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31-638: Justin Dallas Kurzel ( / k ɜːr ˈ z ɛ l / ; born c. 1974) is an Australian film director. His films include Snowtown (2011), Macbeth (2015), Assassin's Creed (2016), True History of the Kelly Gang (2018), Nitram (2021) and The Order (2024). Justin Dallas Kurzel was born around 1974 in Gawler, South Australia to a family with immigrant roots, his father hailing from Poland and his mother from Malta . His younger brother, Jed Kurzel ,

62-684: A Special Mention. The film was released in the United Kingdom by Revolver Entertainment and, in North America, IFC Midnight . The film grossed $ 8,452 in the U.S., $ 1,133,435 in Australia, and $ 207,500 in France and the UK. The film received generally positive reviews from critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes lists an 83% approval rating based on 65 reviews with an average rating of 7.5 out of 10 with

93-454: A collaboration between Warp Films and distributor Madman Entertainment . Peter Campbell of Warp Films Australia had to get the remaining suppression orders lifted so the film could be premiered. Snowtown is Kurzel's first feature-length film as director. His short film Bluetongue was shown at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival . Apart from Henshall and Green, the actors were locals with no acting experience, whom Kurzel had found in

124-404: A dislike to Gavin. Later one night, John and Robert take Jamie into his garden shed and show him the bodies of Barry and Gavin. Distressed, Jamie lashes out at John but remains under his influence. Later, John and Robert torture Troy, and Jamie then kills the brutalised Troy in an act of mercy. Now desensitised, Jamie assists John in carrying out several murders. John and his team store the bodies in

155-592: A documentary by Kurzel about musician Warren Ellis and the animal sanctuary he co-founded, premiered at the Melbourne International Film Festival in August 2024. Kurzel is married to actress Essie Davis . They have twin daughters. Short film Feature film Documentary film Television Music video AACTA Awards Cannes Film Festival Other awards Snowtown (film) Snowtown (also known as The Snowtown Murders )

186-530: A gun and has Jamie shoot his dog. Meanwhile, John influences the rest of the neighbourhood with his extremely homophobic views and separates Barry from his younger boyfriend Robert (Aaron Viergever). Only Troy seems to dislike John. Barry soon disappears, leaving behind only an answering machine message saying that he is going to Queensland . John brings Jamie in as the neophyte member of his small team who "bury men". Shortly afterward, Jamie visits his drug-addicted best friend Gavin (Bob Adriaens) with John, who takes

217-466: A well made but gruesome and often unwatchably violent film." He concluded by stating that it reminded him of 10 Rillington Place and that while films "like David Fincher 's Zodiac , or Jaime Rosales 's The Hours of the Day , or Shohei Imamura 's Vengeance Is Mine demystified the killer's macabre criminal career in their various ways; what Snowtown does is create a social-realist horror story showing

248-572: Is a blues rock musician who has scored all of Justin's feature films. In 1999 Kurzel was awarded a Mike Walsh Fellowship . His Victorian College of the Arts graduating short film Blue Tongue (2004) screened in over 13 international films festivals and won Best Short at the Melbourne International Film Festival . Kurzel's feature film debut was Snowtown (2011), for which he won the AACTA Award for Best Direction . Though controversial for its violence,

279-582: Is a 2011 Australian biographical crime drama directed by Justin Kurzel in his directorial debut and written by Shaun Grant based on the true story of the Snowtown murders . In the poor Adelaide suburb of Salisbury , 16-year-old Jamie (Lucas Pittaway) lives with his distressed mother, Elizabeth Harvey ( Louise Harris ), and his brothers—including half-brother Troy (Anthony Groves), who rapes Jamie. One day, his mother's boyfriend takes indecent photographs of

310-673: Is as close to a snuff movie as I ever want to see … I don't care if it's rooted in truth or not, it's appalling. I've seen it so you don't have to." This review was criticised by culture zine Pedestrian TV and was dismissed by Kurzel and actress Louise Harris . Biographical film Biopic scholars include George F. Custen of the College of Staten Island and Dennis P. Bingham of Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis . Custen, in Bio/Pics: How Hollywood Constructed Public History (1992), regards

