Michael Lesslie (born November 1983[1][2]) is a British playwright and screenwriter.

Life and career

He studied English Language and Literature at Exeter College, Oxford,[3] where he received a double first.[2][4] In 2005 he wrote a short film, Heavy Metal Drummer, which was nominated for a BAFTA Award.[4] In 2007 he adapted the film Swimming With Sharks for the stage. It opened at the Vaudeville Theatre, making Michael then the youngest person ever to have opened a new play straight into the West End. His play Prince of Denmark, a Hamlet prequel, was premiered in 2011 by the National Youth Theatre at the Royal National Theatre in London. It was subsequently performed at the Ambassadors Theatre in the West End.[5]

In 2015 Lesslie adapted Macbeth, rewriting a script by Todd Louiso and Jacob Koskoff. The film was directed by Justin Kurzel and starred Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard. It played in official competition at the Cannes Film Festival.[6] He wrote the original script for the Assassin's Creed film adaptation in 2016, which was then rewritten by Adam Cooper & Bill Collage and others.[6] In 2018 he served as lead writer and executive producer on John Le Carre's The Little Drummer Girl. The TV series starred Florence Pugh, Michael Shannon, Alexander Skarsgard and Charles Dance, and was directed by Park Chan-Wook.[6] In 2023 he co-wrote the adaptation of Suzanne Collins' novel The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, directed by Francis Lawrence.[6]

Lesslie founded Storyteller Productions with producer PJ van Sandwijk. The company's films include Thirteen Lives, The Rescue, Locked Down and Citizen K.[6] Michael won an Emmy for his role as executive producer on The Rescue.[7]

References

  1. ↑ "Michael Lesslie - Playwright Dramatist". www.doollee.com. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
  2. 1 2 "Arts Spolight: Michael Lesslie - the boy can't help it". The Independent. 30 December 2007. Archived from the original on 14 May 2022. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
  3. ↑ "Mike Lesslie (2003, English)". Exeter College. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
  4. 1 2 "TASIS The American School in Switzerland - TASIS Speaker Series". www.tasis.ch. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
  5. ↑ Aloess, Veronica (24 June 2012). "Michael Lesslie's prince: Hamlet for our generation". A Younger Theatre. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 "Michael Lesslie | Producer, Writer, Additional Crew". IMDb.
  7. ↑ Schneider, Michael
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