Fran Walsh

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Fran Walsh
Fran Walsh DNZM (cropped).jpg
Walsh in 2019
Born
Frances Rosemary Walsh

(1959-01-10) 10 January 1959 (age 65)
Wellington, New Zealand
Occupation(s)Screenwriter, film producer, lyricist
Years active1983–present
Partner Peter Jackson (1987–present)
Children2

Dame Frances Rosemary Walsh DNZM (born 10 January 1959) [1] is a New Zealand screenwriter and film producer.

Contents

The partner of filmmaker Peter Jackson, Walsh has contributed to all of their films since 1989: as co-writer since Meet the Feebles , and as producer since The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. She has won three Academy Awards for the final film of the trilogy, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King .

Early life

Walsh was born into a family of Irish descent [2] in Wellington, New Zealand. She attended Wellington Girls' College intent on becoming a fashion designer, but eventually became interested in music instead. Occasionally taking time off to perform in a punk band named The Wallsockets, she attended Victoria University of Wellington majoring in English literature and graduating in 1981. [2]

Career

Walsh got her screen break writing material for New Zealand producer Grahame McLean on 1983 television film A Woman of Good Character (It's Lizzie to those Close). Later she wrote scripts for his TV show Worzel Gummidge Down Under . [2]

Walsh met Peter Jackson in the mid-1980s during the final stages of production on his low-budget movie Bad Taste , in which aliens serve humans as fast food. [2] Walsh has collaborated with Jackson on the scripts of all his subsequent films, after joining the writing quartet on his next film, the dark comedy Meet the Feebles (1989). [3] The couple then reteamed with writer Stephen Sinclair on the horror-comedy film that they had begun writing before Feebles, the zombie movie Braindead (retitled Dead Alive in the United States, 1992). [4]

Walsh and Jackson have not married (2015). [2] They explored new ground with the drama Heavenly Creatures (1994). The film was Walsh's idea [2] and was based on the friendship of the Parker-Hulme teenagers, who infamously later killed one of their mothers. The film earned the duo an Oscar nomination for the screenplay. Walsh gave birth to Billy in 1995 and Katie in 1996. Walsh and Jackson returned to a more familiar genre with Universal Studios horror-comedy The Frighteners (1996), their first film funded by an American studio.[ citation needed ] They were in talks with Universal to remake King Kong until 1998's Godzilla and Mighty Joe Young were first announced, and Universal decided against the film. Universal feared it would be thrown aside by the two higher budget movies. [5] Wanting to try his hand at fantasy, Jackson turned to Miramax to make a film based on the works of writer J.R.R. Tolkien. In 1998, New Line Cinema provided the necessary financial backing to make a three-part adaptation of Tolkien's classic The Lord of the Rings . [6]

Walsh, with Jackson and Philippa Boyens, is credited for writing the screenplays for The Lord of the Rings film trilogy (2001–2003) (Stephen Sinclair has a writing credit on the second film: The Two Towers). They shared many awards, including an Oscar for their adapted screenplay for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King . She also was one of the film's producers and co-composer of two songs for Return of the King, namely "Into the West" [7] and "A Shadow Lies Between Us", the former song earning her one more Oscar that night.

Walsh, Jackson, and Boyens continued their screenplay work together for the 2005 remake of King Kong , which was given the green light by Universal after the Rings trilogy's success. The couple collaborated on the adaptation of the novel The Lovely Bones and on the three-film adaptation of The Hobbit . [2]

Walsh prefers to remain more private than Jackson or Boyens; she did not contribute an interview to the bonus features on The Lord of the Rings movie DVDs; however, she did feature on the director/writers' commentary (where she and Jackson discussed that they felt one of them should remain a private figure for the good of their family). Her vocals were used as a significant part of the screech of the Nazgûl in the films. [8]

Honours and awards

She won three Academy Awards in 2004, for Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Original Song, all for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King . She has received seven Oscar nominations.

In the 2002 New Year Honours, Walsh was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to film. [9] In the 2019 Queen's Birthday Honours, she was promoted to Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, also for services to film. [10]

Filmography

This is her selected filmography as screenwriter, unless noted:

Related Research Articles

<i>The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring</i> 2001 film by Peter Jackson

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring is a 2001 epic high fantasy adventure film directed by Peter Jackson from a screenplay by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, and Jackson, based on 1954's The Fellowship of the Ring, the first volume of the novel The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien. The film is the first installment in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. It features an ensemble cast including Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Liv Tyler, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, Cate Blanchett, John Rhys-Davies, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Orlando Bloom, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, Sean Bean, Ian Holm, and Andy Serkis.

<i>The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers</i> 2002 film by Peter Jackson

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is a 2002 epic high fantasy adventure film directed by Peter Jackson from a screenplay by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Stephen Sinclair, and Jackson, based on 1954's The Two Towers, the second volume of the novel The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien. The sequel to 2001's The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, the film is the second instalment in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. It features an ensemble cast including Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Liv Tyler, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, Cate Blanchett, John Rhys-Davies, Bernard Hill, Christopher Lee, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Orlando Bloom, Hugo Weaving, Miranda Otto, David Wenham, Brad Dourif, Karl Urban, and Andy Serkis.

