An extremely gifted and prolific playwright and screenwriter, Lee Hall garnered an Oscar nomination for his feature debut effort, the crowd-pleasing "Billy Elliot" (2000). Born and raised in the coal mining region, Hall drew on personal memories to flesh out this tale of a miner's son who has aspirations to become a ballet dancer. Set against the backdrop of a 1984 strike that nearly economically crippled the area, "Billy Elliot" functioned on several levels. It was at its core a family story but the scenes of the striking miners served as an historical reminder to British audiences and an education to those in other countries.Hall began to develop an interest in dramatic writing while attending Cambridge (where he first met "Billy"'s director Stephen Daldry). While on holiday to the USA in 1993, he fell in love and remained in NYC, beginning work on several projects that would later reach fruition. Upon his return to England, Hall enjoyed his first taste of success with the radio plays "I Luv You Jimmy Spud" (1996, about a boy who forms a relationship with the Angel Gabriel in the hopes of saving his dying father) and "Spoonface Steinberg" (1997, a monologue by a nine-year-old autistic girl stricken with leukemia). These two works established dominant themes that have flowed through his work. His characters tend to be from the north of England and belong to the working classes. Additionally, Hall approaches the stories with an unwavering sense of honesty that is laced with benevolence; no matter how bleak a situation, there is always hope.
Hall's output has been so varied that he defies categorization. Many believed only a woman could pen the empathetic "Spoonface Steinberg" while others could not fathom that the same person wrote the ribald comic tale of "Cooking With Elvis", a 1999 award-winner about a paraplegic Presley impersonator and his dysfunctional family. Nor was it likely the same individual was behind "The Student Prince" (BBC, 1997), a sort of modern twist on "Cyrano de Bergerac" featuring a naive royal and his clever bodyguard. Yet, all emanated from his pen.
In addition to his original work, Hall has also carved a niche as an acclaimed translator and has enjoyed success with his stage adaptations of such varied plays as Buchner's "Leonce and Lena", Goldoni's "The Servant of Two Masters", and Brecht's "Mother Courage". He also has continued to create new works for the radio ("Child of the Rain", "Child of the Snow") and the stage (the monologue "Two's Company"). Hall adapted several of his radio dramas for the stage, and although he worked on the film script for the screen version of "I Luv You Jimmy Spud" (called "Gabriel and Me" 2001), he was reportedly unhappy with the finished project. After the worldwide success of "Billy Elliot", it is likely a situation like that won't occur again.
Profession(s):
screenwriter
Sometimes Credited As:
British Independent Film Award Best Screenplay "Billy Elliot" 2000
2001 Worked on screenplay for film version of his radio play "I Luv You Jimmy Spud" called "Gabriel & Me"
2000 Received acclaim for his translation of the Italian stage comedy "A Servant to Two Masters"
2000 In April, adaptation of "Mother Courage" opened in London
2000 Feature film debut as screenwriter, "Billy Elliot"; titled "Dancer" when it premiered at Cannes; received Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay
2000 Debuted two new dramas, "Child of the Snow" and "Child of the Rain", on Radio 4
2000 Premiered "Two's Company", a stage monologue about a bigamist, at the Live Theatre in Newcastle
2000 Penned a stage adaptation of "Pinnochio"; debuted in London's West End for the Christmas holidays
1999 Play "Cooking With Elvis", a black comedy about a paraplegic Elvis impersonator, his oversexed wife and their daughter who suffers with an eating disorder, peformed at the Edinburgh Festival; premiere
1999 Stage adaptation of "Spoonface Steinberg" opened in London; transferred to the West End in January 2000
1998 Translated Brecht's "Mr. Puntilla and His Man Matti"
1997 Earned accolades for the radio play "Spoonface Steinberg", a monologue by a nine-year-old autistic girl dying of leukemia
1997 Wrote the well-received TV drama "The Student Prince", starring Robson Green
1997 Adaptation of Georg Buchner's "Leonce and Lena" produced at London's Gate Theatre
1996 Radio play "I Luv You Jimmy Spud", about a young boy who forms an unlikely friendship with the Angel Gabriel in order to save his dying father, produced
1993 Visited NYC on holiday, fell in love and remained for three years; began work on what was eventually produced as "I Luv You Jimmy Spud", "Spoonface Steinberg" and "Billy Elliot"
Raised in Newcastle
Attended Cambridge; began writing plays