A DAD has spoken of his pride after his filmmaker son’s series was aired on TV.
Penny Dreadful is a horror drama television series set in Victorian London staring some of the biggest names in Hollywood.
It’s art-director is Jonathan McKinstry, a former St Edward’s Primary and King’s School student who left Macclesfield in the 1980s to pursue his dream of working in the film industry.
His dad Nat, 93, who lives in Hurdsfield, is his son’s biggest champion and has even visited the set of Penny Dreadful.
Speaking after the first episode of the second series aired Nat, of Queens Avenue, said: “I am so proud that Jonathan’s work is being seen by millions of people across the world.”
Jonathan is the production designer on the series, which means he has a key creative role and is in charge of the overall look of the film. Working directly with the director and producer, his role is to select the settings and style to visually tell the story.
Nat said Jonathan was always a talented artist and interested in film.
“Ever since he was a little boy it was his dream to work on films. After studying he was designing high spec kitchens but knew he had to take a gamble to follow his dream. One day he borrowed my car and with just a few pounds in his pocket drove to London. He started as an errands boy and got his first role on Steven Spielberg’s Empire of the Sun.”
Since then Jonathan’s career has been on the up and he has worked with Tom Hanks on the Band of Brothers series and Michael Douglas. His talent has seen him work on hit films including, Total Recall, Alien III, Mission Impossible, Love Actually and Prince of Persia.
Nat is originally from Ireland and moved to Macclesfield in the 1940s. He was Macclesfield Town goalkeeper for three seasons and worked for the gas board for 33 years.
