Graham King

Graham King is a British film producer whose work has ranged from Martin Scorsese dramas to large-scale studio releases and music biopics. Born in England on 19 December 1961, he moved to the United States and built an early career in film distribution before becoming a producer. He worked at Initial Entertainment Group and later became president of production at Golden Harvest, experience that preceded his long association with Leonardo DiCaprio and Warner Bros. King produced Scorsese's The Aviator (2004), a Howard Hughes biography starring DiCaprio, and Gangs of New York (2002), Scorsese's historical drama set amid nineteenth-century Manhattan violence. He also produced Blood Diamond (2006), directed by Edward Zwick and starring DiCaprio as a diamond smuggler during Sierra Leone's civil war. These films established King as a frequent producer of DiCaprio-led projects rather than merely individual transactions. His producing credit on The Departed (2006), Scorsese's Boston-set remake of Infernal Affairs, brought him the Academy Award for Best Picture. King shared the Oscar with fellow producers Brad Pitt and Brad Grey. The film starred DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, and Mark Wahlberg; its screenplay by William Monahan won an Oscar as well. King's later Scorsese collaboration Hugo (2011) adapted Brian Selznick's novel The Invention of Hugo Cabret and celebrated the work of French film pioneer Georges Melies. In 2007, King founded GK Films, his own independent production company. Its releases have included The Town (2010), directed by Ben Affleck; Rango (2011), an animated western featuring Johnny Depp's voice; and The Tourist (2010), with Depp and Angelina Jolie. Through GK Films, King also produced the 2018 Tomb Raider reboot, starring Alicia Vikander as Lara Croft, and the 2023 action film The Creator, directed by Gareth Edwards. King returned to music biography with Bohemian Rhapsody (2018), the film about Queen singer Freddie Mercury. He received an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture alongside producer Peter Chernin, while Rami Malek won Best Actor for playing Mercury. The production endured a director change: Bryan Singer was dismissed before filming finished, and Dexter Fletcher completed the movie. It became a major commercial success and made King a central producer of one of the highest-grossing music biopics. His credits also include the 2015 film The 33 and the 2020 Netflix drama The Trial of the Chicago 7, on which he served as a producer. King repeatedly worked on films built around historical figures and cultural events.