Jeremy Thomas Remembered as a Filmmaker ‘Full of Stories’ and a ‘Rebel With Taste’: ‘The Canon of His Work Is Unmatched’

Tributes have begun flowing from across the film world for Jeremy Thomas, the legendary British producer who passed away on Friday at the age of 77.

Terry Gilliam, who worked with Thomas on “Tideland” and “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote,” told Variety, “Jeremy Thomas loved making movies. He loved every aspect of the business, but most of all he loved directors. The list of those he worked with is almost endless and I was one of the lucky ones. His taste in filmmaking spanned the globe. He was fearless in getting some very unlikely films financed and released, often to worldwide success. The list is remarkable in range and absolutely unforgettable in quality. Most of all, he was a joy to work with. As your producer you always felt protected and encouraged, rare qualities to experience, especially when lack of time and money are swirling around you, raging at your head. Filmmaking is not cheap and the pressures are intense but Jeremy always remained calm and supportive. He was a rare and very unique gem in the world of producers.”

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Luca Guadagnino, who recently put Thomas on camera for his Venice-bowing documentary “Joie De Vivre” to talk about Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci (with whom he made five films), offered Variety a statement about the producer.

“Jeremy Thomas’ death leaves a gigantic void. The space he was fulfilling was a space of pure cinema. Someone who knew how to collaborate with filmmakers and make them better, and how to be himself — a great filmmaker,” he said. “The canon of his work is unmatched, and some of the greatest movies of the past 50 years have been produced by him. And the level of the partnerships that he established in his career is incredible, from Nagisa Oshima to Bernardo Bertolucci. He was a generous man. He was a kind man. He was a man full of stories to tell, but at the same time, very curious to hear others people’s stories. I regret not having been able, in my life, to be produced by the great Jeremy Thomas, and I say a very moved goodbye to him.”

Thomas was greatly admired and loved by fellow British producers, such as Danny Boyle’s producing partner Andrew Macdonald. Macdonald told Variety that “Jeremy and I bonded over his father [director Ralph Thomas] and my grandfather both producing films for Rank in the 1950s. He was a hero for me. A rebel with taste.” Macdonald’s grandfather was Emeric Pressburger, the co-writer, co-director and producer of “The Red Shoes” and “Black Narcissus,” among other classics.

Producer Stephen Woolley, whose credits include Oscar-nominated films like “The Crying Game” and “Carol,” told Variety that Thomas was a “colossus.”

Woolley said, “I first met the maverick and international producer in Tokyo at a buyers’ screening of his movie ‘Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence.’ Jeremy Thomas was the person in 1981 in Japan who didn’t suggest but insisted that I be a film producer!!!! He was a huge inspiration and a massively undervalued genius and necessary rebel in our industry… he sided with the subversives and movie anarchists and we loved him dearly… and I have to thank him for my career following in similar footsteps avoiding nationalistic stereotypes and embracing the world of cinema.

“As a distributor, I released most of his eighties films including Oshima’s ‘Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence,’ Frears’ ‘The Hit,’ Roeg’s ‘Insignificance,’ Bertolucci’s ‘Sheltering Sky’ etc., and before that I wrote as a film pundit the cover article for the Sex Pistols movie ‘Rock n Roll Swindle’ for Time Out ( a movie I adored), which he produced with Julien Temple directing. All inspiring!!!

“And his company HanWay sold a lot of our productions including ‘Made in Dagenham’ and ‘Carol.’ He wasn’t just the Oscar winner of ‘Last Emperor’ (with an Italian director and Irish star set in China!) he was much, much more.

“Without Jeremy (and a little help from John Boorman) I would never have had the nerve at 27 to make ‘The Company of Wolves’ with the Irish director-writer Neil Jordan and the iconic feminist and anarchic writer Angela Carter. Jeremy showed with his first movie success ‘The Shout’ (with Polish friend and collaborator Skolimowski) that boundaries were there to be ignored or broken. And that movies are an international and all-embracing experience.

“Myself and my producing partner Elizabeth Karlsen look up to his guiding star still moving across the galaxy and inspiring filmmakers from all nations and genders with his extraordinary body of stellar work. Hoping to take guidance from a groundbreaking guru whose love of world cinema defied any easy categorization.”

Producer and publisher Charles Finch said, “He made great movies and was a loyal, dear friend. His father, Ralph, made a film with my father, Peter, called ‘No Love for Johnnie.’ We spent plenty of time talking movies, cars and praising the devilled kidneys as Wilton’s.”

On social media, Edinburgh Film Festival CEO and director Paul Ridd said that the “loss of Jeremy Thomas is enormous, to film culture and to the world,” adding that he was “such a beautiful man and a extraordinarily generous supporter” of the festival.

Adrian Wootton, chief executive of Film London and the British Film Commission, said that Thomas’ passing was, “Such terribly sad news for Jeremy’s loved ones, family, friends, colleagues, the filmmakers and for the British Film Industry he did so much for.”

Across a career spanning more than half a century, Thomas produced 80 features, championing the work of both international cinema and daring auteur filmmakers in the process. In 1988 he won the best picture Oscar for Bertolucci’s “The Last Emperor.”