---
name: "John Maybury"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/john-maybury"
fi1m_id: "john-maybury"
imdb_id: "nm0562266"
tmdb_id: 40307
wikidata_id: "Q3182021"
roles: ["Director"]
born: "25 March 1958"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
average_as: "director"
average_over: 1
updated: "2026-09-17T23:08:45.780420+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# John Maybury

## Identity

John Maybury

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/john-maybury
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** john-maybury
- **IMDb ID:** nm0562266
- **TMDB ID:** 40307
- **Wikidata ID:** Q3182021
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Maybury, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3182021, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0562266/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/40307

Director. Born 25 March 1958 in London, England, UK.

## Details

- **Work:** Director
- **Born:** 25 March 1958, London, England, UK
- **Also known as:** Джон Мэйбери
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Maybury, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3182021, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0562266/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/40307

## Streaming the US now

- **HBO Max:** [*Rome*](https://film.one/tv/rome.md) (82)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on John Maybury

> John Maybury’s films take visual risks worth our attention, particularly when he depicts artists. We value his willingness to experiment, though the storytelling is not always strong enough to make those experiments work.

The cutting in a John Maybury film can be fragmented; the pictures may take their cue from the artist being depicted. We value that willingness to find something other than the usual biographical explanation, though it can leave the story struggling to keep up. His early collaborations with Derek Jarman covered set design, costumes and editing, work that helps explain his attention to how images are assembled. *Remembrance of Things Fast: True Stories Visual Lies* (1994) gave his experiments a feature-length, collage form.

*Love Is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon* (1998), which he wrote and directed, brought those methods to his first narrative feature. Cinematography and design convey the artist’s world, although the grimness can make the portrait feel narrow despite strong central performances. His Hollywood debut, the time-travel thriller *The Jacket* (2005), made the weakness in plotting harder to overlook. *The Edge of Love* (2008), about Dylan Thomas, returned him to an artistic life, a subject that suits his habit of letting the pictures do much of the explaining.

*Rome* (2005) requires a different kind of judgement, since Maybury directed episodes within a shared production. Our score of 82 for the series is not a personal mark for him, and we would not attribute its successes or faults to him alone. We were grateful for Ray Stevenson’s warmth, which makes the brutal ancient society worth spending time in. The opening is uneven, and the plentiful cruelty remains a substantial qualification to our recommendation, but Stevenson gives us a reason to stay through the rougher stretches.

For a closer look at Maybury’s own methods, *Love Is the Devil* is the useful starting point, since he wrote as well as directed it. Expect the artist’s way of seeing to shape the film, and be prepared for a grim evening. Our firmer recommendation is *Rome*, provided the uneven opening does not send you away too soon.

## Biography

John Maybury (born 25 March 1958) is an English filmmaker and artist. He first came to prominence directing music videos in the 1980s, including the Pet Shop Boys' "West End Girls" (1984) and Sinéad O'Connor's "Nothing Compares 2 U" (1990).

Maybury's feature films include *Love Is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon* (1998), which he also wrote and which screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes Film Festival; *The Jacket* (2005); and *The Edge of Love* (2008). He has directed episodes of television series including *Rome* (2005), *The Borgias* (2011) and *Marco Polo* (2014).

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (1)

- *Rome* (2005), Fi1m 82, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/rome.md)

## Complete filmography (34)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Tramps!* (2023), Actor
- *Marco Polo* (2014), series, Director
- *Dates* (2013), series, Director
- *The Borgias* (2011), series, Director
- *The Edge of Love* (2008), Director
- *Rome* (2005), series, Director — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/tv/rome.md)
- *The Jacket* (2005), Director
- *Jubilee: A Time Less Golden* (2003), as Interviewee
- *Museum of Memory* (1999), Director
- *Love Is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon* (1998), Director, Screenplay
- *Read Only Memory* (1998), Director
- *Maledicta Electronica* (1996), Director
- *Genetron* (1996), Director
- *Remembrance of Things Fast: True Stories Visual Lies* (1994), Director, Writer
- *Cyndi Lauper: 12 Deadly Cyns... and Then Some* (1994), Director
- *Premonitions Of Absurd Perversion In Sexual Personae, Part 1* (1992), Director
- *Man to Man* (1992), Director
- *Tunnel of Love* (1991), Director
- *Red Hot + Blue: A Tribute to Cole Porter* (1990), Director
- *Absurd* (1989), Director
- *Sinéad O'Connor: The Value of Ignorance* (1989), Director
- *The Last of England* (1987), Editor
- *Big Love: An Invitation to Disaster* (1987), Director
- *ScreenPlay* (1986), series, Director
- *Tortures That Laugh* (1986), Director
- *The Dream Machine* (1986), Director
- *Union Jack Up* (1985), Director
- *Glistening with Energy* (1984), Director
- *Pagan Idolatry* (1984), Director
- *Unclean* (1984), Director
- *Circus Logic I-IV* (1983), Director
- *The Court of Miracles* (1982), Director
- *The Technology of Souls* (1981), Director
- *Glamour Is an Asset*, Director

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© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/john-maybury