Happy 75th Birthday, Roger Donaldson! Born today in 1945 as Roger Lindsey Donaldson, this Australian-born New Zealand writer, producer and film director is an important figure in the development of modern New Zealand cinema.
Born in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia, Donaldson, years later, attended from Ballarat High School.
After graduation, he emigrated to New Zealand. It was here where Donaldson established a small still photography business and began making adverts.
During this time, Donaldson was also directing documentaries, including an adventure series featuring Mt. Everest-conquering New Zealander mountaineer, explorer and philanthropist Edmund Hillary, and his first ventures into drama.
In the late 1970s, Donaldson co-produced and directed his first feature and the film of which he is best known. This was the 1977 New Zealand dramatic-action thriller/political thriller film 'Sleeping Dogs'.
It is based off of New Zealand writer Christian Karlson "Karl" Stead's 1971 fantasy/adventure/political/dystopian fiction novel "Smith's Dream'. It is considered one of the great works of New Zealand fiction.
The film stars Sam Neill (in his breakthrough screen role) and New Zealand character actor, director and screenwriter Ian Mune (who also co-wrote, playing Bullen) as two men fighting for their lives in a totalitarian New Zealand.
Smith escapes the break-up of his marriage by finding isolation on an island.
As he settles in, the country is experiencing its own turmoil: an oil embargo has led to martial law and civil war, into which Smith reluctantly finds himself involved.
But the precarious political chaos of the country has created a right-wing backlash, with repressive government forces murdering opponents to the government's policies.
Smith eventually finds himself joining a group of freedom fighters that sets out to preserve democracy.
Opposing Smith and the freedom fighters are the government thugs and the apolitical soldier of fortune Colonel Willoughby (Warren Oates).
Often named one of the best New Zealand films of all time, 'Sleeping Dogs' is considered a classic and a landmark in the new wave of cinema in the country, helping to change New Zealand cinema from small, melodramatic, derivative films to the modern reels that make the country known in the industry today.
With 'Sleeping Dogs', Donaldson singlehandedly put New Zealand on the map as the next filmmaking capital of the world, while also getting himself noticed in Hollywood.
Four years later, Donaldson followed 'Sleeping Dogs' up with the 1981 New Zealand drama/independent film 'Smash Palace'.
The film starred English-New Zealand musician and actor Bruno Lawrence as retired auto racer Al Shaw, who kidnaps his daughter Georgie (Greer Robson) after his marriage disintegrates.
The film premiered at the 34th Cannes Film Festival in May of that same year.
However, this forced a tight schedule on the production team, giving only four months between the commencement of the shoot and the film's premiere.
'Smash Palace' later won much acclaim for the performance of Lawrence, one of New Zealand's best-known actors.
It was also successful in its home land, and received positive reviews in the United States.
American film critic Pauline Kael described it as "amazingly accomplished". The New York Times picked it as one of its ten best movies of the year.
Roger Ebert called it one of the best films of 1981, "so emotionally wise and observant that we learn from it why people sometimes make the front pages with guns in their hands and try to explain that it's all because of love".
Donaldson's international break came when Italian film producer Dino de Laurentiis invited him to helm a version of 'Mutiny on the Bounty'.
This was after David Lean ('Brief Encounter', 'Great Expectations', 'The Bridge on the River Kwai', 'Lawrence of Arabia', 'Doctor Zhivago', 'A Passage to India') left the project.
'Mutiny on the Boiunty' released as the 1984 British historical drama adaptation/independent film 'The Bounty', starred Anthony Hopkins as the cruel Captain William Bligh and Mel Gibson as mutineer Fletcher Christian.
'Mutiny on the Bounty' was the fifth film version of the story adapted from England-born American novelist and traveler Charles Nordhoff and American writer James Norman Hall's 1932 fiction novel of the same name.
Donaldson was later nominated for a Palme d'Or at the 37th Cannes Film Festival in May of that same year. However, the film did not win.
Four years later, Donaldson directed the 1988 American romance/drama film 'Cocktail. It starred Tom Cruise, Elizabeth Shue and Kelly Lynch.
The screenplay was written by American screenwriter, journalist, novelist and film director Heywood Gould, of which was based on his 1984 fiction book of the same name.
On a budget of $20 million, 'Cocktail' earned $171.5 million at the box office. Despite its box office success, the film received overwhelmingly negative reviews from critics.
Rotten Tomatoes. currently reports that five percent of forty-four film critics have given the film a positive review.
The website's critical consensus reads, "There are no surprises in Cocktail, a shallow, dramatically inert romance that squanders Tom Cruise's talents in what amounts to a naive barkeep's banal fantasy."
American film and theatre critic Vincent Canby of The New York Times gave a negative review, calling it "an upscale, utterly brainless variation on those efficient old B-movies of the 1930s and 40s about the lives, loves and skills of coal miners, sand hogs, and telephone linemen, among others."
Ebert was also critical, explaining that "the more you think about what really happens in Cocktail, the more you realize how empty and fabricated it really is."
Cocktail' is currently Donaldson's lowest-rated film to date, with a 7% rating on Rotten Tomatoes In 1992, Cruise had said that 'Cocktail' "was not a crowning jewel" in his career.
On Metacritic, 'Cocktail' has a 12 out of 100 score based on fourteen reviews, indicating "overwhelming dislike".
During the late 1990s and early 2000s, Donaldson's son, New Zealand sprinter Chris Donaldson (b. May 26, 1975), had represented his country in both of the 1996 and 2000 Summer Olympic games at Olympic level in athletics in the 100-meter and 200-meter events.
In the 2018 Queen's Birthday Honours in New Zealand, celebrating the official birthday of Queen Elizabeth II, Donaldson was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to film.
Among his credits, Donaldson, is also known for directing many popular and successful features. These included 'No Way Out' (1987), 'Species' (1995), 'Dante's Peak' (1997), 'Thirteen Day's (2000), 'The Recruit' (2003), and 'The World's Fastest Indian' (2005).
By the time Donaldson helmed the excellent 2008 British/American/Australian heist action/thriller film 'The Bank Job', he had established himself as one of cinema's most compelling filmmakers.
According to Donaldson's personal life, he is currently married to New Zealand actress and producer Mariese Schneider. She is known for her work on her husband's films, including 'Species', 'Dante's Peak' and 'Thirteen Days'.
Having proved himself to be a capable craftsman of several compelling political thrillers, Donaldson had hit a downward spiral in his career after emerging from his native New Zealand as its cinematic savior, only to reestablish himself in the new millennium.
Donaldson has been active from 1971–present.
#borntodirect
@NZStuff
@nzonscreen
@NZFilmCommissh
@CameronsMgt
@RogerEbert
@rottentomatoes
@Metacritic
@tubi
@letterboxd
@nytimes
No comments:
Post a Comment