Scott Hicks | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Hicks at the Australian premiere ofThe Lucky One | |
| Born | Robert Scott Hicks (1953-03-04)4 March 1953 (age 72) |
| Alma mater | Flinders University (BA) |
| Occupation(s) | Film director, screenwriter |
| Years active | 1974–present |
| Known for | |
| Spouse | Kerry HeysenAM |
| Children | 2 |
Robert Scott Hicks (born 4 March 1953) is an Australianfilm director, producer andscreenwriter. He is best known as the director ofShine, thebiopic of pianistDavid Helfgott, for which he was nominated for twoAcademy Awards (Best Director andBest Original Screenplay). Other films he has directed include the film adaptations ofStephen King'sHearts in Atlantis andNicholas Sparks'The Lucky One.
Hicks was born on born 4 March 1953 inUganda.[1][2] His father was acivil engineer. His family lived inKenya, outsideNairobi[3] before moving to the UK when Scott was 10 years old,[1] and then moving toAdelaide,South Australia, when Hicks was 14 years old.[4] He hadpiano lessons until his early teens, and learnt to read music, but "wasn’t really prepared to put the necessary time in".[5]
Hicks enrolled for an arts degree atFlinders University in Adelaide when he was 16,[2] graduating with a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) (Drama) in 1975,[6] along with his wifeKerry HeysenAM.[7][4]
In the 1970s, when still a student, Hicks attended numerous rock concerts by international acts, and used hisNikkormat camera to photograph them. The photographs, taken at gigs including theRolling Stones atKooyong Tennis Club (1973);David Bowie atAdelaide Oval (1978);Bob Marley at the oldApollo Stadium;Bob Dylan atWest Lakes (1978),David Cassidy (1974);The Police; andRod Stewart on hisBlondes Have More Fun tour,[4] have been preserved, and selected images have been mounted in at least two exhibitions:
He started his directing career onmusic videos,[2] and worked withWEA Records (Australia) on several projects. One of these wasFreedom (1982), afeature film filmed in and around Adelaide,[2] which featured music byCold Chisel'sDon Walker and most of the band, and vocals by then unknownINXS lead singerMichael Hutchence.[11] A single, "Speed Kills" / "Fascist Sounds" was released byWEA Records in 1982.[12][13]
He directed three music videos for INXS, which were some of the first Australian ones to appear onMTV:[2]
Also with WEA, Hicks made a film clip for South Australian bandVertical Hold, costly for its time, for their third single, "Shotdown (In Love)" (1983). He used16mm film rather thanvideo for the clip.[13][2]
Hicks started his film career in an industry stimulated by renewed government support for the arts, after a period of inactivity. South Australia was at the forefront of thisAustralian film revival, with established directors such asPeter Weir andBruce Beresford coming to Adelaide to shoot their films.[citation needed]
Hicks started out working as a crew member on variousfeature films, before making several short films and documentaries on his own.[citation needed] In 1975 he co-directed and produced the hour-long fiction filmDown the Wind.[16][better source needed]
In 1982, Hicks made a documentary film about the 11thAdelaide Festival of the Arts under artistic directorJim Sharman, titledThe Hall of Mirrors: A Festival.[6]
In 1986, Hicks wrote and directed the telemovieCall Me Mr. Brown, which was based on theQantas bomb hoax of 1971.[2] In 1988 he made a children's film calledSebastian and the Sparrow. In 1989 he made a TV documentary series for theDiscovery Channel,The Great Wall of Iron, which was filmed in China with thePeople's Liberation Army. It became the highest-rating programme on that channel in the US.
In 1993 he made another popular and acclaimed documentary series,Submarines: Sharks of Steel.[1]
He is best known as the director ofShine (1996), the biopic of pianistDavid Helfgott that won an Oscar forGeoffrey Rush forBest Actor, and garnered several other nominations at theAcademy Awards as well as theAFI Awards. The film was made in Adelaide, at the insistence of the then chair of theSouth Australian Film Corporation, former premierDavid Tonkin.[2]
Hicks' first Hollywood studio film wasSnow Falling on Cedars (1999), based onDavid Guterson's novel of the same title. This was followed in 2001 by his second Hollywood film, the adaptation ofStephen King's novelHearts in Atlantis.[2]
After working onHearts in Atlantis (2001), Hicks decided to take time off and enjoy living at home. In that time, he fell into working on American televisioncommercials, which he enjoyed, working with some of the best names in the business.[17]
More than six years later, Hicks made his third Hollywood film as a director inNo Reservations,[2] released in mid-2007. He followed that up with a more personal project, shooting a feature-length documentary on the iconic composerPhilip Glass,Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts. This film premiered at the 2007Toronto International Film Festival.[17] Glass told Hicks that he was not happy with the film, but for Hicks it was "a labour of love".[18]
In 2009 he madeThe Boys Are Back, an Australian-UK co-production starringClive Owen, based on the 2001 memoir by Simon Carr,[19]The Boys Are Back in Town,[20][13] and filmed in South Australia.[2]
In 2014–15, Hicks made the documentaryHighly Strung, about attempts by the Ngeringa Arts Centre to obtain four rare and valuableGuadagnini violins for theAustralian String Quartet (ASQ). The film was produced by his wife Kerry Heysen, and opened the2015 Adelaide Film Festival.[21][22] The film portrays the relationships within the ASQ, Australia's only full-timequartet, the wealthy arts patron, Ulrike Klein (founder ofJurlique) who purchases the violins, and a family of musicians and dealers inNew York City calledThe Carpenters (David, Sean and Lauren Carpenter[23]). He said of the film: "This was about the people. People who are obsessed with what they're doing. Whether they're musicians, investors, dealers... they’re all obsessed".[18] He called the Carpenters "theKardashians of the music world".[5]
Hicks is a member of theAcademy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and theBritish Academy of Film and Television Arts.[citation needed]
In 2019 Hicks gave a training session inSingapore atMindChamps.[24]
Hicks was awarded anhonorary doctorate by hisalma mater, Flinders University, in 1997.[10][1][6]
He has had his portrait painted byDavid Bromley several times. The 1999 portrait was a finalist for theArchibald Prize.[25]
Hicks was a finalist in 2008 for theAustralian of the Year Awards.[13]
In 2017, the Heysen Hicks Set Construction Studio was opened at theSouth Australian Film Corporation.[26]
In November 2024, Hicks' 1982 documentaryThe Hall of Mirrors: A Festival, about the Adelaide Festival under the directorship ofJim Sharman, was screened at theSpace Theatre in theAdelaide Festival Centre, followed by a conversation with the two men. The event was the biennialWal Cherry Lecture, coinciding with the celebration of the 50th anniversary of Flinders Drama Centre celebration and named in honour of its founder,Wal Cherry.[6]
TheState Library of South Australia holds records of Hicks' life and work, including papers relating his work on many feature films and documentaries (original script drafts and development, correspondence, production files, publicity and marketing files, press cuttings, etc.), from 1970 to 2011. The accompanying catalogue description says: "His documentaries and feature films have helped inspire a new generation of Australian filmmakers and actors by telling unique, Australian stories which define us as a people".[2]
Awards forShine included:[3]
Other film/TV awards:
Hicks marriedfilm producer Kerry Heysen when they were both students.[7] They have two sons,[3] Scott and Jethro.[13]
In 2024, Hicks donated his personal archive of film memorabilia and documentation to theState Library of South Australia, including such items as hand-drawn sketches of movie scenes,storyboards from completed films, and the glasses and costume worn byGeoffrey Rush inShine. A large exhibition of the items is planned for late 2025.[27]
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