Fred Schepisi | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Frederic Alan Schepisi (1939-12-26)26 December 1939 (age 85) Melbourne, Victoria, Australia |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1976–present |
| Known for | The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith Plenty Last Orders Empire Falls The Eye of the Storm |
| Spouse | Mary Schepisi |
| Children | Alexandra Schepisi |
Frederic Alan SchepisiAO (/ˈskɛpsi/SKEP-see;[1] born 26 December 1939) is an Australian film director, producer, and screenwriter. His credits includeThe Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith,Plenty,Roxanne,A Cry in the Dark,Mr. Baseball,Six Degrees of Separation, andLast Orders.
Frederic Alan Schepisi was born in theMelbourne suburb ofRichmond on 26 December 1939, the son of Loretto Ellen (née Hare) and Frederic Thomas Schepisi, who was a fruit dealer and car salesman of Italian descent.[2][3]
During his late teens, he began watching classic post-war European films such asThe Wages of Fear,Rocco and His Brothers, andBicycle Thieves atThe Savoy,[4] a theatre inRussell Street which specialised in showing such films.[5]
As part of his high school education, he spent 18 months[3] at theMarist Brothersjuniorate[6] inMacedon in regional Victoria.[4] His experiences there were later depicted in his 1976 feature filmThe Devil's Playground.[3]
After completing hisschool-leaving certificate at 14, for a short time he worked in one of his father's car yards as amotor mechanic but had no aptitude for the job, and was glad to discover the world of advertising.[4]
Schepisi started work as a messenger at Carden Advertising (later Clemenger), where a number of journalists were also employed, includingPhillip Adams. He joined local film clubs and experimented with filmmaking.[4] He worked his way up in the advertising industry, becoming acopywriter, and eventually started directing commercials.[3] He was appointed as Victorian manager forCinesound Productions in 1964, at the age of 24, after lying about his age. There he met cinematographerRussell Boyd. At the time, Cinesound was only making newsreels and corporate films, but Schepisi changed its direction. He used the best film students from the newly established Swinburne film courses to work on the films, and producedavant-garde commercials for clients such as Volkswagen and Alcoa, which brought profits to the company. He was less interested in creating newsreels.
In 1966, along with graphic designers Bruce Weatherhead andAlex Stitt, Schepisi bought out Cinesound Victoria in 1966, renaming it The Film House.[4] The Film House founded became an important player in the "new wave" of Australian filmmaking, along withGillian Armstrong,Bruce Beresford, andPeter Weir. Since Cinesound had stopped making films during World War II, there hadn't been many Australian films made.[4] Schepisi invited editorJill Bilcock to work for him soon after her graduation fromSwinburne Film and Television School.[7]
His first fiction film was a 30-minute short film, part of the anthology feature filmLibido in 1973. In collaboration with Australian authorThomas Keneally, he made the short filmThe Priest.[3]
Schepisi's first feature film wasThe Devil's Playground, in 1976, but it wasThe Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1978), based onKeneally's novel of the same name, that brought him to international notice.[3] This film was one of the first to feature anAboriginal story on the big screen.[4] This led to his first film produced in the US,Barbarosa (1982), a Western starringWillie Nelson.[3]
The sci-fi parableIceman (1984) came next, and in 1985 he adaptedDavid Hare's stage drama,Plenty, for thefilm of the same name (1985), starringMeryl Streep.[3] In 1987Steve Martin starred in his next film, the comedyRoxanne (1987), based on the 1897 French play byEdmond Rostand,Cyrano de Bergerac. Streep, along withSam Neill, starred again in his 1988 filmEvil Angels, which was filmed in Australia (released asA Cry in the Dark outside of Australia and New Zealand).[3][8]
