Julie Taymor

This Cultural Life

Theatre, opera and film director Julie Taymor is regarded as one of the most imaginative directors and designers working today. Her stage version of the Lion King is the highest grossing show in Broadway history, having made nearly $2 billion, and it recently marked its 25th year in London. The Lion King Julie two Tony Awards, including for best director of a musical in 1997, making her the first woman to do so. Julie Taymor has told Shakespearean stories on stage and the big screen including Titus, starring Anthony Hopkins and The Tempest with Helen Mirren. Her film credits also include Frida, a biopic of painter Frida Kahlo, and the Beatles jukebox musical movie Across The Universe.

She tells John Wilson how seeing Rashomon, Akira Kurosawa's 1950 film, as a teenager, was a formative cultural experience. Kurosawa's ingenious approach to narrative opened her eyes for the first time about the possibilities of innovative storytelling. She also recalls how her travels around Indonesia and Bali after graduation, and in particular, witnessing a ceremony in the isolated Balinese village of Trunyan have had a profound impact on her work as a designer and director.

Julie reveals how she came up with the ground-breaking concept and some of the designs for the stage version of Disney's The Lion King. She also gives her opinion on some of the difficulties faced by the ill-fated Broadway musical Spider Man: Turn Off The Dark, on which she was co-writer and director until being replaced during its previews. The production, which featured music and lyrics by Bono and The Edge of U2, was ridden with technical and financial problems, and resulted in several legal disputes.

Producer: Edwina Pitman