‘The Last Emperor’ Producer Jeremy Thomas Dies at 77

Jeremy Thomas, the British producer whose commitment to ambitious independent filmmaking helped bring The Last Emperor, Crash and Sexy Beast to the screen, has died at 77. His family said he died peacefully at his Oxfordshire home on Friday, September 11, surrounded by loved ones.

Across more than five decades, Thomas built a career around directors with unmistakable voices. His work connected British independent cinema with filmmakers from Europe, Asia, Australia and North America, producing more than 80 features while repeatedly backing projects that conventional studios might have considered too risky.

Jeremy Thomas made auteur cinema possible

Thomas founded the London-based Recorded Picture Company and later co-founded the international sales company HanWay Films. His long list of collaborators included Bernardo Bertolucci, David Cronenberg, Nagisa Oshima, Nicolas Roeg, Jonathan Glazer, Jim Jarmusch, Terry Gilliam, Takashi Miike and Werner Herzog.

His most celebrated achievement came with Bertolucci’s The Last Emperor. Thomas independently financed the historical epic, which required three years to make and went on to win nine Academy Awards, including best picture. He later continued that creative partnership on films including The Sheltering Sky, Little Buddha, Stealing Beauty and The Dreamers.

Thomas also supported films that challenged audiences and distributors. Cronenberg’s 1996 adaptation of J.G. Ballard’s Crash became a major censorship controversy after its Cannes premiere, while Glazer’s Sexy Beast grew into a defining British crime film. His credits also included Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, Only Lovers Left Alive and A Dangerous Method.

A producer working until the end

Born into a filmmaking family in 1949, Thomas began in cutting rooms before moving into production in the 1970s. He received the European Film Academy’s Outstanding European Achievement in World Cinema honor in 2006 and later became the subject of Mark Cousins’ documentary The Storms of Jeremy Thomas.

His final slate remained active. Miike’s Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo is due to premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, while Herzog’s Bucking Fastard competed at Venice with Thomas as a producer. Those projects leave a fitting final image of a career spent opening doors for singular filmmakers.