Antony I. "Tony" Ginnane is an Australianfilm producer, best known for his work in theexploitation genre. He was head of theScreen Producers Association of Australia from 2008 to 2011.
Antony I. Ginnane, known as Tony Ginnane,[1] studied law atMelbourne University where he was involved in the Film Society, and published a film magazine,Film Chronicle. He wrote, produced, and directed a low-budget feature,Sympathy in Summer (1971), during this time.[citation needed]
Ginnane has been described as "Australia'sRoger Corman", or Australia's equivalent toRobert Lippert.[2]
In 1970 he established a small distribution company, Studio Films, in Melbourne which imported several art house and exploitation films, and began attendingCannes Film Festival regularly. Among the films he distributed in Australia wereWind from the East andThe Vampire Happening.[3]
In the mid 1970s Ginnane decided to enter the production field. He attempted to set up aRoger Corman-type "nurses" film which he would produce and direct, and then a crime drama set against the background of the massage parlour business calledSexy Little Me , but was unable to find the money. However he could raise $50,000 for a sex film. For director he hiredRichard Franklin, with whom Ginnane had worked with on the overseas marketing forThe True Story of Eskimo Nell;Ross Dimsey wrote the script. The result,Fantasm (1976) was shot mostly in the US with a number of American actors with experience in pornographic films.[4][5]
Fantasm was very profitable, and led to a sequel,Fantasm Comes Again (1977), directed byColin Eggleston; it did less well at the box office. Ginnane also moved into family films withBlue Fire Lady (1977), directed byRoss Dimsey and starringCathryn Harrison.[6]
Ginnane went into thrillers withPatrick (1978), directed by Franklin from a script byEverett De Roche, starring an importedSusan Penhaligon. It was not that popular at the Australian box office but sold extremely well internationally.[4][7][8]
Ginnane stayed in the thriller genre withSnapshot (1979), written by de Roche, the first feature directed bySimon Wincer and first leading role forSigrid Thornton.[citation needed] He went into vampire films withThirst (1979), the directorial debut ofRod Hardy, and featuring an importedHenry Silva andDavid Hemmings in the cast.[citation needed]
Ginnane was reunited with de Roche and Winder onHarlequin (1980) a modern-day retelling of theRasputin story featuringRobert Powell, Hemmings, andBroderick Crawford. The film was seemingly designed so as to appear it was not shot in Australian, which, along with the three imported actors, led to Ginnane receiving much criticism, especially as the film was partly financed with money from the Australian tax payer. The movie was very successful internationally.[9][10]
Ginnane imported three foreign actors, Powell,Jenny Agutter andJoseph Cotten, forThe Survivor (1981), directed by Hemmings, which was a commercial disappointment.[citation needed]
Ginnane wanted to make his next film,The Race for the Yankee Zephyr (1981), written by De Roche, with foreign leads. Australia'sActors Equity objected, so Ginnane decided to make it in New Zealand.[11] It was directed by Hemmings and starredGeorge Peppard,Ken Wahl,Donald Pleasence andLesley Ann Downe. TheHemdale Film Corporation helped finance.[12]
Ginnane stayed in New Zealand to makeStrange Behavior (1982), directed byMichael Laughlin and co-written byBill Condon, with American leadsMichael Murphy andLouise Fletcher; Hemdale co financed this one too.[citation needed] He also madePrisoners (1981) withTatum O'Neal.[citation needed]
Ginnane returned to Australia to produceTurkey Shoot (1982) directed byBrian Trenchard-Smith withSteve Railsback andOlivia Hussey. He went back to New Zealand to makeSecond Time Lucky (1984);Mesmerized (1985) from director Laughlin withJodie Foster andJohn Lithgow. In Australia he produced the mini seriesGreat Expectations: The Untold Story (1987).[13]
In the late 1980s Ginnane started making movies in the Philippines,[citation needed] includingKiller Instinct (1987);Whiteforce (1988);Savage Justice (1988);The Siege of Firebase Gloria (1989), directed by Trenchard-Smith;A Case of Honor (1990), directed byEddie Romero;Driving Force (1990) andDemonstone (1990), both directed byAndrew Prowse.[citation needed]
Ginnane relocated to Canada, where his films includedNo Contest (1995) starringAndrew Dice Clay;Screamers (1995), one of his most highly regarded films;[citation needed]Men with Guns (1997);Captive (1998);The Truth About Juliet (1998);Reluctant Angel (1998);Black Light (1998);Reaper (2000),Sweet Revenge (2001), andThe Risen (2005).[citation needed]
In New Zealand he madeBonjour Timothy (1995),The Whole of the Moon (1997) andLawless: Beyond Justice (2001), andLawless: Dead Evidence (2001).[citation needed]
Back in Australia he made a children's filmSally Marshall Is Not an Alien (1998) directed byMario Andreacchio, with Canadian money.[citation needed]
He helped finance a documentary aboutBroken Hill,The Big Red, released in 2005.[citation needed]
Blind Heat (2000) was a US-Mexican co production[citation needed] andThe Hit (2001) was made in Lithuania, directed byVincent Monton.[citation needed]
Ginnane helped finance a series of ultra-low-budget features, includingLook @ Me (2005);Ten Dead Men (2006), shot in the UK.[citation needed]
Ginnane's later credits includeScreamers: The Hunting (2009);Arctic Blast (2010), shot in Australia, and directed by Trenchard-Smith;Surviving Georgia (2011);Metal Tornado (2011); andLast Dance (2012), in Australia.[citation needed]
He produced two remakes of his earlier films,Patrick (2013), directed byMark Hartley,[1] andTurkey Shoot (2014). He helped produce the TV seriesPulse (2017) and the filmBad Blood (2017).[citation needed]
In the late 1980s Ginnane worked mostly as anexecutive producer, being more involved in raising finance than organising physical production.[citation needed]
In 1987 his company, International Film Management Limited,[14] combined with Hemdale to produce a number of movies to form a joint venture Hemdale Ginnane Australia.[15][16] Hemdale later encountered a series of financial difficulties[17] as did Goldfarb, another company with which Ginnane was associated.[18]
Ginnane's credits includeDark Age (1987), a killer crocodile film that was a co-production withRKO which was never released theatrically;High Tide (1987) directed byGillian Armstrong;Slate, Wyn & Me (1987);The Tale of Ruby Rose (1987), shot in Tasmania;The Lighthorsemen (1987), a $10 million World War One epic about theBattle of Beersheba directed by Wincer;The Time Guardian (1987), a science fiction epic starringTom Burlinson that was a financial disaster;Initiation (1987), a horror film;Incident at Raven's Gate (1988), directed byRolf de Heer;[19]The Everlasting Secret Family (1988) directed byMichael Thornhill;The Dreaming (1988), directed byMario Andreacchio;Grievous Bodily Harm (1988), directed byMark Joffe;Boundaries of the Heart (1988);Mull (1989) directed by McLennan, which won awards;Minnamurra (1989) ; andFatal Sky (1990). He made another mini seriesEmma: Queen of the South Seas (1988).
Ginnane was head of theScreen Producers Association of Australia from 2008 to 2011. He was credited with promoting their Producer Distributor Film Fund, which provided a funding base for films with a budget of A$7-30 million dollars.[20][21]
A CD of themes from 14 of his films was produced in 2008 byPhilip Powers and released by1M1 Records, titledThe Antony I. Ginnane Collection: Classic Australian Film Scores of the 70s and 80s.[22]
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