Michael Petroni is an Australian screenwriter and director.
Petroni worked in the early 1990s as a comedy writer and performer on Australian television, and appeared as "Psycho Bob", an American serial killer character, inThe Big Gig andDAAS Kapital (with theDoug Anthony All Stars).[1]
In 1994, he moved to Los Angeles to study screenwriting at theAFI Conservatory, from which he graduated in 1996. During his time at the AFI, he wrote his first feature film script,Till Human Voices Wake Us which he subsequently directed as a feature film starringGuy Pearce andHelena Bonham Carter, winning several awards for the script.[2]
Since his debut, Petroni has also co-writtenThe Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys (2002),Queen of the Damned (2002) andPossession (2009), an English language adaptation of the Korean filmAddicted. He also co-created the 2003 TV seriesMiracles with Richard Hatem, with the series based on his unfilmed movie scriptA Course in Miracles which had been in development since 1998 withJerry Zucker[3] and laterRussell Crowe attached to direct.[4]
On 26 February 2008,Variety reported that Petroni was writing the script forThe Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, the third installment inThe Chronicles of Narnia franchise.[5] He wrote the screenplay for exorcism horror movieThe Rite based on the bookThe Rite: The Making of a Modern Exorcist byMatt Baglio.[6] In March 2013, Screen Australia announced that it would be funding an Australian supernatural thriller,Backtrack, which Petroni would write and direct.[7]
In November 2017, it was announced that Petroni would be credited as an executive producer and creator for theNetflix thriller series,Messiah.[8] The series premiered on 1 January 2020.[9]
