Roger Donaldson

Roger Donaldson ONZM
Born	Roger Lindsey Donaldson (1945-11-15) 15 November 1945 Ballarat, Victoria, Australia
Occupation	Film producer, director, writer
Relatives	Chris Donaldson (son)

Roger Lindsey Donaldson ONZM (born 15 November 1945) is an Australian-born New Zealand film director, producer and writer whose films include the 1981 relationship drama Smash Palace, and a run of titles shot in the United States, including the Kevin Costner films No Way Out (1987) and Thirteen Days (2000), and the 1997 disaster film Dante's Peak. He has worked twice each with actors Kevin Costner, Pierce Brosnan, Anthony Hopkins and Michael Madsen. Also worked with actors Tom Cruise, Liam Neeson, Daniel Day-Lewis, Bruce Greenwood, Dexter Fletcher, Bernard Hill, Laurence Olivier, Edward Fox, Al Pacino and many more.

Life and career

Donaldson was born in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia where he attended Ballarat High School. At 20, in 1965 he emigrated to New Zealand, where he established a small still photography business and began making advertisements. Donaldson was also directing documentaries, including an adventure series featuring Everest-conquering New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary, and his first ventures into drama. Donaldson and actor/director Ian Mune collaborated on a number of projects for television, including anthology series Winners and Losers, based on short stories by New Zealand authors.

In 1976, Donaldson directed and produced his first feature Sleeping Dogs. The film starred Mune and Sam Neill as two men fighting for their lives in a totalitarian New Zealand. He followed it with Smash Palace, starring Bruno Lawrence as a man who kidnaps his daughter after his marriage disintegrates.

Donaldson's international break came when producer Dino de Laurentiis invited him to direct a version of Mutiny on the Bounty, after Lawrence of Arabia director David Lean left the project. The film, released as The Bounty, starred Anthony Hopkins as William Bligh and Mel Gibson as mutineer Fletcher Christian. Donaldson was nominated for a Golden Palm at the 1984 Cannes Film Festival for this film.

Donaldson went on to direct many popular and successful movies, including his breakthrough American hit thriller No Way Out (starring Kevin Costner and Gene Hackman), barmen romp Cocktail (starring Bryan Brown and Tom Cruise), volcano disaster movie Dante's Peak (starring Pierce Brosnan and Linda Hamilton), and Thirteen Days (starring Kevin Costner), an account of the Cuban Missile Crisis. He also directed science fiction tale Species, and in 2003, the Al Pacino and Colin Farrell film The Recruit. He also wrote and directed The World's Fastest Indian starring Anthony Hopkins and depicting Burt Munro's successful attempts at motorcycle speed records at Bonneville Salt Flats in the 1950's. The film was released in 2005.

His son Chris has represented New Zealand at Olympic level in athletics in the 100 m and 200 m events.

In the 2018 Queen's Birthday Honours, Donaldson was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to film.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Director	Producer	Writer
1977	Sleeping Dogs	Yes	Yes	No
1980	Nutcase	Yes	No	No
1981	Smash Palace	Yes	Yes	Yes
1984	The Bounty	Yes	No	No
1985	Marie	Yes	No	No
1987	No Way Out	Yes	No	No
1988	Cocktail	Yes	No	No
1990	Cadillac Man	Yes	Yes	No
1992	White Sands	Yes	No	No
1994	The Getaway	Yes	No	No
1995	Species	Yes	No	No
1997	Dante's Peak	Yes	No	No
2000	Thirteen Days	Yes	No	No
2003	The Recruit	Yes	No	No
2005	The World's Fastest Indian	Yes	Yes	Yes
2008	The Bank Job	Yes	No	No
2011	Seeking Justice	Yes	No	No
2014	The November Man	Yes	No	No

Documentary film

Year	Title	Director	Executive Producer
2004	The Making of "Sleeping Dogs"	No	Yes
2017	McLaren	Yes	No

Short film

• Lawyers (2010)

Television

TV series

Year	Title	Director	Producer	Writer	Notes
1971	Burt Munro: Offerings to the God of Speed	Yes	Yes	No	TV Short
1974	Derek	Yes	No	Yes
1975–1976	Winners & Losers	Yes	Yes	Yes
1999	Fearless	No	Executive	No

TV movies

• Survey (1972)
• Jocko (1981)

External links

• Roger Donaldson at the Internet Movie Database