Biography
Joe Stephenson is a film director originally from Sheffield, UK. Joe's debut feature film, Chicken, premiered at Edinburgh Int'l Film Festival and went on to win awards across the festival circuit, screening at festivals such as Busan, Giffoni, Tallinn Black Nights, Gijon, Dublin and many more. On its theatrical release in the UK (2016) it received critical acclaim, praised as 'the kind of British indie which restores faith in cinema' and compared to Ken Loach's KES by the BBC. It went on to be picked up by MUBI UK and FILM4, and is now taught nationwide on the UK's Media Studies curriculum.
Joe's second film, McKellen: Playing the Part, premiered at Rome Int'l Film Festival. The feature doc on the life and work of Ian McKellen was praised by The Hollywood Reporter as a film that "should join the small circle of high-level docs about the acting profession able to inspire newcomers." The film received universal praise on theatrical releases worldwide and, like Chicken before it, has maintained a rare 100% Fresh Rotten Tomatoes score.
Joe's third film, Doctor Jekyll, a fresh interpretation of the iconic character Jekyll/Hyde, broke new ground with the first ever trans actor playing the role: Eddie Izzard. Also starring are Lindsay Duncan, Simon Callow, Jonathan Hyde and more the film was picked up to relaunch the iconic Hammer Studios. On it's theatrical release in the UK, the film was praised as "a romp from start to finish, with Izzard giving Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing a run for their money" by Little White Lies, and "a refreshing throwback to Hammer's glory days" by SFX Magazine.
Joe most recently completed directing Midas Man. Slated for release 2024 and starring Emily Watson, Eddie Marsan, Jay Leno, Jacob Fortune-Lloyd, Milo Parker, Eddie Izzard, the film is a biopic on the manager of The Beatles, Brian Epstein.
