Anthony McCarten

Anthony McCarten is an acclaimed New Zealand writer, playwright, novelist and filmmaker whose work has brought some of the most compelling figures of modern history to life on screen and stage.

He is perhaps best known for writing The Theory of Everything, the story of Stephen and Jane Hawking, which earned McCarten Academy Award and BAFTA nominations for Best Adapted Screenplay. He went on to write and produce Darkest Hour, starring Gary Oldman as Winston Churchill, followed by the global hit Bohemian Rhapsody, chronicling Freddie Mercury and Queen, and The Two Popes, starring Anthony Hopkins and Jonathan Pryce. Across these films, his work has attracted numerous Academy Award nominations and wins, while establishing him as a distinctive writer of intimate stories set against moments of enormous cultural and historical significance.

McCarten’s career extends well beyond cinema. He began as a playwright in New Zealand and is also an accomplished novelist, with his books translated and published internationally. His stage work includes The Collaboration, exploring the relationship between Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat, and The Pope, continuing his fascination with the private conversations, contradictions and vulnerabilities behind celebrated public figures.

Whether writing about scientists, politicians, musicians, artists or religious leaders, McCarten’s work frequently looks beyond the familiar public image to explore the person underneath — the ambitions, relationships, doubts and defining choices that shape remarkable lives.