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Jeremy Thomas: 'It’s wonderful seeing these films with an audience. It makes you happy'
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Oscar-winning film producer Jeremy Thomas has died at the age of 77.
Announcing his death, his family said In a statement: “Jeremy Thomas, the celebrated British producer of The Last Emperor and of over 40 other films, has died, at the age of 77. Thomas passed away peacefully at his country home in Oxfordshire late on Friday 11th, surrounded by his family and loved ones.”
He died just days before his most recent film, Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo, directed by Takashi Miike, screens at Toronto Film Festival on Monday. He was also a producer on Werner Herzog's Bucking Fastard, which premiered at Venice Film Festival this week.
The powerhouse producer had more than 80 credits, with high profile films including Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Last Emperor, Jonathan Glazer's Sexy Beast and David Cronenberg's [film id= 16543]Crash[/film].
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Jeremy Thomas driving to Cannes with Mark Cousins in The Storms Of Jeremy Thomas
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The son of director Ralph Thomas and nephew of Gerald Thomas, also a director, he worked his way up in the film industry, with early jobs including assistant editor on films such as Ken Loach's Family Life. He moved into producing with Dennis Hopper-starrer Mad Dog Morgan. He founded the Recorded Picture Company and later co-founded Hanway Films.
Speaking about his career, he once told us: "I was very recalcitrant as a boy. And I became quite recalcitrant as an adult. In terms of not wanting to be - not angry or rude - I just wanted to do what I wanted to do. And I managed to find a way within the framework of the cinema business to pretty much do that most of my career."
He worked with directors from across the globe including Matteo Garrone (Dogman), Jim Jarmusch (Only Lovers Left Alive) and Jan Komasa (The Good Boy), as well as British talent such as Ben Wheatley (High-Rise).
He was also the subject of Mark Cousins' documentary The Storms Of Jeremy Thomas.
Speaking to us about a Jeremy Thomas Presents series at New York's Quad Cinema in 2023, he said: "It’s wonderful seeing these films with an audience. It makes you happy. It makes your heart sing when you see a film shown the way you intended it to be shown."
