Photographer and director Anton Corbain: biography and creativity

Anton Corbain is a Dutch filmmaker and photographer. He is known as the creator of numerous video clips for famous rock musicians. Most of Corbein's photographs were also related to the world of show business. During the last decade he took part in the filming of several major Hollywood films as a director.

Family and early years

Anton Korbein was born in the Netherlands in 1955. The family had four children. His father served as a priest in a Protestant church, his mother worked as a nurse. Maarten, Anton's younger brother, also made a career as a photographer and filmmaker. Their grandfather was an art teacher. Perhaps, the grandchildren inherited from him creative abilities.

Photographer

In the 70s of the last century, Anton Corbain began taking pictures of famous music groups for publication in thematic magazines. His photos often fell on the cover. Corbein moved from the Netherlands to the UK, where he collaborated with the weekly musical edition of New Musical Express. He acquired the reputation of a talented photographer, shooting many popular singers and actors. Especially long was the creative union of Corbein and the U2 group. He designed the covers of the plates of this ensemble and conducted a reportage shooting during his world tour.

At the early stage of his career, Corbein preferred to make black and white photographs, but later switched to color photographs using filters.

Producer

In the early 80's, Korbayn concentrated his creative powers at work in the genre of music video. The greatest number of clips he made for Depeche Mode.

In 2007, Corbain made his debut in a big movie. He became the producer and director of a biopic about Ian Curtis, leader of the British rock band Joy Division. A painting called "Control" was based on memoirs written by the musician's widow. The main role was brilliantly performed by a little-known actor Sam Riley, who was nominated for this film for prestigious cinematic awards and received special recognition from critics.

A dramatic tape about a talented musician suffering from seizures of epilepsy and difficulties in his personal life was decided to be made in black and white. This idea was put forward by Anton Korbein. The work of the early stage of his photographer's career was also performed in this style.

"American"

Corbein drew the attention of Hollywood producers to himself. In 2009, they invited him to take the director's chair on the shooting of the thriller "American". George Clooney was selected as the main actor. After the premiere of the film, critics positively assessed his acting. In their opinion, he managed to create on the screen the image of an unusual emotionally impenetrable personality. The artistic merits of the picture as a whole also earned the favor of experts. The film is an intricate spy story, filled with drama and hidden symbols. Box office collections of the film justified the expectations of the creators, which indicates a positive acceptance by the audience.

"The most dangerous person"

The first successful experience of directing in a large cinematograph opened up wide opportunities for Corbayne. His next Hollywood film was an espionage drama based on the novel of the famous British writer John Le Carre. A painting called "The Most Dangerous Man" was filmed in 2012. The main role in it was played by Philip Seymour Hoffman, for whom this work in cinema was the last in life. The image of one of the heroes of the film was embodied on the screen by Russian actor Grigory Dobrygin.

The action of Le Carre's book takes place in a world of secret services that do not adhere to generally accepted moral norms and do not disdain any means to achieve their goals. The works of this author usually describe the spies of different countries, leading an eternal and hopeless war among themselves. Anton Corbain excellently recreated in the film the atmosphere of the novel Le Carre and received for him exceptionally high ratings of critics.

"Life"

In 2015, a new biographical picture appeared on the screens. She talks about the friendship between the legendary actor James Dean and Dennis Stoke, a photographer for the Life magazine. Anton Korbein was invited for the third time to work as a director in a Hollywood project. The film "Life" became a commercial failure and received conflicting reviews from movie fans. Unfortunately, once again removing the history of the cult personality, Korbein failed to repeat the success of his debut picture "Control".