341-619: Is often a balance between similarity in looks and ability to portray the characteristics of the person. Anthony Hopkins felt that he should not have played Richard Nixon in Nixon because of a lack of resemblance between the two. The casting of John Wayne as Genghis Khan in The Conqueror was objected to because of the American Wayne being cast as the Mongol warlord. Egyptian critics criticized

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372-577: The Port Arthur massacre . The film was nominated for the Palme d’Or at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival . In 2019, it was announced Kurzel would adapt Richard Flanagan 's Booker Prize -winning novel The Narrow Road to the Deep North for television, with frequent collaborator Shaun Grant. The series entered production in 2023, with Jacob Elordi and Ciarán Hinds attached in the leading role. Ellis Park ,

403-507: The 2019 Toronto International Film Festival and was released in Australian cinemas in 2020. Kurzel was attached to direct multiple episodes of Apple TV's television adaptation of the 2003 novel Shantaram . However, Kurzel departed the project during a production hiatus in February 2020. In late 2020, it was announced Kurzel would direct Nitram , a film depicting the events leading up to

434-759: The Moon (1999), Downey as Charlie Chaplin in Chaplin (1992) and as Lewis Strauss in Oppenheimer (2023), Foxx as Ray Charles in Ray (2004), Thompson and Hanks as P. L. Travers and Walt Disney in Saving Mr. Banks (2013), Redmayne as Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything (2014), and Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer in Oppenheimer (2023). Some biopics purposely stretch

465-433: The area where the murders occurred, with most from Davoren Park . Kurzel himself grew up in the area and felt that using locals would move the film from being a one-dimensional horror show to a tragic human story showing what happens when people are disadvantaged. According to Kurzel, far from the "wow, I'm going to be a movie star" attitude that he had expected, he had some difficulty convincing them to take part. The film

496-468: The bank. Against a black screen, captions reveal that South Australia Police discovered the remains of eight people stored in barrels in the bank vault of Snowtown on 20 May 1999, and the following day, John Bunting and Robert Wagner were arrested. Screen Australia announced in March 2010 that it would be funding the film and Film Victoria provided $ 245,000. The film was produced by Warp Films Australia,

527-430: The boys . When the police are reluctant to intervene, Elizabeth is contacted by Barry (Richard Green), a gay cross-dressing man who introduces her to John ( Daniel Henshall ). John, who despises paedophiles and homosexuals , continually harasses the boyfriend via means such as throwing kangaroo's blood and body parts at his house until he moves away. John begins to assume the role of Jamie's father figure. Barry tells John

558-454: The casting of Louis Gossett Jr. , an African American actor, as Egyptian president Anwar Sadat in the 1983 TV miniseries Sadat . Also, some objected to the casting of Jennifer Lopez in Selena because she is a New York City native of Puerto Rican descent while Selena was Mexican American . Because the figures portrayed are actual people, whose actions and characteristics are known to

589-431: The consensus "It's a bleak and brutal endurance test, but for viewers with the strength and patience to make it to the end, Snowtown will prove an uncommonly powerful viewing experience." On Metacritic , the film holds a 66 out of 100 rating based on 13 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Peter Bradshaw reviewed the film for The Guardian and gave it four stars out of five, saying that Snowtown "is

620-408: The film was generally praised and holds an 84% on Rotten Tomatoes with the critic consensus: "It's a bleak and brutal endurance test, but for viewers with the strength and patience to make it to the end, Snowtown will prove an uncommonly powerful viewing experience." The film marked Kurzel's first collaboration with writer Shaun Grant . His 2015 film adaptation of William Shakespeare 's Macbeth

651-463: The gender norms that underlie the biopic in his article, "Taking Hollywood Back" in the 2009 issue of Cinema Journal . Roger Ebert defended The Hurricane and distortions in biographical films in general, stating "those who seek the truth about a man from the film of his life might as well seek it from his loving grandmother. ... The Hurricane is not a documentary but a parable ." Casting can be controversial for biographical films. Casting

