James Watkins

Writer-Director

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Film, TV & Theatre

Agent: Natasha Galloway
Natasha Galloway
Assistant: Hassan Sherif Abdelfattah-Elmakhzangui
hsherif@unitedagents.co.uk

Film, TV & Theatre

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James Watkins is an acclaimed British writer and director. His most recent feature, Speak No Evil (Universal/Blumhouse), an English-language adaptation of the Danish horror film, stars James McAvoy and Aisling Franciosi and has grossed $75M at the Worldwide Box Office thus far.
 
James was nominated for The Douglas Hickox Award for Best Debut Director at the British Independent Film Awards for his horror-thriller classic Eden Lake (Pathé/Optimum), starring Michael Fassbender. He went on to direct hit horror The Woman In Black (Hammer/Momentum) which starred Daniel Radcliffe and grossed over $120M at the Worldwide Box Office and to co-write The Descent: Part 2 (Warner Bros.). 
 
In television, James is known as the co-creator, co-writer and Executive Producer of BBC/AMC's McMafia, which won the International Emmy Award for Best Drama Series and starred James Norton, and as the director and Executive Producer of ITV's The Ipcress File, starring Joe Cole, Lucy Boynton and Tom Hollander. Shut Up And Dance starring Alex Lawther, James's directed episode of Netflix's global phenomenon Black Mirror, is widely regarded as one of the series' strongest episodes. 

Film

ProductionCompanyNotes

SPEAK NO EVIL

2024

Blumhouse Productions

Writer/Director. Starring James McAvoy.

BASTILLE DAY

2016

Studio Canal

Prods: Bard Doros, Fabrice Gianfermi, Steve Golin, David Kanter, Philippe Rousselet
Starring Idris Elba, Richard Madden

THE WOMAN IN BLACK

2012

Hammer Films

Writer: Jane Goldman. Starring Daniel Radcliffe, Shaun Dooley and Ciaran Hinds.

THE DESCENT 2

2009

Celador Films

Writer

EDEN LAKE

2008

Celador Films

Writer/Director

GONE

2007

Working Title Films

Co-writer, from his original screenplay Directed by Ringan Ledwidge

MY LITTLE EYE

2002

Working Title Films

Writer. Directed by Marc Evans

Television

ProductionCompanyNotes

THE IPCRESS FILE

2022

Altitude Television / ITV Studios

Director/Executive Producer. Starring Joe Cole, Lucy Boynton, Tom Hollander.

BLACK MIRROR (SHUT UP AND DANCE)

2016

Netflix / Black Mirror Drama Ltd

Director. Starring Alex Lawther, Jerome Flynn.

MCMAFIA

2018

Cuba Pictures / BBC

Co-creator/Director/Executive Producer. Starring James Norton.