Tim Pope

Timothy Michael Pope (born 12 February 1956) is a film director most known for his music videos, for having directed feature films, and for a brief pop career.

Early life and career Pope grew up in the north London suburb of Enfield. Both his parents were bankers, and he has a sister, Amanda. He always knew that he wanted to make films, boasting in an interview once, "Even my dreams came with dirt on them, like my Standard-8 movies". He attended St Andrew's primary school, Cecil Road, Enfield, and then went to St Michael's boarding school in Otford, Kent, returning to north London to attend Latymer Grammar School, Haselbury Road. While still attending Latymer, he participated in the first ever Film Studies O-level and was featured in the Evening Standard as "Tim Pope, aged seventeen, who wants to be a film director".

To achieve this aim, he began to attend Saturday morning film classes at Hornsey College of Art.

Videos for the Cure By 1982, and with a few more videos made, (Scottish band Altered Images, Nancy Nova, Jersey pub-rockers-financed-by-a-millionaire "Volcano", etc.) Pope met The Cure's singer Robert Smith. Their work together was to prove that directors could be constantly innovative, on a factory-line basis. Pope ultimately directed over 37 videos for the group, including many of their most famous songs – "Let's Go To Bed" (1982), "Close To Me" (1985), "Just Like Heaven" (1987), "Friday I'm in Love", (1992), "Wrong Number" (1997). He also directed the 35mm movie of The Cure in Orange, which captures their performance at the eponymous theatre in the south of France.

"I Want to be a Tree" Pope released his own song in 1984, "I Want to be a Tree", The single's b-side was "The Double Crossing of Two-Faced Fred" (a choral verse poem he had written and performed at Latymer, a few years earlier) and, on the 12" version, "Elephants".

Pope described the project as "a real piss-take of what was going on in America", prompted by people referring to "Tim Pope Videos", and said that he "felt really strongly that they were not Tim Pope videos, they were Cure videos or Siouxsie videos or whatever". Over the 1983 Christmas holidays, Pope and a friend, Charles Gray, recorded what Pope described as "this really stupid song" that they had co-written years earlier as teenagers. It was released on the Fiction label and produced by its manager Chris Parry.

In 2013, Pope embarked with The Cure to film their "LatAm" tour across South America and Mexico, and a tour film is expected to be produced later with material both off and on stage.

In 2018, Pope filmed a documentary on Sheridan Smith called Sheridan Smith: Coming Home.

On July 7, 2018 Pope directed the "Anniversary: 1978-2018 - Live in Hyde Park London" concert the Cure performed as part of the British Summer Time concert series. The concert was released on dvd as part of the six disc set of "Curaetion 25 - Anniversary", released in October 2019.

He directed The The's The Comeback Special - Live at the Royal Albert Hall in 2018. It was released on dvd/blu ray in October 2021.

Personal life He now lives with his family in Henfield in West Sussex.

Music video filmography (incomplete)

