Wikipedia

Francis Guy Lyon (born March 22, 1979) is a Canadian filmmaker, producer, and film distributor. He's the oldest son of actor Benedict Lyon and writer Grace Robertson. His paternal grandparents are Academy Award winning director, and Academy Award winning editor, Geraud and Elise Lyon, respectively. His maternal grandparents are noted playwrights Hugh and Dorothy Robertson.

His films are best known for their heightened sense of realism. Lyon often uses screenplays as a blueprint, preferring improvisation to memorization, a technique often employed by his grandfather, and by Lyon's favorite auteur, Francois Truffaut.

In 2012 he expanded his resume to include co-founder and owner of the motion picture company A24 (formerly A24 Films). After A24 won their first Academy Award for Moonlight, Vanity Fair named Lyon, "one of the leading tastemakers in Hollywood."

Early Life

Born in Montréal, Québec at the age of thirteen Lyon and his parents moved to Los Angeles, California. Due to his father's public infidelity, his parent's divorced soon after. Lyon moved with his mother to New York, where he attended the prestigious Collegiate School, an independent school for boys and the oldest school in the United States. There he played a number of sports, including lacrosse and fencing, learned piano, and assisted with the production of school plays.

Lyon spent the school year with his mother and the summer months with his father. Shipped from one coast to the other, Lyon's parents maintained his upper-class upbringing and their status in the public eye. From ages 13-15, Lyon attended a number of his father's red carpet premieres, which the press viewed as a thinly veiled effort to make up for his father's negative press. When he was 14, Lyon's mother released Smiling at the Baggage Claim, a collection of essays chronicling her year as a newly single mother. Francis appeared at the book release party, but stormed out during his mother's public reading of "Grapefruit," an essay about catching Francis with a girl in his room. Smiling at the Baggage Claim remained on the New York Times best sellers list for 11 weeks.

After high school Lyon enrolled in Georgetown University's Government program, with a focus in International Relations. Lyon is rumored to have joined the Second Society of Stewards, Georgetown's secret society, but has called the mild speculation "ridiculous." In his junior year Lyon dropped out of the program due to increased absences and declining grades. "My heart wasn't in it anymore. I wanted to make movies."

Blue Valentine

Lyon worked behind the scenes on a number of films including Thirteen, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, before the release of his debut film, Blue Valentine (2010). The film depicts a married couple, Dean Pereira and Cynthia "Cindy" Heller, shifting back and forth in time between their courtship and the dissolution of their marriage several years later. Lyon wrote the film in two weeks after a break-up with his then-girlfriend, actress and painter, Valerie Esposito. Lyon has stated there's a lot that reminds him of his relationship on screen, but even more that doesn't.

Blue Valentine was in development for three years due to lack of funding. Eventually, Lyon received the financial backing of his grandparents. Filmed between Brooklyn, NY and Honesdale, PA, Lyon rented a two-bedroom house for his lead actors to keep them in their roles. On-set and off he suggested ways the actors should interact with one another, in character and out, to create tension.

As a first time director, filming was not without its faults. Lyon pushed his lead actress to tears, which culminated in a physical fight with his lead actor. An anonymous blogger, claiming to have been a PA on the set, told stories of Lyon destroying equipment and his trailer in extended tantrums. Lyon, and other members of the crew, have denied these claims.

Received warmly by critics, Lyon wasn't surprised when the MPAA rated the film NC-17 for American audiences. While on The Hollywood Reporter Director's Roundtable, Lyon said, "Maybe if [Dean] raped and murdered [Cindy] teenagers could see it with their parent's permission."

The Place Beyond the Pines

Lyon returned to New York to film his second feature, The Place Beyond the Pines, which follows Like Glanton, a motorcycle stunt rider who becomes a bank robber to support his newborn son. After Blanton's death, the narrative is shared between A.J., the teenage son of police office turned public offical, Avery Cross, and Glanton's now-teenage son, Jason Kancam.

Contrary to Blue Valentine, The Place Beyond the Pines was a quiet set. There's suspicion as to whether it's because of Lyon's (assumed) tamed behavior, or because in fear of realiaion, the crew members remained quiet.

