# Michael Coulter

Michael Daley Coulter (born 29 August 1952) is a Scottish cinematographer. He achieved prominence for his collaborations with writer-director Bill Forsyth, and went on to work on high-profile films like Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), Sense and Sensibility (1995), FairyTale: A True Story (1997), Notting Hill, Mansfield Park (both 1999), Love Actually (2003), The Bank Job (2008), and The Hustle (2019). He was nominated for an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award for his work on Sense and Sensibility. He is a member of the British Society of Cinematographers, and BAFTA Scotland.

## Early life

Coulter was born in Glasgow in 1952. He was introduced to the local film business by his director brother-in-law, the Charles Gormley. He started as a gopher for local production companies making industrial films, before moving on to load the black and white film stock into camera magazines at football matches. He went freelance in 1975.

## Career

Coulter became acquainted with writer/director Bill Forsyth, shooting in his 1972 documentary short Islands of the West. He subsequently filmed Forsyth's first feature, That Sinking Feeling (1979). Coulter operated for Chris Menges on Forsyth's next pictures, Local Hero (1983) and Comfort and Joy (1984), which Coulter describes as "unmissable opportunities to work with a man I admired tremendously".
During the early 1980s he also worked on many documentaries. "Documentaries made you resourceful, inventive. You had to make things work somehow. Also the life-experience of 'travel broadening the mind' was important for me". He enjoyed a brief stint in France during the early 1980s, as an assistant to cinematographer Pierre-William Glenn, but it was back in the UK that he passed a watershed.
He was just about to start work as the camera operator on No Surrender (1985), when the original director of photography had to pull out.
He has shot numerous commercials directed by Charles Sturridge, Tom Hooper, Mark Mylod, David Jellison (for Kleenex), Gerard de Thame (for Nissan, Rolex, and KIA), among others.
Coulter is represented by McKinney Macartney Management in the UK and Gersh in the US.

## Filmography

Key :
| † | Denotes films that have not yet been released |

### Film
#### As director of photography

| Year | Title | Director | Notes |
| 1972 | Islands of the West | Bill Forsyth | Short film 1st of 8 collaborations with Forsyth |
| 1978 | The Odd Man | Charles Gormley | |
| 1979 | That Sinking Feeling | Bill Forsyth | |
| 1981 | Gregory's Girl | Bill Forsyth | |
| 1983 | The Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright | Murray Grigor | Documentary |
| 1985 | No Surrender | Peter Smith | |
| 1985 | The Good Father | Mike Newell | |
| 1986 | Heavenly Pursuits | Charles Gormley | |
| 1987 | Housekeeping | Bill Forsyth | |
| 1988 | The Dressmaker | Jim O'Brien | |
| 1989 | Geh Kinde Geh | Crispin Reece | Short film |
| 1989 | Bearskin: An Urban Fairytale | Ann Guedes Eduardo Guedes | |
| 1989 | Breaking In | Bill Forsyth | |
| 1989 | Diamond Skulls | Nick Broomfield | |
| 1991 | Where Angels Fear to Tread | Charles Sturridge | |
| 1992 | Monster in a Box | Nick Broomfield | |
| 1992 | The Long Day Closes | Terence Davies | |
| 1994 | Four Weddings and a Funeral | Mike Newell | |
| 1994 | Being Human | Bill Forsyth | |
| 1995 | Sense and Sensibility | Ang Lee | |
| 1995 | The Neon Bible | Terence Davies | |
| 1997 | FairyTale: A True Story | Charles Sturridge | |
| 1998 | My Giant | Michael Lehmann | |
| 1999 | Notting Hill | Roger Michell | |
| 1999 | Mansfield Park | Patricia Rozema | |
| 2002 | Killing Me Softly | Chen Kaige | |
| 2003 | Love Actually | Richard Curtis | |
| 2008 | The Bank Job | Roger Donaldson | |
| 2013 | The Lovers | Roland Joffé | Co-cinematographer with Ben Nott |
| 2015 | Slaba plec? | Krzysztof Lang | |
| 2017 | The Escape | Paul Franklin | Short film |
| 2019 | The Hustle | Chris Addison | |
| 2021 | A Castle for Christmas | Mary Lambert | |

#### As other

| Year | Title | Director | DoP. | Notes |
| 1980 | Death Watch | Bertrand Tavernier | Pierre-William Glenn | Camera assistant |
| 1980 | A Week's Vacation | Bertrand Tavernier | Pierre-William Glenn | Camera assistant |
| 1981 | Coup de Torchon | Bertrand Tavernier | Pierre-William Glenn | Camera assistant |
| 1982 | Espion, lève-toi | Yves Boisset | Jean Boffety | Camera assistant |
| 1983 | Local Hero | Bill Forsyth | Chris Menges | Camera operator |
| 1984 | Comfort and Joy | Bill Forsyth | Chris Menges | Camera operator |
| 1985 | Restless Natives | Michael Hoffman | Oliver Stapleton | Camera operator |
| 1987 | The Dead | John Huston | Fred Murphy | Camera operator: Dublin |
| 2013 | Rush | Ron Howard | Anthony Dod Mantle | Pre-shoot photography: Nürburgring |
| 2014 | Maleficent | Robert Stromberg | Dean Semler | Additional photography |

### Television

| Year | Title | Notes |
| 1990 | 4 Play | Episode: "Madly in Love" |
| 1990 | The Widowmaker | Television film |
| 1993 | Foreign Affairs | Television film |
| 1995 | The Infiltrator | Television film |
| 1996 | Interview Day | Television film |
| 2018 | Shetland | 3 episodes |
| 2019 | Wild Bill | 2 episodes |
| 2020 | Breeders | 5 episodes |
| 2022 | Outlander | 3 episodes |

## Awards and nominations

| Institution | Year | Category | Work | Outcome |
| Academy Awards | 1996 | Best Cinematography | Sense and Sensibility | Nominated |
| BAFTA Awards | 1996 | Best Cinematography | Sense and Sensibility | Nominated |
| BAFTA Scotland Awards | 1997 | Craft Award for Outstanding Contribution to Film or Television | — | Won |
| British Society of Cinematographers | 1994 | Best Cinematography in a Theatrical Feature Film | Four Weddings and a Funeral | Nominated |
| British Society of Cinematographers | 1995 | Best Cinematography in a Theatrical Feature Film | Sense and Sensibility | Nominated |
| Chlotrudis Awards | 1998 | Best Cinematography | FairyTale: A True Story | Nominated |
| Valladolid International Film Festival | 1995 | Best Director of Photography | The Neon Bible | Won |