Dexter Fletcher (born 31 January 1966) is a British 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 in Steptoe and Son Ride Again.
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
Fletcher trained at the Anna Scher Theatre. 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. In 1988, he won the Stars de Demain prize at the inaugural Geneva Cineme Fête for The Raggedy Rawney. 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.
He appeared as Puck in Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream in 1981 at Glyndebourne Opera and on their autumn tour, and then again in 1990 in an Opera London production at Sadler's Wells, subsequently recorded by Virgin Classics.
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. 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
Fletcher's debut as a director was for a script he co-wrote, Wild Bill, 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 Proclaimers songs, which was released on 4 October 2013. 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. 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. He also directed the Apple TV+ feature film Ghosted, which was released in April 2023.
Personal life
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.
In 1997, he married Lithuanian film and theatre director Dalia Ibelhauptaitė in Westminster. His best man was fellow actor Alan Rickman. and Steve Fletcher. Fletcher is a dual British and Lithuanian citizen, having been granted Lithuanian citizenship in recognition of his work promoting Lithuanian cultural affairs.
Filmography
Acting credits
{| class="wikitable"
|+Key
| style="background:#FFFFCC;"|
|Denotes works that have not yet been released
|}
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Films
|- style="text-align:center;"
! Year
! Title
! Role
! class="unsortable" | 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 ||
|-
| 1987 || Lionheart || Michael ||
|-
|rowspan="2"| 1988 || Didn't You Kill My Brother? || Bike thief ||
|-
| The Raggedy Rawney || Tom ||
|-
|rowspan="2"| 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 ||
|-
|rowspan="2"| 1999 || Topsy-Turvy || Louis ||
|-
| Tube Tales || Joe || Segment: Mr Cool
|-
| 2000 || The Patriot ||Cornwallis' tailor/valet||
|-
| 2002 || Below ||Kingsley||
|-
| 2003 || Stander ||Lee McCall||
|-
|rowspan="2"| 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||
|-
|rowspan="3"| 2010 || Kick-Ass ||Cody||
|-
| Amaya ||Frenchman||
|-
| Dead Cert ||Eddie Christian||
|-
|rowspan="4"| 2011 || Jack Falls ||Detective Edwards||
|-
| Fedz ||Hunter||
|-
| The Three Musketeers ||D'Artagnan's father||
|-
| Wild Bill ||Mysterious Barry||
|-
|rowspan="2"| 2012 || Coven || Mr. Sheers ||
|-
|St George's Day || Levi ||
|-
|rowspan="2"| 2014 || Muppets Most Wanted || || Cameo; deleted scenes
|-
| Respectable: The Mary Millington Story ||Narrator||
|-
|2016
|Smoking Guns
|Paul McVeigh
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2018
| Terminal|| Vince ||
|-
|Sherlock Gnomes
|Reggie
|Voice role
|-
| 2023
| Ghosted
| Raoul
|
|-
| 2023
|Love at First Sight|| Val ||
|}
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Television
|- style="background:#b0c4de; text-align:center;"
! Year
! Title
! Role
! class="unsortable" | Notes
|-
| 1976 || Chimp Mates || Joey Graham || TV series
|-
| 1978 || Les Miserables || Gavroche || TV film
|-
| 1989|| The Bill || Tony Gillespie || Episode: "The Strong Survive"
|-
| 1989-1993 || Press Gang || James (Spike) Thomson || Main role; 43 episodes
|-
| 1991 || Murder Most Horrid ||Colin|| Season 1, Episode 5 "Murder at Tea Time"
|-
| 1993–1994 || GamesMaster ||Presenter|| Season 3
|-
| rowspan="2" | 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||
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2014 || Rev. ||Mike Tobin|| Episode: 3.3
|-
| Mount Pleasant ||Gus||
|-
| 2020 || I Hate Suzie ||Benjamin||
|-
|}
Filmmaking credits
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! width=65 |Director
! Executive<br>producer
! width=65 |Writer
! Notes
|-
| 1999
| Let the Good Times Roll
|
|
|
| Short film
|-
| rowspan="2" |2010
|Just for the Record
|
|
|
|
|-
|Dead Cert
|
|
|
|
|-
| 2011
| Wild Bill
|
|
|
|
|-
| 2013
| Sunshine on Leith
|
|
|
|
|-
| 2015
| Eddie the Eagle
|
|
|
|
|-
| 2018
| Bohemian Rhapsody
|
|
|
| for the final two weeks of filming;<br>Received credit as executive producer in accordance with DGA rules
|-
| 2019
| Rocketman
|
|
|
|
|-
| 2022
| The Offer
|
|
|
| Directed 2 episodes
|-
| 2023
| Ghosted
|
|
|
|
|}
References
Bibliography
- Holmstrom, John. The Moving Picture Boy: An International Encyclopaedia from 1895 to 1995. Norwich, Michael Russell, 1996, pp. 358–360.
External links
- Interview with Dexter Fletcher