Bill Forsyth Filmography

Born:: July 29, 1946 in Glasgow, Scotland
Occupation:: Director, Producer, Screenwriter
Birth name:: William David Forsyth
Biography:: Consistently described as quirky and droll, Scottish filmmaker Bill Forsyth mastered the art of the unexpected with the release of his first film, That Sinking Feeling, the episodic moral tale of an unemployed band of urban Glasgow youths trying to unload a stolen shipment of kitchen basins. As...Read More

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Gregory's Two Girls

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: John Gordon Sinclair, Carly McKinnon, Dougray Scott, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Kevin Anderson

Synopsis: Gregory Underwood is an idealistic teacher whose head is full of the columns of the liberal magazines he religiously reads. He feels he is a citizen of the world, but he does most of his living inside his head. Voluptuous music teacher Belle is crazy about him and determined to engage him in an Read More

1998
Being Human

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Robin Williams, John Turturro, Anna Galiena, Vincent D'Onofrio, Hector Elizondo

Synopsis: Five fables, each set in a different historical era, make up this quirky comedy from director Bill Forsyth. Each tale features Robin Williams as a basically decent but troubled average man named Hector. Beginning with the Bronze Age, where Hector struggles for survival against barbarians, the film Read More

1993
Breaking In

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Burt Reynolds, Casey Siemaszko, Sheila Kelley, Lorraine Toussaint, Albert Salmi

Synopsis: In this comedy (which claims a strong pedigree -- it was written by John Sayles and directed by Bill Forsyth), Burt Reynolds plays Ernie, an aging career burglar who knows just about everything there is to know about breaking and entering. One night, Ernie has stealthily slipped into a home only Read More

10/13/89
Housekeeping

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Christine Lahti, Sarah Walker, Andrea Burchill, Anne Pitoniak, Barbara Reese, Bill Smille

Synopsis: Housekeeping is the film in which Christine Lahti invites a guest into a living room half-submerged in water. This is hardly the oddest moment in this characteristically quirky Bill Forsyth film (his first American production). When their grandmother dies, Idaho pre-teens Sarah Walker and Andrea Burchill Read More

11/25/87
Comfort and Joy

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Bill Paterson, Eleanor David, Clare Grogan, Alex Norton, Patrick Malahide

Synopsis: Writer/director Bill Forsyth's follow-up to his best film, Local Hero, is another comic exploration of a man undergoing a personal crisis. In Local Hero, the American played by Peter Riegert finds himself enchanted by the people and ambience of a Scottish village he has been dispatched to purchase Read More

1984
Local Hero

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Peter Riegert, Burt Lancaster, Fulton Mackay, Denis Lawson, Norman Chancer, Peter Capaldi

Synopsis: Bill Forsyth's whimsical tale of sweet-natured corporate rapacity features standout performances by Burt Lancaster and Peter Riegert. Lancaster plays Texas billionaire Felix Happer, who would rather gaze at the stars than worry about his multi-national oil company. Happer dispatches Mac MacIntyre (Peter Riegert Read More

1983
Gregory's Girl

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: John Gordon Sinclair, Dee Hepburn, Jake D'Arcy, Clare Grogan, Robert Buchanan

Synopsis: The sophomore film of Scottish director Bill Forsyth was his first international hit, a typically quirky comedy set amongst colorful Scottish teenagers. Gregory (John Gordon Sinclair) is a normal, gangly, hormonally-challenged student who, like his pals, has begun to discover the charms of the Read More

1980
That Sinking Feeling

Crew: Director, Producer, Screenwriter

Actors: Robert Buchanan, John Hughes, Billy Greenlees, Douglas Sannachan, Alan Love

Synopsis: Bill Forsyth displays some of the fey quirkiness that would distinguish his later, better-known directorial efforts in 1979's That Sinking Feeling. The film details the misadventures of four aimless Scottish youths, who impulsively steal a shipment of stainless-steel sinks. Once they've made off Read More

1979