Otto Bathurst

Bathurst was born on 18 January 1971,[1] the son of Elizabeth Mary (Thompson)[8] and Christopher Bathurst, 3rd Viscount Bledisloe.[3] He grew up in Dudley and Bridgnorth.[9] He began to study engineering at university, but dropped out to move to London and work in film.[9]

Bathurst lives with his wife Lucinda Bathurst and family in Somerset, England. They have three children, the first born was in 2016.[10][11] The Bathurst family has resided in the town of Bath, Somerset since 2013,[4][12] and Lucinda is a swim teacher who works nearby at The Lighthouse in Frome.[11] Otto enjoys cooking and his favourite restaurant serves classic Indian cuisine.[13]

The Bathurst's are followers of the Universal Medicine new age sect and dedicated to its leader's teachings.[14][10][12][15] Based in Frome Somerset, the sect is reportedly popular with middle-class professionals and in 2019 it was revealed as a "socially harmful cult" following on from an investigation into it. The Times reported that Bathurst "is the best known of the group's British adherents" and first identified him as a follower.[16][14]

Bathurst began his career in editing and then worked on commercials, before moving into television.[17] He has taught filmmaking at Oxford and London universities.[15]

In 2009, Bathurst directed Margot, a biopic of Margot Fonteyn starring Anne-Marie Duff, which focused upon the relationship between Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev.[18]

In 2011, he directed "The National Anthem", the first episode of the anthology television series Black Mirror.[19]

He has also directed episodes of Urban Gothic, Teachers, and Hustle. In 2013, he was described by Express & Star as "Britain's most exciting director".[9]

In 2018, he made his feature film directorial debut with Robin Hood.[20] It starred Jamie Dornan as Will Scarlett, Jamie Foxx as Little John, Tim Minchin as Friar Tuck, Eve Hewson as Maid Marian, and Taron Egerton as the eponymous hero.[21] The film was universally panned[22] and was estimated to have lost the studio US$83.7 million.[23]

• Otto Bathurst at IMDb