British film director Nicolas Roeg dies at age 90; known for provocative works.<\/b>
\nNicolas Roeg, a director of provocative and otherworldly films who gave Mick Jagger and David Bowie enduring screen roles, has died. He was 90.
The British director of \u00ab\u00a0Don’t Look Now\u00a0\u00bb and many other films died Friday night, his son, Nicolas Roeg Jr., told Britain’s Press Association.
\u00ab\u00a0He was a genuine dad,\u00a0\u00bb Roeg Jr. said Saturday. \u00ab\u00a0He just had his 90th birthday in August.\u00a0\u00bb
He didn’t provide details about his father’s death during a brief telephone call with the association.
During the 1970s, Roeg sent Jenny Agutter and his son Luc Roeg on the Australian Outback odyssey \u00ab\u00a0Walkabout;\u00a0\u00bb gave Jagger a big-screen role in the thriller \u00ab\u00a0Performance,\u00a0\u00bb which was co-directed with Donald Cammell; and plunged Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland into psychological horror in the Venice-set \u00ab\u00a0Don’t Look Now.\u00a0\u00bb
\u00ab\u00a0Don’t Look Now\u00a0\u00bb became famous for its realistic depiction of sex. Roeg said later that rumors the sex had been real were \u00ab\u00a0very flattering\u00a0\u00bb because that meant people felt the film was authentic.
Sutherland said Roeg was \u00ab\u00a0a fearless visionary.\u00a0\u00bb
\u00ab\u00a0He was a liberating joy to work for,\u00a0\u00bb Sutherland said in a statement. \u00ab\u00a0I fell in love with him then and will love him forever.\u00a0\u00bb
In \u00ab\u00a0The Man Who Fell to Earth,\u00a0\u00bb Roeg directed Bowie \u2014 perfectly cast and sublimely strange \u2014 as an alien who crashes on Earth looking for a way to save his own planet.
Bowie’s son, filmmaker Duncan Jones, wrote on Twitter: \u00ab\u00a0Just heard another great storyteller, the inimitable Nicolas Roeg left us today. What an incredible body of work he’s left us with!\u00a0\u00bb
Roeg’s later films include the intellectually playful \u00ab\u00a0Insignificance,\u00a0\u00bb in which Albert Einstein matched wits with Marilyn Monroe. His last major film was \u00ab\u00a0The Witches,\u00a0\u00bb in 1990, a Roald Dahl adaptation which starred Anjelica Huston.
The British Film Institute has named \u00ab\u00a0Don’t Look Now\u00a0\u00bb and \u00ab\u00a0Performance\u00a0\u00bb as two of the greatest films in Britain’s Top 100 film poll.
The institute paid tribute to Roeg in a tweet: \u00ab\u00a0RIP to Nicolas Roeg, a pioneering force of cinema who created some of the most affecting moments of beauty, terror and sadness ever seen. A true great if ever there was one.\u00a0\u00bb
Born in London in 1928, Roeg worked his way into directing after winning acclaim as a cinematographer. He began his career as an editing apprentice in 1947 \u2014 among his duties was serving tea.
Roeg worked on major films including \u00ab\u00a0Lawrence of Arabia\u00a0\u00bb and \u00ab\u00a0Fahrenheit 451\u00a0\u00bb before he entered the directing ranks in 1970.
He said he couldn’t understand how someone could become a director without first working in cinematography.
Roeg didn’t believe in meticulous planning when it came to scripts and shooting schedules, preferring to give himself room to maneuver and improvise as needed. He was fond of saying that God laughed at people who made too many elaborate plans.
\u00ab\u00a0I shoot a lot of stuff,\u00a0\u00bb he once said in an interview for the book \u00ab\u00a0Talking Movies.\u00a0\u00bb \u00a0\u00bbI think that’s probably come from not having gone to film school. Things work themselves out. You’ve lost the showmanship thing, the fairground barker, come-see-what’s-inside aspect of filmmaking when you try to plan everything for the audience.\u00a0\u00bb
Roeg was married three times and had six children.<\/p>\n