Assistant Director Derek Cracknell….Day 124 of Bond 365

Today's spotlight is on a prolific assistant director who worked on some high profile films in his career. However, I found very little in the way of information about Derek Cracknell in a Google search, which is unfortunate, since it would have been fascinating to read his observations about working on the various films that he did. I would have been interested in reading about the different style of directing he encountered. What worked? What didn't? How did directing evolve from the 1960s through the 1980s? What was it like to work with Stanley Kubrick? So many questions that remain unanswered... 

Cracknell, center, hands on his hips

Derek Cracknell

Passed away this day in 1991

Assistant Director for Diamonds Are Forever, Live and Let Die, The Man with the Golden Gun

Derek Cracknell for approximately thirty years as part of the second unit and/or assistant director on about fifty films and television shows. He worked three Bond films, however he also worked on a few other projects of note: 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Battle of Britain (1969), A Clockwork Orange (1971), Aliens (1986), and Batman (1989). I do find it interesting that he never sat in the director’s seat, especially given the fact that he was Stanley Kubrick’s first assistant on two very influential films in the history of cinema.

Cracknell passed away at the young age of 55. His daughter, Sarah, is a well-known lead singer for the British band St. Etienne.

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