Roland Joffé (born November 17, 1945 in London) is an Anglo-French film director who started out directing television. His early television credits included episodes of Coronation Street and a version of The Stars Look Down for Granada. He gained a reputation for hard-hitting political stories with the series Bill Brand and factual dramas for Play for Today.
He is the cousin of famous French film director Arthur Joffé. Joffé studied at the Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle in London and is completely fluent in French.
His first two feature films (The Killing Fields, 1984, and The Mission, 1986) each garnered him an Academy Award nomination for Best Director. Joffé worked closely with producer David Puttnam on each film. The Killing Fields detailed the friendship of two men, an American journalist for the New York Times, and his translator, a prisoner of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. It won three Academy Awards (for Best Supporting Actor, Best Cinematography, and Best Film Editing) and was nominated for four more (including Best Picture and Best Director). The Mission was a story of conflict between Jesuit missionaries in South America, trying to convert the Guaraní Indians, and Portuguese colonials, who want to enslave the natives. The film achieved six Academy Awards nominations – including for Best Picture, Best Director, and Ennio Morricone's acclaimed Best Original Score – and won one, for Best Cinematography.
Since his initial acclaim, Joffé's film career has been less successful. In 1993, he produced and partially directed a big budget adaptation of the video game Super Mario Bros.. The film struggled to make back its budget. His 1995 adaptation of The Scarlet Letter was a critical and financial disaster, and his 2007 horror film Captivity drew controversy with its advertising billboards, perceived as exploitative and misogynistic.
Joffé's paternal grandfather by adoption was the renowned sculptor Jacob Epstein. Joffé was formerly married to the actresses Jane Lapotaire and Cherie Lunghi.
Grandson of sculptor Jacob Epstein (II).
Has one daughter with actress Cherie Lunghi, Nathalie Lunghi (full name Nathalie Kathleen Lunghi-Joffé), born 26 August 1986.
Has one son with actress Jane Lapotaire, Rowan Joffe, born in 1972.
