Jez Butterworth
Butterworth started his career with his play, a comedic dark crime drama Mojo (1995) which earned the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Comedy.[4] In 1999 Butterworth was one of the recipients of the V Europe Prize Theatrical Realities awarded to the Royal Court Theatre[5] (with Sarah Kane, Mark Ravenhill, Conor McPherson, Martin McDonagh).[15] Jez and John-Henry Butterworth were named recipients of the Writers Guild of America West's 2011 Paul Selvin Award for their screenplay for the film Fair Game (2010), directed by Doug Liman and starring Naomi Watts and Sean Penn.[19] On 26 October 2012, Butterworth's play The River opened at the Royal Court Theatre, starring Dominic West, Laura Donnelly and Miranda Raison, with an appearance by Gillian Saker.[20][21] The River had its US premiere on Broadway at the Circle in the Square Theatre in a limited engagement in October 2014, starring Hugh Jackman and directed by Ian Rickson.[25] Set in rural South Armagh in 1981 and focusing on the events surrounding the deaths of the IRA hunger strikers, it received 15 five-star reviews, including all the major UK papers.[27] Two weeks later The Irish Times printed an opinion piece by actor Gerard Lee (of Father Ted)[28] entitled "In defence of The Ferryman".[33][34] David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter wrote, "This is a big, bombastic movie that goes through the motions but never finds much joy in the process" adding that the screenplay "feel[s] of something written by committee"."[11] Uncredited In July 2017, Butterworth revealed he had declined the offer of appointment as Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) due to the Conservative government's pledge to hold a referendum on Britain's membership of the European Union.