Television and film career (1988–2005) , where Yates trained as a director In 1988, Yates made his first film
When I Was a Girl in
Swindon. The film entered the festival circuit where it was named
Best Short Film at the
San Francisco International Film Festival. It contributed towards Yates's acceptance into the
National Film and Television School in 1989 and led to the
BBC hiring him to direct
Oranges and Lemons, a short drama film in 1991. Before completing film school, he began to direct, produce and write the screenplay to the dramatic short ''The Weaver's Wife
. He also made his fourth short film, Good Looks
, which was presented at the Chicago International Film Festival. After graduating in 1992, Yates directed an episode of the film studies programme Moving Pictures''. From 1994 to 1995, Yates directed several episodes of the
ITV police procedural
The Bill before directing and producing three episodes of the television documentary
Tale of Three Seaside Towns alongside producer Alistair Clarke. The programme followed media personalities
Russell Grant,
Honor Blackman and
Pam Ayres visiting and exploring the
South Coast towns of
Brighton,
Eastbourne and
Weymouth. Yates directed his fifth short film
Punch before making his feature film debut in 1998 with the release of the independent historical-drama film
The Tichborne Claimant. The film, which was shown at the
Edinburgh International Film Festival, was written by Joe Fisher and based on the true events of the
Tichborne Case. It starred
Stephen Fry and
Robert Hardy and was shot on location in
Merseyside and on the
Isle of Man. Yates returned to television in 2000 to direct the episodes of
Greed,
Envy and
Lust for the BBC miniseries
The Sins, starring
Pete Postlethwaite, as well as
The Way We Live Now, the four-part television adaptation of the
novel of the same name by
Anthony Trollope. Yates shared the
British Academy Television Award for Best Drama Serial with screenwriter
Andrew Davies and producer
Nigel Stafford-Clark at the
2002 BAFTA Awards. One year later, Yates attended the
56th BAFTA Awards with a
British Academy Film Award nomination for Best Short Film for the fourteen-minute production,
Rank, which expressed the social elements of racism, friendship and adolescence through the story of a street gang that cross
Glasgow to witness the arrival of a group of Somali refugees. Yates said that even though
The Way We Live Now was "a very big production" and "enormous fun to do",
Rank was an opportunity to "shake all that off" and "get back to [his] roots". Of the casting, Yates said that he "wanted to use non-actors to tell the story, to create a reality ... the kids we cast in Glasgow had never done a film before." The 2003 six-part thriller
State of Play was Yates's next achievement. Yates collected the TV Spielfilm Award at the
Cologne Conference in Germany and won the
Directors Guild of Great Britain Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement. The serial was recognised by various award ceremonies, receiving the
Peabody Award for Broadcasting Excellence and being presented with two
British Academy Television Craft Awards. The quality of the serial sparked Hollywood film bosses to consider
adapting it into a film, with producer
Andrew Hauptman declaring that "it's a blistering political thriller and we want to make an equally blistering movie."
State of Play is regarded by critics from
The Guardian and
The Times as one of the best British television dramas of the 2000s. Yates directed the television adaptation of nine-year-old
Daisy Ashford's novel
The Young Visiters, starring
Jim Broadbent alongside
Hugh Laurie. According to a review by
Variety magazine for
BBC America, Yates and his team yielded "a warm and surprisingly unsentimental production that has 'evergreen' written all over it". In 2004, Yates's two-part drama
Sex Traffic was broadcast on
Channel 4. It won eight BAFTA Awards including
Best Editing for
Mark Day, who regularly worked with Yates on many of his television projects and short films. Day commented on his collaboration with Yates saying that "we are very good friends because we have spent so much time together". He also said, "David shoots in a similar style from piece to piece, although this wasn’t quite as frantic as
State of Play." Yates was nominated for another Directors Guild of Great Britain Award for his direction of
Sex Traffic and won his second BAFTA for Best Drama Serial at the British Academy Television Awards. Being a British-Canadian production,
Sex Traffic gained four wins at Canada's annual television award ceremony, the
Gemini Awards, including Best Dramatic Miniseries. Spanning across two parts, the three-hour-long drama reveals how the
trafficking of young women into slavery is a big business which operates throughout Europe; both parts were acclaimed for their "shocking" portrayal of such a sensitive topic. Also in 2004, Yates was involved in plans for a film adaptation of
Evelyn Waugh's novel
Brideshead Revisited for
Warner Independent Pictures. He was set to work with
Paul Bettany,
Jude Law and
Jennifer Connelly on the project, but pulled out in the later stages due to constant budget issues affecting the film's production. Yates then directed
Richard Curtis' script to
The Girl in the Café, a television film starring
Bill Nighy and
Kelly Macdonald. In June 2005, the film was aired on the BBC in Britain and was also broadcast in the United States on
Home Box Office.