Adrian Belew and David Bowie "Pretty Pink Rose" (1990) Altered Images "I Could Be Happy" (1981) Amanda Palmer "The Killing Type" (2012) Bad Manners "Samson and Delilah" (1982) The Bangles "Eternal Flame" (1988) The Beautiful South "Good as Gold (Stupid as Mud)" (1994) Blancmange "That's Love, That It Is" (1983) Blue Zoo "Cry Boy Cry" (1982) Bonnie Tyler and Todd Rundgren "Loving You's a Dirty Job but Somebody's Gotta Do It" (1985) Bow Wow Wow "Do You Wanna Hold Me" (1983) Bronski Beat "C'mon! C'mon!" (1986) Bryan Ferry "Help Me" (1986) Bryan Ferry and David Gilmour "Is Your Love Strong Enough" (Legend soundtrack) (1986) The Cars "Magic" (1984) China Crisis "Wishful Thinking" (1983) China Crisis "Christian" (1983) The Christians "Words" (1989) The Christians "I Found Out" (1990) The Creatures "Miss the Girl" (1983) The Creatures "Right Now" (1983) The Cure "Let's Go to Bed" (1982) The Cure "The Love Cats" (1983) The Cure "The Walk" (1983) The Cure "The Caterpillar" (1984) The Cure "Close to Me" (1985) The Cure "In Between Days" (1985) The Cure "Killing an Arab" (1986) The Cure "Boys Don't Cry" (1986) The Cure "Jumping Someone Else's Train" (1986) The Cure "A Night Like This" (1986) The Cure "In Orange" (1986) The Cure "Catch" (1987) The Cure "Why Can't I Be You?" (1987) The Cure "Just Like Heaven" (1987) The Cure "Hot Hot Hot!!!" (1988) The Cure "Lullaby" (1989) The Cure "Fascination Street" (1989) The Cure "Lovesong" (1989) The Cure "Pictures of You" (1990) The Cure "Close to Me · Remix" (1990) The Cure "Never Enough" (1990) The Cure "Friday I'm in Love" (1992) The Cure "High" (1992) The Cure "Wrong Number" (1997) The Darkness "One Way Ticket" (2005) The Darkness "Is It Just Me?" (2006) The Darkness "Girlfriend" (2006) David Bowie "Time Will Crawl" (1987) David Bowie "I Can't Read" (1997) David Bowie "Space Oddity" (2019) Dead or Alive "I'd Do Anything" (1983) The Dream Academy "Life in a Northern Town" (1984) Everything but the Girl "When All's Well" (1985) Faith Brothers "A Stranger on Home Ground" (1985) Fatboy Slim "Slash Dot Dash" (2004) Frankmusik "Better Off as Two" (2009) Freur "Doot-Doot" (1983) Hall & Oates "Adult Education" (1984) Hazell Dean "Back in My Arms (Once Again)" (1984) Herbert Grönemeyer "Full Moon" (1988) Ian McCulloch "Proud to Fall" (1989) James "Sometimes" (1993) Jim Noir "Eanie Meany" (2006) John Parr "Magical" (1985) Josh Abrahams and Amiel Daemion "Addicted to Bass" (2002) Julian Lennon "Say You're Wrong" (1985) Kaiser Chiefs "Everyday I Love You Less and Less" (2005) Kim Wilde "Dancing in the Dark" (1983) Kissing the Pink "Watching Their Eyes" (1982) Kissing the Pink "Mr. Blunt" (1982) Kissing the Pink "Radio On" (1984) KT Tunstall "Another Place to Fall" (2006) Les Rita Mitsouko and Sparks "Singing in the Shower" (1988) Live "I Alone" (version 1: Slow Motion version) (1994) Marc Almond "The Boy Who Came Back" (1984) Marc Almond "You Have" (1984) Marc Almond "Bitter Sweet" (1988) Marc Almond "A Kind of Love" (2017) Men Without Hats "I Like" (1983) Men Without Hats "The Safety Dance" (1983) Men Without Hats "Where Do the Boys Go?" (1984) Men Without Hats "Pop Goes the World" (1987) Men Without Hats "Moonbeam" (1987) Ministry "Revenge" (1983) Modern Romance "Walking in the Rain" (1983) The Mood "Paris Is One Day Away" (1982) The Mood "Don’t Stop" (1982) Ned's Atomic Dustbin "Not Sleeping Around" (1992) Neil Young "Touch the Night" (1986) Neil Young "Weight of the World" (1986) Neil Young "People on the Streets" (1986) Neil