Billy Elliot is a 2000
British dance drama film produced by
Greg Brenman and Jon Finn, music composed by
Stephen Warbeck, co-produced by
BBC Films,
Tiger Aspect Pictures,
StudioCanal and
Working Title Films, distributed by
Universal Pictures and
Focus Features, written by
Lee Hall and directed by
Stephen Daldry. The film is set in north-eastern England during the
1984-85 coal miners' strike, it stars
Jamie Bell as 11-year-old Billy, an aspiring dancer dealing with the
negative stereotype of the male ballet dancer,
Gary Lewis as his coal miner father,
Jamie Draven as Billy's older brother, and
Julie Walters as his ballet teacher. In 2001, author
Melvin Burgess was commissioned to write the novelisation of the film based on Lee Hall's screenplay. The story was adapted for the West End stage as
Billy Elliot the Musical in 2005; it opened in
Australia in 2007 and on
Broadway in 2008. The film was theatrically released on 29 September 2000 by Universal Pictures and Focus Features. The film received positive reviews from critics and it earned £72,853,509 on a £3 million budget.