Peter Duncan (director)

Last updated

Peter Duncan
Born (1964-09-08) 8 September 1964 (age 60)
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Occupation(s)Film director, screenwriter
Years active1993–present

Peter Duncan (born 8 September 1964) is an Australian film director and screenwriter. He is best known for his television series Rake, created with frequent collaborator Richard Roxburgh.

Contents

Duncan directed the feature films Children of the Revolution (1996), A Little Bit of Soul (1998), Passion (1999) & Unfinished Sky (2007). In 2024, he wrote the script for The Correspondent, based on the life of Australian journalist Peter Greste.

Biography

Early life

Duncan attended Scots College in Sydney. [1] He studied a Bachelor of Arts/Law at Sydney University. While studying he participated in comedic University Revues. [2] Duncan worked as a paralegal before deciding to pursue a career in film. [3] [1]

After graduating, Duncan attended the Australian Film, Television and Radio School. [1] [3]

Career

In 1994, Duncan first collaborated with Richard Roxburgh on his graduate short film, A Bit of a Tiff with the Lord. [1] [4] The short follows a priest who returns from Rome to his frail father in Australia. [3]

Duncan's debut feature the Children of the Revolution opened the 1996 Melbourne International Film Festival. [5] The film was inspired by Duncan's grandfather, Sidney Welch, who was both a banker and member of the Communist Party of Australia. [1] [4] Geoffrey Rush portrays a version of Welch in the film. Duncan had the opportunity to first pitch the film to Strictly Ballroom producer Tristram Miall after he was impressed with A Bit of a Tiff with the Lord. [1] The initial draft of the screenplay Duncan took to Miall was 203 pages.

In 1998, Duncan released his sophomore film, dark comedy, A Little Bit of Soul. [6] A year later, Duncan released his third film, Passion, exploring the life of Australian composer Percy Grainger. Duncan and film critic David Stratton called for the Australian Classification Board to review it's rating system after the film was rated R for depicting Sadomasochism. [7] [8]

Producer Ian Collie, who also had prior experiences in the Australian legal industry, approached Duncan to direct an adaptation of Australian Barrister Richard Beasley's novel Hell Has Harbour Views. [9] Duncan adapted and directed the book as a Television film for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Duncan's Australian recontextualisation of 1998 film The Polish Bride, titled Unfinished Sky, was released across 2007 & 8. [10] After the film struggled at the box office, Duncan reflected "they (audiences) need comedies at the moment, so we'll try and make some". [11]

Returning to television film, Duncan directed 2008 sports comedy-drama Valentine's Day. [12] The film follows a struggling country Australian Football League team.

In 2010, Roxburgh and Duncan released their series Rake. [13] The series was said to be loosely based on the stories of Australian barrister Charles Waterstreet, although Roxburgh would later dispute the extent to which these remarks were accurate. [13] [14] Duncan referenced shows like The Sopranos having changed the rules of TV drama and that "people out there who want to see something that's smarter and challenging". [13] After originally being intended as an eight episode miniseries, Rake ran for 5 seasons. [15] [16] Duncan co-wrote the series with Andrew Knight.

In 2014, Duncan was showrunner on an American adaptation of Rake produced by Sony Pictures Television. The series was cancelled after one season in May 2014. [17] Duncan later reflected that he struggled under the more corporate American production environment and the limitations imposed by an episode structure driven by advertisement breaks. [18]

In 2020, Duncan wrote and directed Operation Buffalo. [19] The series was a darkly comic exploration of the events of the British nuclear bomb tests conducted in the 1950s at Maralinga, in outback South Australia.

In 2024, Duncan wrote the screenplay for The Correspondent. [20] The film chronicles the legal battles of Australian journalist Peter Greste in Egypt.

Selected filmography

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Holgate, Ben (7 February 1996). "The Lawyer, The Banker And The God Who Failed". Sydney Morning Herald . smhh000020011015ds27002x0 – via Factiva.
  2. ↑ Hay, David (27 April 1997). "How to Keep Faith After an Idol Proves to Have Been a Monster". The New York Times . nytf000020011007dt4r00kwr – via Factiva.
  3. 1 2 3 La Badie, Donald. "U of M film society revived after 5 years". The Commercial Appeal. Memphis, TN. mmph000020011025dr9g00mxz – via Factiva.
  4. 1 2 Crompton, Helen (23 December 1996). "Top Stars Assist In Duncan's Success". The West Australian. twau000020011015dscn00862 – via Factiva.
  5. ↑ Schembri, Jim (20 July 1996). "Uncle Joe And Me". The Age. agee000020011012ds7k00fri – via Factiva.
  6. ↑ "A Little Bit Of Lunacy And Satire". Canberra Times. 21 March 1998. canbtz0020010915du3l0025a – via Factiva.
  7. ↑ Stratton, David (6 November 1999). "Privates on parade". The Australian. austln0020010901dvb600633 – via Factiva.
  8. ↑ Maddox, Garry (4 June 1999). "Passion's Adult Rating Has Its Director Hot Under The Collar". Sydney Morning Herald . smhh000020010829dv6400enj – via Factiva.
  9. ↑ Michael, Idato (25 January 2005). "Legal costs". Sydney Morning Herald . SMHH000020050123e11o0002h – via Factiva.
  10. ↑ "Unfinished Sky; A widowed Aussie farmer who's opted out of the human race and a traumatized Afghani refugee meet in the finely crafted meller "Unfinished Sky."". Daily Variety. Variety. 9 November 2007. VARTY00020080130e3b90006x – via Factiva.
  11. ↑ "More thought needed for Oz movie funding". Australian Broadcasting Corporation . AAP. 8 December 2008. Archived from the original on 29 October 2016.
  12. ↑ Enker, Debi (3 July 2008). "Playing by the Aussie Rules". The Age. AGEE000020080702e4730006f – via Facitva.
  13. 1 2 3 Kalina, Paul (4 November 2010). "Rakish charm to ABC legal drama". The Age. AGEE000020101103e6b40006t – via Factiva.
  14. ↑ Garry, Maddox (27 October 2017). "Richard Roxburgh: 'Any day I don't hear the name Charles Waterstreet is good'". Sydney Morning Herald . Archived from the original on 22 November 2024.
  15. ↑ Harris, Lauren Carroll (16 August 2018). "'What's rock bottom now?': Richard Roxburgh on politics and Rake's final season". The Guardian . Archived from the original on 31 August 2023.
  16. ↑ Littleton, Cynthia (30 May 2023). "'Rake' Boss Peter Duncan Bridges Cultural Divide". Variety . Archived from the original on 17 August 2022.
  17. ↑ Littleton, Cynthia (7 May 2014). "Fox Cancels 'Dads,' 'Enlisted,' 'Surviving Jack' and 'Rake'". Variety . Archived from the original on 27 May 2022.
  18. ↑ "Podcast – Peter Duncan on writing and directing TV". Screen Australia. 9 June 2020. Archived from the original on 2 May 2025.
  19. ↑ Barraclough, Leo (31 March 2020). "Series Mania: 'Operation Buffalo' Creator Peter Duncan on His Tale of Betrayal". Variety . Archived from the original on 31 January 2023.
  20. ↑ Bodey, Michael (17 April 2025). "Peter Greste's biopic gets journalists like few others". Australian Financial Review. Archived from the original on 22 April 2025.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.