The Girl in the Café achieved three wins at the
Emmy Awards, including the
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Made for Television Movie, and gained a total of four nominations including
Outstanding Directing for Yates.
Harry Potter (2006–2011) at the premiere of
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on 8 July 2007 During the period of working on plans for
Brideshead Revisited, Yates was told by his agent that he had made the director shortlist for the fifth film in the
Harry Potter series and that Warner Bros. was eyeing him to direct. Shortly after, he was confirmed to direct
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by
Warner Bros. Pictures, with production scheduled to begin in early 2006. When asked how Yates got the job, producer
David Heyman ("a big fan" of Yates's television work) said that "actors in David's television projects give their best performance, often of their career. It's important to keep pushing the actors, particularly the young ones on each
Potter film. This is a political film, not with a capital P, but it's about teen rebellion and the abuse of power. David has made films in the U.K. about politics without being heavy handed." Before production began, Yates invited
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire director
Mike Newell to a pub and "picked his brains about what it was going to be like to step into someone's shoes on a movie of this scale". After the film's post-production material was well received by the studio, Yates was chosen to direct the sixth film,
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, which according to Yates was going to be "a cross between the chills of
Prisoner of Azkaban [the third film in the series] and the fantastical adventure of
Goblet of Fire". However, the film was criticised by fans of the series for having the shortest running time out of the five released instalments; Yates said that the original director's cut was "probably over three hours", resulting in much footage being cut, condensed and edited to fit within the studio's preferred time frame. During production of
Half-Blood Prince, Warner Bros. executive
Alan F. Horn announced that the seventh and final novel in the series,
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, was to be split into two cinematic parts with Yates, once again, as the director. Yates spoke of the decision to appoint him as the director of the final films, remarking that "they wanted to do a
Harry Potter that felt ... more grown up. What's smart about the studio and the producers is they have always wanted to push it a bit.
Chris Columbus did a wonderful job of casting and making this world incredibly popular. But rather than do more of the same, they said, 'Let's bring in
Alfonso Cuarón and let him run with it. Then later, let's bring in David Yates, who's done all this hard-hitting stuff on TV.' It's a testament to their ambition to try to keep the franchise fresh. The bizarre thing is, I did one [film] and they asked me to stay for three more, so obviously they liked something." Yates worked alongside French cinematographer
Bruno Delbonnel on, what Yates called, extensively colour grading the "incredibly rich" picture by making it look "very European" and drawing influences from the Dutch painter
Rembrandt. The film garnered a mix of accolades and was acclaimed for its stylised character-driven approach, but some fans complained about the script's deviation from the novel and the film's slight
romantic comedy nature. In response to this criticism, BAFTA member and film critic
Mark Kermode praised Yates's direction and ranked the film "second best" in the series, behind
Prisoner of Azkaban. Yates
began to film Deathly Hallows – Part 1 and
Deathly Hallows – Part 2 back-to-back in early 2009 and finished reshoots in late 2010. He stated that he had shot the two parts of the final adaptation differently, with Part 1 being a "
road movie" and "quite real", "almost like a
vérité documentary", while Part 2 is "more operatic, colourful and
fantasy-oriented", a "big opera with huge battles." Yates reshot the final scene of the
Harry Potter series at
Leavesden Studios after the original version, filmed at
London King's Cross railway station, did not meet his expectations. In the film, the scene takes place at the magical
Platform 9¾. Part 1 was released worldwide in November 2010 to commercial success along with generally positive reviews, some of which reflected on Yates's directing style.
