Director
Nicolas Roeg, whose films include Don't Look Now and Performance, has died aged
90, his family says.
In a career
spanning six decades, he was celebrated for his original and controversial
film-making.
His 1973
psychological thriller Don't Look Now caused controversy for its graphic sex
scenes.
Roeg also
directed Mick Jagger in the crime drama Performance and David Bowie in the
science fiction movie The Man Who Fell To Earth.
His son,
Nicolas Roeg Jr, said his father died on Friday night. "He was a genuine
dad. He just had his 90th birthday in August," he said.
Nicolas Roeg
was one of the most original film-makers the UK has ever produced.
His early
experience as a cinematographer brought a stunning visual quality to his work.
He often
exasperated the critics and gained a reputation as being hard on his actors.
And he took
a delight in jumbling scenes and time to both bewitch and bewilder his
audiences.
Born in St
John's Wood in north London in 1928, Roeg started in the film industry making
tea and operating the clapper board at Marylebone Studios.
His
directorial debut came in 1970 when he filmed Performance, sharing the
director's role with Donald Cammell.
The explicit
scenes of violence and drug-taking caused the film's release to be delayed by
two years.
Speaking to the
media back in 2013, he said false rumours that Don't Look Now included a real
sex scene were "very flattering" because it meant audiences thought
the film was authentic.
"What
you are looking for in anything is some sort of truth," he said.
Edgar
Wright, the British director of Shaun of the Dead and Baby Driver, was among
those who paid tribute to "a master of the art".
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