Paul Greengrass CBE (born 13 August 1955) is an English film director, film producer, screenwriter, and former journalist. One of his early films, Bloody Sunday (2002), won the Golden Bear at the 52nd Berlin International Film Festival. Other films Greengrass has directed include three entries of the Bourne action-thriller film series: The Bourne Supremacy (2004), The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) and Jason Bourne (2016). He also directed United 93 (2006), for which Greengrass won the BAFTA Award for Best Director and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Director; as well as Green Zone (2010) and Captain Phillips (2013). In 2004, he co-wrote and produced the film Omagh, which won the Single Drama award from the British Academy Television Awards. In 2007, Greengrass co-founded Directors UK, a professional organisation of British filmmakers, and was its first president until 2014. He ranked 28th on EW's The 50 Smartest People in Hollywood in 2007. In 2008, The Telegraph named him among the most influential people in British culture. In 2017, Greengrass was honoured with a British Film Institute Fellowship. Description above from the Wikipedia article Paul Greengrass, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
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Biography from TMDB.
- August 13, 1955 (71)
- Cheam, Surrey, England, UK
- Director, writer and producer
- 17 on MovieCove · 25 credits in all
What are Paul Greengrass' films like?
Across their 17 MovieCove titles with a thematic analysis, their films lean Morality and Survival.
Genres
Their MovieCove films by primary genre. The badge is the typical Midcredits score of the genre's films, the median percentile; an up arrow marks a genre at or above their average across these genres.
Themes
What they feel like to watch
Ironic 0 · Wry 0 · Earnest 16
Light 0 · Serious 2 · Dark 14
Grounded 14 · Stylized 2 · Heightened 0
Gentle 0 · Charged 2 · Intense 14
Steady 3 · Shifting 11 · Whiplash 2
Straight-faced 15 · Some laughs 1 · Funny 0
A split, not a type: Slow burn 4 · Even-paced 5 · Relentless 7
Casual 2 · Engaged 8 · Full focus 6
Easy watch 2 · Affecting 4 · Heavy 10
Resolved 13 · Open-ended 3 · Ambiguous 0
Moods and endings
- Happy1
- Bittersweet12
- Tragic2
- Ambiguous2
AI-generated from each title's plot synopsis and cast list, with extra plot summaries, reviews and Parents Guide notes for titles the model may not know, and the model's own knowledge of the ones it recognizes. Only analyzed titles count, so this covers part of the filmography; the feel axes count films only for now.
Where can I watch Paul Greengrass' films?
As of October 24, 2026, 10 of their 17 MovieCove titles stream on a subscription or free service, most on Netflix (4).
Subscription and free streaming for Paul Greengrass' titles on MovieCove; rent and buy are not counted. Titles are listed by Midcredits score, highest first, at most 12 per service; a dashed chip is a producer credit or a minor one, such as a thanks. A service opens the browse page, which counts movies only, so its number can differ.
Filmography
25 credits, 17 with a MovieCove page; 8 appearances as themselves are hidden until asked for.
The Uprising(2026)
Midcredits score: 51st percentile of all films
The Lost Bus(2025)
Midcredits score: 75th percentile of all films
Stephen(2021)
Midcredits score: 68th percentile of all shows
News of the World(2020)
Midcredits score: 76th percentile of all films
22 July(2018)
Midcredits score: 76th percentile of all films
Jason Bourne(2016)
Midcredits score: 65th percentile of all films
Captain Phillips(2013)
Midcredits score: 98th percentile of all films
Green Zone(2010)
Midcredits score: 70th percentile of all films
The Bourne Ultimatum(2007)
Midcredits score: 98th percentile of all films
British Film Forever (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2007)
United 93(2006)
Midcredits score: 93rd percentile of all films
Omagh (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2005)
The Bourne Supremacy(2004)
Midcredits score: 96th percentile of all films
Bloody Sunday(2002)
Midcredits score: 96th percentile of all films
Midcredits score: 73rd percentile of all films
The Theory of Flight(1998)
Midcredits score: 59th percentile of all films
The Fix (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1997)
The One That Got Away(1996)
Midcredits score: 46th percentile of all films
Open Fire(1994)
Midcredits score: 39th percentile of all films
Resurrected(1989)
Midcredits score: 50th percentile of all films
World in Action (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1963)
Drowning: The Rescue of Flight 1421 (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)
Night of Camp David (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)
Test Drive (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)
Untitled Jimi Hendrix Film (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)
Career shape
A full career of 25 titles, 21 of them dated from 1963 to 2026.
Biggest box office
The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)
Highest rated
The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)
Most popular right now
The Uprising (2026)
Counts from TMDB across their full career, self appearances out; a title counts in every role they held on it. The ring is the typical Midcredits score (the median percentile) of the role's titles that are on MovieCove, shown from 5 scored.
