Greg McLean

Infobox actor
name = Greg Mclean


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location = Australia
occupation = film director, producer, screenwriter & actor
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Greg McLean is an Australian film director, producer and writer.

Biography

His original ambition was to be an artist. He studied to become one for many years, but then had an epiphany that "films are basically the art of the 21st century". Greg studied at NIDA and holds a diploma in directing. His short film ICQ screened at many film festivals and was nominated for an AFI award.

Greg has been writing, directing and producing for over ten years. His experience extends across theatre, film and television. After training as a Fine Artist specializing in painting, Greg attended the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA), completing a graduate diploma in directing. His success there ensured work with one of Australia's most esteemed theatre directors, Neil Armfield, on his highly acclaimed production of Hamlet - which starred Geoffrey Rush, Cate Blanchett and Richard Roxburgh. Greg then worked with Baz Luhrmann and Catherine Martin, assisting the team on their production of "A Midsummer Nights Dream" for the Australian Opera and then in the early stages of pre-production on their film version of Romeo & Juliet. Greg has completed numerous short films as director and producer. His first, Plead, won a Gold award from the Australian Cinematographers Society (ACS). His last short film, ICQ has screened at several film festivals, including St. Kilda, Eye Candy, Short-trips, MUFF, Upstart Films. At The New York International Independent Film and Video Festival, it was awarded Best Director of a Short Film. ICQ, shot on 35mm Panavision and starring Sam Johnson, was nominated for Best Sound Design in the non-feature category of the Australian Film Institute awards, and received a Silver award for Cinematography from the ACS. The film is distributed by Flickerfest and screened on Showtime Movie Channel. Under his production company GMF (Greg McLean Film), Greg has produced and directed dozens of television commercials, corporate videos and film clips.

His first full length film, in 2005, was Australian independent horror film "Wolf Creek". The film was well received by both critics and audiences at the box office. Audiences praised the film's ability to be truly frightening, although some critics and audience disliked the film, apparently because of its gory content and subject matter - film critic Roger Ebert, for example, gave the film 0 stars. The film, nevertheless, has something of a cult following.

Mclean's next film "Rogue" is about a group of tourists in Australia's Northern Territory, including an American journalist played by Michael Vartan, who become prey to a deadly salt-water crocodile. The film received an R rating in the US, unlike McLean's previous movie "Wolf Creek", which received an NC-17 rating until being edited to obtain an R rating.

"Rogue" was released in Australia on November 8, 2007, with other countries to follow. Rogue so far hasn't been as successful as its predecessor Wolf Creek.

Filmography

Director:
*2007: "Rogue"
*2005: "Wolf Creek"
*2001: "ICQ"

Writer:
*2007: "Rogue"
*2005: "Wolf Creek"
*2001: "ICQ"

Producer:
*2007: "Rogue"
*2005: "Wolf Creek"
*2001: "ICQ"

Links

* [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0572562/ imdb]
* [http://www.reallyscary.com/interviewmclean.asp Interview]