<i>The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King</i> 2003 film by Peter Jackson

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is a 2003 epic high fantasy adventure film directed by Peter Jackson from a screenplay by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, and Jackson. It is based on 1955's The Return of the King, the third volume of the novel The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien. The sequel to 2002's The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, the film is the third installment in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. It features an ensemble cast including Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Liv Tyler, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, Cate Blanchett, John Rhys-Davies, Bernard Hill, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Orlando Bloom, Hugo Weaving, Miranda Otto, David Wenham, Karl Urban, John Noble, Andy Serkis, Ian Holm, and Sean Bean. Continuing the plot of the previous film, Frodo, Sam and Gollum make their final way toward Mount Doom to destroy the One Ring, unaware of Gollum's true intentions, while Merry, Pippin, Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli and their allies join forces against Sauron and his legions from Mordor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Howard Shore</span> Canadian film score composer (born 1946)

Howard Leslie Shore is a Canadian composer, conductor and orchestrator noted for his film scores. He has composed the scores for over 80 films, most notably the scores for The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit film trilogies. He won three Academy Awards for his work on The Lord of the Rings, with one being for the song "Into the West", an award he shared with Eurythmics lead vocalist Annie Lennox and writer/producer Fran Walsh, who wrote the lyrics. He is a consistent collaborator with director David Cronenberg, having scored all but one of his films since 1979, and collaborated with Martin Scorsese on six of his films.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andy Serkis</span> English actor (born 1964)

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The Lord of the Rings is a trilogy of epic fantasy adventure films directed by Peter Jackson, based on the novel The Lord of the Rings by British author J. R. R. Tolkien. The films are subtitled The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Two Towers (2002), and The Return of the King (2003). Produced and distributed by New Line Cinema with the co-production of WingNut Films, the films feature an ensemble cast including Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Liv Tyler, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, Cate Blanchett, John Rhys-Davies, Christopher Lee, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Orlando Bloom, Hugo Weaving, Andy Serkis, and Sean Bean.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philippa Boyens</span> New Zealand screenwriter

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<i>King Kong</i> (2005 film) 2005 film by Peter Jackson

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">WingNut Films</span> New Zealand production company

WingNut Films Productions Ltd is a New Zealand production company based in Wellington, with other offices in Hollywood, United States, London, United Kingdom, and Melbourne, Australia; notably for producing and collaborating predominantly with filmmaker Peter Jackson, especially on The Lord of the Rings. WingNut Films also has produced at Pinewood Studios in England. Its US subsidiary is WingNut Films, Inc.

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James William Arthur "Jamie" Selkirk is a film editor and producer who has worked primarily in New Zealand. He is particularly noted for his work on The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, which he co-produced with Peter Jackson. He received the Academy Award for Best Film Editing for the last film of the trilogy, The Return of the King (2003).

Christian Rivers is a New Zealand storyboard artist, visual effects supervisor, special effects technician, and director. He first met Peter Jackson as a 17-year-old, and storyboarded all of Jackson's films since Braindead. He made his directing debut in the film adaptation of Mortal Engines, and planning a remake of The Dam Busters, both produced by Peter Jackson.

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Stephen Sinclair is a New Zealand playwright, screenwriter and novelist. He is the co-author of stage comedy Ladies Night. In 2001, the French version won the Molière Award for stage comedy of the year. Other plays include The Bellbird and The Bach, both of which are prescribed texts for Drama Studies in New Zealand secondary schools.

J. R. R. Tolkien's novels The Hobbit (1937) and The Lord of the Rings (1954–55), set in his fictional world of Middle-earth, have been the subject of numerous motion picture adaptations across film and television.

<i>The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey</i> 2012 film by Peter Jackson

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The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim is an upcoming anime fantasy film directed by Kenji Kamiyama from a screenplay by Phoebe Gittins and Arty Papageorgiou, based on the novel The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien. Produced by New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. Animation, the film is a prequel to Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy. Starring Brian Cox, Gaia Wise, Luke Pasqualino, Miranda Otto, Laurence Ubong Williams, and Shaun Dooley, The War of the Rohirrim is set 183 years before the events of those films and tells the story of Helm Hammerhand (Cox), a legendary king of Rohan, and his family as they defend their kingdom against an army of Dunlendings.

References

  1. "UPI Almanac for Friday, Jan. 10, 2020". United Press International . 10 January 2020. Archived from the original on 15 January 2020. Retrieved 1 February 2020. ... New Zealand screenwriter Fran Walsh in 1959 (age 61)
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Barnes, Brooks (30 November 2012). "Middle-Earth Wizard's Not-So-Silent Partner". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 3 January 2018.
  3. Formats and Editions of Meet the Feebles [WorldCat.org]. OCLC   123093764.
  4. Jackson, Peter; Walsh, Fran; Balme, Tim; Peñalver, Diana; Moody, Elizabeth; Dasent, Peter (2004), Dead alive., OCLC   890284207
  5. Morton, Ray. King Kong: The History of a Movie Icon from Fay Wray to Peter Jackson. p. 168.
  6. Patrick Goldstein (24 August 1998). "New Line Gambles on Becoming Lord of the 'Rings'". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved 24 March 2016.
  7. Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records. p. 137. ISBN   1-904994-10-5.
  8. David Farmer (2007). "The Soundscapes of Middle-earth" documentary (DVD Video). New Line Cinema. Event occurs at 07:20.
  9. "New Year honours list 2002". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 31 December 2001. Retrieved 3 June 2019.
  10. "Queen's Birthday honours list 2019". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 3 June 2019. Retrieved 3 June 2019.
  11. Lee, Ashley (24 November 2016). "Peter Jackson's 'Mortal Engines' Gets December 2018 Release". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 9 January 2017.
General sources