{{Short description|British screenwriter}} {{Other people|Donald McPherson}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Multiple issues| {{more footnotes needed|date=June 2019}} {{BLP sources|date=June 2019}} }}
'''Don Macpherson''' (born 7 September 1954) is a British screenwriter working in films and television.
==Biography== Macpherson was born in Durham, and educated at Nottingham High School and Queens' College, Cambridge, where he was awarded an Exhibition to read English.
==Journalism== After working at ''The Other Cinema'', he became a journalist for ''Screen International'' then joined ''Time Out'' as a film critic. He was part of a group that set up ''City Limits'' magazine, then wrote features for ''The Face'' and ''The Sunday Times''. During this period, he worked for BBC TV's ''Arena'' on ''It's All True'' for producer Alan Yentob and director Julien Temple.
==Films== His first solo credit was a BBC TV classic serial ''The Dark Angel''<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.hollywood.com/tv/The_Dark_Angel/5175369 |title=Dark Angel credits |access-date=2009-01-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080423084154/http://www.hollywood.com/tv/The_Dark_Angel/5175369 |archive-date=2008-04-23 |url-status=dead }}</ref> (1989) with Peter O'Toole, Jane Lapotaire and Beatie Edney, an adaptation of Sheridan Le Fanu's gothic novel ''Uncle Silas'', shown on PBS's ''Masterpiece Theatre''. For producer Stephen Woolley an adaptation of William McIlvanney's novel ''The Big Man'' (1990) followed,<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.variety.com/review/VE1117789243.html |title=Variety Magazine review of Big Man |access-date=2009-01-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081014075944/http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117789243.html |archive-date=2008-10-14 |url-status=dead }}</ref> starring Liam Neeson, Billy Connolly and Joanne Whalley. His original script Jonathan Wild became a project for Neil Jordan, and was bought by Jodie Foster for her company Egg Productions. This cult script led to work at Warner Bros., on projects such as ''Tale of Two Cities'' for Terry Gilliam and ''Frankenstein'' for Tim Burton, following rewrite work on David Fincher's ''Alien 3'' (1992) with Sigourney Weaver. His adaptation of a Cornell Woolrich story ''The Black Bargain'' (1995) starring Miguel Ferrer and Peter Berg was directed by Keith Gordon for the US pay TV channel Showtime.
Work followed in credited and uncredited scripts for films such as ''Hippie Hippie Shake'' (2009) with Cillian Murphy and Sienna Miller, ''Possession'' (2002) with Gwyneth Paltrow, ''The Avengers''<ref>[http://the-avengers.warnerbros.com/cmp/organisation.html Official Warner Bros. Avengers Site] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091021033548/http://the-avengers.warnerbros.com/cmp/organisation.html |date=October 21, 2009 }}</ref> (1998) with Ralph Fiennes and Uma Thurman, ''Godzilla''<ref>[http://www.film.com/movies/godzilla/6144149 Film.com Review of Godzilla]</ref> (1998) with Matthew Broderick, ''Entrapment'' (1998) with Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Pedro Almodóvar's ''Live Flesh'' (1997) with Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz. Scripts in development included adaptations of Evan Hunter's mafia thriller ''Criminal Conversation'' for Tom Cruise, the sci fi novel ''Spares'' for Steven Spielberg, and a version of Ayn Rand's classic ''The Fountainhead'' for Oliver Stone.
Recently he completed scripts including an adaptation of Graham Greene's West Africa novel ''The Heart of the Matter''<ref>[https://archive.today/20130205180429/http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117898948.html Variety Magazine - Heart' beats for Greene] </ref> for Martin Scorsese and producer Barbara de Fina, a version of Greene's ''Brighton Rock''<ref>[https://archive.today/20130205102932/http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117985727.html Variety Magazine - Optimum to remake 'Brighton Rock'] </ref> for Terrence Malick, and ''Beijing Project'',<ref>[https://archive.today/20120914035339/http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117924442.html Variety Magazine - Woo to toil on native soil] </ref> a contemporary thriller for John Woo. A script for Chinese director Li Shaohong, ''The Legend of the Green Dragon Sword'', is also in development for Beijing's Rosat Films.
Current TV projects include an epic 8 part series on The Third Crusade, in collaboration with US writer Kario Salem for HBO/Company Pictures.
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links == *{{IMDb name|id=0534207|name=Don Macpherson}} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20080206043932/http://www.hollywood.com/celebrity/Don_MacPherson/3076141 hollywood.com]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Macpherson, Don}} Category:Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge Category:1954 births Category:Living people Category:20th-century British male writers Category:21st-century English male writers Category:English film critics Category:English male journalists Category:English screenwriters Category:English television writers Category:English male screenwriters Category:People educated at Nottingham High School Category:21st-century English writers