Post by nigel on May 12, 2005 9:39:40 GMT -5
GEORGE MILLER
Now renowned as a world-class action director, Miller was actually in his final year of studies at medical school when a oneminute film he and his twin brother made won first prize in a student competition. He later met future partner Byron Kennedy at a film workshop and they collaborated on an award-winning short film before making their first feature, Mad Max (1979), a futuristic thriller about a cop out for revenge. The film became the most successful Australian film up to that date, and the sequel,Mad Max 2 (1981, retitled The Road Warrior outside of Australia), was a critical and popular smash internationally, making Mel Gibson a star and establishing Miller as an expert director of action films. Miller went on to direct "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet," the best segment of the omnibusTwilight ZoneThe Movie (1983), as well as Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985), the third of the popular series, before coming to America to make The Witches of Eastwick (1987), a very broad, entertaining adaptation of John Upd**e's novel. It was apparently an unhappy experience for the director, who immediately returned to his native country. Miller has also produced Australian productions, such as The Year My Voice Broke (1987), Dead Calm (1989), and Flirting (1990). In 1992 he returned to Hollywood filmmaking with the unblinking drama of parents facing their son's unfathomable affliction in Lorenzo's Oil (1992), which earned him an Oscar nomination for cowriting the screenplay. (Clearly, Miller's medical background drew him to the story and made him an ideal filmmaker to communicate this difficult material.) He is sometimes confused with another Australian director with the same name, who directed such films asThe Man From Snowy River (1982).
Now renowned as a world-class action director, Miller was actually in his final year of studies at medical school when a oneminute film he and his twin brother made won first prize in a student competition. He later met future partner Byron Kennedy at a film workshop and they collaborated on an award-winning short film before making their first feature, Mad Max (1979), a futuristic thriller about a cop out for revenge. The film became the most successful Australian film up to that date, and the sequel,Mad Max 2 (1981, retitled The Road Warrior outside of Australia), was a critical and popular smash internationally, making Mel Gibson a star and establishing Miller as an expert director of action films. Miller went on to direct "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet," the best segment of the omnibusTwilight ZoneThe Movie (1983), as well as Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985), the third of the popular series, before coming to America to make The Witches of Eastwick (1987), a very broad, entertaining adaptation of John Upd**e's novel. It was apparently an unhappy experience for the director, who immediately returned to his native country. Miller has also produced Australian productions, such as The Year My Voice Broke (1987), Dead Calm (1989), and Flirting (1990). In 1992 he returned to Hollywood filmmaking with the unblinking drama of parents facing their son's unfathomable affliction in Lorenzo's Oil (1992), which earned him an Oscar nomination for cowriting the screenplay. (Clearly, Miller's medical background drew him to the story and made him an ideal filmmaker to communicate this difficult material.) He is sometimes confused with another Australian director with the same name, who directed such films asThe Man From Snowy River (1982).