The Russia House (1990), based on the spy thriller byJohn le Carré, starredSean Connery andMichelle Pfeiffer.[8]Six Degrees of Separation (1993) was another adaptation, this time of the1990 play byJohn Guare, and in 1994 he madeI.Q., based on a story aboutAlbert Einstein and his niece.[3] His next major film on the big screen was in 2001,Last Orders,[3] starringRay Winstone,Michael Caine, andBob Hoskins.[8]
In 2003, he madeIt Runs in the Family, withKirk andMichael Douglas in the lead roles.[4] In 2005, Schepisi directed and co-produced theHBO miniseriesEmpire Falls,[9] starringPaul Newman,Ed Harris,Philip Seymour Hoffman,Joanne Woodward,Robin Wright Penn, andHelen Hunt.[8]
In April 2008, it was announced thatFilm Finance Corporation Australia was providing funding for Schepisi's filmThe Last Man, about the final days of theVietnam War. It was scheduled to begin filming inQueensland, withGuy Pearce andDavid Wenham in leading roles, towards the end of the year.[10]
In 2011, Schepisi directedThe Eye of the Storm. Filmed inMelbourne,Sydney, andFar North Queensland, and based on the novel byPatrick White,The Eye of the Storm starsCharlotte Rampling,Judy Davis, andGeoffrey Rush. The story is about "children finally understanding themselves through the context of family".[11]
In 2013, he directedWords and Pictures, starringJuliette Binoche andClive Owen.[8]
Schepisi has also directed a number of music videos, including for the 2008 song "Breathe" byKaz James featuringStu Stone.[12]
In the mid-1960s, he campaigned strongly, along with MPBarry Jones, broadcaster and writerPhillip Adams, for the establishment of a film school in Melbourne. This led to the first course in filmmaking atSwinburne Technical College in 1966, leading to the establishment of theSwinburne Film and Television School a few years later.[13] Schepisi became an examiner of its first film course, an unpaid role.[4]
Schepisi was president of the 2006Bangkok International Film Festival in Thailand.[14]
In 2007, he chaired the jury at the29th Moscow International Film Festival.[15]
As of 2024[update], Schepisi is a patron of theNational Film and Sound Archive.[16]
Schepisi won a number ofAustralian Film Institute (AFI) andAustralian Writers' Guild Awards.[9] He won theAFI Award for Best Direction and theAFI Award for Best Screenplay for bothThe Devil's Playground andEvil Angels (released asA Cry in the Dark outside of Australia and New Zealand).[citation needed]
A photographic portrait of him by Kate Gollings, taken in 2000, is held by theNational Portrait Gallery inCanberra.[17]
Other honours and awards include:
Schepisi has been married three times and has seven children. He had four children with his first wife Joan.[citation needed]
He met his second wife Rhonda Finlayson (11 September 1940 – 30 October 1995), sister of actorJon Finlayson, when she became a driver for his company, Film House. She had previously had an acting and singing career in the 1950s. She later become production manager and casting director. She cast his first film in 1973 (Libido), and they married in that year. She continued to do casting for his films,[21] including castingTom E. Lewis in his first film role inThe Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith after spotting him atMelbourne Airport.[22] They had two daughters together, but their marriage ended in 1983. Rhonda remarried and did casting in the UK and US. She went on to establish her own production company, Rhonda Schepisi Productions, in Melbourne. While working on the production of a screen adaptation ofTim Winton's short story "A Blow, a Kiss", she died of cancer on 30 October 1995. Filming had finished three days earlier, and production was completed by the film's director, Rey Carlson.[21][23]
His third wife, Mary, whom he married in 1984 and with whom he had a seventh child, is American.[24][better source needed]
In 2011, asked about the "gypsy-like existence" of a filmmaker, Schepisi said: "It's the hardest thing. I think we're today's circus people. It's very hard on your family. [His wife]Mary travels with me and when everyone was younger and it was possible, I liked them to travel with me and be with me. Fortunately, Mary's an artist; she paints, and often finds inspiration from our locations."[25]
He supports Australia becoming a republic and is a founding member of theAustralian Republican Movement.[26]
