Marek Kanievska

Ellis, initially hostile to the film over liberties taken with the source material was interviewed in 2006 saying that he has "really warmed up to it now.” Still maintaining the movie bears little resemblance to his novel he goes on to say, "… it's a beautiful looking film … I don't know any other movies that caught that period in LA so well."

Kanievska followed this with A Different Loyalty (2004), a drama inspired by the story of British traitor Kim Philby's love affair and marriage to Eleanor Brewer in Beirut and his eventual defection to the Soviet Union. The story takes place in the 1960s and stars Sharon Stone and Rupert Everett. A Different Loyalty was entered into the 26th Moscow International Film Festival.

A return to features in 2000 saw Kanievska directing Paul Newman and Linda Fiorentino in Where the Money Is, from a script written by E. Max Frye. Newman stars as legendary bank robber Henry Manning who ends up in prison where he suffers a stroke. Transferred to a nursing home Henry meets Carol Ann McKay (his carer, played by Fiorentino), a high school prom queen whose glamour days are well behind her. Gradually Carol Ann starts to suspect that Henry isn't as sick as he seems and they are soon working together to plan his final and greatest score.

Kanievska followed this with Less Than Zero (1987) an American drama very loosely based on Bret Easton Ellis' novel of the same name. The film stars Andrew McCarthy as Clay, a college freshman returning home for Christmas to spend time with his ex-girlfriend Blair (Jami Gertz) and his friend Julian (Robert Downey, Jr.), who is struggling with drug addiction. The film presents a look at the culture of wealthy, decadent youth in 1980s Los Angeles.

The film is loosely based on the life of the spy and double agent Guy Burgess and explores his homosexuality and exposure to Marxism while examining the hypocrisy and snobbery of the English public school system. Starring Rupert Everett and Colin Firth the film was entered into the 1984 Cannes Film Festival where it won the award for Best Artistic Contribution.

It was also nominated for three BAFTA Awards in film: Editing (1984) Gerry Hambling, Most Outstanding Newcomer to Film (1984) Rupert Everett, and Adapted Screenplay (1984) Julian Mitchell.

In the early 1980s Kanievska directed several episodes of Muck and Brass (1982) starring Mel Smith as an opportunistic property developer in the Midlands. Dealing with issues of greed, corruption and power politics in council chambers the series had a hard-edged realism and gritty humour that was greeted with acclaim on its original transmission.

Following a short film called The First Day (1980), a docu-drama starring Miranda Richardson, Kanievska's career as a feature director began in earnest with Another Country (1984), a British romantic historical drama written by Julian Mitchell and adapted from his play of the same title.

During the 1980s and 1990s Kanievska also helmed a variety of high-profile television and cinema commercials as a director with Ridley Scott Associates (RSA), a film and commercial production company founded by Ridley Scott and Tony Scott. Work during this period included campaigns for a broad roster of clients including Shell, Mercedes, Chrysler, Renault, Deutsche Bank, Kronenbourg 1664, Pernod, Miller and Guinness.

During this period he also helmed episodes of the ITV detective drama Hazell (1978–1979); a parody of early film-noir, Shoestring (1979–1980); another detective drama for the BBC, Thomas & Sarah (1979), a spin-off from the BAFTA Award winning series Upstairs, Downstairs; A Light that Shines (1979) for BBC 2 Play of the Week; and various instalments of ITV Playhouse (1967–1983), a comedy drama series featuring contributions from playwrights such as Dennis Potter, Rhys Adrian and Alan Sharp.

Kanievska began his television directing career in Australia in the early 1970s with a production company called Crawford, producing episodes of a drama series called Matlock Police (1971–1976). The series details the lives of policemen working in a fictional country town in Victoria.

Returning to London Kanievska spent the latter half of the 1970s building up a range of credits including live television and entertainment programmes like Our Show (1977–1978) and the drama serial Rooms (1974).

Marek Kanievska (born 30 November 1952) is a British film director. His films have won awards at the Cannes Film Festival and the Florence Film Festival. His 2004 film A Different Loyalty was entered into the 26th Moscow International Film Festival.

Less Than Zero was voted as the 22nd best film set in Los Angeles in the last 25 years by a group of Los Angeles Times writers and editors.