Russell Mulcahy

Russell Mulcahy
Born	(1953-06-23) 23 June 1953 Melbourne, Australia
Occupation	Film director

Russell Mulcahy (born 23 June 1953 in Melbourne, Australia) is an Australian film director. Mulcahy's work is recognizable by the use of fast cuts, tracking shots and use of glowing lights as well as being one of the most prominent music video directors of the 1980s.

Music videos

Russell Mulcahy's career began as a film editor for Australia's Seven Network. After relocating to the UK around 1976, Mulcahy made successful music videos for several noted British pop acts—his early UK credits included XTC's "Making Plans for Nigel" (1979), The Vapors' hit "Turning Japanese" and his landmark video for The Buggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star" (1979) which became the first music video played on MTV in 1981.

By the mid-1980s Mulcahy was directing videos for some of the most successful pop-rock acts of the period including The Human League, The Tubes, Elton John, Ultravox, most of the major hits of Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet, Kim Carnes, Bonnie Tyler, Rod Stewart, Billy Joel, The Motels, Supertramp and The Rolling Stones.

Music videography

• "Video Killed the Radio Star" for The Buggles
• "Living in the Plastic Age" for The Buggles
• Several videos for songs from Duran Duran's first four albums:
  • "Planet Earth"
  • "My Own Way"
  • "Lonely in Your Nightmare"
  • "Hungry Like the Wolf"
  • "Save a Prayer"
  • "Rio"
  • "Night Boat"
  • "Is There Something I Should Know?"
  • "The Reflex"
  • "The Wild Boys"
• Several videos for Elton John:
  • "Breaking Down Barriers"
  • "Carla/Etude/Fanfare"
  • "Elton's Song"
  • "Fascist Faces"
  • "The Fox"
  • "Heart in the Right Place"
  • "Heels of the Wind"
  • "Just Like Belgium"
  • "Nobody Wins"
  • "Chloe"
  • "I'm Still Standing" (two versions)
  • "I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues"
  • "Sad Songs (Say So Much)"
  • "Act of War" (with Millie Jackson)
  • "Wrap Her Up"
  • "I Don't Wanna Go on with You Like That"
  • "Town of Plenty"
  • "A Word in Spanish"
  • "The One"
  • "Simple Life"
• "Bette Davis Eyes", "Draw of the Cards", "Say You Don't Know Me" and "Voyeur" for Kim Carnes
• "The Tubes Video" nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Long Form Music Video
• "True" for Spandau Ballet
• "Total Eclipse of the Heart" for Bonnie Tyler
• "Vienna", "Passing Strangers", "The Thin Wall" and "The Voice" for Ultravox
• "Allentown", "She's Right on Time", "Pressure" and "A Matter of Trust" for Billy Joel
• "A Kind of Magic" and "Princes of the Universe" for Queen
• "One Hit (To the Body)" and "Going to a Go-Go" for The Rolling Stones
• "Gypsy" and "Oh Diane" for Fleetwood Mac
• "The War Song" for Culture Club
• "Sex (I'm A...)" by Berlin
• "Icehouse", "Street Cafe", "Hey Little Girl", "Taking the Town" for Icehouse
• "Turning Japanese" for The Vapors

He also directed videos for Rod Stewart, Def Leppard, Boy George, Kenny Loggins, Arcadia, Falco, Go West, Cliff Richard, Supertramp, The Motels, Talk Talk, The Stranglers, 10cc, The Human League, XTC, and AC/DC.

Filmography as director

• Derek and Clive Get the Horn (1979)
• Razorback (1984)
• Arena (1985)
• Highlander (1986)
• Highlander II: The Quickening (1991)
• Ricochet (1991)
• Blue Ice (1992)
• The Real McCoy (1993)
• The Shadow (1994)
• Silent Trigger (1996)
• Tale of the Mummy (1998)
• Resurrection (1999)
• On the Beach (2000) (television movie)
• The Lost Battalion (2001) (television movie)
• Swimming Upstream (2003) (direct-to-video)
• Mysterious Island (2005) (television movie)
• The Curse of King Tut's Tomb (2006) (television movie)
• Resident Evil: Extinction (2007)
• While the Children Sleep (2007) (television movie)
• The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior (2008) (direct-to-video)
• Prayers for Bobby (2009)
• Give 'em Hell, Malone (2009) (direct-to-video)

Highlander series

In 1986, Mulcahy became well known after directing the cult classic film Highlander, starring Christopher Lambert and featuring music from Queen. He later directed the sequel, Highlander II: The Quickening, but disowned it after the producers interfered with production. Reportedly he wanted to have his credit changed to Alan Smithee, but as he was not a member of the Directors Guild of America, he had no way of forcing the producers to change the credit. He eventually took the opportunity to restore his vision for the film, to a large extent, with the video release of Highlander II: The Renegade Version.

External links

• Russell Mulcahy at the Internet Movie Database
• Russell Mulcahy at the Music Video Database