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Scott Hicks

Scott Hicks is an Academy Award nominated film director from South Australia.

Hicks graduated from Flinders University of South Australia (BA Honors) in 1975 and was awarded an honorary doctorate in 1997. Born and raised in East Africa, Scott lives with his wife, producer Kerry Heysen and their two sons, Scott and Jethro in Adelaide, South Australia.

Hicks was a finalist in 2008 for the Australian of the Year Awards.

In his very early working years in the early 1980s, Hicks worked 3 times with WEA Records (Australia), firstly the movie "Freedom" filmed in and around Adelaide and featuring the music of Cold Chisel's Don Walker and the vocals of INXS lead singer Michael Hutchence. Following this, Hicks made a (very expensive for it's time) music film clip utilizing 16mm film (not video) for popular South Australian band "Vertical Hold" who had a No.1 single in 1981 & another top 5 hit for WEA the next year. Hicks' film clip was for their 3rd single "Shotdown (In Love)" released in 1983 and was shown in Australia and overseas including a U.S. "Aussie Music" fest (in Los Angeles) late in 1983. But Scott Hicks is best known for much later writing the story and directing Shine, the biopic of pianist David Helfgott. Geoffrey Rush won the Academy Award for Best Actor, for his portrayal as Helfgott, and the film was also nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Armin Mueller-Stahl), Best Director, Best Film Editing, Best Music, Original Dramatic Score, Best Picture and Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen. The AFIs gave it significant recognition as well, with nine nominations total.

After working on Hearts in Atlantis in 2001, Hicks decided to take time off and enjoy living at home. In that time, he fell into working on television commercials which, to his surprise, he greatly enjoyed.[1] More than six years later, Hicks resurfaced as a director in No Reservations and followed that up with GLASS, a portrait of Philip in twelve parts. His new project is The Boys are back in Town, a co-production between England and Australia with Clive Owen

Filmography

  • Down the Wind (1975)
  • Freedom (1982)
  • Vertical Hold: Shotdown (In Love) (1983) (V)
  • The INXS: Swing and Other Stories (1985) (V)
  • Call Me Mr. Brown (1986)
  • Sebastian and the Sparrow (1990)
  • The Finder aka Finders Keepers (1991) TV Series
  • The Space Shuttle (1994) (TV)
  • Shine (1996)
  • Snow Falling on Cedars (1999)
  • Submarines: Sharks of Steel (1993)
  • Hearts in Atlantis (2001)
  • No Reservations (2007)
  • GLASS, a portrait of Philip in twelve parts (2007)
  • The Boys are back in town (2008)

Filmography

SHINE »

The 1996 multi-award winning Australian film based on the life of pianist David Helfgott, who suffered a mental breakdown and spent years in institutions...