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Guy Ritchie (born September 10, 1968) is an English film director. He adopted a cockney accent, despite being the stepson of baronet Sir Michael Leighton of Loton Park and a descendant of Edward I http://webpages.charter.net/ghal/Harry_McLaughlin_Descent_From_King_Edward_I_.pdf. On December 22, 2000, he married the American pop singer and actress Madonna Ciccone at Skibo Castle in Scotland. They have a son, Rocco John, born August 11 2000, and have recently adopted a Malawian baby boy, David.

Early life

Ritchie dropped out of the English independent school Stanbridge Earls at the age of 15. He is dyslexic, and the school is one of the most prominent institutions specialising in dyslexia in England. Ritchie then attended Sibford School, a small, independent, boarding school in Oxfordshire, with his sister, but was expelled for drug use. He has since become an accomplished music video and film director.

Directing career

Ritchie directed a 20-minute short film in 1995 entitled The Hard Case. His first full-length feature was the successful Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels in 1998. Recalling Quentin Tarantino, The Sting and The Italian Job, the film was widely praised for its wit. It also introduced actor Jason Statham (The Transporter) to worldwide audiences, and introduced former football player Vinnie Jones to a new career as a film actor. In 2000, Ritchie won an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for Best Motion Picture Screenplay.

His second feature film was Snatch, released in the year 2000. Originally known as "Diamonds", it was another caper comedy, this time backed by a major studio following the previous success of "Lock, Stock". The cast featured such Hollywood big names as Brad Pitt, Benicio del Toro, and Dennis Farina, along with the returning Vinnie Jones and Statham. Similar to "Lock, Stock", in featuring a complex and inventive storyline, in which the characters weave in and out of each others' lives, the film also plays with time, depicting events from various perspectives and recalling such classic crime films as Stanley Kubrick's The Killing. Reviews were also strong for "Snatch".

Following his marriage to Madonna, Ritchie began focusing his filmmaking on his famous wife, directing her in both a music video (for the song "What It Feels Like for a Girl," a controversial video that showed Madonna engaging in running people down with a car) and a short film, "Star", for the BMW films series. Ritchie's next feature, also a vehicle for Madonna, was a remake of the 1960s Lina Wertmüller hit Swept Away (also entitled Swept Away). Ritchie cast Madonna as a rich, rude, socialite who, after a shipwreck, is trapped on a deserted island with a slovenly Communist sailor, who humiliates her. The woman is called Amber Leighton, the name of Guy Ritchie's mother. This film was both a critical and commercial disappoinment and it cast a cloud over Ritchie's filmmaking career.

Ritchie's next announced project was originally a Vegas-themed heist film entitled Revolver, http://www.filmfocus.co.uk/review.asp?ReviewID=344http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2005/09/19/revolver_2005_review.shtml which was critically panned yet commercially successful.

Another project Guy Ritchie was involved with was a hidden camera show called Swag, for channel Five in the UK, which turned the table on criminals and opportunists by using stunts to trap them in the act.

Personal life

Ritchie and Madonna have homes in Los Angeles, New York and London, in addition to their country retreat, Ashcombe House in Dorset. They are both devotees of the quasi-mystical Kabbalah Centre and donate money and time to practicing and spreading its teachings. Ritchie is known to be a supporter of Chelsea FC.http://www.chelseafc.com/article.asp?article=99643&Title=Celebrities&lid=Navigation+-+Fan+Zone&sub=Celebrities&nav=&sublid=

On May 18 2000, Ritchie was arrested by the police after it was alleged he assaulted a 20-year-old man outside the Kensington home he shared with the singer, causing actual bodily harmhttp://music.yahoo.com/read/news/12051696. The case was later dismissed.

Filmography

References

External link

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