- Born
- Birth namePaul Jospeh Laverty
- Paul Laverty was born in Calcutta, India, to an Irish mother and Scottish father.
He obtained a Philosophy degree at the Gregorian University in Rome. Thereafter he obtained a law degree in Glasgow and went on to do an apprenticeship with two of Scotland's most celebrated lawyers. He became a practising lawyer.
In the mid eighties he travelled to Nicaragua, Central America, and lived there for almost three years. He worked for a Nicaraguan human rights organisation During this time he travelled widely in Guatemala and El Salvador which were both in a state of civil war.
Laverty received the Fullbright Award in 1984 and lived in Los Angeles for 18 months.
After his time in Central America Laverty made contact with the director Ken Loach and since then they have been working in constant collaboration.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Sixteen Films - As a law student he once hitch-hiked across the United States from New York to Los Angeles with many surreal experiences in between. He won a Fullbright Award to study film in the U.S. based on an open screenplay competition. During his time in California he researched a story while living with Latinos in McArthur Park, down-town Los Angeles, which finally became the film "Bread and Roses" which starred the future Oscar winner Adrien Brodie. He received an Honorary PH.D from Strathclyde University, Glasgow, Scotland in 2003. On a trip to China he was once accidentally flattened by an over enthusiastic Buddhist monk who was keen to show off his King Fu skills and got carried away. Paul works between Madrid, London and Glasgow and speaks good Spanish. Every project in which Paul and Ken have collaborated has premiered in the official section of a major "A" list European festival, either Cannes (3 times) Venice (twice) or Berlin (once). Together they have won a string of international prizes. My Name is Joe and Sweet Sixteen won the best British Independent Film Award in 2000 and 2002 respectively.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Anonymous
- Partner is actress and director Icíar Bollaín.
- I'm always reminded of those wonderful words of Woodie Guthrie, who said: All about a human being is, it's a great big hoping machine. I think when you think back to times when things have been more difficult than ours, you know black slaves or when people got the vote for the first time... trade unions being ripped apart and lynched. I think there are the possibilities now of great progress. Fifteen years ago people who talked about global warming were seen as cranks and idiots. So I don't think anything is inevitable. I think it depends on us making decisions and organizing. I think we have to be massively creative and look for opportunities and work together. If we lose faith on that notion of collective effort I think we are sunk.
- Every time we come on to a project we try to be our own best critics and be really tough with the possibilities in front of us. It's a huge effort for everyone involved. The premise is so important and to try and choose something is one of the biggest things we've wrestled with.
- I have heard many writers complain that they deserve more attention in the world of film, and they may be right. But I suspect it is about as useful as moaning about the moon pulling the tide or dogs pissing on lamp-posts. Besides, anonymity is greatly underestimated. it is much more interesting to ask a question than answer one.
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