From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia Iain Softley born November 30 1956 is an English film director He was educated at St Benedicts School Ealing where he played the part of Thomas Becket in its 1975 production of T S Eliots play Murder in the Cathedral and Queens College Cambridge His movies include the Beatles film Backbeat 1994 Hackers 1995 The Wings of the Dove 1997 KPAX 2001 The Skeleton Key 2005 and Inkheart 2008 Softley also has been developing an adaptation of Stephen Gallaghers novel The Boat House for Dimension Films set in the English Lake District He previously attempted to film the book in 1999 with Milla Jovovich in the lead role of a haunted and driven Russian émigré