, a biopic about the band Queen, released in October 2018; due to DGA rules, he received executive producer credit. In 2019, he directed Rocketman, a biographical film based on the life and music of performer Elton John.

Career

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Fletcher trained at the Anna Scher Theatre.[1] His first film part was as Baby Face in Bugsy Malone (1976). He made his stage début the following year in a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. As a youth actor he was regularly featured in British productions in the early 1980s, including The Long Good Friday, The Elephant Man and The Bounty. In 1987 Fletcher was cast in Lionheart. As an adult he appeared on television as the rebellious teenager Spike Thomson in Press Gang and in Murder Most Horrid (1991) with Dawn French. He has also starred in the films Caravaggio (1986), The Rachel Papers (1989), Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998), Layer Cake (2004), AffirmFilm's Solomon as Rehoboam and Universal's Doom.[2]

He appeared as Puck in Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream in 1981 at Glyndebourne Opera and on their autumn tour,[3] and then again in 1990 in an Opera London production at Sadler's Wells,[4] subsequently recorded by Virgin Classics.[5]

On television Fletcher has appeared in the major HBO drama, Band of Brothers and in a supporting role in the BBC One historical drama The Virgin Queen (US PBS 2005, UK 2006). He also appeared in Kylie Minogue's music video for "Some Kind of Bliss" (1997). He starred on BBC One in a series based on Imogen Edwards-Jones's book Hotel Babylon that ran for four series before being cancelled in 2009.[1] He also appeared in "The Booby and the Beast", an episode in the second series of the BBC's series Robin Hood and in the 2008 radio series The Way We Live Right Now. He appeared in the Bo' Selecta! spinoff A Bear's Tail as The Scriptwriter. He played a brief role in the BBC series New Tricks, in the episode "Final Curtain", as an actor named Tommy Jackson. In 2009, he also appeared in Misfits as Nathan Young's dad, reprising the role in 2010 for the second series.

Fletcher has been the voice for McDonald's television adverts and (feigning a US accent) is the narrator of The Game audio book written by Neil Strauss. He also narrated the Five series Airforce Afghanistan, as well as the Chop Shop: London Garage series on the Discovery Channel. In 1993, he was the voice of Prince Cinders in the short animated comedy of the same name. Also in 1993, he was the uncredited UNIT soldier narrator of the UNIT Recruiting Film – a five-minute spoof piece that preceded a BBC1 repeat of the sixth and final episode of Doctor Who story Planet of the Daleks.[6] In 2014 he narrated the BBC1 show Del Boys and Dealers. In 1998, Fletcher featured on the song "Here Comes the Flood" from the album Fin de Siecle by The Divine Comedy.

Directing

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Fletcher's debut as a director was for a script he co-wrote, Wild Bill,[7] which was released on 20 March 2012. His second film as director is a musical film by Stephen Greenhorn, Sunshine on Leith based around the popular Proclaimers songs which were released on 4 October 2013.[8] In 2015, he directed the feature film Eddie the Eagle. In December 2017, Fletcher was announced as Bryan Singer's replacement director on the Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody. The film was released in November 2018. While Fletcher had helped finish the film, Singer received sole directing credit and he received executive producer credit.[9] Fletcher directed the 2019 biopic Rocketman about the life and music of Elton John. In February 2020, he signed on to direct a reboot of The Saint for Paramount Pictures.[10] He also directed the Apple TV+ feature film Ghosted, which was released in April 2023.[11][12]

Personal life

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Fletcher was born in Enfield, the youngest of three boys, in North London, and grew up with his brothers in Woodford Green and Palmers Green; his parents were teachers.[13]

In 1997 he married Lithuanian film and theatre director Dalia Ibelhauptaitė in Westminster.[14] His best man was fellow actor Alan Rickman.[1] Dexter's brothers were also actors; Graham Fletcher-Cook[15] and Steve Fletcher.[16] Fletcher is a dual British and Lithuanian citizen, having been granted Lithuanian citizenship in recognition of his work promoting Lithuanian cultural affairs.[17]

