Peter Morgan

by MovieMaker Staff | Published October 2, 2006

Peter Morgan wrote the screenplay for Stephen Frears’ The Queen, starring Helen Mirren.

While some might say that dabbling in several different careers is a risky undertaking, screenwriter Peter Morgan has shown himself to be a particularly talented jack-of-all-trades. With successful scripts written for both TV and film and a hit show in the West End and on Broadway, in a few short years Morganâ€™s voice has emerged as a witty and articulate one, adaptable to a variety of mediums.Though he dabbled briefly in acting during his college years, Morgan quickly found his passion lay in creating stories rather than starring in them. His first play got him talent-spotted at the Edinburgh Festival, and at the age of 21 Morgan found himself in the screenwriting business. Merging the fictional world with the very-real modern political landscape has become Morganâ€™s forte, best illustrated in the slew of projects being released this fall.

Following their successful pairing for the hit U.K. TV series â€œThe Deal,â€ Morgan has again teamed up with director Stephen Frears for the royal drama The Queen, starring Helen Mirren as the titular Monarch, Queen Elizabeth II as she deals with the aftermath of Princess Dianaâ€™s death. In addition to The Queen, which won Morgan the Best Screenplay prize at this yearâ€™s Venice Film Festival, Morgan also co-wrote Kevin Macdonaldâ€™s The Last King of Scotland with Jeremy Brock, which is already garnering loads of critical acclaim. With these two sure-to-be-hits landing in theaters this week, weâ€™re guessing that as long as thereâ€™s a need for intelligent and captivating movies with a political twist, Peter Morgan will remain one of the indie worldâ€™s most in-demand scribes.