Working Title Films (United Kingdom): 33

Hot Fuzz (2007) is an action-packed buddy cop comedy directed by Edgar Wright and co-written by Wright and Simon Pegg. Pegg also takes on the lead role alongside Nick Frost. After his promotion to Sergeant in the Metropolitan Police Service, highly capable constable Nicholas Angel is transferred to Sandford, Gloucestershire – a quaint town that regularly wins the title of ‘Village of the Year’. Meanwhile, ...

Smokin’ Aces (2006) is a thrilling American action film written and directed by Joe Carnahan. Infamous Las Vegas magician and aspiring criminal, Buddy ‘Aces’ Israel, finds himself holed up in a Lake Tahoe hotel while his agent negotiates for him to receive immunity from the FBI. With mob boss Primo Sparazza offering a million-dollar reward for Israel’s heart, various hitmen have been summoned to collect the bounty: master of disguise Lazlo Soot, contract killers Sharice Watters and Georgia Sykes (hired by Sparazza’s right-hand man), mercenary Pasquale Acosta, and three merciless neo-Nazis ...

The British film, Shaun of the Dead (2004), is a romantic zombie comedy directed by Edgar Wright, who co-wrote the screenplay with Simon Pegg. In London’s Crouch End neighborhood, 29-year-old electronics salesman Shaun faces disrespect from his coworkers, a strained relationship with his stepfather Philip, and a recent break-up with his girlfriend Liz due to his failed attempt at planning an anniversary date. Seeking solace, Shaun turns to his go-to spot, the Winchester pub, where he drowns his sorrows with his slacker best friend Ed. Meanwhile, their roommate Pete ...

The Australian-British film Ned Kelly (2003) is based on the 1991 novel Our Sunshine by Robert Drewe. Directed by Gregor Jordan, the adapted screenplay was written by John Michael McDonagh. As a child, Ned saved a young boy from drowning and was awarded a ‘hero sash’. Growing up in Victoria, where he was born, the Catholic Irish settler lives with his widowed mother Ellen, younger brother Dan, and sisters Kate and Grace. At their house, Ned’s friend Joe and Dan’s friend Steve are frequent ...

The Italian Job (2003), directed by F. Gary Gray, is an American heist action film with an original story inspired by its 1969 British counterpart. The plot centers around a group of thieves planning to steal stolen gold from their former associate. However, despite the shared title, this film deviates significantly from its source material in terms of plot and characters. The team, led by safecracker John Bridger, sets their sights on stealing $35 million worth of gold bullion in Venice from a group of Italian gangsters who had previously taken it. Comprising the team are professional fixer Charlie Croker, computer ...

The film Johnny English (2003), directed by Peter Howitt and written by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, and William Davies, follows the journey of a bumbling but well-meaning MI7 agent who longs to be the agency’s top spy. When Agent One and all other MI7 agents are killed at his funeral due to his inadvertent blunders, Johnny is left as the only agent capable of completing Agent One’s mission. His latest task is to stop a scheme to steal the newly returned Crown Jewels ...

John Madden directed Captain Corelli’s Mandolin (2001), a war film based on Louis de Bernières‘ 1994 novel of the same name. The Italian Army, accompanied by a few Germans, occupies Greece’s Ionian Islands and takes over the peaceful island of Cephalonia. The island’s inhabitants surrender quickly. Among the invaders is Captain Antonio Corelli of the Italian 33rd Acqui Infantry Division. He is known for his cheerful personality and love for playing the mandolin. Despite his troops never having fired a shot before, he teaches them to sing in ...

The film O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) is a clever mix of satire and drama, written, produced, co-edited, and directed by the talented duo Joel and Ethan Coen. Three prisoners – Pete, Delmar, and their leader Ulysses Everett McGill – flee from a chain gang in order to find a hidden fortune before the area is flooded. Along the way, they receive help from a blind man on a railway handcar who warns them that their reward may not be what they expect. Seeking refuge at Wash’s home – Pete’s cousin – the trio incurs the wrath of Sheriff ...

The drama film, The Man Who Cried (2000), written and directed by Sally Potter tells the story of Fegele Abramovich, a Russian Jew who becomes separated from her father in 1927. As her father seeks his fortune in America, he promises to bring Fegele and her grandmother to join him. Before departing, he sings ‘Je Crois Entendre Encore’ from Les pêcheurs de perles by Bizet to his daughter. Tragically, a pogrom strikes their village after he leaves, and Fegele is forced to flee with the help of kind neighbors. Despite facing numerous obstacles on her journey, she eventually boards a ship bound for Britain with ...

Notting Hill (1999), a romantic comedy directed by Roger Michell, features a screenplay by Richard Curtis. It follows the story of William Thacker, owner of a travel book store in the vibrant Notting Hill district of London. Following his divorce from his wife, who had left him for another man, he shares an apartment with Spike – his carefree and rather messy Welsh roommate. One day, fate brings famous Hollywood actress Anna Scott into William’s shop, where she purchases a book. As she leaves, however, a mishap causes her to cross paths with William again ...

Elizabeth (1998), a British biographical period drama film directed by Shekhar Kapur and written by Michael Hirst, tells the story of Catholic Queen Mary I of England’s death in 1558. The forty-two year old daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon is believed to have died from a cancerous tumor in her womb. With Mary gone, her twenty-five year old half sister Lady Elizabeth, daughter of Henry and Anne Boleyn, is released from house arrest for suspected involvement in Thomas Wyatt the Younger’s rebellion. As the new Queen of England, Elizabeth inherits a ...

The black comedy crime film, Fargo (1996), was written, directed and produced by Joel and Ethan Coen. In the year 1987, Jerry Lundegaard, an executive sales manager at a Minneapolis car dealership owned by his father-in-law, Wade Gustafson, finds himself in desperate need of money. He devises a plan to have his wife Jean kidnapped. Shep Proudfoot, a mechanic and convicted felon, sets up a meeting for Jerry in Fargo, North Dakota with criminals Carl Showalter and Gaear Grimsrud. They agree to carry out the job. In exchange for their services, Jerry gives them a new ...

For Queen and Country (1988) is a crime drama film co-written and directed by Martin Stellman. Set during the height of The Troubles, the story follows Black British paratrooper Reuben James, who is attacked by IRA militants while leaving a pub in Northern Ireland. He is rescued by fellow soldier and Londoner Tony, also known as ‘Fish’. Together with another soldier from London, Bob Harper, they later fight in the Falkland Islands in 1982. After leaving the army in 1988, Reuben returns to his old East End neighbourhood in London, where he faces harassment from police officers like Challoner and Kilcoyne. ...