English producer Jeremy Thomas

Jeremy Thomas is one of the great English film producers. Aside from his Oscar-winning film The Last Emperor, he's been the power behind the throne of a dazzling number of titles from all over the world - Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence, Sexy Beast, Stealing Beauty, Only Lovers Left Alive, Dogman and over 60 more, including this year's Oscar nominee E O, directed by Jerzy Skolimowski. The surprise isn't so much that Jeremy Thomas is in the movie business. It's that he's in the art-film side of it. Both his father and uncle were hugely successful film-makers too, but their tastes were more Doctor in the House, Percy's Progress and the Carry On films! Jeremy Thomas talks to Simon Morris about a lifetime in movies.