Alister Grierson
Alister Grierson (born 1969) is an Australian film director and scriptwriter.
Born in Canberra, he completed his secondary schooling at Canberra Grammar, graduated in Economics and Arts from the Australian National University and studied Japanese in Tokyo. As an under 18 Australian Rules player, he represented the ACT in the Teal Cup but later switched codes to Rugby, playing 1st grade both for his school and the ANU. Whilst at university, his interest in film-making developed, and he later gained a Master of Arts in Directing at AFTRS. He has shot 15 short films winning three Tropfest awards[1] and is the director of the feature film, Kokoda, which he co-wrote.
In 2009 Grierson was invited to the Avatar set during shooting by James Cameron, and was selected to direct a 3D cave-diving drama Sanctum, using the Cameron-developed Fusion Camera System.[2] The script is inspired by the near-death experience of one of the writers, Andrew Wight, who was trapped in a cave collapse under the Nullarbor Plain. It was shot at Warner Roadshow Studios on the Queensland Gold Coast, and the film opened 4 February 2011.[3] By mid-March the film had joined the top ten Worldwide Box Office Results (Australian Films): All Time,[4] in ninth position.[5] The worldwide gross had reached $108,943,221 by 19 October 2011.[6]
He is the director of Parer's War, starring Matthew Le Nevez and Adelaide Clemens, a dramatised biopic about Damien Parer for the ABC. Although set in Sydney (for the Australian locations), much of the filming was done in Queensland. The script, by Alison Nisselle, is an adaptation of Neil McDonald's book Damien Parer’s War.[7][8] Released on 27 April 2014, the film attracted the following comments from Graeme Blundell in the Australian: "Parer’s War is taut, intelligently constructed and sharply executed by Grierson,..." and "It’s all beautifully put together by Grierson..."[9]
Grierson directed the final three episodes of both series of the award winning ABC serial Nowhere Boys.
In October 2015, he was in pre-production of the film Punjab Tiger (possibly to be released as Tiger) written by Michael Pugliese and Prem Singh. Mickey Rourke is set to play Frank Donovan in the production, which will be produced by Mary Aloe.[10] Pugliese and Singh will feature, as will Janel Parrish.[11]
References
- ^ Tropfest 2005 Winners – Urban Cinefile at http://www.urbancinefile.com.au/home/view.asp?a=10090&s=Features
- ^ IGN Movies 9 September 2009 http://au.movies.ign.com/articles/102/1022975p1.html
- ^ http://collider.com/james-cameron-alister-grierson-andrew-wight-interview-sanctum/68239/
- ^ http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/blogs/get-flickd/kings-speech-the-little-nonaussie-that-could/20110303-1bffp.html Retrieved 16 March 2011
- ^ http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=sanctum.htm Retrieved 16 March 2011
- ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0881320/ Retrieved 17 March 2012
- ^ http://www.tvtonight.com.au/2013/07/filming-underway-on-parers-war-telemovie-for-abc.html Retrieved 27 August 2013
- ^ http://www.filmink.com.au/news/cameras-roll-on-telemovie-lsquoparerrsquos-warrsquo/ Retrieved 27 August 2013
- ^ http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/review/parers-war-depicts-the-mateship-and-frailty-of-men-who-fought-in-the-pacific/story-fn9n8gph-1226894559154 Retrieved 29 September 2014
- ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4224754/Retrieved 11 November 2015
- ^ http://variety.com/2015/film/news/mickey-rourke-tiger-janel-parrish-prem-singh-1201644176/ Retrieved 23 November 2015