John Duigan

This article is about the film director. For the pioneer aviator and aircraft-builder, see John Robertson Duigan.
John Duigan
Born (1949-06-19) 19 June 1949
Hartley Wintney, Hampshire, England
Occupation Film director, screenwriter
Years active 1975-present

John Duigan (born 19 June 1949) is an Australian film director. He is mostly known for his two autobiographical films The Year My Voice Broke and Flirting.

Biography

Duigan was born in England to an Australian father, and emigrated to Australia in 1961. He is related to many Australian performers, being the brother of novelist Virginia Duigan (wife of director Bruce Beresford) and uncle of Trilby Beresford.

Duigan studied at the University of Melbourne, where he resided at Ormond College and graduated in 1973 with a master's degree in Philosophy. While at university, he worked extensively as an actor and director in theatre, and acted in a number of short films.[1]

He began directing films in 1974, with early successes including Mouth to Mouth, winner of the Jury Prize at the Australian Film Institute (AFI) Awards, Winter of our Dreams, for which he won an Australian Writers' Guild award for Best Screenplay, and the multi-award winning mini-series Vietnam. His 1981 film Winter of Our Dreams was entered into the 13th Moscow International Film Festival.[2]

Subsequent films included The Year My Voice Broke, for which he won AFIs for Best Director and Best Screenplay, and Flirting, both of which won Best Picture at the AFI Awards. Subsequently, Duigan worked in the United States and Europe, returning to Australia to make Sirens, winner of Best Film at the St. Petersburg Film Festival.

He engaged in a six-year relationship with the English actress Thandie Newton, who was 16 at the time the relationship began and 23 years younger than Dunigan, and subsequently cast her in the film Flirting.[3]

In the United States he directed Romero, starring Raul Julia, which won the Humanitas Award, and Lawn Dogs, winner of numerous prizes in European festivals. In England he directed The Leading Man, from a screenplay by his sister Virginia, The Parole Officer with Steve Coogan, and in Canada/France/UK Head in the Clouds with Charlize Theron and Penélope Cruz, winner in Canada of four Genie Awards and Best Film at the Milan International Film Festival.

Between 2005 and 2010 he took time off from the film industry to work on a book on secular ethics, returning to Australia to direct Careless Love in 2011/12.

Filmography

Director

Actor

References

  1. ↑ theaustralian
  2. ↑ "13th Moscow International Film Festival (1983)". MIFF. Retrieved 2013-01-31.
  3. ↑ "Thandie Newton's affair at 16 with film director 23 years older than he". Mail Online. Retrieved 2016-12-02.

External links

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