But British film-maker Danny Boyle has added another string to his bow, as the artistic director of the London 2012 Olympic opening ceremony.
Boyle came up with the "Isles of Wonder" theme after gaining inspiration from Caliban's speech in The Tempest which opens with the line: "Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises."
With thousands of volunteers involved in the Olympic extravaganza, one of Boyle's biggest challenges has been keeping the content a secret.
In early July, he apologised to volunteers over "spoilers" appearing in the press. In an email, he asked them to "stay virtuous" and "protect the show".
For the 55-year-old from Manchester, becoming a movie director was a far cry from his first career choice - to train as a priest. At the age of 14, Boyle began to make arrangements to attend a seminary, before a priest warned him against it.
"Whether he was saving me from the priesthood or saving the priesthood from me, I don't know. But quite soon after, I started doing drama," Boyle told The Telegraph.
Boyle began his new career in theatre, landing the job of deputy director at the Royal Court, before moving to the BBC to work as a producer. He produced a number of TV films, including Alan Clarke's Elephant, before becoming a director on several episodes of Inspector Morse and the 1993 series Mr Wroe's Virgins.
His first feature, the low-budget 1994 movie Shallow Grave, starring Ewan McGregor and Christopher Eccleston, was a surprise hit.It also marked the beginning of the successful relationship between Boyle, McGregor, producer Andrew Macdonald and writer John Hodge.
Boyle won a Bafta award and was named best British newcomer at the London Critics Circle Film Awards.
But it was the 1996 adaptation of Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting two years later that really got people talking about the director.The movie picked up an Oscar, which went to Hodge for his screenplay, and was a massive commercial success, propelling the careers of McGregor and co-stars Jonny Lee Miller and Robert Carlyle. Screened out of competition at the Cannes Film Festival, Trainspotting went on to become the highest-grossing British film that year.
In 2000, Boyle spoke about their spat and told The Independent newspaper that McGregor "feels we betrayed him, and I think he's right."
And five years later, McGregor himself opened up to US magazine Playboy about his feelings over their argument.
"We had a director-actor relationship unlike any other I've had. But Boyle and his people didn't treat me very well."
more: Danny Boyle's Isles of Wonder was inspired by a speech from The Tempest - BBC
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