Awards
4 BAFTA Awards and 6 other major awards from 27 major nominations, 1989–2021.
- Writers Guild Award, nominated · Adapted Screenplay
- Critics Choice Award, nominated · Best Adapted Screenplay
- Venice award, won
- Venice award, nominated · Best Film
- Golden Globe, nominated · Best Director - Motion Picture
- BAFTA Award, nominated
+2 other major bodies · 2 nominations
- Directors Guild Award, nominated · Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film
- Critics Choice Award, nominated · Best Director
- BAFTA Award, nominated · Best Director
- BAFTA Award, nominated
- Oscar, nominated · Best Achievement in Directing
- BAFTA Award, won
- BAFTA Award, nominated · Best Screenplay - Original
- BAFTA Award, nominated
+2 other major bodies · 2 nominations
- Writers Guild Award, nominated · Best Original Screenplay
- Critics Choice Award, nominated · Best Director
- BAFTA Award, won · Best Single Drama
- BAFTA Award, won
- BAFTA Award, nominated · Best Single Drama
+1 other major body · 1 nomination
- Independent Spirit Award, nominated · Best Foreign Film
- Berlinale award, won · Competition
- Berlinale award, won
- Sundance award, won · World Cinema
Show 2 earlier yearsShow fewer
- BAFTA Award, won · Best Single Drama
- Berlinale award, won ×2 · Competition
- Berlinale award, nominated · Best Film
Major bodies only: the Oscars, Primetime Emmys, Golden Globes, BAFTAs and Screen Actors Guild Awards are named; Cannes, Venice, the Berlinale, Sundance, the directors', writers' and producers' guilds, the Grammys, Critics Choice and the Independent Spirit Awards count as other major bodies. Festival and regional prizes are not counted. Source: IMDb.
How do Paul Greengrass' films land?
Their typical MovieCove film has a Midcredits score in the 74th percentile, the median of all 16; across their 16 films with reception data, the typical film sits in the 73rd percentile for acclaim.
- 75th and up8
- 50th to 74th7
- 25th to 49th2
Shape of the crowd
8 of their 17 titles are Crowd Pleasers.
- Universally Loved5
- Crowd Pleaser8
- Broadly Agreed1
- Mixed3
Reviewers score the atmosphere 75/100 and the pacing 60/100 in their films, across 16 reviewed titles. The element that speaks to their work as a director.
Percentiles are each film's standing among all films on MovieCove; the typical film is the median, so one outlier cannot drag it. Percentiles and reviewer scores count the films IMDb credits them on, for now; the Midcredits score bands, the shape of the crowd and the two cards count their MovieCove titles, shows included (a show ranked among shows), appearances as themselves left out. A descriptor is the shape of a title's IMDb rating distribution against the catalog; "most divisive" needs a spread wider than half of all titles, and a card names only a principal credit: a craft role, and on a show a crew role or a run of episodes, never a courtesy credit or a one-off guest spot.
Is Paul Greengrass' work okay for kids?
Across up to 11 MovieCove titles with content scores, violence & gore, profanity and frightening / intense run heavier than most films and sex & nudity and alcohol & drugs lighter.
Severity 0–100 from the Content Guide. Categories with under 10 votes on a title are not counted. The band's colour is the severity of their median, named beside it.
Who does Paul Greengrass work with?
People who share at least 2 of Paul Greengrass' MovieCove titles, grouped by what they did on them; Gregory Goodman shares the most, 6.
Writers
- Robert LudlumShared titles: Jason Bourne (2016), The Bourne Ultimatum (2007), The Bourne Supremacy (2004)See all 3 shared titles with Robert Ludlum
- Tony GilroyShared titles: The Bourne Ultimatum (2007), The Bourne Supremacy (2004)See all 2 shared titles with Tony Gilroy
Actors
- Matt DamonShared titles: Jason Bourne (2016), Green Zone (2010), The Bourne Ultimatum (2007), The Bourne Supremacy (2004)See all 4 shared titles with Matt Damon
- Julia StilesShared titles: Jason Bourne (2016), The Bourne Ultimatum (2007), The Bourne Supremacy (2004)See all 3 shared titles with Julia Stiles
- Yul VazquezShared titles: The Lost Bus (2025), Captain Phillips (2013)See all 2 shared titles with Yul Vazquez
- Hugh QuarshieShared titles: Stephen (2021), The Murder of Stephen Lawrence (1999)See all 2 shared titles with Hugh Quarshie
Composers, cinematographers and editors
- Christopher RouseShared titles: Jason Bourne (2016), Captain Phillips (2013), Green Zone (2010), The Bourne Ultimatum (2007), The Bourne Supremacy (2004)See all 5 shared titles with Christopher Rouse
- John PowellShared titles: Jason Bourne (2016), Green Zone (2010), The Bourne Ultimatum (2007), United 93 (2006), The Bourne Supremacy (2004)See all 5 shared titles with John Powell
- Ivan StrasburgShared titles: Bloody Sunday (2002), The Murder of Stephen Lawrence (1999), The Theory of Flight (1998), The One That Got Away (1996), Resurrected (1989)See all 5 shared titles with Ivan Strasburg
- Barry AckroydShared titles: Jason Bourne (2016), Captain Phillips (2013), Green Zone (2010), United 93 (2006)See all 4 shared titles with Barry Ackroyd
Producers
- Gregory GoodmanShared titles: The Uprising (2026), The Lost Bus (2025), News of the World (2020), 22 July (2018), Jason Bourne (2016), Captain Phillips (2013)See all 6 shared titles with Gregory Goodman
- Mark RedheadShared titles: Stephen (2021), Bloody Sunday (2002), The Murder of Stephen Lawrence (1999)See all 3 shared titles with Mark Redhead
- Amy LordShared titles: News of the World (2020), 22 July (2018), Jason Bourne (2016)See all 3 shared titles with Amy Lord
- Andrew R. TennenbaumShared titles: Jason Bourne (2016), The Bourne Ultimatum (2007), The Bourne Supremacy (2004)See all 3 shared titles with Andrew R. Tennenbaum