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682-478: The genre as having died with the Hollywood studio era , and in particular, Darryl F. Zanuck . On the other hand, Bingham's 2010 study Whose Lives Are They Anyway? The Biopic as Contemporary Film Genre shows how it perpetuates as a codified genre using many of the same tropes used in the studio era that has followed a similar trajectory as that shown by Rick Altman in his study, Film/Genre . Bingham also addresses

713-407: The killer as parodic paterfamilias ." Fiona Williams of SBS awarded the film three-and-a-half stars out of five, commenting that director Kurzel "sidesteps the gore—mostly—to focus instead on the circumstances that enabled the atrocities to occur ... It's a gripping, discomforting watch." Channel Nine entertainment reporter Richard Wilkins gave the film a rating of zero stars, stating "This

744-419: The male biopic and the female biopic as distinct genres from each other, the former generally dealing with great accomplishments, the latter generally dealing with female victimization. Ellen Cheshire's Bio-Pics: a life in pictures (2014) examines UK/US films from the 1990s and 2000s. Each chapter reviews key films linked by profession and concludes with further viewing list. Christopher Robé has also written on

775-462: The names and addresses of paedophiles in the area, and John creates a wall with pictures and details about each, including notes saying things like "I'm coming for you". Jamie finds himself slowly drawn into John's homophobic and violent tendencies, unable to escape his charismatic and intimidating dominance. On one occasion, John, aware that Jamie is being raped by his brother Troy, wants Jamie to stand up for himself, and in pursuit of this, gives him

806-803: The public (or at least historically documented), biopic roles are considered some of the most demanding of actors and actresses. Warren Beatty , Faye Dunaway , Ben Kingsley , Johnny Depp , Jim Carrey , Jamie Foxx , Robert Downey Jr. , Brad Pitt , Emma Thompson , Tom Hanks , Eddie Redmayne , and Cillian Murphy all gained new-found respect as dramatic actors after starring in biopics: Beatty and Dunaway as Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker in Bonnie and Clyde (1967), Kingsley as Mahatma Gandhi in Gandhi (1982), Depp as Ed Wood in Ed Wood (1994), Carrey as Andy Kaufman in Man on

837-474: The truth. Confessions of a Dangerous Mind was based on game show host Chuck Barris ' widely debunked yet popular memoir of the same name, in which he claimed to be a CIA agent. Kafka incorporated both the life of author Franz Kafka and the surreal aspects of his fiction. The Errol Flynn film They Died with Their Boots On tells the story of Custer but is highly romanticized. The Oliver Stone film The Doors , mainly about Jim Morrison ,

868-405: The vault of an abandoned bank in the town of Snowtown . Jamie is persuaded by John to lure his step-brother Dave (Beau Gosling) to the bank building, ostensibly to look at a computer for sale. Jamie drives with him to the town, vaguely conscious of what he is doing, and leads Dave into the building, where he is met by John and Robert. Unaware of what is going on, Dave watches Jamie shut the door of

899-1056: Was highly praised for the similarities between Jim Morrison and actor Val Kilmer , look-wise and singing-wise, but fans and band members did not like the way Val Kilmer portrayed Jim Morrison, and a few of the scenes were even completely made up. In rare cases, sometimes called auto biopics , the subject of the film plays themself. Examples include Jackie Robinson in The Jackie Robinson Story (1950), Muhammad Ali in The Greatest (1977), Audie Murphy in To Hell and Back (1955), Patty Duke in Call Me Anna (1990), Bob Mathias in The Bob Mathias Story (1954), Arlo Guthrie in Alice's Restaurant (1969), Fantasia in Life Is Not

930-489: Was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival . In 2016, Kurzel directed Assassin's Creed , based on the video game franchise of the same name . Kurzel directed True History of the Kelly Gang in 2018, adapted from Peter Carey 's 2001 Man Booker Prize -winning novel of the same name, written from the viewpoint of legendary Australian bushranger and outlaw Ned Kelly . The film premiered at

961-519: Was shot in Smithfield Plains, South Australia , an outer suburb of the Adelaide metropolitan area . Snowtown premiered at the 2011 Adelaide Film Festival and won the festival's "Audience Award", and was selected as one of seven films from around the world that were shown at Critics' Week competitions that ran in parallel with the 2011 Cannes Film Festival . At Cannes, the film was awarded with

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