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Rowan Athale is a British film director and screenwriter. He made his feature directorial debut with the British crime thriller Wasteland, released in the United Kingdom as The Rise, and later directed the thriller Strange but True. His screenwriting credits include Revolt, Outside the Wire, The Vault, and episodes of Gangs of London. In 2025 he wrote and directed the biographical sports drama Giant, about the relationship between boxer Naseem Hamed and trainer Brendan Ingle. Athale was named a Screen International Star of Tomorrow in 2011 and a BAFTA Breakthrough Brit in 2013.[1][2]
Career
[edit]Athale's early work included commercials, producing short films, and the short film A Good Life.[3] His first feature as writer-director was Wasteland, a British crime thriller starring Luke Treadaway, Iwan Rheon, Timothy Spall, Matthew Lewis and Vanessa Kirby.[4] The film premiered at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival in the Discovery programme.[5] It was nominated for the Douglas Hickox Award for best debut director at the 2012 British Independent Film Awards.[6]
In 2013, BAFTA named Athale among the first cohort of Breakthrough Brits as a writer-director.[7]
Athale co-wrote the 2017 science-fiction feature Revolt with Joe Miale. The project had previously been developed under the title Prisoner of War.[8][9]
Athale directed the 2019 thriller Strange but True, adapted from the novel by John Searles and starring Margaret Qualley, Amy Ryan, Greg Kinnear, Nick Robinson, Blythe Danner and Brian Cox.[10][11]
His later screenwriting work includes the Netflix science-fiction action film Outside the Wire, written with Rob Yescombe, and the heist thriller The Vault, directed by Jaume Balaguero.[12][13] In 2022, he wrote two episodes of the second series of Gangs of London.[14][15] He also wrote A Gangs of London Story: Ghosts, a graphic novel created with Corin Hardy and illustrator Ferenc Nothof to bridge the gap between the first and second series of the show.[16]
In 2017, Universal Pictures won a bidding war for Athale's spec script Little America, with Athale also attached to direct. In 2020, Deadline Hollywood reported that Sylvester Stallone was attached to star in the project, with AGC Studios launching international sales at the European Film Market.[17][18]
Athale wrote and directed Giant, a biographical sports drama about Naseem Hamed and Brendan Ingle, starring Amir El-Masry and Pierce Brosnan. The film had its world premiere at the 2025 BFI London Film Festival.[19] Reuters reported that Giant began its global theatrical rollout in January 2026.[20]
In 2021, BBC Studios Drama Productions and EbonyLife Media announced development of Reclaim, a six-part action-adventure series written by Athale.[21]
Filmography
[edit]| Year | Title | Role | Notes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Project Huxley | Producer | Short film | 2006 | In a Day | Producer | Feature film |
| 2010 | A Good Life | Writer-director | Short film | ||||
| 2012 | Wasteland / The Rise | Writer-director | Feature film | ||||
| 2017 | Revolt | Co-writer | Feature film; previously developed as Prisoner of War | ||||
| 2019 | Strange but True | Director | Feature film | ||||
| 2021 | Outside the Wire | Screenwriter | Feature film; screenplay with Rob Yescombe | ||||
| 2021 | The Vault / Way Down | Screenwriter | Feature film | ||||
| 2022 | Gangs of London | Writer | Television series; two episodes | ||||
| 2022 | A Gangs of London Story: Ghosts | Writer | Graphic novel | ||||
| 2025 | Giant | Writer-director | Feature film |
Awards and recognition
[edit]| Year | Body | Category | Work | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Screen International | Stars of Tomorrow | N/A | Selected |
| 2012 | British Independent Film Awards | Douglas Hickox Award | Wasteland | Nominated |
| 2013 | BAFTA | Breakthrough Brits | N/A | Selected |
References
[edit]- ^ "Rowan Athale". Screen Daily. 30 June 2011. Retrieved 13 June 2026.
- ^ "Meet the 2013 Breakthrough Brits". BAFTA. 25 September 2013. Retrieved 13 June 2026.
- ^ "Rowan Athale". D'A Film Festival. Retrieved 13 June 2026.
- ^ Fear, David (18 July 2013). "Wasteland: movie review". Time Out. Retrieved 13 June 2026.
- ^ "Wasteland". IONCINEMA.com. 7 September 2012. Retrieved 13 June 2026.
- ^ Child, Ben (6 November 2012). "Broken fixed up with nine British independent film award nominations". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 June 2026.
- ^ "Meet the 2013 Breakthrough Brits". BAFTA. 25 September 2013. Retrieved 13 June 2026.
- ^ "Review: 'Revolt' delivers a swift, satisfying alien invasion". Los Angeles Times. 16 November 2017. Retrieved 13 June 2026.
- ^ "Cannes: Voltage Brings 'Prisoner Of War' To Croisette". Deadline Hollywood. 9 May 2014. Retrieved 13 June 2026.
- ^ "Film Review: 'Strange But True'". Variety. 7 September 2019. Retrieved 13 June 2026.
- ^ "'Strange But True': Film Review Edinburgh 2019". The Hollywood Reporter. 28 June 2019. Retrieved 13 June 2026.
- ^ "Outside the Wire". Netflix Media Center. Retrieved 13 June 2026.
- ^ "Saban Films Takes 'The Vault' as TF1 Studio Closes U.K., Other Territory Deals". Variety. 12 November 2020. Retrieved 13 June 2026.
- ^ "Episode #2.5". IMDb. Retrieved 13 June 2026.
- ^ "Episode #2.7". IMDb. Retrieved 13 June 2026.
- ^ Fletcher, Rosie (15 December 2022). "Gangs of London Comic Book Tells the Story of Elliot's Year. Read it Exclusively Here". Den of Geek. Retrieved 13 June 2026.
- ^ "Michael Bay Producing Dystopian Action-Thriller 'Little America' for Universal". Variety. 25 January 2017. Retrieved 13 June 2026.
- ^ Wiseman, Andreas (10 February 2020). "Sylvester Stallone To Star In Dystopian Action Thriller 'Little America' With Michael Bay As EP; AGC To Launch Sales At EFM". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 13 June 2026.
- ^ "Giant". BFI London Film Festival. Retrieved 13 June 2026.
- ^ Rantala, Hanna (8 January 2026). "Boxing biopic 'Giant' tells tale of 'the prince and his trainer'". Reuters. Retrieved 13 June 2026.
- ^ "BBC Studios Signs Development Deal With Mo Abudu Of EbonyLife For Reclaim Heist Series". Deadline Hollywood. 29 November 2021. Retrieved 13 June 2026.