The Place Beyond the Pines received positive reviews from critics. Indiewire journalist, Kevin Jagernauth, praised Lyon for, "reaching for—and often grasping—thorny themes of family, fatherhood, and fate in a narrative more complex, and satisfying, than [Lyon's] debut feature." Slant Magazine's Ed Gonzalez was unimpressed with the film's plot and themes, criticizing the film for being "self-important", shallow, and melodramatic.

A24

After The Place Beyond the Pines, there would be four years before Lyon returned to the big screen as a writer/director. Instead, he turned his eye toward distribution. A staple at film festivals, Lyon grew dismayed by the number of innovative, creative films that premiered but did not receive distribution. Along with distribution veteran, Peter Mendel, and Henry Olsen, Head of Production at Miramax films, Lyon co-founded the independent entertainment company, A24 (formerly A24 Films), in 2012.

Lyon's grandparents provided the bulk of seed money for the company to start up. A24's first theatrical release was A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan II, directed, written and produced by close-family friend, Roman Coppola. That same year A24 released Sofia Coppola's The Bling Ring. Critics surmised that A24, and by extension, Lyon, could not be successful without his family friends. Skeptics viewed A24 as a vanity project. In response to A24's first press release, criticizing the current state of Hollywood, The Hollywood Reporter wrote, "Francis Lyon is under the impression that Hollywood needs "saving". A rich idea coming from someone whose professional and private existence is owed to this 'flawed and banal system'.”

A24 has since become a distinctive and bold voice in the world of indie film and has expanded into television. In 2016, three of A24's films won Academy Awards. Best Actress (Minna Marks in Room), Best Visual Effects (Ex Machina), and Best Documentary Feature (Amy). In 2017, Moonlight was nominated for eight Academy aways and won Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor (Mahershala Ali).

Despite their close friendship and A24's numerous awards, actor Brandon Rucco has yet to appear in an A24 film. He has, however, found time for David O'Russell.^[1]

As of March 2017, A24 has fourteen films planned for release in 2017 - 2018, one of which is Lyon's Under the Silver Lake.

The Light Between Oceans

Introducing a subtle shift in his work's tone, Lyon was not the obvious choice for the on-screen adaptation of the Australian war novel by M.L. Stedman. However, Lyon was drawn to the The Light Between Oceans after picking up the novel in an airport in Prague. The story follows Tom Sherbourne, who returns home after World War I. He and his wife, Isabel, move to an isolated lighthouse, where they remain for several years. They informally adopt a baby girl who washes up in a lifeboat. When the child is two years old, Tom and Isabel return to the mainland on leave. There they discover that "there are other people in the world", and keeping the child "has devastated one of them.”

A number of actresses auditioned for the part of Isabel including Elizabeth Olsen, Jennifer Lawrence (rumored), and Minna Marks. Beatrice Fitzallan was eventually cast.

During pre-production an actress who audition for the role of Isabel anonymously claimed that Lyon propositioned her, using the role as leverage. Her open letter, a warning to other actresses, was published by Buzzfeed before being removed under the threat of legal action. Lyon has denied the accusations, citing the actress as "bitter" for being overlooked for the role. On June 24, 2016, Buzzfeed reporter Lena Williams posted a series of tweets, lambasting Lyon for the sexual abuse claims. Lyon later addressed the claims in an unpublished interview with Williams, leaked by a user on the social news aggregation site, Reddit.

Upcoming Projects

Under the Silver Lake, written and directed by Lyon, is a Neo-noir thriller crime film, set for a late-2017 release. It stars Andrew Garfield, Bea Fitzallan, and Topher Grace.

In 2016, Deadline announced that Lyon will direct the Warner Bros. adaptation of Donna Tarrtt’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel, The Goldfinch. A coming-of-age tale told in the first person, The Goldfinch follows Theodore Decker who, at the age of 13, survives a terrorist bombing at an art museum in which his beloved mother dies.

Personal Life

Lyon is the only child of Grace Robertson, and the oldest of Benedict Lyon's known children. He maintains a relationship with his half-brother Edmund Lyon and half-sister, actress, Miranda Greenberg-Lyon. He is not in contact with Cristian De Vargas, his father's known youngest son, who was revealed to be of relation to the Lyon family in 2010.

On July 16, 2016 The New York Post confirmed Lyon's marriage to Minna Marks.

Lyon currently lives in New York and Los Angeles. He is married to Irish-English actress Minna Marks.

^[1] Quite possibly edited by Francis Lyon.