Young and Crazy Horse "This Town" (1996) Neil Young and the Shocking Pinks "Cry, Cry, Cry" (1983) Neil Young and the Shocking Pinks "Wonderin'" (1983) Nick Drake "River Man" (2004) The Nymphs "Sad and Damned" (1991) Paul McCartney "This One" (1989) Peter Murphy "The Sweetest Drop" (1992) Pop's Cool Love "Free Me" (1992) The Pretenders "2000 Miles" (1983) The Pretenders "Thin Line Between Love and Hate" (1983) The Psychedelic Furs "Love My Way" (1982) The Psychedelic Furs "Here Come Cowboys" (1984) The Psychedelic Furs "Heaven" (1984) The Psychedelic Furs "The Ghost in You" (1984) The Psychedelic Furs "Angels Don't Cry" (1986) Queen "It's a Hard Life" (1984) The Questions "Building on a Strong Foundation" (1984) Re-Flex "How Much Longer?" (1985) Reverend and the Makers "He Said He Loved Me" (2007) Ric Ocasek "Emotion in Motion" (1986) Rock and Hyde "Dirty Water" (1987) Roger Taylor "Man on Fire" (1984) Roman Holliday "Stand By" (1983) Roman Holliday "Don't Try to Stop It" (1983) Roman Holliday "Motormania" (1983) Rush "Afterimage" (1984) Seven Mary Three "Make Up Your Mind" (1997) Siouxsie and the Banshees "Dear Prudence" (1983) Siouxsie and the Banshees "Swimming Horses" (1984) Siouxsie and the Banshees "Dazzle" (1984) Siouxsie and the Banshees "Cities in Dust" (1985) Soft Cell "Frustration" (1980) Soft Cell "Tainted Love" (1981) Soft Cell "Bedsitter" (1981) Soft Cell "Memorabilia" (1981) Soft Cell "Secret Life" (1981) Soft Cell "Entertain Me" (1981) Soft Cell "Seedy Films" (1981) Soft Cell "Sex Dwarf" (Original Banned Version) (1982) Soft Cell "Say Hello, Wave Goodbye" (1982) Soft Cell "Torch" (1982) Soft Cell "What?" (1982) Soft Cell "Where the Heart Is" (1982) Soft Cell "Soul Inside" (1983) Soft Cell "Down in the Subway" (1984) Space Monkey "Can't Stop Running" (1983) Spear of Destiny "The Wheel" (1983) The Stranglers "96 Tears" (1990) Strawberry Switchblade "Since Yesterday" (1984) Strawberry Switchblade "Let Her Go" (1985) Stump "Charlton Heston" (1988) The Style Council "Speak Like a Child" (1983) The Style Council "Money-Go-Round" (1983) The Style Council "Long Hot Summer" (1983) The Style Council "A Solid Bond in Your Heart" (1983) The Style Council "My Ever Changing Moods" (1984) The Style Council "Groovin'" (1984) The Style Council "Shout to the Top!" (1984) The Style Council "Walls Come Tumbling Down!" (1985) Talk Talk "It's My Life" (1984) Talk Talk "Dum Dum Girl" (1984) Talk Talk "Such a Shame" (1984) Talk Talk "Life's What You Make It" (1985) Talk Talk "Living in Another World" (1986) Talk Talk "I Believe in You" (1988) The The "Twilight of a Champion" (1987) The The "Out of the Blue (Into the Fire)" (1987) The The "Slow Train to Dawn" (1987) The The "Gravitate to Me" (1989) The The "Kingdom of Rain" (1990) The The "Jealous of Youth" (1990) The The "Dogs of Lust (1993) The The "Slow Emotion Replay" (1993) The The "Love Is Stronger Than Death" (1993) The The "Pillar Box Red" (2002) Tim Pope "I Want to Be a Tree" (1984) Tim Scott McConnell "Swear" (1983) Tin Machine "You Belong in Rock n' Roll" (1991) Tin Machine "Baby Universal" (1991) Tom Tom Club "Suboceana" (1989) Tracie "Give It Some Emotion" (1983) Tygers of Pan Tang "Love Potion No. 9" (1982) Vegas "She" (1992) Vegas "Walk into the Wind" (1993) Visage "Pleasure Boys" (1982) Voice of the Beehive "I Walk the Earth" (1988) Wendy & Lisa "Waterfall" (1987) Wendy & Lisa "Sideshow" (1988) Wham! "Young Guns (Go for It)" (1982) Wilko Johnson and Roger Daltrey "I Keep It to Myself" (2014)