Filmography

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Acting credits

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Key
† Denotes works that have not yet been released
Films
Year Title Role Notes
1973 Steptoe and Son Ride Again Small Boy
1976 Bugsy Malone Babyface
1979 The Long Good Friday The boy who asks for money to watch Harold's car
1980 The Elephant Man Bytes' Boy
1984 The Bounty Able Seaman Thomas Ellison
1985 Revolution Ned Dobb
1986 Caravaggio Young Caravaggio
1988 Didn't You Kill My Brother? Bike thief
The Raggedy Rawney Tom
1989 The Rachel Papers Charles Highway
Twisted Obsession Malcolm Greene
1991 All Out Angelo
1993 Prince Cinders Prince Cinders
1996 Jude Priest
1997 The Man Who Knew Too Little Otto
1998 Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels Soap
1999 Topsy-Turvy Louis
Tube Tales Joe Segment: Mr Cool
2000 The Patriot Cornwallis' tailor/valet
2002 Below Kingsley
2003 Stander Lee McCall
2004 The Secret of Year Six Mike
Layer Cake Cody
2005 Doom Marcus "Pinky" Pinzerowski
2006 Tristan & Isolde Orick
2007 Stardust Skinny Pirate
2008 Autumn Michael
2010 Kick-Ass Cody
Amaya Frenchman
Dead Cert Eddie Christian
2011 Jack Falls Detective Edwards
Fedz Hunter
The Three Musketeers D'Artagnan's father
Wild Bill Mysterious Barry
2012 Coven Mr. Sheers
St George's Day Levi
2014 Muppets Most Wanted Cameo; deleted scenes
Respectable: The Mary Millington Story Narrator
2016 Smoking Guns Paul McVeigh
2018 Terminal Vince
Sherlock Gnomes Reggie Voice role
2023 Ghosted Raoul
2023 Love at First Sight Val
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1978 Les Miserables Gavroche TV film
1989 Press Gang James (Spike) Thomson
The Bill Tony Gillespie Episode: "The Strong Survive"
1993–1994 GamesMaster Presenter Season 3
1997 The Famous Five Lou
Solomon Rehoboam
2001 Band of Brothers John Martin
2003 The Deal Charlie Whelan TV film
2004 The Virgin Queen Thomas Radclyffe, 3rd Earl of Sussex
2006–2009 Hotel Babylon Tony Casemore 32 episodes
2007 Robin Hood Count Friedrich 1 episode
2008 New Tricks Tommy Jackson Episode: "Final Curtain"
2009 Misfits Mike Young
2011 White Van Man Ian
2013 Death in Paradise Grant, The Cabin Barman
2014 Rev. Mike Tobin Episode: 3.3
Mount Pleasant Gus
2020 I Hate Suzie Benjamin

Filmmaking credits

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Year Title Director Executive
producer 		Writer Notes
1999 Let the Good Times Roll No No Yes Short film
2010 Just for the Record No Yes No
Dead Cert No Yes No
2011 Wild Bill Yes No Yes
2013 Sunshine on Leith Yes No No
2015 Eddie the Eagle Yes No No
2018 Bohemian Rhapsody No Yes No Replaced Bryan Singer as director for the final two weeks of filming;
Received credit as executive producer in accordance with DGA rules
2019 Rocketman Yes No No
2022 The Offer Yes Yes No Directed 2 episodes
2023 Ghosted Yes No No

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Dexter Fletcher". BBC Drama. Retrieved 2 December 2007.
  2. ^ "Dexter Fletcher". IMDb.
  3. ^ Blyth, Alan. Review of A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Apollo Theatre in Oxford. Opera, December 1981, Vol.32 No.12 p1294.
  4. ^ Goodwin, Noel. Review of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Opera, Vol.41 No.12 p1502-03.
  5. ^ CD Review Benjamin Britten, A Midsummer Night’s Dream Op. 64, Virgin Classics 3818322. accessed 4 March 2024.
  6. ^ "UNIT Recruiting Film". Doctor Who Guide. Retrieved 8 June 2018.
  7. ^ acast (21 May 2019). "Dexter Fletcher • Distraction Pieces Podcast with Scroobius Pip #269 | Distraction Pieces Podcast with Scroobius Pip on acast". acast. Retrieved 22 May 2019.
  8. ^ "Curtis Brown". www.Curtis brown.co.uk.
  9. ^ Dexter Fletcher Replaces Bryan Singer On 'Bohemian Rhapsody' Deadline. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
  10. ^ Justin Kroll (18 February 2020). "'Rocketman' Filmmaker Dexter Fletcher to Direct 'The Saint' Reboot (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved 29 January 2023.
  11. ^ "'Ghosted' Director Implies That Apple Used Algorithm Data Instead of His Own Vision". World of Reel. 19 August 2019.
  12. ^ [1]
  13. ^ "Fame and fortune: Dexter Fletcher". Daily Telegraph. 14 February 2008. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 22 May 2019.
  14. ^ "Marriages England and Wales 1984–2005". Archived from the original on 4 November 2015. Retrieved 8 January 2009.
  15. ^ Graham Fletcher-Cook at IMDb [unreliable source?]
  16. ^ Steve Fletcher at IMDb [unreliable source?]
  17. ^ "Lietuvos pilietybę gavęs Dexteris Fletcheris: tai įkvepia stengtis, siekiant, kad Lietuvos vardas būtų dar svarbesnis pasaulio kontekste". Lithuanian Radio and Television. 20 May 2021.

Bibliography

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  • Holmstrom, John. The Moving Picture Boy: An International Encyclopaedia from 1895 to 1995. Norwich, Michael Russell, 1996, pp. 358–360.
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