Bruce Beresford: Difference between revisions
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===Contemporaries and friends=== |
===Contemporaries and friends=== |
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Beresford attended the [[University of Sydney]] with critic and documentary maker [[Clive James]], art critic and officionado, [[Robert Hughes (critic)|Robert Hughes]], activist and author [[Germaine Greer]], journalist [[Bob Ellis]], [[Ken Horler]], and writer [[Mungo Wentworth MacCallum|Mungo McCallum]]. |
Beresford attended the [[University of Sydney]] with critic and documentary maker [[Clive James]], art critic and officionado, [[Robert Hughes (critic)|Robert Hughes]], activist and author [[Germaine Greer]], journalist [[Bob Ellis]], [[Ken Horler]], and writer [[Mungo Wentworth MacCallum|Mungo McCallum]]. |
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His contemporary and friend actor and theatre director [[John Bell (actor)|John Bell]], shared a house and also did some film acting. |
His contemporary and friend actor and theatre director [[John Bell (actor)|John Bell]], shared a house and also did some film acting. |
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Beresford remains close friends with Australian comedian, satirist and character actor [[Barry Humphries]] best known for his on-stage/television alter ego [[Dame Edna Everage]], and his family. |
Beresford remains close friends with Australian comedian, satirist and character actor [[Barry Humphries]] best known for his on-stage/television alter ego [[Dame Edna Everage]], and his family. |
Revision as of 21:52, 16 July 2011
Bruce Beresford | |
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Born | Paddington, Sydney, Australia | 16 August 1940
Occupation | Film director |
Years active | 1972–present |
Bruce Beresford (born 16 August 1940) is an Australian film director who has made more than 30 feature films over a 40-year career.
Early life
Beresford was born in Paddington, Sydney, the son of Lona (née Warr) and Leslie Beresford, who sold electrical goods.[1] He grew up in the then outer-western suburb of Toongabbie, and went to The King's School, Parramatta. He made several short films in his teens.[2]
He completed a bachelor's degree in humanities majoring in English at Sydney University, and then moved to England in 1962 in search of film work. He could not break into the British film scene, so he answered an advertisement for an editing job in Nigeria, where he worked for two years, in Enugu.[3] He then returned to England and worked for the British Film Institute as a producer of short films by first-time directors.
Career
Beresford returned to Australia in 1970 to make his first feature film, The Adventures of Barry McKenzie, and spent the next 10 years working in Australia's developing film industry.
He established his reputation as one of Australia's best directors with a series of notable films in the 1970s, including Don's Party, The Getting of Wisdom, The Club and Breaker Morant.
Following the critical success of Breaker Morant (widely regarded as a classic of Australian cinema) Beresford moved to Hollywood. His first film made in the US, Tender Mercies, earned him his only Academy Award nomination for Best Director in 1982. He also directed Driving Miss Daisy which won the Academy award for best film in 1990, and Black Robe, considered one of the best of his later films. After what might fairly be called a lean patch in his career, at least in comparison with his earlier output, the 2009 film, Mao's Last Dancer broke records at the Australian box office and won numerous film-festival honors.
Asked if he minded not even being nominated for the Best Director Oscar for Driving Miss Daisy, Beresford said: "No, not at all. I didn’t think it was that well directed. It was very well written. When the writing's that good, you’ve really just got to set the camera up and photograph it."[4]
In addition to films, Bruce Beresford has also directed several operas and theatre productions.
Memoir
In August 2007 he published a memoir, Josh Hartnett Definitely Wants To Do This... True Stories From A Life In The Screen Trade.[5]
Personal life
He now works both in Australia and the United States.
Contemporaries and friends
Beresford attended the University of Sydney with critic and documentary maker Clive James, art critic and officionado, Robert Hughes, activist and author Germaine Greer, journalist Bob Ellis, Ken Horler, and writer Mungo McCallum. His contemporary and friend actor and theatre director John Bell, shared a house and also did some film acting. Beresford remains close friends with Australian comedian, satirist and character actor Barry Humphries best known for his on-stage/television alter ego Dame Edna Everage, and his family.
Filmography
- The Adventures of Barry McKenzie (1972)
- Barry McKenzie Holds His Own (1974)
- Side by Side (1975)
- Don's Party (1976)
- The Getting of Wisdom (1978)
- Money Movers (1978)
- Breaker Morant (1980)
- The Club (1980) (Writer: David Williamson) (a. k. a. David Williamson's The Club and Players)
- Puberty Blues (1981)
- Tender Mercies (1983)
- King David (1985)
- The Fringe Dwellers (1986)
- Crimes of the Heart (1986)
- Aria (1988)
- Her Alibi (1989)
- Driving Miss Daisy (1989)
- Mister Johnson (1990)
- Black Robe (1991)
- Rich in Love (1993)
- A Good Man in Africa (1994)
- Silent Fall (1994)
- Last Dance (1996)
- Paradise Road (1997)
- Sydney – A Story of a City (1999)
- Double Jeopardy (1999) (a. k. a. Doppelmord and Double condemnation)
- Bride of the Wind (2001) (a. k. a. Die Windsbraut)
- Evelyn (2002)
- And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself (2003) (TV)
- The Contract (2006)
- Mao's Last Dancer (2009)
- Peace, Love and Misunderstanding(2011)
References
- ^ http://www.filmreference.com/film/40/Bruce-Beresford.html
- ^ Stated in a 2007 interview on Radio National in Australia (on Late Night Live)
- ^ Stated in a 2007 interview on Radio National in Australia (on Late Night Live)
- ^ http://www.stevedow.com.au/Default.aspx?id=264
- ^ (ISBN 9780732284398)
External links
- Bruce Beresford at IMDb
- Official Website
- ABC interview transcript (Talking Heads, 2007)
- Bruce Beresford – portrait photo by Mark-Steffen Göwecke
- Bruce Beresford at the National Film and Sound Archive
- [1] – Youtube interview