George Miller (b. 1945), director and producer, was born in Brisbane to Greek immigrant parents and qualified as a medical doctor before teaming with the producer Byron Kennedy to make Mad Max (1979), starring the 21-year-old Mel Gibson. The success in America of Mad Max 2 (there called The Road Warrior) earned Miller a Hollywood call-up to direct an episode of Twilight Zone-The Movie (1983). His co-directors on that project included Steven Spielberg and John Landis. He subsequently made Mad Max- Beyond Thunderdome (1985) and the star vehicles The Witches of Eastwick (1987) and Lorenzo’s Oil (1992) – for which he and the Australian playwright Nick Enright were nominated for an Academy Award for best screenplay. After producing the worldwide hit Babe (1995), he directed its darker sequel, Babe: Pig in the City (1998). Happy Feet (2006), which he conceived, co-wrote and directed, won him the Academy Award for Best Animated Film in 2007. Although Miller himself missed out on an Oscar, the fourth Max film, Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), which he directed and produced, won six Academy Awards in 2016.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2005
© Karin Catt
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