Richard Franklin has died at age 58...
07-13-07, 12:58 AM
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Richard Franklin has died at age 58...
Australian thriller director dies
Sandy George, Film writer
July 13, 2007
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...-16947,00.html
FILM director Richard Franklin, known for the thrillers Patrick and Roadgames, and more recently the compelling dramas Hotel Sorrento and Brilliant Lies, has died in Melbourne aged 58.
The road movie Roadgames, starring Jamie Lee Curtis, was Australia's most expensive film when it was made in 1978.
Franklin was one of five directors interviewed last month for Mark Hartley's documentary Not Quite Hollywood, about 1970s and 80s Australian films.
"I asked him how he would be considered by the Australian film industry," said Hartley, "and he said `very begrudgingly they would probably say I was a half-decent craftsman'.
"He made commercial mainstream films for the international market when it was not the climate for them, which is why he did not get the recognition deserved."
Franklin grew up in Melbourne and studied film in the US. He got to know Alfred Hitchcock after inviting the master of suspense to give a lecture at the Californian university where he was studying.
"His films are so littered with things Hitchcockian that they make Quentin Tarantino's homages to other directors look lightweight," said producer Antony Ginnane from Los Angeles yesterday.
Ginnane produced horror movie Patrick (1978) and Franklin's steamy Fantasm (1976).
Franklin's first Australian feature was the comedy-western The True Story of Eskimo Nell (1975). As with many of his films he was both producer and director. His US titles include Psycho II (1983) and Cloak & Dagger (1984).
"He thought cinema was not necessarily nationalistic but lived in a world of its own," said Ginnane. "Ironically he came back to Australia and did two movies quite aggressively based on Australian material."
Hotel Sorrento (1995) and Brilliant Lies (1996) were adapted from plays by Hannie Rayson and David Williamson respectively.
Hartley said Franklin was working on his autobiography and a PhD at the time of his death from prostate cancer, overnight on Wednesday.
R.I.P. 
Loved Cloak & Dagger, Road Games and Psycho II.
Sandy George, Film writer
July 13, 2007
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...-16947,00.html
FILM director Richard Franklin, known for the thrillers Patrick and Roadgames, and more recently the compelling dramas Hotel Sorrento and Brilliant Lies, has died in Melbourne aged 58.
The road movie Roadgames, starring Jamie Lee Curtis, was Australia's most expensive film when it was made in 1978.
Franklin was one of five directors interviewed last month for Mark Hartley's documentary Not Quite Hollywood, about 1970s and 80s Australian films.
"I asked him how he would be considered by the Australian film industry," said Hartley, "and he said `very begrudgingly they would probably say I was a half-decent craftsman'.
"He made commercial mainstream films for the international market when it was not the climate for them, which is why he did not get the recognition deserved."
Franklin grew up in Melbourne and studied film in the US. He got to know Alfred Hitchcock after inviting the master of suspense to give a lecture at the Californian university where he was studying.
"His films are so littered with things Hitchcockian that they make Quentin Tarantino's homages to other directors look lightweight," said producer Antony Ginnane from Los Angeles yesterday.
Ginnane produced horror movie Patrick (1978) and Franklin's steamy Fantasm (1976).
Franklin's first Australian feature was the comedy-western The True Story of Eskimo Nell (1975). As with many of his films he was both producer and director. His US titles include Psycho II (1983) and Cloak & Dagger (1984).
"He thought cinema was not necessarily nationalistic but lived in a world of its own," said Ginnane. "Ironically he came back to Australia and did two movies quite aggressively based on Australian material."
Hotel Sorrento (1995) and Brilliant Lies (1996) were adapted from plays by Hannie Rayson and David Williamson respectively.
Hartley said Franklin was working on his autobiography and a PhD at the time of his death from prostate cancer, overnight on Wednesday.
R.I.P. Loved Cloak & Dagger, Road Games and Psycho II.
07-13-07, 02:31 AM
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His PSYCHO II was a very entertaining and respectful tribute to the original Hitchcock classic. Based on interviews and recaps of his career over the years, it's apparent that he was an underrated and underappreciated director.