The Dallas Morning News affirmed that "David Yates' fluid, fast-paced direction sends up the crackling tension of a thriller" and
The New York Times analysed Yates's approach to J. K. Rowling's character development by saying that he has "demonstrated a thorough, uncondescending sympathy for her characters, in particular the central trio of
Ron Weasley,
Hermione Granger and
Harry Potter himself." The film was praised for its "dark" atmosphere and its loyalty to the source material, but it was criticised for its slow middle act, the handling of exposition, and the somewhat disjointed pacing. Part 2 was screened in July 2011 and became an instant record-breaking success with critical acclaim.
The Daily Telegraph described Part 2 as "monumental cinema awash with gorgeous tones" and
Total Film wrote that Yates combines "spectacle and emotion into a thrilling final chapter." Author J. K. Rowling remarked that "everyone who watches
Deathly Hallows – Part 2 is going to see that he's steered us home magnificently. It's incredible." Part 2 is one of two
Harry Potter films to pass the $1 billion mark during its original theatrical run; it became the
highest-grossing film in the series and the highest-grossing film of 2011, making Yates the director of the highest-grossing non-
James Cameron film of all time in August 2011. Amongst other accolades, Yates won his second Empire Award for Best Director and joined the principal creative team of
Harry Potter in receiving the 2012
ADG Award for Outstanding Contribution to Cinematic Imagery for their work on
Deathly Hallows – Part 2 and the series in general. Yates attended the
64th British Academy Film Awards in February 2011, where he was joined by J. K. Rowling, David Heyman, Mike Newell, Alfonso Cuarón,
David Barron,
Rupert Grint, and
Emma Watson in collecting the
Michael Balcon Award for Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema on behalf of the
Harry Potter films.
Daniel Radcliffe, who portrayed the films' titular character, commented on working with Yates, saying that he "added his own sense of grit and realism [to the series] that perhaps wasn't there so much before. I think we all had a fantastic time working with David. I know we did."
Tyrant and Tarzan (2012–2016) By 2012, Yates was working on a few
Warner Bros. projects, including a
Tarzan feature film and an
Al Capone biopic called
Cicero. He also controversially said that he was working with
BBC Worldwide on plans to develop a
Doctor Who film, although this was denied by the showrunner,
Steven Moffat, in July 2012. Because of production delays, Yates began to explore other projects including television work. , 2016 In 2013, he returned to television by signing on to direct the
television pilot of
Tyrant, an American drama production set against the US–Middle East conflict. The following year, Yates began shooting
The Legend of Tarzan, starring
Alexander Skarsgård,
Samuel L. Jackson,
Margot Robbie,
Djimon Hounsou,
Jim Broadbent, and
Christoph Waltz. The film, released in 2016, opened to mixed reviews and a worldwide total of $356.7 million.
Fantastic Beasts series (2016–2022) Yates directed
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, a 2016 film which is the first in a series of five instalments based on J. K. Rowling's book, set in the world of her
Harry Potter novels. David Heyman and
Harry Potter screenwriter
Steve Kloves joined Yates and J. K. Rowling in developing the script. The film was released in November 2016, it received generally positive reviews and was a commercial success having grossed $814 million. It stars
Eddie Redmayne,
Katherine Waterston,
Dan Fogler,
Alison Sudol,
Ezra Miller,
Colin Farrell, and
Johnny Depp. Yates directed the 2018 sequel,
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald which received mixed critical reception but emerged a box office success having grossed $654 million. In an interview with
The Hollywood Reporter, he stated he was open to directing all five planned films in the
Fantastic Beasts series. He returned to direct the third film,
Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore in 2022 which also received mixed critical reception and grossed $407 million worldwide, making it a box office disappointment and the
lowest-grossing film in the Wizarding World franchise.
Pain Hustlers and current work (2023–present) Yates next directed the drama film
Pain Hustlers, starring
Emily Blunt and
Chris Evans, for
Netflix. Production began on 22 August 2022 and the film was released on 27 October 2023. ==Wychwood Media==