Kevin MacDonald

The Last King of Scotland's Kevin MacDonald helms the true story of Bobby Fischer's globally covered chess match in 1972 against Soviet Boris Spassky in this Universal Pictures co-production with Working Title Films. Shawn Slovo provides the script based on David Edmonds and John Eidinow's book. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide

The Last King of Scotland director Kevin McDonald teams with screenwriter Matthew Michael Carnahan to direct an American adaptation of the hit British miniseries concerning a reporter's (Russell Crowe) murder investigation of a powerful congressman's (Ben Affleck) mistress. Once a close personal friend of the congressman, the determined reporter follows the damning trail of clues straight up to the highest levels of government and industry. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

In 1985, two adventurous young mountaineers, Joe Simpson and Simon Yates, set off to climb the treacherous west face of the Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes. They were experienced climbers, and climbed "Alpine-style," climbing the mountain in "one great push," without setting up ropes or base camps ahead of time. After dealing with a snowstorm and some dangerous climbing over powder formations, they reached the summit (about 21,000 feet) on the third day. The climb down proved to be far more difficult. Simpson fell and broke his leg badly. Yates decided to try to lower Simpson down the mountain, one 300-foot section of rope at a time. The climbers had run out of gas to melt snow, so they couldn't risk stopping as night came, and a violent snowstorm began. Their plodding, painful journey hit a snag when Yates inadvertently lowered Simpson over the edge of a cliff. In the storm, the men couldn't hear each other's cries, and, Yates, uncertain as to Simpson's position, and gradually sliding down the slope himself, decided to cut the rope that connected them, sending Simpson plummeting to certain death. Miraculously, Simpson survived the fall, and was faced with the prospect of getting off the mountain alone with no food, no water, and a broken leg. In Touching the Void, filmmaker Kevin Macdonald (One Day in September) tells their story, based on Simpson's book, using contemporary interviews with the two men, and a reenactment of their climb and descent, featuring Brendan Mackey as Simpson and Nicholas Aaron as Yates. Touching the Void was shown at the 2003 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

Kevin MacDonald and Chris Rodley produced and directed this British documentary about film director Donald Cammell, best known for his collaboration with Nicolas Roeg on Performance (1970). The lead actors in Performance, Mick Jagger and James Fox, are interviewed along with Roeg, Barbara Steele, Cathy Moriarty, and avant-garde filmmaker Kenneth Anger, who cast Cammell in his 1973 Lucifer Rising. MacDonald and Rodley trace Cammell's career from his days as a Paris portrait artist to such films as Demon Seed, White of the Eye, and The Wild Side with Anne Heche and Christopher Walken, probing the dark side of Cammell's "dissociative personality" that triggered his 1996 suicide. Cammell is seen in several interview clips. Shown at the 1998 Toronto Film Festival and the 1998 Chicago Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

The life and career of towering Charlie Chaplin screen-villain Eric Campbell is explored in this documentary featuring rare footage, historical documents, and interviews with both Campbell's daughter and such noted Chaplin experts as David Robinson. From Campbell's early childhood in Dunoon, Scotland, to his tragic and untimely death in December of 1917, this look at the life of one of cinema's first screen villains shows both the remarkable promise and enduring influence of a star whose light was sadly snuffed out just as it was beginning to shine its brightest. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide