Gerard Lee
Gerard Lee (born 1951 in Melbourne) is an Australian novelist, screenwriter and director.
Life and career
Gerard Lee is co-writer with Jane Campion of the successful mini-series Top of the Lake, which garnered eight Emmy Nominations and has now been commissioned for a second season due to begin shooting in 2015. Top of the Lake 1 stars Elisabeth Moss, Holly Hunter, Peter Mullan and David Wenham. Set in the South Island of New Zealand, the first series explores themes of innocence and mystery in a detective genre. It was financed by BBC Worldwide and the Sundance Channel.
Lee also produced and wrote the screenplay for the film My Mistress, starring Emmanuelle Beart and Harrison Gilbertson, which was released November 2014 and sold in many territories. It is the story of a relationship between a 16-year-old boy and a 40-something S&M mistress.
His adaptation of the Tim Winton novel 'Breath' will begin shooting in March 2016. To be directed by film and television actor Simon Baker ('The Mentallist', 'The Guardian' et al.) it will be shot in Western Australia. Producer is Simon Baker and Mark Johnson ('Breaking Bad').
Lee has purchased the rights to the Peter Carey novel 'Theft' with Optimism Films (Melbourne) and will develop the screenplay over the coming year.
Princess Pictures (Melbourne) have bought his comic six-part mini-series set in an outback town.
Lee's feature film All Men Are Liars, set in the Queensland cane fields, which he wrote and directed, opened the Sydney Film Festival in 1995 and won awards internationally (San Remo Film Festival, Palm Springs Film Festival).
Lee co-wrote Jane Campion's feature debut, Sweetie (film), which won Best Screenplay at the Australian Film Institute Awards, a Camera d'Or at Cannes and many other awards. It was screened internationally and is now part of the world's most prestigious home video collection, The Criterion Collection.
Brought up in Brisbane in the 1960s, Lee began writing for The Telegraph newspaper at the age of 16. He has published two novels, a collection of short stories and a collection of travel stories, all with University of Queensland Press. Referring to Lee's first novel, True Love and How to Get It (1981), The Oxford Companion to Australian Literature stated: "...a witty writer with a deceptively naive narrative style, Lee frequently satirises contemporary Queensland lifestyles". His second novel, Troppo Man (1990) set in Ubud, Bali, was shortlisted for the Vogel's Young Writers Award.
Lee has travelled widely in Europe and in Asia, and has taught creative writing and a Masters of Screenwriting at a range of tertiary institutions.
Books
- Manual for a Garden Mechanic (1976) (Ragman Productions, Robert Kenny, Melbourne)
- Pieces for a Glass Piano (1978), ISBN 0-7022-1175-3 [1][2]
- True Love and How to Get It (1985), ISBN 0-7022-1778-6 [3][4]
- Troppo Man (1990), a comedy novel set in Ubud, Bali. ISBN 0-7022-2299-2 [5][6]
- Sweetie: The Screenplay (1991), ISBN 0-7022-2371-9
- Eating Dog: Travel Stories (1994), ISBN 0-7022-2184-8 [7][8]
Television
- Top of the Lake (2013), a seven-hour drama serial, set in the South Island of New Zealand, co-created and co-written with Jane Campion
Short films
- Passionless Moments (1983), co-written ad co-directed with Jane Campion
Feature films
- Breath (2014) writer
- My Mistress (2013), writer/producer
- All Men Are Liars (1995), writer/director
- Sweetie (1989), co-written with Jane Campion