# Don Macpherson

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{{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](/source/screenwriter) working in films and television.

==Biography==
Macpherson was born in [Durham](/source/Durham%2C_England), and educated at [Nottingham High School](/source/Nottingham_High_School) and [Queens' College, Cambridge](/source/Queens'_College%2C_Cambridge), where he was awarded an [Exhibition](/source/Exhibition_(scholarship)) to read English.

==Journalism==
After working at ''The Other Cinema'', he became a journalist for ''[Screen International](/source/Screen_International)'' then joined ''[Time Out](/source/Time_Out_(company))'' as a film critic. He was part of a group that set up ''[City Limits](/source/City_Limits_(London_magazine))'' magazine, then wrote features for ''[The Face](/source/The_Face_(magazine))'' and ''[The Sunday Times](/source/The_Sunday_Times)''. During this period, he worked for [BBC](/source/BBC) TV's ''[Arena](/source/Arena_(UK_TV_series))'' on ''It's All True'' for producer [Alan Yentob](/source/Alan_Yentob) and director [Julien Temple](/source/Julien_Temple).

==Films==
His first solo credit was a [BBC](/source/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](/source/Peter_O'Toole), [Jane Lapotaire](/source/Jane_Lapotaire) and [Beatie Edney](/source/Beatie_Edney), an adaptation of [Sheridan Le Fanu](/source/Sheridan_Le_Fanu)'s [gothic novel](/source/gothic_novel) ''[Uncle Silas](/source/Uncle_Silas)'', shown on [PBS](/source/PBS)'s ''[Masterpiece Theatre](/source/Masterpiece_Theatre)''. For producer [Stephen Woolley](/source/Stephen_Woolley) an adaptation of [William McIlvanney](/source/William_McIlvanney)'s novel ''[The Big Man](/source/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](/source/Liam_Neeson), [Billy Connolly](/source/Billy_Connolly) and [Joanne Whalley](/source/Joanne_Whalley). His original script [Jonathan Wild](/source/Jonathan_Wild) became a project for [Neil Jordan](/source/Neil_Jordan), and was bought by [Jodie Foster](/source/Jodie_Foster) for her company Egg Productions. This cult script led to work at [Warner Bros.](/source/Warner_Bros.), on projects such as ''[Tale of Two Cities](/source/Tale_of_Two_Cities)'' for [Terry Gilliam](/source/Terry_Gilliam) and ''[Frankenstein](/source/Frankenstein)'' for [Tim Burton](/source/Tim_Burton), following rewrite work on [David Fincher](/source/David_Fincher)'s ''[Alien 3](/source/Alien_3)'' (1992) with [Sigourney Weaver](/source/Sigourney_Weaver). His adaptation of a [Cornell Woolrich](/source/Cornell_Woolrich) story ''The Black Bargain'' (1995) starring [Miguel Ferrer](/source/Miguel_Ferrer) and [Peter Berg](/source/Peter_Berg) was directed by [Keith Gordon](/source/Keith_Gordon) for the US pay TV channel [Showtime](/source/Showtime_(TV_network)).

Work followed in credited and uncredited scripts for films such as ''[Hippie Hippie Shake](/source/Hippie_Hippie_Shake)'' (2009) with [Cillian Murphy](/source/Cillian_Murphy) and [Sienna Miller](/source/Sienna_Miller), ''[Possession](/source/Possession_(2002_film))'' (2002) with [Gwyneth Paltrow](/source/Gwyneth_Paltrow), ''[The Avengers](/source/The_Avengers_(1998_film))''<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](/source/Ralph_Fiennes) and [Uma Thurman](/source/Uma_Thurman), ''[Godzilla](/source/Godzilla_(1998_film))''<ref>[http://www.film.com/movies/godzilla/6144149 Film.com Review of Godzilla]</ref> (1998) with [Matthew Broderick](/source/Matthew_Broderick), ''[Entrapment](/source/Entrapment_(film))'' (1998) with [Sean Connery](/source/Sean_Connery) and [Catherine Zeta-Jones](/source/Catherine_Zeta-Jones), and [Pedro Almodóvar](/source/Pedro_Almod%C3%B3var)'s ''[Live Flesh](/source/Live_Flesh_(film))'' (1997) with [Javier Bardem](/source/Javier_Bardem) and [Penélope Cruz](/source/Pen%C3%A9lope_Cruz). Scripts in development included adaptations of [Evan Hunter](/source/Evan_Hunter)'s [mafia](/source/mafia) [thriller](/source/Thriller_(genre)) ''[Criminal Conversation](/source/Criminal_Conversation)'' for [Tom Cruise](/source/Tom_Cruise), the [sci fi](/source/sci_fi) [novel](/source/novel) ''Spares'' for [Steven Spielberg](/source/Steven_Spielberg), and a version of [Ayn Rand](/source/Ayn_Rand)'s classic ''[The Fountainhead](/source/The_Fountainhead_(film))'' for [Oliver Stone](/source/Oliver_Stone).

Recently he completed scripts including an adaptation of [Graham Greene](/source/Graham_Greene)'s West Africa novel ''[The Heart of the Matter](/source/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](/source/Martin_Scorsese) and producer Barbara de Fina, a version of Greene's ''[Brighton Rock](/source/Brighton_Rock_(novel))''<ref>[https://archive.today/20130205102932/http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117985727.html Variety Magazine - Optimum to remake 'Brighton Rock'] </ref> for [Terrence Malick](/source/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](/source/John_Woo). A script for Chinese director Li Shaohong, ''The Legend of the Green Dragon Sword'', is also in development for [Beijing](/source/Beijing)'s Rosat Films.

Current TV projects include an epic 8 part series on The [Third Crusade](/source/Third_Crusade), in collaboration with US writer [Kario Salem](/source/Kario_Salem) for [HBO](/source/HBO)/[Company Pictures](/source/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]

{{Authority control}}

{{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

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Don Macpherson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Macpherson) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Macpherson?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.